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PRESS RELEASE
Date: July 15, 2008
Armenian National Committee of America
Eastern Region
122 W. 27th St. Floor 12, New York, NY 10001
Contact: Ani Hagopian
Tel: 313-655-2067

ANCA EASTERN REGION ENCOURAGING VOTER REGISTRATION FOR NOVEMBER
ELECTION
–Hundreds of candidates called upon to answer ANCA
Congressional Questionnaire
New York, NY – With the 55th Presidential and 111th Congressional
elections quickly approaching this November, the Armenian National
Committee of America, Eastern Region (ANCA-ER) is working to
promote voter registration outreach, and online and in- person
education to help strengthen Armenian American voices on issues of
concern to the community.

"Armenian Americans can play a powerful part in making their vote
count. With regular participation in local and national elections,
the strength and voice behind the Armenian cause can only continue
to grow," commented Ani Hagopian, outreach coordinator for the
Armenian National Committee of America, Eastern Region.

Encompassing thirty-three states, the ANCA Eastern Region embodies
a significant number of Armenian Americans and draws attention
towards efforts being made to enhance the Armenian voice. Zori
Eurdekian, 2008 ANCA Leo Sarkisian Intern, recently sent out ANCA
congressional questionnaires to hundreds of potential
congressional candidates and incumbents in hopes of establishing a
strong database to demonstrate how each candidate stands on issues
important to the Armenian American community. The ANCA
questionnaire is a tool for activists that allow each community to
help determine ANCA endorsements and support for particular races.
Drawing attention to Armenian Genocide recognition, foreign aid to
Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh, and the genocide in Darfur, the
questionnaire responses are shared with ANCA activists and will be
available through the ANCA website this coming fall.

Sources indicate the 2008 presidential and congressional elections
are said to be the election in which technology will play the
biggest role yet. Knowing the importance of the internet in this
election, the ANCA provided opportunities on its website for people
to register to vote, allow access to past meetings and events
activists have had with representatives and senators, and even
review Congressional "Report Cards" of their human rights and
Armenian related activity over the last two years.

"First time voters will be an imperative part of this election; we
want to make sure that they know they have the opportunity to learn
where candidates stand on important issues and be able to have the
ability to register to vote at their fingertips," Hagopian says.

In addition to Internet accessibility, the ANCA will also have
tables set up at the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) 75th Annual
Senior Olympics, which takes place in Detroit, Michigan from August
30 to September 2, 2008.

Registering to vote is a privilege for every American citizen. For
further information about voter registration, please visit
form&state=. Please
note you will have to print, sign, and mail in your form.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest
and most influential Armenian American grassroots political
organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices,
chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated
organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the
concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.

CHIEF OF ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL STAFF MEETS COUNCIL OF EUROPE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER

ARMENPRESS
JULY 14

Chief of Armenian presidential staff Hovik Abrahamian met today
with the visiting Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas
Hammarberg.

The presidential press service told Armenpress that they discussed
the status of Armenia’s fulfillment of Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe’s (PACE) resolutions 1609 and 1620.

Particularly, they spoke about the legal status of imprisoned
individuals and the format of an ad hoc parliamentary commission set
up for an independent inquiry into March 1 events in Yerevan.

The Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg will
report on these issues to PACE’s Monitoring Commission in September.

The presidential press service said Hovik Abrahamian assured that
Armenian authorities are resolute in conducting a full investigation of
the March 1-2 events and punishing the responsible. He at the same time
stressed that no one can be persecuted for his or her political views.

Panorama.am

16:38 12/07/2008

ARMENIAN YOUTH DISCUSS ABDULLAH GUL

`The President of Turkey will receive Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation and
will visit Armenia if US and Russia support the idea. Otherwise he
won’t receive the invitation,’ said Manuk Sukiasyan, the
representative of `Alternative’ social-political organization.

