His Holiness Karekin II Surpreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians is left for South America today. The head of Armenian Apostolic Church is accompanied by the head of US Western ...

From : Fredrik Vartanian Date : Mon, 2 May 2011 23:44:30 PDT PRESS RELEASE Armenian Apostolic Church of Crescenta Valley-Educational Committee 6252 Honolulu Ave.

The Primate of the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and advisor to Georgian President on minority issues also attended the meeting.

Date : Sat, 30 Apr 2011 20:19:09 PDT Armenian organizations of Georgia call on President Saakashvili to recognize the Armenian Genocide armradio.am 29.04.2011 16:07 Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Holy Orthodox Church in Georgia, Union of Armenians of Georgia, National Congress of Armenians of Georgia, Union of Armenians of Adjaria, Association of ...

In the evening of April 24, Prague municipal library will host a commemorative event organized by the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian community of the Czech Republic.

Etchmiadzin has confirmed reports that the Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Geneva closed the church on Sunday when an Armenia-appointed new primate was to be introduced to the community. “Of course, that is a regrettable reality, but the Holly See must go forward with patience so that to ...

This news is brought to you by HyeMedia | Armenian News where you can read balanced Armenian News from Armenia & the Diaspora as reported by various news agencies and freelance journalists

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Throughout Holy Week and on Easter Sunday, Archbishop Hagopian will preside over the ceremonies at Sourp Hagop Armenian Apostolic Church in Montreal.

Date : Fri, 8 Apr 2011 18:04:27 +0500 ARCHBISHOP UNREPENTANT ABOUT GUN, LUXURY CAR POSSESSION Sargis Harutyunyan Armenialiberty.org April 6 2011 A high-ranking cleric of the Armenian Apostolic Church on Wednesday defended his ownership of a handgun and luxury car which was revealed by the ...

Date : Fri, 8 Apr 2011 13:53:11 +0500 ARCHBISHOP UNREPENTANT ABOUT GUN, LUXURY CAR POSSESSION Sargis Harutyunyan 06.04.2011 A high-ranking cleric of the Armenian Apostolic Church on Wednesday defended his ownership of a handgun and luxury car which was revealed by the Armenian press ...

City Council candidate Jill Fosselman met parishioners at Saint Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church on April 3 as part of her broad and sincere outreach to Armenian American residents. Fosselman has made a strong commitment to working closely with the Armenian American community to further improve the quality of life for all the residents in the City of Pasadena. Saint Sarkis Armenian Apostolic church is situated on Sierra Madre Boulevard and serves the spiritual needs of a large and active congregation.

A high-ranking cleric of the Armenian Apostolic Church on Wednesday defended his ownership of a handgun and luxury car which was revealed by the Armenian press recently.

On April 7, the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates one of its greatest feasts - the Annunciation to St. Mary. Upon the Pontifical order of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and ...

An Appeal from the Religious Leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Armenian Catholic Church And The Armenian Evangelical Union Of The Western United States Of America on Easter and the 96th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

Date : Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:23:53 +0500 GEORGIAN OFFICIAL SAYS ARMENIAN CHURCH IN GEORGIA SHOULD HAVE LEGAL STATUS Tert.am 30.03.11 The Armenian Apostolic Church must be given a legal status in Georgia, says the vice president of the World Congress of Georgian People.

“Any demonstration of nationalism is destructive to Russia, which has an age-long experience of harminous co-existence of representatives of multiple cultures and nations,” the head of Russian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church said.

Southwest Contractor Magazine, a publication of McGraw-Hill Companies, has named the Armenian Apostolic Church of Arizona [consecrated “St. Apkar”] Arizona “Best Worship Building for 2010” in its December 2010 issue.

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Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, Chairman of the NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghoulyan and Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan were present at the event.

Primate of Western United States Archbishop Hovnan Derderian presided over a fundraising event aimed at securing funds for the last stage of construction of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Seattle on December 11.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan also took part in the event.

