Month: February 2015

WHICH ARE THE FINAL GOALS OF RUSSIAN AND THE WEST? (VIDEO)

10:56 | February 3,2015 | Interview

A1+ interviewed analyst Davit Shahnazaryan.

Which are the final goals of Russian and the West in the West-Russia
conflict, what will they consider a final victory?

Davit Shahnazaryan thinks that the final goal of Russia is to review
the bases of the collapse of the Soviet Union, to reach an agreement
with the West to create a new, global security system, to show the
world that the NATO is a weak organization, etc.

The final goal of the West is to make Russia predictable, to see Russia
without Crimea and to make Russia a part of the Western civilization.

More- in the video

PRESS RELEASE
The Armenian Center at Columbia University
Media Contact: Taleen Babayan
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 201-693-3453

Groundbreaking Symposium at Columbia University Focusing on Monuments &
Memory, in Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
To Be Held February 20

By Taleen Babayan

Major scholars from around the world will participate in a timely, and
thought-provoking conference at Columbia University, `Monuments and Memory:
Material Culture and the Aftermath of Histories of Mass Violence’ on Friday,
February 20, 2015.

This all-day symposium concentrating on material culture and memory, with
the ruins of the ancient Armenian city of Ani as the centerpiece, is
organized and hosted by Peter Balakian, Donald M. Constance H. Rebar
Professor of the Humanities at Colgate University, and Rachel Goshgarian,
Assistant Professor of History at Lafayette College, and sponsored by the
Armenian Center of Columbia University, Columbia’s Institute for the Study
of Human Rights, the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, and
the Armenian General Benevolent Union.

The conference will explore the general themes of restoration, restitution
and social justice and will be groundbreaking in its comparative analysis
of Jewish monuments in Eastern Europe, Muslim monuments in the Balkans, and
Armenian-Christian monuments in Turkey.

Four sessions revolving around these topics will take place throughout the
day, each chaired by a member of the Columbia community who will conduct
and moderate the question and answer sessions.

The first session, `Monuments and Memory: the Significance of Material
Culture in the Aftermath of Genocide,’ (10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.), chaired
by Christine Philliou, Associate Professor of History at Columbia
University, will address the historical contexts for the destroyed or
appropriated material cultures of minority peoples in the aftermath of
histories of mass violence. The current conditions of these monuments will
be analyzed, as well as their roles in collective memory for both occupying
and exiled cultures. Presenters include Peter Balakian; Andrew Herscher,
Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor; and Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor of English
and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

The second session, `The Medieval Armenian City of Ani: A Case Study in the
Politicization of Art History, History, Historical Monuments and
Preservation in a Post-Genocidal Context,’ (11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.),
chaired by Nanor Kebranian, Assistant Professor in the Department of Middle
Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University, will
include papers on subjects related to Ani’s multicultural past, cultural
destruction, restoration projects, depiction in modern Turkey, and place in
the construction of Armenian identity. Presenters include Rachel
Goshgarian; Christina Maranci, Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Associate
Professor of Armenian Art and Architecture at Tufts University; Heghnar
Watenpaugh, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of California,
Davis; and Yavuz Ozkaya, Restoration Architect at PROMET Architecture and
Restoration Co.

The third session, `Monuments, Memory, Restitution, and Social Justice:
What issues do monuments raise in these historical contexts? How can social
justice and restitution be achieved decades after the event of genocide or
mass-killing?’ (2:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.) will be chaired by Hamid Dabashi,
Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at
Columbia University. Presenters include Osman Kavala, Founder of Anadolu
Kultur; Leo Spitzer, Kathe Tappe Vernon Professor of History at Dartmouth
University; and Elazar Barkan, Professor of International and Public
Affairs at Columbia University.

The concluding session will be a round table discussion followed by a
reception for participants and attendees.

`Rachel and Peter are bringing together a wide range of speakers to address
the issue of Ani, from historians to cultural heritage advocates, to
practicing architects actively engaged in restoration projects at Ani,’
said Maranci.

`I hope that it will galvanize more dialogue about the fate of the churches
and other ancient monuments in and around Ani, because of their historical
and architectural importance and because of their structural
vulnerability.’