Mihran Hakobyan, member of Republican Party youth organization, said
that after detailed discussions Turkey will receive the invitation.

`Now Turkey puts its relations with Azerbaijan on scales and on the
other side its possibilities to become a member of European family and
the problem of improving the relationship with Armenia. Hence, to me
the President of Turkey will receive Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation,’ he
said and added `it is under interest of Turkey’.

To the question of Panorama.am what will be the positive results,
Hakobyan said that after that the diplomatic relationship of the two
countries most possibly will start.

Source: Panorama.am

The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
July 12, 2008 Saturday
1 – State Edition

City of the dead

by GREG THOM

As far as human tragedies go, the destruction of Smyrna (now
modern-day Izmir) in 1922 was among the worst. There was rape, pillage
and murder. Then a ferocious, deliberately lit fire threatened to
consume half a million desperate refugees trapped on the quayside.

It was a disaster of biblical proportions. Author Giles Milton,
recounting the city’s descent into Armageddon, could not have chosen a
more apt title for his book.

A few years before, this city in southwest Turkey was vibrant,
multicultural and picturesque. For decades it had been a beacon of
religious harmony and economic prosperity. Its European, Greek,
Turkish, Jewish and Armenian people lived harmoniously. No one was
happier with the status quo than the Levantine community.

They were Europeans who had settled in the area generations before,
and who’d become fabulously wealthy and powerful.

Their villas, lavish balls and boating excursions epitomised the
excesses that Edwardian grandeur had to offer.

But a brutal war between an expansionist Greece and the decaying
leftovers of the old Ottoman empire, which found itself on the losing
side in the aftermath of World War I, was to change everything.

When the resurgent and victorious Turkish army under Mustafa Kemal,
the founder of modern Turkey, rode into Smyrna on the heels of the
defeated Greeks, the city’s fate was sealed.

Who was at fault for what followed has been hotly debated by Turkish
and Greek historians. Witnesses’ accounts claim the events that
unfolded amounted to ethnic cleansing of the worst order.

Afterwards most of the city was in ruins and up to 100,000 people,
mostly of Greek and Armenian background, were dead.

A few escaped on the fleet of Allied ships riding at anchor in the
harbour.

Crews witnessed the unfolding tragedy, but largely did nothing to stop
it.

The Levantine families’ connections meant they did not suffer the
ravages inflicted on the Greeks and Armenians.

But they left behind their fabulous villas and belongings as well as a
way of life.

Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922 — The Destruction Of Islam’s City Of
Tolerance is a gripping, thoroughly researched chronicle of a
little-known chapter from the darker annals of human history.

PARADISE LOST
* Giles Milton
$35l, Hachette Livre

ANCA TROUBLED BY EVASIVE STAND OF U.S. AMBASSADOR DESIGNATE TO RA

DeFacto Agency
July 11 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 11.07.08. DE FACTO. Senator Barack Obama has received written
responses to the four written questions he submitted to U.S. Ambassador
Designate Marie Yovanovitch as a part of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee’s ongoing review of her nomination to serve as the next
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, reported the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA).

"We remain troubled by Ambassador Yovanovitch’s evasive answers,
her outright non-responses, and her refusal, in her replies to
Senator Obama and other Senators, to offer anything approaching
a reasonable or factually supportable explanation of the reasons
behind Administration’s misguided policy on the Armenian Genocide,"
said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "This being said,
it appears as though Ambassador Yovanovitch and her colleagues have
learned from the disastrous Hoagland experience and are coming to
understand that the U.S. Senate will not accept – and the Armenian
American community will never allow – an Ambassador to Armenia who
denies the Armenian Genocide."

