What is Parev Emirates?

Parev Emirates is a program designed by Azad-Hye Group to welcome Armenians who arrive in the United Arab Emirates either for living there or on their way to other countries.   

The text of Parev Emirates project is ready now in Armenian language. See English and Armenian texts here.

Fadi Al-Natour and Alice Ohanesian married in Amman, Jordan, on Friday 5th September 2008.

Alice has lived most of her life in Abu Dhabi, where she has attended the Armenian weekly school for many years. Her mother Mrs. Arous has been a veteran teacher in the school, where she continues to take responsibilities.

We congratulate the married couple and their parents and relatives.

Dear Family & Friends,
 
We are proud to announce the arrival of Jivan Gregorio Robles on 3 September 2008 at 1.21pm.

Jivan is an old Armenian-Persian name, which we feel suits this serious-looking baby with the impressive nose. Jivan is pronounced with an English J, and not Hivan or Khivan in Spanish, por favor.
 
We selected Gregorio as a middle name because it was the day of San Gregorio Magno, as well as for the striking resemblance he bears to his maternal grandfather, who also carries that name.
 
Love,
The Robles-Goudsouzians

(Juan Robles and Tanya Goudsouzian)

Photo: Tanya Goudsouzian with her two children

Tanya Goudsouzian in Azad-Hye Directory

The Giragnorya Armenian School will start on 26 September 2008.

The lessons will continue every Friday 11:00am -12:30pm.

Location: The Ohannesian Armenian weekly school, Sharjah

Church Committee of the Saint Gregory Armenian Church in Sharjah

Announcement in Armenian (PDF format)

We would like to express our sincere condolences to the family and relatives of Maro Kalaydjian, who sadly passed away.

Memorial service will be held at the Armenian Church in Sharjah, on Friday 26 September 2008, following the Holy Mass.

Condolences will be accepted by Kalaydjian family after the service.

Announcement text by the Council of the Armenian Community (PDF format, in Armenian)

Details of the Holy Mass on 26 September 2008 (location, time, etc.) are available here.

Not more then 40 Armenians attended the celebration of Armenian National Day,  that's including the members of the Azakyin Vartchoutyoun, the priest and the speakers.

Well, it was a shame to see such an important date and the complete ignorance of the thousands of Armenians living in Dubai, Sharjah not to attend.

Almost NO Armenia Armenians were present!

The blame this time wasn't on the traffic, neither the construction happening around the compound.

I blame it mainly on the organizers.

First: No propaganda, no hard work, no people, sending a fax isn't enough.

Second: Azkayin Vartchoutyoun should realise why people are avoiding them; events attended by only dozens of people are becoming too regular.

Read more here

This is a project where UAE Armenians express their views about community and other issues.

Here is the view of our first contact:

E.M. was contacted on 25 September 2008. He is very communicative personality. Once he knew the subject of our discussion was the Armenian community, he felt comfortable and seemed eager to talk openly and to express his views without reservation. He lives in Sharjah.

He said that the Armenian Council has neglected the young and is not catering for their needs. He remembers a bowling event that happened few years ago in Ajman. Since then he does not remember anything related to the youth in this community.

Location is not a problem to E.M. He can go wherever needed in order to attend an Armenian event. "Traffic does not scare me off. Just tell me there is an event that suits my needs and I am ready to attend", he explained.

The monthly calendar of events in the community is very weak, he said. Many things could be done in order to improve this situation.

"I am sure dozens of Armenians are arriving every week in this booming country. There should be someone, maybe a body, who could keep track of these arrivals and see how they can be integrated in the society. It is important to know what talents and capabilities these new comers bring with them and how they can contribute to the wellness of the community, besides providing them with solutions about their ordinary problems", he said, emphasizing that the traditional events in 24 April, 28 May and 21 September are not enough to create community bonds.

*Photo taken from the new premises of the Embassy of Armenia in Abu Dhabi.

Permanent page of Badouhan project

Khalifa congratulates President of Armenia

President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan today sent a congratulatory cable to President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia on his country's independence day (21 September).

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai also congratulated President Sargsyan.

Emirates News Agency
September 17, 2008 Wednesday

Besides the news taken from international sources and news agencies, UAE press highlighted the recent developments in the Armenian-Turkish relations with additional coverage by staff writers and syndicated articles.

Local English daily "Khaleej Times" published on 09 September 2008 an article by former Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, where he concludes: "Beyond the emotional impact of President Gul’s visit to Yerevan, real improvement in Turkish-Armenian relations requires opening the two countries’ closed border – the last in Europe. Or, for a start, the existing railroad link between the two countries could be made operational. If this does not happen within the coming weeks and months, then Turkey will have demonstrated that all this was just a show. President Gul’s visit does mark a watershed – either as a failure to make history, or as the beginning of a new era." See full article here.

Another English daily "Gulf News" published on the same day (09 September 2008) a quick survey by reporter Abbas Al Lawati titled "Armenians in the UAE express cautious optimism", where several Armenians living in the UAE expressed their personal views about the recent visit of the Turkish President to Armenia. All agreed that the Genocide should not be forgotten and that if Turkey is sincere in its approach, it should not avoid the historical aspect of its relations with Armenia, without underestimating the importance of upgrading the current relations for the benefit of both sides. See full article here.