`There is tremendous opportunity here to address the painful history of
Armenians and Turkey and forge a different way forward regarding Armenian
cultural heritage in Turkey,’ said Watenpaugh, who recently published,
`Preserving the Medieval City of Ani: Cultural Heritage Between Contest and
Reconciliation’ in the *Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians*
*.* `This is the right time to have a critical and public discussion about
this site, and the broader issues it raises.’

Mark Momjian Esq., Chair of the Armenian Center and an alumnus of Columbia
College and Columbia Law School, emphasized his alma mater’s role not only
in aiding the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, but in advocating support
of the Armenian Republic.

`Ambassador Henry Morgenthau was an alumnus of Columbia Law School, and he
is in the pantheon of heroes to the Armenian people. Talcott Williams was
the first director of Columbia’s School of Journalism, and he was heavily
involved with Near East Relief. George Edward Woodbury, a comparative
literature professor at Columbia, assailed the perpetrators of the Armenian
Genocide. And there are countless others,’ said Momjian, a Philadelphia
lawyer and community activist. `This symposium marks the centennial of the
Armenian Genocide, but it also honors the many Columbians who denounced
this terrible crime against humanity and who worked tirelessly to help the
Armenian people.’

The event will take place in Room 1501 of Columbia University’s Morningside
Campus International Affairs Building, located at 420 West 118th Street,
from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. with breaks for lunch and coffee. A reception
will follow. This event is free and open to the public.

From: Baghdasarian

PRESS RELEASE
Date: January 30, 2015

ARMENIAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE
Contact: Press Office
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 383-9009

NEW EXHIBIT `The First Deportation: The German Railroad, the American
Hospital, and the Armenian Genocide’ RELEASED BY ANI, AGMA & Assembly

A Digital Exhibit Based on United States National Archives Photographs

Washington, DC – A third digital exhibit on the Armenian Genocide
consisting of 128 images on 24 panels entitled “The First Deportation: The
German Railroad, the American Hospital, and the Armenian Genocide” was
released today by the Armenian National Institute (ANI), Armenian Genocide
Museum of America (AGMA) and Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).
Available on the ANI, AGMA, and Assembly websites, the exhibit focuses on
two localities, Zeytun, an Armenian city in the Taurus Mountains, and
Konya, a Turkish city in the central Anatolian plain, both linked by the
Armenian Genocide.

The remote and self-sustaining city of Zeytun was the first Armenian
community in Ottoman Turkey deported en masse in April 1915. To deprive the
Zeytun Armenians of any capacity to defy the deportation edicts, the Young
Turk government divided its population sending one part east toward the
Syrian Desert and another part west to the barren flats of the Konya Plain.

By this fate, the Zeytun deportees were routed down from their mountain
homes through the nearby city of Marash and the Cilician Plain and back up
through the high passes of the Cilician Gates of the Taurus Range, the only
accessible road from Cilicia to Anatolia. This route also placed them along
the Berlin-Bagdad rail line then under construction through those very same
passes.

By intersecting that rail line, Zeytun Armenians soon found themselves
among the rest of the Armenian population of western Anatolia being
deported east by train to the main terminus at Konya and substations
beyond, where they were offloaded from cattle cars to walk down the
mountain passes, while work crews led by German and Swiss engineers were
cutting open new roads and tunnels to complete the construction of the rail
system.

There also happened to be an American hospital in Konya manned by three
outstanding figures who soon found themselves in the midst of hundreds of
thousands of Armenian deportees and as such became witnesses to the
unfolding of the Armenian Genocide. The station at Konya was supposed to
serve only as a transit camp, but with all of the Armenians of western and
central Anatolia routed through the city, the open spaces beyond the
station transformed into a vast concentration camp. Because Konya was never
intended to exist as a destination camp and was evacuated within a short
time, it has been forgotten as a major site in the trail of deportation and
the central object of what transpired there overlooked. It was evident to
all observers in the city how rapidly the Ottoman Turkish government
reduced an industrious and prosperous people to misery. In Konya it was
already visible that all it took was a matter of days, not even weeks.

