Author: Babajanian Karo

Burbank Leader , CA
April 6 2012

Karagiosian trail: Jury sides with officer, awards $150K

Winning attorney calls city defense ‘a horrible use of the taxpayers’ money.’

April 06, 2012|By Maria Hsin, [email protected]

A jury on Thursday awarded an Armenian American police detective
$150,000 for claims that he faced on-the-job discrimination and
harassment because of his ethnicity, his attorney said.

The detective who filed the lawsuit, Steve Karagiosian, testified in
Los Angeles County Superior Court that detectives and sergeants in the
Police Department regularly used derogatory terms – such as `towel
heads’ – in referring to Armenians.

The decision comes two weeks after a jury awarded former Burbank
Police Deputy Chief William Taylor nearly $1.3 million based on claims
that he was fired in retaliation for refusing to sign off on the
terminations of minority officers, and for raising concerns about how
a sexual harassment incident was being handled.

`The Burbank Police Department has been proven to have ethnic
harassment within its department,’ said Karagiosian’s attorney,
Solomon Gresen, after the jury’s verdict was announced. `Det.
Karagiosian had complained for years, and the jury’s verdict should
demonstrate to the city that this is a problem that needs to be
immediately addressed.’

Named `Officer of the Year’ in 2007, Karagiosian is still employed
with the department.

Even with the jury coming down on his side, Gresen said his client
feared the verdict would create a whole new set of problems back at
the department.

`Mr. Karagiosian is gratified that the jury found in his favor, but
fears retaliation from the city attorney’s office and the Burbank
Police Department,’ Gresen said.

While the jury must still make determinations on more specific
questions, Burbank City Atty. Amy Albano said the city was
disappointed with the verdict.

`What was interesting in the verdict is that the amount awarded was
reduced,’ Albano said, noting that the amount was lower than the
suggested $225,000 because the jury felt Karagiosian could have
avoided some of the damages because some of the incidents were not
reported to the city.

`The city takes issues of harassment very seriously,’ Albano said.
`When we are informed, we take appropriate action. That was done in
this case. If not informed about an issue of harassment, the city is
not able to take an action.’

Jurors deliberated Karagiosian’s case for about a day before
delivering its verdict.

Japanese cosmetic brand officially presented in Armenia

NEWS.AM
April 08, 2012 | 14:29

YEREVAN.- Japan’s Hinoki Clinical brand presented its natural skin and
body care products in Armenia on the occasion of April 7, Motherhood
and Beauty Day.

All the products of Hinoki brand contain cypress oil which has
positive and healthy effect on skin, Yumi Uzuki, development manager
of Marunaka International which is producing the products, told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

`Hinoki is a Japanese cypress. Our products contain natural cypress
oil and extract,’ said Uzuki adding that due to similar weather
conditions in Armenia and Japan, people of both countries have similar
skin problems.

Ara Khachatryan who is representing the brand in Armenia said Hinoki
is a 56-year-old label which is presented not only in Japan, but
Russia, Ukraine and also Armenia.

`All the products will be presented in Armenia. We also plan to send
our exports for trainings in Japan to study thoroughly the usage of
the products,’ said Khachatryan expressing hope that the Armenian
women will prefer this brand to others.

MUSIQUE-ARMENIE
Le chanteur italien Andrea Bocelli en Arménie le 20 avril
a l’occasion des festivité d’Erévan, capitale mondiale du Livre de l’UNESCO

Le célèbre chanteur italien Andrea Bocelli sera à Erévan le 20 avril
où il donnera un concert place de la Liberté à l’occasion des
festivités liées à l’ouverture des manifestations « Erévan, capitale
mondiale du livre-2012 » désigné par l’UNESCO. Andrea Bocelli sera
accompagné par l’Orchestre philarmonique d’Arménie (directeur
artistique et chef d’orchestre Edouard Toptchian). Le maestro italien
Marcello Rota dirigera également l’Orchestre philarmonique.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 8 avril 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

U.S. PROFESSOR TO GIVE ILLUSTRATED LECTURE ON ARMENIAN ART

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 7, 2012 – 11:06 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On April 17, Thomas F. Mathews, John Langeloth
Loeb Professor Emeritus in the History of Art at New York University,
will give an illustrated lecture on “Armenian Art on the International
Stage,” at Columbia University, The Armenian Weekly reported.

The event is sponsored by the Armenian Center at Columbia University
and the department of art history and archaeology in association with
the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).

