Author: Andres-Papazian

NEW YORK FED ASKS JUDGE TO REJECT ARMENIANS’ LAWSUIT

news.am
May 10 2011
Armenia

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York asked judge to reject lawsuit
filed by the Armenian group striving to force disclosure of information
on gold and assets seized by the Ottoman Government in 1915, Bloomberg
Businessweek reports.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, the nonprofit Center for
Armenian Remembrance claimed that Armenian assets totaling $8.13
million were seized during the Armenian Genocide.

The money was seized under “a Turkish directive to deem all Armenians’
assets abandoned”, said center’s lawyer Julia Greenberg.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA: KOBE BRYANT GETTING HEAT FOR TURKISH AIRLINES ENDORSEMENT
by Liana Aghajanian

EurasiaNet.org

May 9 2011
NY

Now that the Los Angeles Lakers have been bumped from the National
Basketball Association playoffs, Kobe Bryant, the team’s star, faces
an off-the-court challenge. This winter, Bryant alienated a large
segment of the Lakers’ fan base, members of California’s large Diaspora
Armenian community, with a decision to endorse Turkish Airlines. Now,
some hope Bryant will use the off-season to make amends.

When the season started, many experts believed Bryant and his teammates
would be playing the Miami Heat in June for the NBA championship. Now,
he can only expect to get more heat from diaspora Armenians. Bryant’s
summer vacation began far earlier than expected when his team suffered
the ignominy of a 4-0 second-round series sweep at the hands of the
Dallas Mavericks. The shocking way the Lakers, defending NBA champs,
exited the playoffs could end up sharpening the residual resentment
that many Armenian fans feel for Bryant.

When the two-year Turkish Airlines endorsement deal was announced last
winter, Armenian diaspora groups reacted with outrage. The Armenian
Youth Federation (AYF), the youth wing of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, as well as the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA), issued statements calling on the Lakers’ star to cancel the
deal. Given the Turkish government’s 49-percent stake in Turkish
Airlines, diaspora groups suggested that Bryant was accepting “blood
money” because of Ankara’s refusal to acknowledge the 1915 Ottoman
Turk slaughter of ethnic Armenians as genocide.

The hard feelings intensified this spring as billboards featuring
Bryant, who has never been to Turkey, began popping up in southern
California to publicize the launch of direct Turkish Airlines flights
from Los Angeles to Istanbul. He also appeared in a television
commercial touting the direct flights. Turkish Airlines, which turned
a $191-million profit in 2010, is no stranger to using athletic stars
to promote its brand. The company also has endorsement deals with two
of the highest profile soccer clubs in Europe, Manchester United and
FC Barcelona.

Now that Bryant doesn’t have to concentrate on basketball again until
the fall, diaspora community leaders hope the supremely talented
guard will have time to reflect on his endorsement choice. “My hope
is that he’ll show his fans that in selling his brand, that he has
not sold his soul, and he can do that by speaking openly and honestly
about the Armenian Genocide,” ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian
told EurasiaNet.org.

Bryant and his agent, Robert Pelinka, have remained mum on the matter,
despite attempts by the AYF to arrange a meeting to explain their
concerns. Pelinka and his company Landmark Sports Agency, who takes
all media queries via email, did not respond to interview requests.

Zanku Armenian, a corporate communications specialist and columnist
who has written several editorials condemning the deal, says Bryant’s
continued silence speaks volumes. “If they do nothing and continue
to ignore the situation, I think that ultimately there is going to
be a chilling effect,” he said. “It will have set a precedent by the
Lakers and by Kobe that he is insensitive and doesn’t really care
about the community – that in of itself will be a statement.”

Armenian says the controversy reached a high point when Turkish
Airlines Director Fatma Yuceler released a statement in which
she maintained that the endorsement deal was in no way related to
“sensitive and complex controversy over highly contested history.”

Many diaspora Armenians interpreted the statement as being dismissive
of genocide claims. Yuceler, who appeared with Bryant at a celebration
of the LA-Istanbul service’s launch in March in Los Angeles, didn’t
respond to interview requests from a EurasiaNet.org correspondent.

Many Lakers’ fans of Armenian descent said they felt betrayed by
Bryant’s Turkish Airlines deal. “I thought he would have a better
idea of sensitive issues and people’s cultural background,” said Max
Nazaryan, one of the disappointed Lakers fans.

But not all diaspora Armenians are ready to condemn Bryant. Anush
Avejic, whose son is an avid fan of the Lakers, asserted that the
Armenian community’s expectations of Bryant are unrealistic. “We as
a people need to move on and do something constructive and of worth,
rather than this hoopla that goes on with no outcome,” she said. “We
spend so much time and energy and money on lobbyists just to get our
point across and our point is not being made, because we’re still in
that victim mentality.”