The testimony provided by Dr. Wilfred Post and Dr. William Dodd, and the
efforts of Miss Emma Cushman, all three American medical missionaries,
provide compelling information about the rapidly deteriorating conditions
along the rail line and the start of the process of extinguishing Armenian
life across the region. Their information is paralleled by the protests of
German civilians in the same area who sharply criticized the Ottoman
authorities and raised questions with their own government about the
morality of German wartime policies.

More compelling still were the photographs taken by Dr. Wilfred Post and
the German railroad engineers that documented the wartime reality on this
particular swath of Ottoman territory. While as wartime allies of the
Turks, Germans enjoyed a certain amount of liberty in their actions, Dr.
Post took a serious risk in defying the ban on photographing the Armenians.

Retrieved from the United States National Archives, the entire set of
photographs taken by Dr. Wilfred Post are being issued for the first time
in this exhibit. They constitute the central evidence around which the
entire exhibit is constructed.

Dr. Post captioned the photographs, and succeeded in delivering them to the
American Embassy in Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, from where they
were sent by diplomatic pouch to Washington, DC. They might have been the
very first images of the Armenian Genocide to arrive into the hands of U.S.
officials. In this regard, the historic value of Dr. Post’s photographs are
matched only by those taken by U.S. consul Leslie Davis who documented the
Armenian Genocide in the region of Harput/Kharpert.

Because of the numbers of Armenians being deported and the pace at which
the western Anatolian cities were emptied of their Armenian inhabitants,
the Konya train station became a choke point in the deportation process.
Vast concentration camps of homeless Armenian families soon formed along
the tracks. The brutality of the process, the complete lack of sanitation,
and the absence of sources of food very rapidly created an explosive
situation threatening the spread of epidemics. Thousands of Armenians never
made it beyond the stations of the Konya line and conditions in the refugee
camps were so foul and violent that a train conductor is quoted by Dr. Dodd
describing the Bozanti station as “hell on earth.”

Consisting of 121 images, 7 maps, and containing a rich variety of
eyewitness testimony, the exhibit reconstructs Armenian life in Zeytun,
reproduces the two rare photographs showing the arrest of the Zeytun men,
outlines the deportation route to the degree that contemporary photographs
allow, depicts the city of Konya, showing the contrast between the rugged
mountains in which Zeytun Armenians were accustomed to living and the flat,
arid, and sparsely populated plain of Konya.

The exhibit includes previously unpublished photographs of Zeytun,
reproduces newly released images from German sources, and, in addition to
the United States National Archives material, presents images from the
Australian War Memorial; University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England,
Gertrude Bell Archives; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Kelsey Museum;
Mennonite Church USA Archives; the Armenian Missionary Association of
America and the Haigazian University Archives of Beirut, Lebanon; Library
of Congress; Republic of Armenia National Archives; as well as online
resources and private individuals.

ANI especially recognizes the historian Aram Arkun whose close study of
documentary sources addressed the complex situation surrounding the
denouement in Zeytun and who served as project consultant for the exhibit.
ANI also thanks Gunter Hartnagel, a professional photographer, who provided
valuable guidance on German historical images, and whose researches in
historical geography helped understand the terrain that was covered by the
Zeytun deportees and appreciate the hardships endured by those who trudged
through the mountains of Cilicia at the point of a bayonet.

The location of Konya on the train line also helped to document the
post-war situation in the city. Accompanying a U.S. aid mission and relief
workers, the American photographer George Robert Swain recorded the efforts
of Miss Cushman to create a safe haven for surviving Armenian orphans. In
so doing Swain added another layer of documentation about the fate of the
Armenian population and helped create, in sum with Dr. Post’s pictures, one
of the more comprehensive photographic records of a single location so
directly impacted by the Armenian Genocide.

The final demise of the Armenians of Konya was sealed with the fate of Dr.
Armenag Haigazian who, as a highly-regarded educator, embodied the Armenian
Protestant community’s hope of recovery. He had survived the war years and
the violence of the Young Turk regime, but his restoration of the Apostolic
Institute made him the target of the Turkish Nationalist movement, which
saw to the shuttering of the school and the second exile and persecution of
Dr. Haigazian. World War I may have ended and the Young Turk government
overthrown, but the Armenian Genocide in Turkey continued, making the death
of Dr. Haigazian a most poignant tragedy, especially as he famously held a
doctorate from Yale University.

