By Gourgen James Khazhakian On May 29 the Club of Yerevan the Soroptimist International (SI) was established officially. SI is a worldwide organization of "women in management and professions, working to build a better world for women and children through awareness, advocacy and action," as the SI site says. "Soroptimist" is a combination of two Latin words, “soror” and “optima”, interpreted as the best for women. Below is a brief into on the SI. The first Soroptimist Club was formed in 1921, in Oakland, California, and was quickly followed by other Clubs in North America. By 1928, there were enough Clubs in these continents to from two federation - America (SI/E) and European (SI/E) By 1978, the number of countries with Soroptimist Club had grown to 55 and there were Clubs on every continent. They were of very different cultural and economic backgrounds, and in this year a fourth federation was established ,- South West Pacific (SI/SWP). Today Soroptimist International has about 92,000 members in over 3, 000 Clubs, present in 125 countries. Through International Goodwill and Understanding, and Friendship, Soroptimists worldwide stand for the following: - The advancement of the status of woman - High ethical standards - Human rights for all - Equality, empowerment, and peace. At the Constitution Assembly held on 29 May Dr Tamara F. Sargsyan, Director of the Center of Medical Genetics and Primary Health Care was elected the Club's President. The three Vice Presidents elected are: Dr Nani Oskanian, Founder and long-time President of a number of charities such as Diplomats' Spouses Association, Children Health Care Association, Children First, Ladies “Yerevan” International Club, Ashkhen Petrosyan, philologist and Meri Ghevondyan, mathematician. In the same day evening Charter ceremony of the newly established SI Club of Yerevan was held, with participation of numerous quests from various countries. Most of them were leaders and members of the Soroptimist International Europe (SI/E). As Dr Eliane Lagasse, SI/E President told your correspondent, the main objective to create SI Yerevan Club was the following: "First, we want to expand SI/E activities to the new countries of East Europe, as we believe Soroptimist's presence here in Armenia would be of (great) benefit to its people. No less importantly, we know Dr Tamara Sargsyan and her team as very professional and dedicated women, so that's why I'm confident we'll have good Soroptimist International Yerevan Club." As Dr Nani Oskanian (who, as it was mentioned above, was a newly elected Vice President of the SI Yerevan Club, and whose extensive experience, enormous energy and dedication are well-known), told The Highlights correspondent, she was "happy" for collaboration of the Armenian women having "hugest potential", with a world largest women organization such as the Soroptimist Intl, as she believes that "it will be of great importance for Armenian women's and children's life, and, besides, our professional ladies will have a very good chance to learn from the SI huge experience." As Nilgun Ozler, Chairperson of the SI/E Extension Committee told The Highlights, this is her second visit to Armenia. Mentioning that by now for SI the water is No1 priority, and its 25,000 members are at the moment engaged in the water protects, Mrs Ozler at the same time stressed that Soroptimist International Club of Yerevan is free to implement any other area-related program as "local Clubs of SI are absolutely independent, as it is marked in the SI Constitution". In her words, the Soroptimist International, this world largest intl. organization, is a good venue for Armenian women to represent their country and it's potential through cooperation with ladies from many other countries. Your author asked Nilgun Ozler as a Turkish: "What d'you think should he done for the real Armenian - Turkish normalization?" "In our organization, we have very strict rules to stay away from politics, religion and ethnicity….", Mrs Ozler said. However, she added: "I think this is a very good example of how people can be friends if politics is not involved. As a Turkish Soroptimist, I feel myself very close to my Armenian sisters; you know, we call ourselves "sisters"; and I'm maybe or, surely, the one who is closest to Armenian Soroptimists . 'Cause we, the two nations, have a long past together. We have many similarities, many traditions in common. Therefore there is a lot of to share and enjoy as the Soroptimist sisters". In her speech Dr Tamara F. Sargsyan, the newly elected President of the Soroptimist International Club of Yerevan, said in particular: "First of all I'd say that I'm very grateful for such extraordinary and honorable position. I will do my very best to do this work and to develop it furthermore very actively, so I'd ask our Soroptimist sisters to help me in this as much as possible. You know, I was very impressed by functions, activities and achievements by Soroptimist International in the whole world, and I know very well that your work is of great importance for your (numerous) countries. Of course, we the Armenian Soroptimists, have also our priorities. And No.1 of them is healthcare, and first of all - for women and children, 'cause only having healthy generation, we'd have a healthy nation. And I believe we will successful in this important work as we, the Armenian Soroptimist sisters have very good professionals - medical doctors, clinicians, biologists. Our second priority is preservation of the Armenian (tremendous) cultural heritage as this is also a very important challenge for Armenia. …So I believe the SI Yerevan Club's due to its activities, among others, will be helpful for our country. As to our team, I must say that they are really outstanding Ladies - in terms of there intelligence and dedication, there are real hardworkers." And it was right there The Highlights correspondent has got knew the history of the SI Yerevan Club establishment. "… And indeed our special thanks and love to our Godmother, Elena Massimo, Secretary of the Soroptimist Genova Due …", said Tamara Sargsyan. As she told the quests, yet in 2004 she was in a Genova hospital with professional mission, where she met Professor Luiza Massimo and her sister Elena. So during the evenings with them and other Genova Soroptimist members an idea to establish SI Yerevan Club was born. "We have been waiting for the whole six years, so it seems now unbelievable that our dream came true", by this finalized (very excited) President of the SI Club of Yerevan. And after that, traditionally for SI, there was a candle lighting ceremony, - by Dr Lagasse, Dr Sargsyan, Wilma Matucelli, President of SI Unione Italiano and Nilgun Ozler. As Dr Lagasse said in her speech, "…the SI has indeed changed the world!" Mrs Lagasse considered the establishment of the SI Club of Yerevan as a sign that woman solidarity can do in fact miracles worldwide. After that President of SI/E Dr Eliane Lagasse solemnly handed the Charter of the SI to the SI Yerevan Club President Dr Tamara F. Sargsyan which certified that the Yerevan Club has become a fully fledged member of the SI. Thirty five Armenian women received SI Yerevan Club official membership badges and pins at the ceremony; among them are doctors, biologists, economists, mathematicians, lawyers, philologists, journalists. Among the "newly-born" members was a world renowned piano player professor Svetlana Navasardyan who really amazed the audience by her (fantastic, as usual) performance of pieces by Chopin as well as Aram Khachaturyan. And the Gala dinner finalized the event. The Noyan-Tapan Highlights

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