Author: Babajanian Karo

PORTANTINO, MELEKIAN JOIN PASADENA GENOCIDE MEMORIAL COMMITTEE

Thursday, January 24th, 2013

Anthony Protantino and Pasadena Police Chief Bernard K. Melekian

PASADENA-The Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee (PASAGMC)
announced that former State Assemblymember Anthony Portantino and
former Pasadena Police Chief Bernard K. Melekian have joined the
PASAGMC as members of the board of directors.

The PASAGMC said it recognizes their long commitment and dedication to
public service and is honored to have Portantino and Melekian join the
PASAGMC for the success of this historical project.

Anthony Portantino recently retired as the San Gabriel Valley-based
44th State Assembly District Assemblymember. Portantino has had a
close relationship with the Armenian-American Community ever since his
service as Mayor and Councilmember of the city of La Canada
Flintridge. He has repeatedly been recognized as “Legislator of the
Year” by prominent community organizations. As Mayor, he issued a city
proclamation commemorating the Armenian Genocide, and as a Legislator
he was a proud coauthor of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, which
urged the President and Congress to formally recognize the Armenian
Genocide.

Bernard K. Melekian was the Police Chief for the City of Pasadena for
more than 13 years, and has also served as the acting Fire Chief and
Interim City Manager for the City of Pasadena. He has received the
Medal of Valor award in 1978 and the Medal of Courage award in 1980.

Attorney General Eric Holder appointed Melekian as the Director of the
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) on October 5,
2009. As Director of the COPS Office, Melekian leads an organization
responsible for working closely with the nation’s state, local, and
tribal law enforcement agencies to enhance the safety of communities.

Bernard Melekian served in the United States Army from 1967 to 1970,
and, as a member of the United States Coast Guard Reserve, he was
called to active duty in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm.

Portantino and Melekian are joined by notable community leaders on the
PASAGMC Board. The Chairman of the PASAGMC is former Pasadena Mayor
Bill Paparian; ANCA – Pasadena Treasurer David George Gevorkyan, who
serves as the Chief Financial Officer; Sergeant Greg Afsharian of the
Pasadena Police Department, who serves as the Secretary of Records;
prominent Architect and community leader Mike Yousefian; and, ANCA –
Pasadena Chair and Development Consultant Shoghig Yepremian who chairs
the PASAGMC Genocide Memorial Review Panel.

Anthony Portantino stated that he is “…humbled and honored to have
been asked to serve on the board of this important and very necessary
Genocide Recognition project. The San Gabriel Valley’s strong
connection to the Armenian-American community and the unwavering
support for Genocide recognition in our area is something of which to
be proud. Being part of a project that will commemorate, respect, and
educate generations about the first Genocide of the 20th Century and
the death of 1.5 million innocent Armenians is a responsibility and
honor that I will cherish.”

The Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee (PASAGMC) convened
an independent review panel of 3 distinguished professional judges to
review and rank all 17 design proposals that were received for the
Armenian Genocide Memorial project proposed to be located in Memorial
Park in the City of Pasadena. One of the judges is Stefanos Polyzoides
of Moule & Polyzoides; Ruben Amirian, who is a prominent
architect/artist who has served on the design review board and the
historic commission in Glendale; and, Neshan Peroomian who is a
contractor and a distinguished Armenian-American community leader.

The PASAGMC has the active support and involvement of many community
organizations and institutions including the Pasadena Art Center that
submitted six (6) Genocide Memorial proposals. The Pasadena Armenian
Genocide Memorial Committee (PASAGMC) continues its work with the
Pasadena community and city agencies on the establishment of the
Armenian Genocide Memorial in the City’s designated location of
Memorial Park to commemorate the inhumane acts of man against humanity
in the internationally recognized crime of Genocide.

SARDARAPAT MOVEMENT REP WELCOMES OPPOSITION ARMENIAN MP’S PROPOSAL

tert.am
25.01.13

With respect to the idea of preparliament, the Civil Agreement proposed
by Nikol Pashinyan has parallels with the alternative process by the
Sardarapat movement.

Zhirair Sefilyan, a Sardarapat movement member, welcomes the search
for ways of “creating a state of new quality in Armenia.”

“With respect to cooperation, I would like to remind you that the idea
of preparliament was conceived as an alternative area for forming a
new political scene due to civil potential. Preparliament is supposed
not only to disintegrate the current system but also to create a new
one,” Mr Sefilyan said.