This third digital exhibit continues and builds upon the themes developed
in the exhibits released earlier, including the role and fate of Armenian
clergy, churches and schools, the role of American missionaries and relief
workers, and the role of Germans in Ottoman Turkey, while distinguishing
between the attitudes of civilian, military, and diplomatic representatives.

The exhibit highlights the unsolvable dilemma faced by the Armenian
Catholicos of Cilicia Sahag II Khabayan, who, unaware of the broader scheme
about to be implemented by the Young Turk regime, advised the Zeytun
population to cooperate with the authorities in the hope of avoiding a
repetition of the Cilician massacres that spread terror across the region a
mere six years earlier. The acts and observations of other clergymen,
including Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Zaven Der Yeghiayan, his
successor Archbishop Mesrob Naroyan, Archbishop Stepannos Hovagimian of
Ismit, Grigoris Balakian, and Reverend William Peet, are also explained as
part of the testimony on this specific aspect of the Armenian Genocide.

The exhibit also highlights the role of an exceptional Ottoman official,
who, as governor of Aleppo and of Konya, opposed the measures of the Young
Turk radicals. Jelal Bey was the highest ranking administrator in the
Ottoman Empire who disapproved of the policies of the triumvirate ruling
from Constantinople. A number of lower ranking officials who disagreed with
the regime were killed by Young Turk party henchmen. Opposing the Young
Turk regime required courage, and Jelal placed his life in jeopardy. He
may have been spared only because of his stature and lifelong service to
the state.

The exhibit also reveals the involvement of a German diplomat, who as an
embassy councilor in Constantinople played a role in maintaining
German-Turkish relations, and as such became among the recipients of the
flow of information being reported about the implementation of the Armenian
Genocide. A lesser official at the time, Konstantin von Neurath rose
through the ranks eventually to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs in
Nazi Germany and as governor of occupied Czechoslovakia, where Reinhard
Heydrich, one of the architects of the Holocaust, served as his deputy.

The exhibit concludes with testimony from Dr. Charles Mahjoubian, a native
of Konya who resettled in Philadelphia and entered the profession of
dentistry. As a survivor, he committed himself to testifying to the events
he witnessed in his hometown. He pointed with pride to his birthplace as
one of the earliest centers of Christianity, dating to St. Paul preaching
in Iconium (ancient name of Konya), and as a center of Turkish Islam where
religious piety restrained the hand of the local population, in sharp
relief to the political fanaticism of the Young Turk regime and the
brutality of its associates. According to Mahjoubian, by a strict reading
of the banishment legislation, Jelal Bey succeeded for a brief while in
delaying the deportation of Catholic and Protestant Armenians.

`The First Deportation: the German Railway, the American Hospital, and the
Armenian Genocide’ strengthens and clarifies the photographic documentation
of the Armenian Genocide in a manner consistent and supportive of third
party records, eyewitness accounts and survivor testimony. It expands the
scope of the evidence and attests to the horrors that unfolded in 1915.

`It did not escape contemporaries that there were immediate lessons to be
drawn from the example of Zeytun,’ observed Van Z. Krikorian, ANI chairman.
`Other communities grasped the methods by which the Young Turk regime
pressurized local politics and aggravated relations among religious and
ethnic groups in order to create conditions to justify the wholesale
depopulation of Armenian towns and cities. Reverend Ephraim Jernazian drew
a direct connection between the failure of the Zeytun Armenians to stand
their ground and the heroic defense of their neighborhood by Urfa
Armenians. Hopeless as their actions might have been at the time, the
Armenians of Urfa made the point that they would not be submitting to
tyranny willingly, nor give up their lives easily to help fulfill the
violent designs of the Young Turks.’

`The clarity of that lesson from the past resonates today with the
necessary defense of Nagorno Karabakh where Armenians yet again a century
later face another enemy whose objective remains their expulsion from their
homeland. The commitment of the Armenians of Artsakh to avoid the fate of
the Western Armenian population was inspired by the tragedies of the
Armenian Genocide and the pledge of survivors to avoid a repeat of such a
calamity,’ concluded Krikorian. `I want to thank Rouben Adalian for
uncovering these valuable records on the Armenian Genocide, and Joe Piatt
and Aline Maksoudian for working with Dr. Adalian in creating this
impressive exhibit,’ Krikorian added.