On Nov. 28, Murad A. Meneshian presented a talk and readings from his newly released book, Raffi: The Prophet from Payajuk, with a simultaneous slideshow at the Armenian All Saints Apostolic Church and Community Center hall in Glenview, Ill.Photo by Hasmik Dombalagian Artin Mikaelian, chairman of the Chicago chapter of the Hamazkayin Educational and Cultural Association, [...]

There are lots of theories out there. For example, in the Roman calendar system December 25th was the winter solstice. Also, the pagans celebrated the "birthday" of Sol Invictus on that day. So, and this is what I was taught in high school, Christians were probably trying to capitalize on an existing set of holidays.

But when you think about it, none of the existing holidays on the calendar would have been terribly important to the early followers of Jesus. They were still marching to the beat of a different drummer in the late third and early fourth centuries.

Annunciation by He Qi

I suspect that the December 25th date has more to do with the celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation, which was (and is, generally speaking) celebrated on March 25th. The Annunciation holiday recalls the angel Gabriel's announcement to the Virgin Mary that she was going to become the mother of the Messiah (see below). And apparently, the early Christians celebrated the announcement of Jesus' coming birth before they started celebrating the birth itself. (At least in the Roman portion of the world birthday celebrations were associated with pagan practices. Christians were perhaps disassociating themselves from those practices.)

So, count nine months from March 25th and you end up at December 25th. It is no surprise, then, that the church chose to celebrate the Nativity on that day.

A related question that occasionally comes up has to do with the Russian Orthodox Church's Christmas celebration on January 7th. Several of the Eastern Orthodox churches still fix the date of Christmas using the old Julian calendar. December 25th in the Julian calendar is the same as January 7th in the newer Gregorian calendar that most of us use.

The Armenian (not Arminian, as in the 16th century Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius, but Armenian, as in the ancient people of Armenia) Apostolic Church holds their celebration of the Nativity in combination with the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. There is actual ancient precedent for that practice, too. (Some of the churches which did not follow Rome too closely developed in slightly different ways. And really, the Armenian practice is not a lot different than that of many modern evangelicals who throw together the Christmas and Epiphany stories -- and do it all on December 25th -- skipping the 12 day of Christmas that culminate in the Epiphany celebration on January 6th.) To complicate matters even more, while most of the Armenian churches use the Gregorian calendar, a few use the Julian calendar. Those who are on the Julian calendar celebrate both the Nativity (Christmas) and Epiphany on January 19th (Gregorian calendar).

Did you follow all of that?

In many ways, the actual date of Christmas is relatively unimportant. To borrow an over-used phrase from pop-culture, what matters most is "the reason for the season."

THE ANNUNCIATION 

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” 

Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” 

Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” 

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.” 

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. ~ Luke 1:26-38 (NLT)

Date : Fri, 26 Nov 2010 11:43:42 +0400 FAMILIARIZATION VISIT OF ARTSAKH YOUNG PEOPLE TO JAVAKHK AND TBILISI ARMENPRESS November 25, 2010 STEPANAKERT December 1-4, the NKR Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs, with the support of the Artsakh and Georgian Dioceses of the Armenian Apostolic Church, will organize a youth familiarization visit to ...

From : Fredrik Vartanian Date : Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:47:47 PST PRESS RELEASE Armenian Apostolic Church of Crescenta Valley-Educational Committee 6252 Honolulu Ave., La Crescenta, Ca 91214 Tel 303-5566 Email: aacocv@gmail.com La Crescenta, CA.- Dr.

Date : Sat, 20 Nov 2010 18:07:01 +0400 ARMENIAN DIOCESE OF GEORGIA CONDEMNS OFFICIAL FOR DEMEANING CHURCH Asbarez Friday, November 19th, 2010 TBILISI The Armenian Apostolic Church of Georgia on Wednesday condemned Georgia's Deputy Minister of Reintegration for refusing to acknowledge the Armenian Diocese of Georgia during a conference held a day ...

TBILISI (Combined Sources)—The Armenian Apostolic Church of Georgia on Wednesday condemned Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Reintegration for refusing to acknowledge the Armenian Diocese of Georgia during a conference held a day earlier.  The Georgian official’s remarks, the Church said, are undemocratic and violate the human rights and dignity of the country’s Armenian minority, Armenian Public [...]