To remind, Ambassador Yovanovitch appeared as a witness before
the Committee on June 19th. During this appearance, she faced
a series of pointed questions from Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
regarding the Bush Administration’s policy to mischaracterize
the Armenian Genocide. Afterwards, as many as eight Senators,
including Senator Menendez, submitted a series of written inquiries
to the nominee. Her responses to Senator Obama, the seventh set
of answers received to date, are available on the ANCA Website at:
nomination/ObamaYovanovitch_Responses.pdf
Concerne d that Senators had not been given enough time to review
Ms. Yovanovitch’s responses, with many submitted less than 24 hours
before the impending Committee vote, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
called for a delay in Senate consideration, until Senators had a
clearer picture of the nominee’s position. A Committee decision on
this posting is expected in mid-July.

"We compromise our standing as a nation when we require that our
Foreign Service officers either lie or conceal the truth in the conduct
of our foreign affairs. This exercise of euphemisms and evasion in
relation to the Armenian Genocide, which everyone knows is the result
of Turkish government pressure, undermines our credibility," added
Hamparian. "Our diplomats should be sent abroad with a clear message:
speak the truth and America will stand with you."

Associated Press of Pakistan
July 10 2008

Azerbaijan President calls for OIC strengthening

ISLAMABAD, Jul 10 (APP): President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, while
receiving the visiting Pakistan Parliamentary delegation, strongly
supported Pakistan’s position on Kashmir and urged the need for
strengthening OIC.

The Pakistan delegation, headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain, Chairman,
Foreign Relations Committee of Senate, had warm and productive meeting
with the Azeri President in Baku, says a press statement received here
Thursday.

The President also thanked Pakistan for its support for Azerbaijan on
the issue of Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia. Ilham Aliyev also extended
full cooperation to Pakistan in the field of energy as Azerbaijan is a
major exporter of oil and gas.

In response to an invitation from Senator Mushahid Hussain, the
President, who is also head of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, agreed
to send a delegation to the International Conference of Asian
Political Parties (ICAPP), which will be held in Islamabad on October
24-26 this year.

Senator Hussain also thanked the President for their help to victims
of Pakistan’s earthquake in 2005 by building a school in Azad Kashmir,
which has been donated by Hyder Aliyev Foundation, headed by the first
lady of Azerbaijan.

The delegation also met the Azeri Prime Minister, Artur Rasizade, who
stated that bilateral economic ties should be strengthened and this
would be done at the forthcoming meeting of the Joint Ministerial
Commission in Baku in 2008.

In its meeting with Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Senator
Mushahid Hussain provided a detailed briefing on Pakistan’s foreign
policy with reference to Afghanistan and India.

He stated that Pakistan was being blamed unfairly for mistakes made by
the Western forces in Afghanistan, who are looking for a scapegoat.

He stated that Pakistan was not responsible for growth of narcotics or
bad governance or corruption or collapse of law and order in
Afghanistan.

These are problems which are being ignored because of the mistakes
made by the Western forces by ignoring Afghanistan since they decided
to invade Iraq.

Senator Hussain urged the need to give a `healing touch’ to
Afghanistan and not alienate the Afghan population through
indiscriminate use of force. He also referred to the burden of Afghan
refugees that Pakistan was carrying on its own.

Gifts were also exchanged on the occasion. The delegation comprises
Senator Mushahid Hussain, Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee,
Senators Wasim Sajjad, Nisar Memon, Maulana Samiul Haq, Talha Mahmood,
Latif Khan Khosa, Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Naeem Hussain Chattha and
Iftikhar Ullah Babar, Additional Secretary Senate as Secretary of the
delegation.

AZG Armenian Daily #132, 11/07/2008

Karabakh issue

BAKU EXPECTS RESOLUTENESS FROM OSCE

"We are expecting a resolute position from OSCE. The latter as the
main organization in Europe on security and cooperation issues should
act for rehabilitation of Azerbaijani infringed rights and
corresponding to UN mandate", announced Azerbaijani President’s
Administration Head of Public and Political Department Ali Hasanov,
according to "Trend News".

"We demand that OSCE should make its standpoint clear and declare a
resolute position", he added.