`Relief workers, educators, missionaries, orphanage administrators, and
other volunteers from the United States played a massive role in relieving
the plight of the survivors,’ stated ANI Director, Dr. Rouben Adalian.
`Many of the longtime American residents of Turkey also witnessed and
reported the deportations and massacres of 1915. Because of the remoteness
of Konya from the other major centers of the Armenian Genocide, Dr. Wilfred
Post, Dr. William Dodd, and Miss Emma Cushman may not have been extended
the recognition they deserve. The compelling evidence of this exhibit now
ranks them among the heroic Americans who helped save lives during the
Armenian Genocide.’

As with the exhibits previously released jointly by ANI, AGMA, and the
Assembly, titled Witness to the Armenian Genocide: Photographs by the
Perpetrators’ German and Austro-Hungarian Allies, and The First Refuge
and the Last Defense: The Armenian Church, Etchmiadzin, and The Armenian
Genocide, “The First Deportation: The German Railroad, the American
Hospital, and the Armenian Genocide,” is also being issued in digital
format for worldwide distribution free of charge on the occasion of the
centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

The digital exhibit “The First Deportation: The German Railroad, The
American Hospital, & The Armenian Genocide” is available online here:

Founded in 1997, the Armenian National Institute (ANI) is a 501(c)(3)
educational charity based in Washington, DC, and is dedicated to the study,
research, and affirmation of the Armenian Genocide.

###

NR# 2014-03

Photo Caption 1: Teaching Staff of the Apostolic Institute in Konya.

Photo Caption 2: Ottoman Minister of War Enver at rail station in Taurus
Mountains.

Photo Caption 3: American Hospital in Konya.

Available online at:

February 2, 2015

PRESS RELEASE
Institute of Armenian Studies
Salpi Ghazarian, Director
University of Southern California
Taper Hall of Humanities, Suite 252
Los Angeles, California 90089-4015
Tel: 213-821-3943
Email: [email protected]

THE “HALF-IMMIGRANT”: IN BETWEEN CALIFORNIA’S GENERATIONS

Richard Hovannisian, Adjunct Professor of History at USC Dornsife
College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and Professor Emeritus of
Armenian and Near Eastern History at UCLA, spoke about his life as a
“Half-Immigrant” as part of the University of Southern California
Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies luncheon talks on Wednesday,
January 28, 2015.

At the invitation of the Institute, Professor Hovannisian, a
recognized scholar of the early 20th century, including the genocidal
years, and the first Republic of Armenia, diverged from his field of
study, to talk with USC History Department Chair Professor Bill
Deverell about his own life and memories as the US-born child of new
immigrants. He spoke about growing up in the San Joaquin Valley,
living within and taking for granted the community of immigrants who
were able to re-create their agrarian lifestyle. He remembered growing
up Armenian at home, and trying to fit into the majority culture at
school.

Professor Hovannisian reminisced about several decades of the Armenian
community’s integration into California society – from the days of
discrimination against Armenians in Fresno, to becoming a large ethnic
community in Southern California, years later.

Running through Professor Hovannisian’s memories was the subtext of
the impact of dislocation, deportation, genocide and survival on a
minority community. The man who was the first to engage in gathering
oral testimonies of genocide survivors remembers that first generation
speaking little about their memories and experiences – either not to
want to burden or driven by an assumption that no one cared.

He referred to his grandson, Garin Hovannisian’s recounting of the
story of his family. Family of Shadows traces three generations of
Hovannisians in California – and Armenia.

This was the fourth luncheon talk in this academic year. Previous
speakers included Dr. Paul Haidostian, President of Haigazian
University, Dr. Fatma Müge Göçek of the University of Michigan and
Harout Ekmanian, a Syrian-Armenian journalist.

The event can be viewed at:

Link to a USC article about this event:

About the Institute Established in 2005, the USC Institute of Armenian
Studies supports multidisciplinary scholarship to re-define, explore
and study the complex issues that make up the contemporary Armenian
experience – from post-Genocide to the developing Republic of Armenia
to the evolving Diaspora. The institute encourages research,
publications and public service, and benefits from communication
technologies that link together the global academic and Armenian
communities.