Date : Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:40:50 +0400 GEORGIAN DIOCESE OF THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH INDIGNANT AT DEPUTY MINISTER'S STATEMENT armradio.am 17.11.2010 17:42 The Press Office of the Georgian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church responded to yesterday's statements of Georgia's Deputy Minister for Reintegration Eline Tevdoradze.

Armenian Apostolic Church not to get status in Georgia | Armenia News - NEWS.am

Elena Tevtoradze: we refuse to provide a status to Echmiadzin church in Georgia.

Preservationists say it would be a mistake for a Haverhill congregation to sell its 163-year-old church to a developer who wants to tear it down and build a Burger King. Christian Miller, a member of the city’s historical commission, says the plan to build the restaurant on the site of the St. Gregory The Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church is “utterly ...

Preservationists say it would be a mistake for a Haverhill congregation to sell its 163-year-old church to a developer who wants to tear it down and build a Burger King. Christian Miller, a member of the city’s historical commission, says the plan to build the restaurant on the site of the St. Gregory The Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church is “utterly ...

Preservationists say it would be a mistake for a Haverhill congregation to sell its 163-year-old church to a developer who wants to tear it down and build a Burger King. Christian Miller, a member of the city’s historical commission, says the plan to build the restaurant on the site of the St. Gregory The Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church is “utterly ...

Preservationists say it would be a mistake for a Haverhill congregation to sell its 163-year-old church to a developer who wants to tear it down and build a Burger King. Christian Miller, a member of the city’s historical commission, says the plan to build the restaurant on the site of the St. Gregory The Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church is “utterly ...

• Edaville Railroad in Carver is for sale and could close if the owners can't find a buyer. [Brockton Enterprise]

• Haverhill is opposed to plans to tear down the St. Gregory The Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church and replace it with a Burger King. [Eagle Tribune]

• Take a class to get rid of your Boston accent. [Boston Herald]

• When former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Democrat Frank Caprio in Rhode Island's governor's race, he invited one of his opponents to meet him. [Boston Globe]

• Massachusetts drivers spend less on gas than every state except Connecticut and New York. [Boston Globe]

• Sean Duffy, a castmember on "Real World: Boston" in 1997, was elected to Congress from Wisconsin. Look out, Scott Brown. [MTV]

• Keith Olbermann was indefinitely without pay by MSNBC for making political contributions to three Democratic candidates this fall. One candidate appeared on Olbermann’s "Countdown" show the day the host contributed to his campaign. [Boston Herald]

• Mayor Tom Menino today banned Defelice Corp. of Dracut from working in Boston until an investigation into Wednesday's gas explosion in Readville. [Boston Globe]

Artsakh President met with Montreal city administration member Harut Chitilian and representative of the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Hagop Arslanian.

Tourists visiting the ninth-century Tatev monastery in Southern Armenia, which is now linked to the wider world by a 5.7-km cable car line Catholicos Karekin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and Armenias President Serzh Sarkissian at the ceremony to inaugurate the cable car line Armenia has launched the worlds longest cable car line, a ...

The memorial opening was timed to the 290th anniversary of Armenian Apostolic Church eparchy foundation in Astrakhan.

A historic ceremony on 19 September 2010 cast a significant light on the evolution of the process of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, symbolised by the signing of a diplomatic agreement - consisting of two protocols - between these peoples’ modern states on 10 October 2009.

For the first time since the genocide of the Armenians on the territory of the Ottoman empire in 1915 and subsequent years, the Turkish authorities permitted Armenian religious ceremonies to take place on an ancient religious site on the island of Akhtamar in the middle of Lake Van (in present-day southeast Turkey). The monastery of the Church of the Holy Cross - Sourp Khach for Armenians - was built in 915 CE, and for a while was the seat of the Armenian Catholicos.