According to Hasanov, Azerbaijan has become a serious factor in the
world economic, political and energy security. "We should make use of
it. Especially in our biggest issue ` the settlement of Karabakh
conflict", mentioned he.

Translated by L.H.

Daily Star – Lebanon
July 11 2008

Tashnak, Murr ‘will run on same slate’ in 2009 legislative elections

Daily Star staff
Friday, July 11, 2008

BEIRUT: MP Hagop Pakradounian, head of Tashnak, the largest Armenian
bloc in Lebanon’s Parliament, underlined the "historic alliance which
dates as far back as 45 years" between his community and powerful Metn
MP Michel Murr following a meeting between the two on Thursday.

Pakradounian said that Tashnak and Murr would be running on the same
slate for seats in the Metn area in the 2009 parliamentary elections.

Concerning the recently tense relations between Murr and Christian
opposition leader MP Michel Aoun Pakradounian said he could not
understand "why people are making a big deal out of this," adding:
"There has never been any rivalry between Murr and Aoun."

Murr and Aoun did not need "intermediaries to solve their
differences," Pakradounian said, "because their relationship is older
than Aoun’s relationship with the Tashnak."

Murr also publicly announced his alliance with the Tashnak for the
2009 polls. The MP added that he had "no major problem" with Aoun.

Murr ended his alliance with the Change and Reform bloc earlier this
year, saying he "always favored middle positions."

"There is no disappointment and thus no need for reconciliation," Murr
said. "I am independent in politics. I am not accustomed to adhering
to parties and I did not leave the bloc to enter another bloc."

Murr added that he had information that a new cabinet would be formed
in the coming 24 hours, but did not rule out that it might take
longer.

On the phone conversation between Lebanese President Michel Sleiman
and Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday, Murr said the move was
"an excellent and important step." – The Daily Star

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION WILL ENSURE SECURITY AND FUTURE OF ARMENIAN NATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.07.2008

The Armenian Genocide is an indisputable fact. Its international
recognition is immediately linked with security and future of the
Armenian nation, AFR Dashnaktsutyun members stated during the newly
elected Bureau’s plenary session held in Yerevan July 3-8.

The Bureau members are confident that all Armenian high-ranking
officials are unanimous about the issue.

Just resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict was mentioned as
a priority task among with the Genocide recognition, resistance to
challenges, reanimation of Armenia’s international image, efficiency
of political, social and economic reforms.

The ARFD Bureau devoted special attention to reorganization of the
Diaspora as a strong political and economic factor and welcomed
formation of Ministry for Diaspora Affairs.

PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN ATTENDS LAUNCH OF CONSTRUCTION OF A BLOCK OF APARTMENTS FOR YOUNG PROFESSORS

ARMENPRESS
July 9,2008

President Serzh Sargsyan, Yerevan mayor Yervand Zakharian, Yerevan
State University rector Aram Simonyan and pro-rector Arsen Karamyan
attended today the launch of construction of a block of apartments
for young professors and assistant professors of the University.

The high-rise apartment block designed for 261 families will be built
in Yerevan’s Avan district. It will be ten-storey high with 2,3 and 4
room apartments. The ground floor will be for shops, offices and public
services. It will have also all facilities, including safety one,
and modern heating and air conditioning systems, also an underground
parking lot for 181 cars, a green zone and a playing ground.

Pro-rector Arsen Karamyan, who is also chairman of Support to Apartment
Building for Young University Professors non-governmental organization,
said the project became possible thanks to effective support of the
country’s president, who is also chairman of the State University’s
Council.

He said the original idea was to build 64 apartments, but President
Sargsyan suggested that 261 apartments be built. The price of one
square meter is 170,000 drams, although according to experts, the
market price is 350,000 Drams.

Apart from the main group of beneficiaries also extra ones were
selected through casting a lot and if there are vacant apartments they
will be sold to those in the list. This block will be accomplished
in two years and a new one may be launched in 12-18 months.