In the same issue "Gulf News" devoted an editorial on the subject of the Armenian-Turkish relations, in which it tried to please both sides, as a result some of the sentences lacked clarity and were unbalanced. An example would be the following sentence: " There is much to forgive on both sides." The article was vulnerable also in regard of some historic facts such as the following sentence: "Before the First World War, historic Armenia was part of the Tsarist empire, but hundreds of thousands of Armenians lived in the neighbouring rival Ottoman Empire" (Note: Modern Armenia was best known in pre-WWI period as Russian or Eastern Armenia, while the other part of Armenia was referred to as Turkish or Ottoman or Western Armenia, both part of Historic Armenia or the Armenian Highland). Below is the full text of Gulf News editorial:

Brave start needs to become a solid process

Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
Sept 8 2008
URL link     

The historic visit to Armenia by Turkish President Abdullah Gul is a chance to start a new era between these two peoples who have had a poisonous relationship based on decades of hatred, fuelled by massacres and memories of persecution.

Before the First World War, historic Armenia was part of the Tsarist empire, but hundreds of thousands of Armenians lived in the neighbouring rival Ottoman Empire.

However, the cause of the present day hatred lies in the chaos in the Ottoman Empire as it lost the First World War, when the Armenians say that 1.5 million of them were massacred between 1915 and 1917 in an orchestrated attempt at genocide; while the Turks say that 500,000 Armenians were killed (as well as many Turks) in civil war as parts of the failing Ottoman Empire tried to succeed.

These accusations were frozen for decades as the Armenians lost their independence to the Soviet Union in 1920, and the Turks tried to cover up the killings. However, after Armenia's restored independence in 1991, all the hidden fury came back to the fore. It was fuelled by Turkish support for Azerbaijan (Azeris are Turkic in origin) in the war over the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh surrounded by Azerbaijan, during which Turkey blockaded Armenia and only stopped after peace was declared.

It is important that a new spirit is built between these two historic neighbours. The Turkish President has taken a brave step in starting the process, but his single visit has to turn into a solid process. This will require the Turks to persevere and the Armenians to respond, which will not be easy for either. There is much to forgive on both sides. Strong leadership in Turkey and Armenia is needed to overcome resistance from the more intransigent sections of their populations.

In 2006, Karnig Sarkissian attended the celebrations of the Armenian Community in UAE on the occasion of the First Republic Day.

Click here to see two video clips on YouTube.  

Parev Emirates Event Meeting with Hilda Grigorian (Armenia Village Operation)    DATE: Monday, 01 September 2008 TIME: 09:00 pm LOCATION: "Elements Cafe" Wafi Mall (First Floor), Dubai Tel: 04 324 4252 (to ask directions in case you are absolutely new to Dubai)    Presentation, direct discussions and exchange of views All participants will have chance to interact with the guest   Hilda Grigorian in Aragatsoten (Rural Armenia), supervising Armenia Village Operation efforts

Read more about Armenia Village Operation here.

After shifting to our new premises in “International Media Production Zone” (“IMPZ”) in Dubai, UAE, it is time to announce that our renewed website is already put into your service at the address: www.ndigitec.com.

There, you can check and know whatever you want about Namma Int’l Digitec, our services, continuously updated facilities, upcoming new plans, news about anything concerns our business field and we will be grateful if you send us your opinions and comments.

Besides, we gave to you the facility of using our WebCenter technology directly from our homepage.

Join us today at www.ndigitec.com

Yeghig Bekerian
IT Executive
Namma Int’l Digitec FZ LLC
Dubai, P.O. Box 500779
Tel: +971 4 4355919
Fax:+971 4 4355918
E-mail: yeghig@ndigitec.com
Website: http://www.ndigitec.com/

Read more about the above company in Azad-Hye.biz here.

We would like to bring to your attention that the Armenian Satellite Channel has switched to the new frequency 12597 Mhz Polarisation V - SR 27.5 Mbauds, FEC 3/4.

Please tune your receiver to these new parameters starting from 24 August 2008 to continue enjoying your channel.
 
Azad-Hye

Consul Marat Melikian

Azad-Hye Special

In 2007 the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia was amended and appropriate legislation was passed allowing dual citizenship, thus paving the road in front of the Diaspora Armenians for acquiring Armenian citizenship. Until then, Chapter 1 of the Law of the Citizenship of the Republic of Armenia, which was signed in 1995 by President Levon Ter Petrossian, stated clearly, "a citizen of the Republic of Armenia may not be a citizen of another country at the same time".

Following the adopted changes, thousands of future citizens have already filed for the Armenian citizenship. Under this legislation, persons of Armenian descent who live in foreign countries can file for the Armenian citizenship through the Embassies, while the procedure takes no more than a year.

The Consular Office of the Embassy of Armenia in Abu Dhabi has taken all measures to accept citizenship applications. Questions such as how to apply, what documents are needed, how the applications will be processed, are all clearly answered by the Embassy staff. Already, in the past few months Ambassador Vahagn Melikian met with the Armenian Community members in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait, in three separate occasions, providing extensive explanations about the procedures involved in the process of applying for the citizenship. This was a great encouragement for the community members. It also helped them to benefit from their summer vacations in order to secure official documents from their original countries, required for the citizenship process. It is expected that after the summer vacations considerable number of Armenians will be applying for the citizenship through the Abu Dhabi Embassy.

"Dual citizenship is an important mechanism that is further bringing together the Homeland and the Diaspora. We are ready in the Consulate to provide every single detail and assistance that will make the applying for Armenian citizenship a memorable event for all those who have the will to start a new kind of relationship with Armenia, based on full citizenship, with all accruing rights and duties", said Marat Melikian, Consul in Abu Dhabi. 

For more information about the documents required to apply for the Armenian citizenship and for downloading the application form click here.