After the deportation and massacre of the Armenian population of Van province, during the first world war, the once-magnificent monastery was left to fall apart. As part of Turkey’s early revision of its hardline domestic politics of identity and diversity in 2005-06, government funds were allocated to renovate the monastery - though as a museum, not a church. This was opened in 2007. Now, in 2010 - after a ninety-five-year silence - the Armenian church was able to organise a mass in Akhtamar; Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the gesture an “expression of the Turk’s tolerance”.

The event was part of a current pattern in which Ankara has engaged in what the journalist Yusuf Kanli (writing in the newspaper Hürriyet) describes as a “cultural opening”. This has included members and descendants of Turkey’s Christian minorities being allowed to hold religious services; most dramatically, in August 2010, in the case of the Pontic Greeks - whose communities along the Black Sea coast existed for centuries before their exodus to the modern state of Greece in 1922 - in their own sacred site of Sumela monastery, near Trabzon, for the first time in the history of the republic. This is a further sign that a secular Turkish state now dominated by the moderate Islamists of the Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi / Justice & Development Party) is amending the longstanding policy of discrimination and repression against religious minorities.

Every such effort at “cultural opening” - or, from another perspective, historical reclamation - has a political dimension; none more so than the case of the ceremony at Akhtamar monastery, so infused with sensitive and conflicting associations and so close to the anniversary of the long-awaited but now-troubled Turkish-Armenian protocols.

A degree of disputation seemed inevitable, and in the event several thousand Armenian pilgrims and representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church from Echmiadzin (now the seat of the Catholicos) who were due to take part in the ceremony were told at a late stage that that they could not place a cross on top of the church dome - a decision that led to the withdrawal of Armenian church officials and many potential pilgrims. But around 1,000 people did attend the religious ceremony; these were mainly Armenians from major Turkish cities, but also grandchildren of genocide survivors from as far as Boston.

The experience of Akhtamar suggests that Ankara’s “cultural opening” - and its foreign policies more generally since the AKP came to power in November 2002 - are less straightforward and more ambivalent than sometimes portrayed. True, foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s declared ambition of a “zero-problem policy” with Turkey’s neighbours reflects the often positive official rhetoric; and in practice too, Ankara has been pro-active both in renewing relations with countries in the region and (latterly) in adopting a more combative stance towards Israel. 

An early stumble

Turkey’s cautious steps to normalise relations with Armenia can be understood in this context. The disputed legacy of 1915 means that the relations between the two states - such as they are, for Ankara and Yerevan have no diplomatic links - are especially complicated. In 1993, at the height of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey joined Azerbaijan in imposing a blockade on landlocked Armenia.

But this policy produced no clear benefits, and left the Karabakh issue as “frozen” fifteen years on as it had been since the ceasefire. was at the start. As Turkey sought a new foreign-policy direction, and was in addition under a degree of international diplomatic pressure over the genocide, the beginnings of a dialogue with Armenia seemed propitious.

The high point of the process came early, in September 2008, when Turkey’s head of state Abdullah Gül accepted an invitation from his Armenian counterpart Serge Sarkisian to visit Yerevan to attend a qualifying match in the football world cup between the two national teams. The meeting led to intensified diplomatic consultations (some of which had already been held in secret in Berne, facilitated by Swiss diplomats). The sometimes rocky negotiations culminated in the ceremonial signing of two protocols in Zürich on 10 October 2009.

The first protocol concerned the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries; the second related to the lifting of their common border. The high-level patronage on show - including Hillary Clinton, Sergei Lavrov, Javier Solana, Bernard Kouchner and Micheline Calmy-Rey - suggested the degree of international investment in the process. But signatures on documents are only the outward form of an intended change; and a little over a year on, it can be argued that the “historic” ceremony in Zürich has failed to fulfil its hopes - and even that it has backfired.

A Baku twist

The worrying indicators were there early. Even as Ahmet Davutoglu was signing the protocols, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was saying that Turkey will not open the border before steps are made towards resolution of the Karabakh conflict. This was equivalent to a veto, since the protocols ratification by a Turkish parliament that Erdogan’s AKP controlled. Moreover, the contents of the documents carefully avoided specific allusions to the respective countries or to Nagorno-Karabakh; the reductive references to particular points of tension could only create problems when the protocols needed room to breathe.