###

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GRIEVOUS CONSEQUENCES FOR TEGHOUT AND SHNOGH VILLAGES HAVING AGREED TO TEGHOUT MINING PROJECT

12:20 January 30, 2015

EcoLur

The further the more Shnogh and Teghout villages experience grievous
consequences of agreeing to Vallex Company Group for the development
of Teghout copper and molybdenum mine. They are deprived of any
opportunity to survive due to their main activities – agriculture. All
the necessary conditions are eliminated in a hastily manner. The more
Teghout project infrastructure develops, the faster the residents
lose water and land areas. This material has been prepared based on
the publications of the Hetq dedicated to Teghout.

REP. SCHIFF ISSUES STATEMENT ON SYRIAN REFUGEE PROCESSING

Monday, February 2nd, 2015

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)

WASHINGTON–U.S. Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) released a statement
Monday regarding Syrian refugee processing to the United States. The
statement sheds light on the refugee resettlement process, in light
of the massive refugee crisis gripping Syria and its neighboring
countries.

“The ongoing conflict in Syria has resulted in an influx of 3.3
million refugees to the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Jordan,
Iraq, and Turkey,” the statement reads. “Current law only allows
resettlement of limited number of refugees through the United States
Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). USRAP does not accept applications
directly from the refugees abroad, their families in the U.S., or
private organizations. The only mechanism for inclusion in the USRAP
is by registering directly with the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) in the country in which the refugees currently
reside,” the statement explains.

“Individuals should only trust information about the refugee
resettlement program from responsible government entities. In order
to obtain the most up-to-date information, I urge the residents of my
district to contact my office at (818) 450-2900 or (323) 315-5555,”
the statement adds.

Rep. Schiff notes that there are no fees associated with the UNHCR
registration process.

Rep. Schiff also notes in his statement that refugee resettlements are
an arduous and long process and registering with UNHCR and subsequently
being referred to USRAP does not guarantee that the refugee applicant
will be approved for resettlement by the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security. A list of UNHCR offices abroad can
be found at the UNHCR website.

According to the U.S. Department of State (DOS), Bureau of Population,
Refugee, and Migration, the U.S. accepted 105 Syrian refugees during
Fiscal Year 2014 and 164 thus far during Fiscal Year 2015.

COMPLAINT FILED WITH IRS AGAINST PASADENA ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL COMMITTEE

For Immediate Release
February 2, 2015
Contact: Ara K. Manoogian
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Due to the failure of the leadership of the Pasadena Armenian Genocide
Memorial Committee (PAGMC), a non-profit organization, to provide
copies of the IRS Form 990 for the last three years, Ara K. Manoogian,
an investigative journalist, founder ofTheTruthMustBeTold.com,
filed a complaint with the IRS, on February 1, 2015, to have the
PAGMC comply with the Exempt Organization Public Disclosure and
Availability Requirements.

After PAGMC’s former chairman William Paparianaccused PAGMC’s board
of wrongdoings, including failure to ‘follow California law regarding
legal filings,’ Ara Manoogian, as a PAGMC donor for the construction
of a memorial commemorating the death of 1.5 million Armenians in
the first genocide of the 20th century, started an investigation
to check the accuracy of Paparian’s claims. On October 5, 2014,
Manoogian sent an email to Bernard Melekian, PAGMC’s co-chair (then
the interim chairman), former Pasadena Police Chief, and, currently,
Santa Barbara County Undersheriff, with a request to provide copies
of the IRS Form 990 for the last three years; the IRS Form 1023;
documentation from the State of California Franchise Tax Board (FTB)
showing that the PAGMC is tax-exempt; and documentation showing that
the PAGMC was in good standing with the State of California at the
time of soliciting and receiving his donation. The email was also
CC’ed to the Community Foundation of the Verdugos, which provides
repository for the PAGMC’s funds, and the IRS.

To this day, the PAGMC has failed to provide copies of any of
the requested documents. This failure to comply with the Exempt
Organization Public Disclosure and Availability Requirements may cost
the board and Bernard Melekian thousands of dollars in penalties. The
investigation into PAGMC’s activities eventually revealed that the
board had engaged in other illegal activities (see Pasadena Armenian
Genocide Memorial Committee in Crisis, Crisis at Pasadena Armenian
Genocide Memorial Committee Continues, Why Build Pasadena Armenian
Genocide Memorial Without Current Board and How).