Editor’s note: Liana Aghajanian is a freelance writer based in Los
Angeles.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN DIASPORA MINISTER AWARDS PROMINENT TURKISH ARMENIANS

news.am
May 10 2011
Armenia

After attending the Global Summit of Women in Istanbul, Armenian
Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan handed out medals to 15 prominent
Turkish Armenians.

Author Mkrtich Margosyan, composers Garo Mafyan and Cenk Taskan and
Alis Manukyan, the first Armenian female vocalist in Turkey~Rs State
Opera and Ballet were among those awarded.

In an interview with Turkish Hurriyet Daily News newspaper Margosyan
said he does not consider himself a member of Diaspora because he
lives on the land where their ancestors have lived for thousands of
years. He also voiced criticism against the Turkish government, saying
the lack of a Turkish state official at the ceremony was disappointing.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIANS SPLIT OVER WHO BELONGS TO THE ‘DIASPORA’

Hurriyet

May 9 2011
Turkey

Minister Hagopyan arrived in Turkey on Thursday to participate in
the Global Summit of Women, a conference held in Istanbul.

The granting of an award to Armenian intellectuals from Istanbul by
Armenia’s diaspora minister has sparked a global debate among the
prominent members of the Armenian community over what constitutes the
“diaspora.”

Some of the figures who received awards Sunday objected to being
considered part of the diaspora since they reside in their ancestors’
native lands.

“It is unacceptable to define people residing in their homelands as
‘diaspora,'” historian Ara Sarafian, the director of the Gomidas
Institute in London, told the Hurriyet Daily News on Monday,
criticizing both the Armenian government and the people who received
the awards.

“First of all, I would like to ask why those people who accepted the
awards while maintaining their critical stance avoided pointing out
during the ceremony the fact that they did not constitute a diaspora
because [their ancestors] had been living in their own homelands for
thousands of years,” Sarafian said.

“I would [also] like to ask just how much Armenia recognizes and
understands the Armenians of Istanbul who represent the milestone of
worldwide Armenian culture,” he added.

Vahakn Karakashian, the editor-in-chief of Horizon newspaper in
Canada, agreed that the 50,000-strong Armenian community in Istanbul
should not be considered part of the diaspora, adding that Armenians
have historical treasures in the area. But Karakashian said Diaspora
Minister Hranush Hagopyan’s initiative to award the Istanbul Armenians
was still very well placed and worthy of recognition.

“It seems Armenia is making an effort to build some bridges. Our
intellectuals’ criticism must be regarded as but only a small
reprimand,” said writer, academic and linguist Sevan Nishanyan,
a Turkish Armenian, who also affirmed Hagopyan’s positive intentions.

“We can say that Istanbul Armenians are a de facto diaspora, but if
they were Diyarbakır or Malatya Armenians, no one could argue that
they are diaspora,” said Harout Ekmanian, a journalist from Aleppo,
Syria. “However, I wonder if the attitude of Istanbul Armenians toward
the word ‘diaspora’ might also be a result of the demonization of
the Armenian diaspora in the daily discourse for decades in Turkey.”

Minister Hagopyan arrived in Turkey on Thursday to participate in the
Global Summit of Women, a conference held in Istanbul. She presented 15
intellectuals from Istanbul with gold medals at a special reception
hosted by the Turkish Armenian Patriarchate on the last day of
her visit.

“It could have been any minister from Armenia, but I would not have
preferred a diaspora minister to have come to Turkey. Where I live now
is where I have lived for thousands of years; I am no diaspora. This is
a terrible irony,” Mıgırdic Margosyan, one of the award recipients,
told the Daily News shortly before the ceremony.

“We are where we need to be, and we continue paying our debt to this
land,” said Garo Mafyan, a highly influential figure in Turkish pop
music, making the same argument as Margosyan.

Journalist Ekmanian also criticized the diaspora minister for the
limited scope of her role. “Apparently, her only duty is limited to
giving medals, honoring diaspora notables and organizing conferences
and summer camps that could only be used as materials for the state TV
evening news, with no long-term benefit for the diaspora participants
or the Armenian state,” Ekmanian said.

A freelance journalist from Armenia, Ani Hovhannesiyan, also said
she understood quite well the attitude of the Istanbul Armenians but
thought the criticism was overblown.

“I hope Turkey’s political stance toward the diaspora is not a factor
behind this attitude,” she said.