More broadly, a retrospect of this disappointing year suggests that Turkey’s Caucasus policy has suffered from two flaws which together have worked against its aim of normalising relations and achieving a peaceful resolution of conflicts.

The first mistake was to believe that Azerbaijan would reverse its own blockade policy towards Armenia, or agree to Turkey showing flexibility on this issue. Azerbaijan always saw Turkey’s diplomatic initiative towards Armenia as a self-interested attempt to strengthen its international influence at the expense of Azerbaijani political interests. Baku was impervious to the argument that the blockade policy had failed, and that a revised Turkish relationship with Armenia could have a positive impact on the Karabakh issue.

Indeed, Ankara neither expected the vehement Azerbaijani criticism nor was prepared to resist it. Baku used the levers it had available - threatening a halt to strategic cooperation, to gas deliveries, to cooperation on future hydrocarbon projects - to press fraternal Turkey over the protocols. The hard line worked, insofar as the protocols remain unratified and the border closed; but Ankara has also lost the trust it previously enjoyed in Baku, to the extent that Azerbaijan now seems to prefer closer collaboration with Russia.

The visit of Dmitri Medvedev, Russia’s president, to Baku in early September 2010 was marked by agreement over important gas deals that will see Azeri gas flowing to European markets via Russian instead of Turkey, and possibly even the end of the Nabucco (Turkey-Austria pipeline) project.

An Ankara misstep

The second mistake of Turkish diplomacy was to wager that Armenia’s president Serge Sarkissian was ready to make concessions on the Karabakh conflict in order to have open borders with Turkey. Sarkissian was already under heavy pressure (especially from the Armenian diaspora) for agreeing in the protocols to “implement a dialogue on the historic dimension” -  a clear reference to the events of 1915.

Armenian diplomats had already hailed the protocols as a “victory” on the grounds that they had dissociated the Karabakh conflict from Armenia-Turkey relations, thus allowing the former to be addressed on its own merits; so by making a further concession on Karabakh question would entail even further opposition - both among the diaspora and within Armenia itself.

Now, Yerevan too feels that Turkey deceived it, and that the whole negotiations were a Turkish manoeuvre to avoid international pressure from Washington and the European Union on the question of recognition of the genocide of 1915.

Indeed, Turkey’s effort once more to link Turkish-Armenian relations with the Karabakh conflict can be seen as a third strategic mistake in its own right. The result was that after all the work invested in the beginnings of a reconciliation process, Turkey retreated to first base: no normalisation of relations with Armenia, and no opening of borders without a solution of the Karabakh conflict (on terms reflecting Azerbaijani diplomatic preferences). This stance represents a vote for the status quo in the Caucasus - including a continuation of “frozen conflicts” and the double-blockade on Armenia.

The Georgia-Russia war of August 2008 is evidence that frozen conflicts can suddenly turn very hot. The frontlines of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute have been increasingly tense since mid-2010, with several military clashes involving the death of personnel on both sides. A further escalation is a serious possibility. The dangerous and unpredictable effects of such an outcome would both confirm the failure of recent diplomacy and threaten to destroy what limited progress has been made.

A mixed signal

The ceremony at Akhtamar - disputatious in some respects as it was - is one example of this progress. Hürriyet reports that following the event there, more people in Turkey are openly reclaiming their long-buried Armenian identity; that there are plans to restore more decayed Armenian churches;  and that a mass is planned for the church of Arakelots in Kars, on the Turkey-Armenia border.

These are elements of a deeper shift in historical perceptions and identities in Turkey, which will surely continue even amid a wider geopolitical deadlock. All the more reason to restore momentum to diplomacy in the region, to ensure that the changes that are happening will be and remain peaceful.

Yet this is not the whole story. Days after the ceremony, Armenian visitors to the Holy Cross / Sourp Khach church were forbidden from praying by police guarding the place. At the same time, the Turkish administration authorised the opposition (nationalist) parliamentarian Devlet Bahceli to pray in the ruins of the Holy Virgin Cathedral in Ani, the old Armenian capital on the Armenia-Turkey border. How to read the messages coming out of Ankara, less than five years before the centenary of the Armenian genocide? History might be on the move, but at what speed?