Unfortunately, none of those irregularities have been addressed to
this day, which is likely to have paved the way to more infractions.

Recently, Richard Vartanian, another PAGMC donor, asked the Pasadena
City Council and Staff whether the construction of the Memorial, which
officially commenced on January 25, 2015, is in full compliance with
the provisions of the City Charter sections 1002 and 1601, as well
as California Law. Vartanian hasn’t received any response yet.

LA DIRECTION DU HAUT-KARABAKH CONDAMNEE POUR SES VIOLENCES A LEGARD D’UN GROUPE DE L’OPPOSITION D’ARMENIE

ARMÃ~INIE/HAUT-KARABAKH

Les dirigeants des partis d’opposition de l’Arménie ont condamné
les autorités du Haut-Karabakh pour avoir empêché par la force des
dizaines de membres d’un groupe de l’opposition arménienne d’entrer
sur le territoire dans le cadre de sa campagne pour un ” changement
de régime ” a Erevan.

Un cortège de plus de 30 voitures transportant les militants du groupe
appelé le Parlement fondateur ( anciennement pré-Parlement) a été
arrêté et attaqué par les forces de sécurité du Haut-Karabakh
a la frontière de l’Arménie et de République du Haut-Karabakh
(NKR) samedi.

Plus d’une douzaine d’opposants, y compris Zhirayr Sefilian le chef
Parlement Fondateur, ont été blessés lors de cette répression
violente qui a provoqué l’indignation parmi les détracteurs du
gouvernement a l’Arménie et au Karabakh.

Le Parlement Fondateur a insisté sur le fait que la police antiémeute
du Karabakh a commencé a frapper les militants venus d’Erevan et
briser leurs voitures après que Sefilian a accepté d’obéir a leurs
ordres et dit le convoi allait rebrousser chemin. ” Dès que Zhirayr
s’est retourné pour rejoindre dans sa voiture et retourné a Erevan,
ils ont commencé a le frapper, ” a rapporté l’un des militants,
Ara Khudaverdian, au service arménien de RFE / RL (Azatutyun.am). ”
C’était comme une attaque de bandits ”.

” Tout a commencé après qu’ils ont volé mon appareil photo ”,
a déclaré un autre militant, Arsen Khechoyan. Il a affirmé que
deux autres membres du Parlement fondateurs filmant la procession
avaient aussi vu leurs caméras confisquées.

La police du Karabakh a défendu l’usage de la force, a laquelle
il aurait été fait recours au motif d’empêcher tout ” troubles
de masse.

” Une déclaration de police a affirmé que les opposants auraient
été confrontés a de nombreux Arméniens du Karabakh en colère
s’ils avaient été autorisés a effectuer leur campagne dans la
république autoproclamée.

Un porte-parole de Bako Sahakian, le président de la RHK, a même
justifié la violence et a accusé le Parlement fondateur de recourir
a des ” provocations ”. ” Qu’est-ce que l’Artsakh (Karabakh) a a
voir avec les développements politiques internes, et le changement
de régime dans la République d’Arménieâ~@~I ? ”, a ajouté Davit
Babayan.

Une séquence de 12 minutes de l’événement publiée dimanche par
le groupe d’opposition montre que les policiers en uniforme et des
hommes en civil déployés a un poste de contrôle de la RHK n’ont pas
été agressés avant de frapper et de donner des coups de pied aux
membres du Parlement qui se trouvaient assis dans leurs voitures. La
police a endommagé les véhicules a coup de matraque et a cassé les
pare-brise, alors même qu’ils s’éloignaient de la scène. Babayan
a allégué que la force a été utilisée en application de lois au
motif des insultes qui auraient été proférées par les opposants.

La vidéo, qui s’est propagée rapidement sur Internet, a provoqué un
tollé en Arménie où la police antiémeute fait généralement preuve
de retenue depuis les troubles post-électoraux mortelle de 2008.

L’opposition arménienne traditionnelle n’a pas hésité a blâmer
a la fois les dirigeants politiques du Karabakh et de l’Arménie.