From: A. Papazian

COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PRESENTS REPORT ON ARMENIA

news.am
May 10 2011
Armenia

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg
released a report on May 9 on his visit to Armenia carried out in
January 2011. The report focuses on human rights issues related to
the March 2008 events, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly
and association, and the human rights situation in the army. Armenian
News-NEWS.am presents the report, posted on Council of Europe website.

“Some significant steps have been taken to address the human rights
consequences of the March 2008 events, but more needs to be done to
promote reconciliation in society and reinforce public trust towards
the authorities,” Hammarberg said in the report.

The Commissioner considers that the use of force on 1-2 March 2008
was excessive and that the investigation into the ten deaths has not
been effective. “None of the perpetrators have been identified to date.

Command responsibility of senior officials within the police and the
security services appears not to have been seriously considered. The
Armenian authorities should pursue vigorously these investigations
and bring all those responsible to account. The families of the ten
victims should receive adequate compensation for the loss of their
relatives and should be fully associated to and informed about the
investigation,” he said in the report.

The Commissioner welcomes the recent instruction from President
Sargsyan with regard to the investigation into the death cases
and hopes that this will be translated into concrete progress in
identifying and punishing those responsible.

While welcoming the release of many of those deprived of their liberty
in connection to the March 2008 events, three of whom were released
after his visit, the Commissioner continues to have serious concerns
about the situation of remaining imprisoned opposition activists and
urges the Armenian authorities to release them.

The report also pays particular attention to freedom of expression,
including freedom and diversity of the media. While welcoming the
decriminalisation of libel and insult through last year’s amendments
to the Criminal Code, the Commissioner remains concerned about
the increase of cases brought against media outlets on the basis of
amendments to the Civil Code. He stresses that unreasonably high fines
in civil cases relating to media should be avoided. At the same time,
ethical standards for journalism and a system of self-regulation
should be encouraged.

Expressing alarm over the attacks and pressure on journalists that
have taken place in the past two years, the Commissioner calls upon
the country’s leadership to firmly condemn such incidents and to take
measures to prevent their recurrence.

The implementation in practice of the right to freedom of peaceful
assembly in Armenia also remains a source of concern. “Unlawful
and disproportionate impediments on peaceful assemblies, such as
intimidation and arrest of participants, disruption of transportation
means and blanket prohibitions against assemblies in certain places,
should be immediately discontinued. It is crucial that the behaviour
and actions of police forces during assemblies abide by human rights
standards.”

Commissioner Hammarberg therefore encourages the Armenian authorities
to review the national legal framework and practice related to freedom
of expression, freedom of the media and freedom of assembly in order
to bring it in compliance with human rights standards.

The report also addresses the issue of non-combat deaths, torture
and ill treatment which have occurred in the Armenian army and have
featured prominently in the country’s public debate. “The Armenian
authorities should intensify their efforts to eliminate such grave
cases of abuse in the military and to put an end to the impunity
of perpetrators and responsible commanders,” Hammarberg said in
the report.

From: A. Papazian

VISITORS TO AINTOURA SHRINE MOURN SLAIN ARMENIAN ORPHANS

The Daily Star

May 10 2011
Lebanon

May 10, 2011 01:14 AM (Last updated: May 10, 2011 03:28 PM) By Van
Meguerditchian

AINTOURA: Hundreds of visitors flocked to a new shrine Sunday evening
at the Lazarist Saint Joseph College in Aintoura to remember more
than 350 orphans who perished there under Ottoman rule.

The shrine, which sits atop a grave of young victims of the Armenian
genocide, was built several months ago and has become a somber and
meaningful site for Lebanese and foreign visitors alike.

On Sunday evening, the Armenian Catholic Church held a mass service
for the orphans at Aintoura’s grand 19th-century chapel, nearly 100
years after the end of World War I.

“Among the children buried in the grave were more than 300 young
Armenian orphans who were the victims of [a policy of] “Turkification”
at the hands of Turkish officials assigned by Jamal Pasha in 1916,”
said Missak Kelechian, an engineer who researched the history of the
site, uncovering the location of the mass grave.

Kelechian’s research took over five years to complete and began with
a photograph in a book by Stanley Kerr, a volunteer of the American
Near East Relief Agency. The photograph showed Jamal Pasha on the
steps of the Saint Joseph College at Aintoura in 1916.

At the ceremony, Kelechian cited a letter he received last week from
Kerr’s granddaughter, Susan.

Susan Kerr said that her family had established life-long friendships
with children who survived that chapter in the history of the Armenian
people.

“My brothers, cousins and I knew that our grandparents’ lives had been
profoundly influenced by these friendships, and of having witnessed
the tenacity, perseverance and humanity of Armenians in the face of
terrible adversity,” said Kerr, the daughter of former president of
the American University of Beirut, Malcolm Kerr, who was assassinated
on AUB’s campus in 1984.