ARMENIA’S INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT IN 2012 SURGES BY 8.8 PERCENT TO 1.120 TRILLION DRAMS

YEREVAN, January 25, /ARKA/. Armenia’s industrial output in 2012
surged by 8.8% from 2011 to 1.120.4 trillion drams, according to the
numbers released by Armenia’s National Statistical Service.

It also said agricultural GDP grew by 9.5 percent to 840.4 billion
drams. Construction was said to have grown by 0.2 percent to 496.6
billion drams. ($1 – 405.15 drams). -0-

ARAM I CONGRATULATED NEWLY APPOINTED PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM

17:40, 25 January, 2013

YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. His Holiness Catholicos Aram I of the
Holy See of Cilicia congratulated the newly elected Armenian Patriarch
of Jerusalem Archbishop Nourhan Manoogian on the occasion of his
election. Antelias informed “Armenpress” that His Holiness Catholicos
Aram I stated that there always was a developing cooperation between
the Holy See of Cilicia and Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Aram
I noted that he is hopeful that this will serve as a new incentive
to continue the cooperation.

Among other things Catholicos Aram I of the Holy See of Cilicia
highlighted that union and cooperation between the four representations
of the Armenian Apostolic Church must find its practical expression
in the life of the Armenian people.

The Grand Sacristan of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Archbishop Nourhan Manoogian has been elected the Armenian Patriarch
of Jerusalem on January 24. In accordance with the Statute of the
Jerusalem Convent (1882) 35 year old archimandrites and bishops could
become patriarchal candidates. The patriarchal throne remained vacant
since the after long illness at the age of 93 Armenian Patriarch of
Jerusalem Rev. Archbishop Torkom Manoukyan passed away.

TURKEY IS CONSISTENTLY GETTING RID OF ARMENIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE

15:29, 25 January, 2013

YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. The Research on Armenian Architecture
foundation has shot a documentary movie entitled “Genocide after
Genocide”, which exposes the policy of the Turkish authorities on the
annihilation of the Armenian historical monuments of Western Armenia
that has been going on since 1915. As reports “Armenpress” the movie
displays how in the aftermath of their actions, a peculiar cultural
heritage, forming part of world civilization, has been irrevocably
destroyed. The film contains materials of great importance and shows
the present-day state of the Armenian monuments as compared to their
condition several decades ago.

The author of the movie Samvel Karapetyan highlights that the Armenian
genocide continued even after 1915 by destruction of the Armenian
historical heritage in the historical homeland. The procedure of
destruction goes on until present. Samvel Karapetyan underscored:
“The genocide denial became a state policy in modern Turkey. The
ongoing massacre of the Armenian culture serves only to one purpose
and that is to get rid of the cultural heritage of the natives in
order to accomplish the appropriation of the conquered homeland of
the Armenians.”

GENOCIDE AFTER GENOCIDE PRESENTS TURKISH POLICY OF DESTRUCTION FOR ARMENIAN MONUMENTS

14:49 25.01.20130

The film “Genocide after Genocide” prepared by the Research on Armenian
Architecture NGO premiered last night.

The film presents the policy of destruction of Armenian historic
monuments conducted by the Turkish authorities ever since 1915.

With this criminal policy Turkey has been trying to get rid of
thousands of Armenian monuments, which are evidences of the historic
reality.

The film presents exceptional cadres, comparing today’s condition of
the monuments to their state several decades ago.

NO TO CYANIDE PLANT: MEGHRADZOR RESIDENTS STAGE PROTEST OUTSIDE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
Narek Aleksanyan

14:00, January 25, 2013

Residents of the Armenian town of Meghradzor, the site of a planned
cyanide plant, have come to Yerevan to stage a protest outside the
Presidential Palace today.

Carrying banners reading “No to Cyanide” and “Think of the Children”,
the protestors submitted a letter addressed to President Sargsyan to
the Palace’s correspondence unit. They want Sargsyan to halt any such
construction, arguing that a chemical plant will cause damage to the
health of the local populace and agriculture.

Hetq spoke to some of the protestors from Meghradzor

Bakhshi Grigoryan – The plant is only 300 meters from our homes. They
tell us they will collect the wastes and remove them. In our
estimation, that is impossible. That cyanide will flow into the river
where the villagers have drilled wells. The closed pit mine has been
operating for 1 year and a half with no problem. But the new open
pit mine will be a disaster for us.

Tatoul Karapetyan – Environmentalists and scientists have told us
that the village will suffer greatly. The authorities don’t take our
interests into consideration.

Samvel Lazarian – They are showing us false scientific studies
claiming that an open pit mine is safe. They also say the mine will
provide jobs to the villagers. No one is ready to prevent the gold
extraction process, but we oppose the construction of a new mine
that will use cyanide to extract the gold. They are trying to make
the maximum profit with a minimum of resources and by damaging the
environment. Public hearings were only attended by plant workers and
people shipped in from elsewhere.