Sideboxes

'Read On' Sidebox: 

Vicken Cheterian, War and Peace in the Caucasus: Russia’s Troubled Frontier (C Hurst, 2009; Columbia University Press, 2009)

Taner Akçam, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (Henry Holt, 2007)

Ben Kiernan, Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur (Yale University Press, 2007)

Taner Akçam, From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide (Zed Books, 2004)

Erik J Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History (IB Tauris, 2004)

Kerem Oktem, (co-editor, with Celia J Kerslake & Philip Robins) Turkey's Engagement with Modernity (Palgrave, 2010);

Kerem Oktem, Angry Nation: Turkey since 1989 (Zed Books, 2010)

Hans-Lukas Kieser, Turkey Beyond Nationalism: Towards Post-Nationalist Identities (IB Tauris, 2006)

 

Sidebox: 

Vicken Cheterian is a journalist and political analyst who works for the non-profit governance organisation CIMERA, based in Geneva. Among his books is War and Peace in the Caucasus: Russia’s Troubled Frontier (C Hurst, 2009; Columbia University Press, 2009)

Also by Vicken Cheterian in openDemocracy:

"The pigeon sacrificed: Hrant Dink, and a broken dialogue" (23 January 2007)

"Serbia after Kosovo" (17 April 2007)

"Georgia's arms race" (4 July 2007)

"Lebanon: short memory, system failure" (25 September 2007)

"Armenia's election: the waiting game" (19 February 2008)

"Georgia's forgotten legacy" (3 September 2008)

"Georgia: between war and a future" (8 July 2009)

"Armenia-Turkey: genocide, blockade, diplomacy" (13 October 2009)

"Armenian genocide and Turkey: then and now" (24 April 2010)

"Kyrgyzstan failing, and an arc of crisis" (15 June 2010)

Related stories: 

Armenia-Turkey: genocide, blockade, diplomacy

The pigeon sacrificed: Hrant Dink, and a broken dialogue

Turkey's political-emotional transition

Armenian genocide and Turkey: then and now

Turkey and history: shoot the messenger

Armenia and Turkey: forgetting genocide

Hrant Dink: forging an Armenian identity in Turkey

Armenia’s election: the waiting game

Turkey's judicial-political crisis

Armenia’s mixed messages

Hrant Dink’s assassination and genocide’s legacy

Armenia’s emptying democracy

Turkey’s referendum: a democratic dynamic

Hrant Dink (1954-2007): in memoriam

Turkey: the constitutional frontline

Hrant Dink: memory and hope

Hrant Dink: the murder of freedom

A century of genocide, 1915-2009

Hrant Dink and Armenians in Turkey

Gathered in Armenia's southern mountains near the border with Iran, guests including President Serzh Sarkisian and the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Karekin II, took part as the cable car link launched its first official voyage over the Vorotan River Gorge. ... Subscription. You can subscribe by RSS feed or by e-mail to receive news updates and breaking stories. Subscribe to RSS feed ...

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Karekin II ride in a cable car at the newly opened cable line near Tatev monastery in Armenia's southern mountains close the border with Iran, 16 Oct 2010 Armenia has launched an aerial tramway line that it says is the world's longest.

Gathered in the country's southern mountains near the border with Iran, guests including president Serzh Sarkisian and the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Karekin II, took part as the cable car link launched its first official voyage over the...

Reconstruction began last week on a church that was built as an Armenian Apostolic house of worship and has now become the property of the Catholic Church. The 14th century Yerevman Sourb Khach (Holy Cross Church of the Manifestation), had fallen in ruin. Possession of the church and three hectare property was transferred to the [...]

This news is brought to you by HyeMedia | Armenian News where you can read balanced Armenian News from Armenia & the Diaspora as reported by various news agencies and freelance journalists

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Turkish authorities have refused the appeal of a number of local parties and NGOs to hold a namaz (Islamic prayer service), and a holy mass once a year in Saint Hagia Sophia Cathedral. “Saint Sophia Cathedral is a museum, and according to the Turkish legislation, no religious ceremonies can be held in museums,” the statement [...]