Visitors to the shrine’s stone cross, and a bronze statue of a
10-year-old boy, underlined the site’s significance.

“It is important today that more Lebanese know about the tragic fate
of Armenian orphans in Aintoura,” said Vazken Nurpetlian, as he lit
a candle at the shrine. “The finding [of the grave] shows that the
international Armenian cause [for the recognition of the Armenian
genocide] is also a Lebanese cause.”

During the mass, however, Kelechian expressed fears that history has
become less important for the Lebanese and questioned why Martyrs’
Day, celebrated May 6, is not being well observed in the country.

Twenty-one Arab nationalists in Beirut and Damascus were executed by
Ottoman authorities May 6, 1916.

“Martyr Abdel-Ghani Araysi said before being hanged: ‘Let him [Jamal
Pasha] know that our grave will become the foundation of this country’s
freedom,'” said Kelechian.

“The crimes committed by the Turks in Lebanon were not only against
Armenians, they were against all Lebanese,” he continued. “How and
why did the May 6th Martyrs’ Day disappear?” he asked in his remarks.

The president of Saint Joseph College, Father Antoine Pierre Nakad,
said during the mass that the young Armenian orphans met a brutal
end within three years of their arrival to the college.

“We should mark this in our history because a nation without a memory
is ultimately a nation without a future,” said Nakad.

Of the 1,200 orphans at Aintoura, around 1,000 children were Armenian
and the remainder were Kurds. On his arrival to the college, Jamal
Pasha assigned Halide Edip Adivar, a well-known Turkish feminist,
to conduct the “Turkification” of the Armenian orphans, to erase
their identity.

After suffering defeat in World War I, Ottoman forces were forced
to withdraw from the college and when the French Lazarists arrived,
Father Ernest Sarlout helped the surviving orphans to remember their
original names and speak Armenian again.

And this story of renewal should be remembered alongside the tragic
history, according to Kerr.

“He [Stanley Kerr] would have settled on a story of hope – hope of a
child who in spite of everything … managed not only to live, but to
live productively and compassionately,” Kerr explained in her letter.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily
Star on May 10, 2011, on page 3.

From: A. Papazian

ELS, WITH HOPE FOR MORE, IS HALL OF FAMER
By LARRY DORMAN

New York Times

May 9 2011

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A gentle giant from Johannesburg, and a
self-proclaimed former “mean guy” from Manhattan who grew up on Seaman
Avenue in Inwood. One of the most recognizable athletes ever produced
by Japan, and a former president of the United States. A Scot born
in St. Andrews who emigrated to the United States, and an Armenian
immigrant’s son and one of the greatest producers in the history of
televised sports.

The roll call for Monday night’s six inductees into the World Golf
Hall of Fame underscored the game’s diverse history and global reach,
admitting new members who could not be more different, with the
exception of one thing: all share an abiding love of golf.

The members of the class of 2011 are Ernie Els, 41, elected by
his peers on the PGA Tour; Doug Ford, 88, selected in the veterans
category; Jumbo Ozaki, 63, elected on the International ballot; former
President George H. W. Bush, 86, selected in the lifetime achievement
category; Jock Hutchison, selected in the veterans category; and the
late Frank Chirkinian, the former executive producer for golf for CBS,
selected in the lifetime achievement category.

The South African Els won the United States Open twice (1994, 1997)
and the 2002 British Open and more than 60 worldwide tournaments with
a swing that embodied effortless power and a demeanor that was the
essence of grace. These two traits and his 6-foot-3 frame earned him
the nickname the Big Easy, one of golf’s most fitting handles.

He is the sixth active PGA Tour player selected since the current
procedure was introduced in 1998, and he is still intent on adding
to his legacy. He has decided to go back to a standard-length putter
this week at the Players Championship after more than a year of
experimenting with different lengths of putters and styles of putting.

“There’s so many great tournaments coming up,” he said. “I really
want to be ready to play them. I feel I’m close, although the way I’ve
finished has been atrocious. But I feel I’m not too far away. So I’d
like to kick-start it hopefully here this week.”

As Els looked forward, Ford was looking both ways. His memory is
sharp. After describing how he played the famous par-5 15th hole on
Saturday and Sunday during his 1957 Masters victory – driver, 3-wood
into the bank, bounced back into the creek for bogey on Saturday;
the same two clubs, bounced off the bank onto the green, birdie on
Sunday – Ford said his current game was not bad, either.