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PRESIDENT SARGSYAN AWARDS VATICAN’S APOSTOLIC NUNCIO WITH MOVSES KHORENATSI MEDAL

14:23 25.01.2013

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Vatican’s Apostolic Nuncio
in the South Caucasus Claudio Gugerotti, President’s Press Office
reported.

The President of Armenia awarded Claudio Gugerotti with the Movses
Khorenatsi medal for his contribution to the strengthening of the
bilateral relations between Armenia and Vatican and for his
development of the Armenian Studies.

OSCE/ODIHR ISSUES FIRST INTERIM REPORT ON ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

16:38 24/01/2013

The Election Observation Mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has issued its first interim
report on the February 18 presidential election in Armenia, posted
on the OSCE official website.

“In line with constitutional provisions, on 8 December 2012 the
Central Election Commission (CEC) announced that scheduled presidential
election will be held on 18 February 2013. Following aninvitation from
the Prime Minister, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) established an Election Observation Mission
(EOM) on 10 January. The EOM, led by Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini,
consists of a 13-member core team based in Yerevan and 24 longterm
observers who were deployed on 16 January to ten locations across
the country. The EOM members are drawn from 21 OSCE participating
States. OSCE/ODIHR will request participating States to second 250
short-term observers to observe voting, counting, and tabulation of
results on election day,” the report said.

“The most recent parliamentary elections were held in May 2012,”
the report said.

“The OSCE/ODIHR EOM observed the 2012 parliamentary elections and
concluded in its final report that the elections “were characterized
by a competitive, vibrant and largely peaceful campaign, which was,
however, marked by a low level of confidence in the integrity of
the process.

Following the parliamentary elections, a working group composed
of government and other state representatives was established
by presidential decree.2 The group was tasked to explore the
recommendations offered in the OSCE/ODIHR EOM Final Report and by
other observer organizations, and to put forward an action plan for
their implementation. The results of the group’s work were presented
to the OSCE/ODIHR in October 2012, which recommended that fundamental
aspects of the legal framework should not be amended so close to the
upcoming election,” the report said.

“The electoral legal framework underwent significant reform in May
2011, when a new Electoral Code was adopted. The upcoming election
is the first presidential election that will be held under this
Code. The OSCE/ODIHR and the Council of Europe’s European Commission
for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) have assessed the
Code as comprehensive and providing a sound basis for the conduct of
democratic elections.

At the same time, while the new Code addresses a number of previous
recommendations offered by the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission,
there are still areas where it could benefit from improvement,”
the report said.

“There are 96 television channels, including 6 with nationwide
coverage, 20 radio companies, some 90 print publications and numerous
online media. Television is the most important source of information,
especially outside of Yerevan. Public television, H1, has nationwide
reach and is considered one of the most influential media outlets,”
the report said.

PRESIDENT OF THE BOXING FEDERATION OF WALLONIA IN THE NA

On January 23 the Chairman of the RA NA Committee on Science,
Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Artak Davtyan had a meeting with
Serge Hendrice, President of the Boxing Federation of Wallonia Region
of the Kingdom of Belgium and boxer Arsen Sargsyan, our compatriot
from Belgium. The member of the Committee, deputy Artur Gevorgyan
was also attending the meeting.

Thanking for warm reception the guests presented a project of
Armenian-Belgian cooperation in the sphere of boxing, which had
been already launched on the previous year in Brussels with the
competition of boxing organized by joint efforts of Belgian Armenians
and Belgians. The Boxing Federation of Wallonia greatly promoted
the organization of the event, and the profit will be directed to
the orphanages of Armenia, especially to the help of children of
disabilities. The boxer Arsen Sargsyan, our compatriot from Belgium
said that they had already managed to be in the orphanages of Armenia
with Serge Hendrice, got familiarized with problems and expressed
hope that the Armenian-Belgian cooperation in the sphere of boxing
would allow making regular such events, and it would be possible to
help the Armenian needy children with profits.

The Belgian guests also noted that they were ready to assist the
Armenian boxers to go to Belgium and take part in competitions there.

Welcoming the initiative Artak Davtyan has said that a group being
involved with protection of the rights of children with disabilities
functions in the National Assembly, which closely cooperates with
the UNICEF. In his word, the Armenian-Belgian sport cooperation,
the aim of which is to help the children of the orphanage, has big
perspectives of becoming effective initiative.

The participants of the meeting also discussed other issues connected
with cooperation.