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Dish of the Week: Cream cheese dog

There are some foods that are so indulgent that they really should not be eaten unless you're a teenager or quite drunk. We talked about one regional hot dog style a few weeks ago -- but the Chicago dog is fairly well known in the food world. Less known is the rather dubious-sounding "cream cheese dog" that is sold on the streets of Seattle as drunk patrons leave the bars.

It's exactly as it sounds, a hot dog or sausage that is put on a bun smeared with cream cheese and, preferably, some caramelized onions. The key to making this the ideal combination is a spicy or at least highly seasoned dog -- a half smoke would be perfect -- to work with the fattiness of the cream cheese. In Seattle, the dogs are split and charred up on a griddle (just like the half smokes at Ben's) and at my favorite stand the cream cheese is evenly applied with a caulk gun.

It's straight forward enough to make at home, but I wouldn't want to make one while I was sober. Hopefully some enterprising food trucker or food cart owner will start selling these so we can enjoy them on this coast too.

Small Bites

62nd Annual Armenian Food Festival
St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church is hosting a food festival, and the final meals take place tomorrow between noon-2 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. On the menu are shish kabob, kufta (kofte), dolma, and Armenian style rice pilaf, eggplant and hummus. For a more unique item, there's lahmajoon, a thin crust pizza with lamb, pepper and tomato.

Party like it's 1933
Woodrow Wilson House will play host to the Speakeasy Costume Ball on October 28 from 7-9 p.m. Take the chance to dig out that derby attire or that flapper dress and enjoy an open bar of rum drinks. Tickets are $35, of which $15 is tax-deductible.

Or party like it's 10-10-10
The Hip Hop Caucus and Roadside Organics are hosting a Local Food Block Party on Sunday from noon - 4 p.m. at Bread for the City (1525 7th Street NW). The event is to raise awareness for the lack of food access in some areas of D.C. The event is free and will feature foods cooked by local chefs.

Have an offal happy hour
Bar Pilar chef Justin Bittner is well known by many offal lovers for offering some great preparations of the nasty bits. (His sweetbread preparations are amongst my favorites.) That's why Monday-Friday from 5-7 p.m., he'll be serving a selection of offal small plates for $4. You'll be able to try a range of items including the more mundane chicken liver pate to the more unique crispy pig ears with lime and sauteed lamb liver.

Better baguettes?
In the past, we've discussed the lack of proper baguettes in the city. Hopefully with the January 2011 opening of PAUL Bakery from France in Penn Quarter, we'll see some dark, crusty baguettes and awesome croissants. According to the press release, "PAUL will offer a wide range of traditional and specialty breads, which will be made by hand by authentic French bakers every day using a special water filtration system and employing a seven-hour process which allows for longer fermentation, thus creating a dough that has developed to full flavor." Sounds like a good start(er).

The Armenian Apostolic Church on Saturday expressed outrage at a Muslim religious service held in an Armenian holy site in eastern Turkey, calling it a serious blow to efforts to improve Turkish-Armenian relations.

The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin condemns similar actions, which create intolerance and hatred towards Armenians.

On September 19 members of the Armenian community of St. Petersburg came together in the Events Hall of the Armenian Apostolic Church to watch a presentation of the Armenian Virtual College (AVC), AGBU's newest learning institute and the world's first online Armenian school.

Citing insufficient evidence, a Superior Court judge struck down a hate crime allegation Wednesday against a 23-year-old man accused of smashing a religious monument at St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church.

A judge on Wednesday struck down a hate-crime allegation against a 23-year-old man accused of smashing a religious monument at St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church in Glendale. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Patrick Hegarty also struck down a misdemeanor...

WATERTOWN — The camaraderie, culture, and shared history couldn’t run much deeper at the St. James Armenian Apostolic Church’s Men’s Club.



Armenian Apostolic Church - Armenian - Ethnicity - Caucasian - Asian