06 01 14 - GIBRAHAYER e-magazineGIBRAHAYER WELCOME NEW YEAR AND CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

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Gibrahayer. Nicosia 10 January, 2006. The Armenian community of Cyprus welcomed the New Year and celebrated Christmas amid an array of community controversies, related to the closure of Melkonian, the Nareg curriculum and important issues related to future of the Armenian community of Cyprus.
Despite the general pessimism that surrounds most Gibrahayers, the community was able to join the rituals of the holidays and put aside for a while the doomsday scenarios.
AYMA kicked off the Christmas season with its annual Dinner Dance on December 25 at the Cyprus Hilton, while AGBU announced a reciprocal festive get-together (its first after the Melkonian scandal) on the same day at the AGBU club House.
The Armenian youth organised their Christmas party on the 16th, while the New Year was greeted by the community faithful at Sourp Asdvadzadzin Church at midnight.
The first event of 2006 was organised by AYMA which was a badanegan get-together to greet Santa Clause on January 1, 2006.
As every year members of AYF visited Armenian homes on Christmas Eve for Carol singing, while community members attended Divine Liturgy on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Armenian Churches in Nicosia, Larnaca and Limassol.
Perhaps the most vibrant get-together of the community was held last Saturday January 7 in Limassol where an unprecedented record crowd of 200 crammed into a local taverna and rocked the joint under the tunes of Armenian singer Vahe Kambourian, until the early hours of Sunday morning.
I take this opportunity to wish our readers Merry Christmas. Hope it is a healthy, happy and prosperous one. My single wish is that our community finds the guts to see issues for what they are and stand up for what they believe. As we live in a small country and an even smaller community, this is a difficult task as there are and always will be repercussions. However, if we want to accomplish what we perceive as the common good, it is the only way to move forward.
If there are different perceptions to what the "common good" is, we need to sit down in a dialogue and resolve it in a civilised manner, rather than play solo ... off-tune.
I hope 2006 will give us the wisdom to maintain our community's presence on the island, to preserve the national identity of the future generations, to claim and father our heritage sites in Turkish-occupied Cyprus and excel on all fronts as Armenians in Cyprus.

Simon Aynedjian - Gibrahayer e-magazine


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Sunday 22 January 2006 at 8:00 pm - Recital of songs and Arias by Armenian Cypriot artists, organised by The Hamazkayin Cultural and Educational Association Cyprus Oshagan Chapter. Presented by Sona Gargaloyan, Zara Barkhudarian, Maral Vorsganian as well as Hilda Gulesserian & Gor Barkhudarian. Piano accompaniment Lilia Khachaturian. Kastelliotissa Hall, Pafos Gate, Nicosia. Entrance cyp 5.00

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