Armed with one of the new white-headed drivers from Taylor-Made that he
picked up a few weeks ago, Ford said he was playing “not once a week”
but was driving the ball about 230 yards. “It amazes me how close to
how I used to hit it that I can hit it with this equipment,” he said.

Among the more highly anticipated moments of the night was the playing
of a taped interview with Chirkinian, filmed by a crew from the World
Golf Hall of Fame shortly before his death from cancer in March.

Chirkinian, who fought the disease for more than a year, rallied for
one last production to talk about his life in golf.

The tape will be among the artifacts enshrined in his exhibit in
the Hall. Els encased a golf bag from his original sponsor, Lynx,
and one from his current sponsor, Callaway, complete with wedges on
which the wedge maker Roger Cleveland had engraved the names of his
wife, Liezl; his daughter, Samantha; and his son, Ben.

Ford had one thing hanging in his exhibit that Els would like to have
in his – a green jacket.

“I feel so much drive in me, so much that I’d still like to accomplish
in the game,” said Els, who has finished second twice at Augusta
National. “I know time is running out, but many players have won
quite a few majors in their 40s. I’d like to prove them right somehow.”

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN SOLDIER’S DEATH IN TURKEY WAS INTENDED MURDER

news.am
May 10 2011
Armenia

The investigation disclosed new details on Armenian soldier Sevak
Sahin Balrkci’s death, killed in a Turkish military unit on April 24,
Hayots Ashkharh newspaper reports.

“According to Turkish mass media, 25-year-old Armenian soldier was
killed from gunshot wounds, while playing with a gun with his friend
on April 24. It became clear that soldiers were ordered to install
barbed-fire fence around the military unit on this day.

Usually servicemen empty rifles and guns under supervision of military
commander and then proceed to install fences. However, no commander
made sure on April 24 that the weapon was unloaded. The murdeder
Kivanch Agaoglu was arrested and is in custody,” the newspaper writes.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJANI COMMUNITY OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH VOICES POSITION IN PARIS

Trend
May 10 2011
Azerbaijan

The French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) hosted a
conference titled “The Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict:
Position of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh,” the
Azerbaijani embassy in France told Trend on Tuesday.

The event was organized at the embassy’s initiative and support. It was
dedicated to the 19th anniversary of Shusha’s occupation by Armenian
Armed Forces. The event aimed at bringing the Azerbaijani position
to the academic and political circles of France.

Native of Shusha and Budapest Central European University’s student
Tabib Huseynov spoke at the event, attended by local and foreign
political scientists, researchers, representatives of the Foreign
Ministry, the French Parliament and the diplomatic corps accredited in
Paris. He informed the participants about a difficult situation around
settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict due
to Armenia’s destructive position during negotiations; he spoke about
challenges that the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh face,
problems before the settlement process and mentioned ways to address
these issues.

Following his speech, Huseynov answered numerous questions from the
audience, including representatives of the Armenian diaspora in France.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to France Elchin Amirbekov expressed his
gratitude to the IFRI leadership for being open to cooperation.

He stressed that the provision of the platform for the representatives
of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh, which, according
to the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Conference is one of the parties
interested in the conflict, is a serious blow to attempts by Armenian
authorities and the diaspora to mislead the international, and
particularly the French, public. They deliberately distort facts,
nature, history and the current state of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict. The conflict resolution is impossible without the fundamental
interests of the 65,000-Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh
region and without a safe, full and unhindered returning of Azerbaijani
refugees and IDPs to their homes in Shusha and other Azerbaijani
villages of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Deputy Director of the Institute Philippe Moreau-Defarge expressed
his deep gratitude to Azerbaijan for the well made presentation and
detailed answers. He expressed hope that such communication with the
Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh will be continued.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN ‘NOT ALLOW’ FLIGHTS TO KHANKANDI

news.az
May 10 2011
Azerbaijan

Armenian side did not answer to official Baku’s protest on illegal
flights to airport in Azerbaijan’s occupied Khankandi city.

The statement came from director of State Civil Aviation Administration
of Azerbaijan Republic Arif Mammadov.

According to him Armenians suspended the flights to Khankandi on May 9
after Azerbaijan’s statement on taking measures against planes flying
to Khankandi and these statements remain in force:

‘Our statements remain in force. We’ll not allow flights to Khankandi.

It’s Azerbaijan’s territory and every measure will be taken against
planes flying to Khankandi without permission of official Baku’.

Note that, Armenians restored the airport in Azerbaijani occupied
Khankandi city again. Though the first flights from Yerevan to
Khankandi have been planned on May 9, they were postponed because of
technical reasons. Azerbaijani side declared that each flight to the
occupied territories would be prevented, even physical annihilation
measures would be taken toward the planes flying to the area.

From: A. Papazian