Dans un communiqué publié dimanche, le Congrès national arménien
(HAK) a lié ces violences a la récente série d’attaques a Erevan
contre plusieurs militants de l’opposition, dont la plupart sont
membres ou sympathisants du HAK. Le parti d’opposition dirigé
par l’ancien Président Levon Ter-Petrosian a affirmé que le
gouvernement arménien a orchestré cette violence pour neutraliser
le ressentiment populaire a l’encontre de ses ” manquements honteux
”. Il a également averti que l’incident de samedi pourrait avoir
un impact ” très négatif ” sur l’image du Karabakh a l’étranger.

Raffi Hovannisian, chef du parti Zharangutyun (Héritage) a blâmé
de la même facon les présidents Serge Sarkissian et Bako Sahakian
du Karabakh pour ces violences. Dans un communiqué, Hovannisian a
déclaré que les deux hommes devraient démissionner ” pour le bien
de la justice. ”

Nikol Pashinian, une autre figure de l’opposition, a dénoncé cet ”
événement monstrueux ” au début de la session d’hiver du parlement
de l’Arménie lundi. Pashinian a exhorté le président du parlement
Galust Sahakian a former une équipe ad hoc de parlementaires et
a l’envoyer a Stepanakert pour mener une mission d’enquête sur
les faits.

Sahakian a répondu en s’engageant a discuter de la question avec
son homologue du Haut-Karabakh, Ashot Ghulian. ” Je pense que les
organismes compétents de la RHK se sont emparés de ” l’événement
”, a-t-il dit. ” Je vais analyser cette information et réagir a
votre déclaration ”.

Certains députés pro-gouvernementaux n’ont pas caché leur
approbation de cette répression brutale. ” Le Karabakh est
interdit aux fauteurs de troubles”, a déclaré Manvel Grigorian,
un général de l’armée a la retraite. “Seuls les citoyens normaux
peuvent y aller.”

Les dirigeants de la Fédération révolutionnaire arménienne
(FRA) basés a Erevan, et qui sont en principe dans l’opposition a
l’administration Sarkissian, mais alliée a la direction de la RHK, ont
également manifesté leur désaccord. L’un d’eux, Aghvan Vartanian,
a qualifié la réaction violente des autorités du Karabakh d’”
inacceptable ”.

Mais tant Vartanian et qu’Armen Rustamian, un autre dirigeant de
la FRA, ont également critiqué le Parlement Fondateur pour avoir
tenté de mener campagne au Karabakh en utilisant le 100e anniversaire
du génocide arménien en Turquie ottomane a des fins de politique
intérieure. Le centenaire sera officiellement commémoré le 24 Avril.

Le Parlement fondateur, qui n’est pas représenté a l’Assemblée
nationale et n’a pas mobilisé de grandes foules jusqu’a présent,
fait campagne sous le slogan ” Centenaire sans régime ! ”. Un de
ses militants a été passé a tabac a Erevan en novembre peu après
une série d’incendies criminels de voitures appartenant a six autres
membres du mouvement anti-gouvernemental. Personne n’a été arrêté
ou poursuivi a la suite de ces actes de vandalisme.

Vidéo sur le lien plus bas.

mardi 3 février 2015, Ara ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

DANS LES RELATIONS TURQUIE-FRANCE, LE PROBLEME C’EST LA DIASPORA ARMENIENNE SELON LE PRESIDENT DU PARLEMENT TURC

TURQUIE-FRANCE

Le 30 janvier, a l’occasion de sa visite officielle en France, le
President du Parlement turc Cemil Cicek est revenu sur les declarations
du president francais Francois Hollande lors du diner du CCAF. Cemil
Cicek a declare que la Turquie n’a pas de problème avec le peuple
armenien, mais le problème est avec la diaspora armenienne. > dit le president du Parlement turc.

Krikor Amirzayan

mardi 3 fevrier 2015, Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

JEAN-LUC MELENCHON EVOQUE LE GENOCIDE ARMENIEN

France 3

Dimanche 1er fevrier, dans le 12-13 de France 3, Jean-Luc Melenchon
repondant a la question de Francis Letellier a propos du 70ème
anniversaire de la liberation du camp d’Auchwitz : >,
le leader du Front de gauche dira :