Mathews will explain how recent scholarship on Armenian art is
re-positioning the subject in the grand “Christian Crescent,”
which stretched from Alexandria around Palestine and Syria to
Constantinople. On this cosmopolitan international stage, Armenia
kept pace with the latest developments in architectural design,
manuscript painting, church decoration, and the art of icons. The
image theory developed by Vrtanes of Dvin was well in advance of
Greek theologians Leontius of Neapolis and John of Damascus.

Mathews is an acknowledged expert in the field of early
Christian and medieval religious art, with a focus on Armenian
church architecture and manuscript illumination. He has held many
prestigious fellowships and honors – with the Guggenheim, National
Endowment for the Humanities, Samuel H. Kress, J. Paul Getty Museum,
and the Institute for Advanced Study Princeton, among others-and is
the author of numerous books on Byzantine art, including The Clash
of Gods and The Byzantine Churches of Istanbul. Earlier he curated
an exhibition spanning the whole medieval Armenian tradition of
manuscript illumination under the title “Treasures in Heaven” at the
Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, with accompanying catalogue and
collected essays published in Treasures in Heaven. His most recent
book, Byzantium: From Antiquity to the Renaissance, was published by
Yale University Press in 2010.

The event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by
a reception.

LA DELEGATION MOSCOVITE AU MEMORIAL DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN DE DZIDZERNAGAPERT
Krikor Amirzayan

armenews.com
samedi 7 avril 2012

La delegation russe qui se trouvait a Erevan pour les ” Journees
de Moscou ” du 5 au 7 avril, a rendu visite au memorial du genocide
armenien. Sergueï Tcheryoumine, ministre du gouvernement de Moscou a
depose une gerbe de fleurs devant le memorial de Dzidzernagapert a la
memoire de 1,5 million d’Armeniens victime de la barbarie turque en
1915. La delegation moscovite participa egalement lors de son sejour
a Erevan, a plusieurs autres manifestations officielles organisees
par la ville d’Erevan.

LE FILS DU MARCHAND D’OLIVES
Stephane

armenews.com

samedi 7 avril 2012

Sortie le 11 avril du film de Mathieu Zeitindjioglou, Le Fils du
marchand d’olives.

En 1914, a la veille du genocide armenien, le grand-père du
realisateur, Mathieu Zeitindjioglou, proceda a la “turquification” de
son nom. De Zeitounjian, il devint Zeitinjioglu (un nom qui, une fois
francise, donne Zeitindjioglou). Ce changement lui a permis d’echapper
au genocide. Un siècle plus tard, son patronyme a donne son titre au
film : Zeitounjian signifie Le Fils du marchand d’olives en armenien.

Pour leur voyage de noce, Mathieu et Anna sont partis en Turquie.

Camera au poing, pour enqueter sur Garabed, le grand père armenien
de Mathieu, qui a echappe au genocide armenien de 1915. Un road trip
a travers le pays, marque par des rencontres, melant animation, film
d’investigation et documentaire historique pour rapporter la vision
que se font les Turcs sur la tragedie de 1915.

“Mes origines armeniennes restaient pour moi comme quelque chose
d’irreel, comme un conte pour enfant. (…) Dans la culture armenienne,
peuple de marchands voyageurs, le conte revet une importance culturelle
et initiatique particulière. C’est aussi son universalite qui m’a
interesse car elle permet de s’adresser a tous, grands et petits,
sur un sujet difficile a aborder… C’etait une facon de rendre
honneur a mes origines et a celles de mon grand-père.

J’en ai fait une sorte de fable imaginaire, en essayant d’etre le
plus proche de la verite. C’etait une bonne manière de traiter ce
sujet tabou, et, en meme temps, de l’alleger.”, explique Mathieu
Zeitindjioglou.

Voici l’avis de Jean-Varoujan Sirapian (editions Sigest) après la
projection en avant-première.

Le film a l’avantage d’aborder le sujet du genocide armenien d’une
facon moins academique que dans les documentaires.

De plus Anna, la femme de Mathieu, n’etant pas armenienne (elle est
d’origine polonaise), apporte une fraîcheur et un regard objectif
tout en mettant au pied du mur ses interlocuteurs, a l’instar du
directeur du musee d’Erzurum, qui, dans une sequence tragi-comique,
se perd dans des contorsions verbales en essayant de repondre a ses
questions (faussement) candides.

Le voyage a travers la Turquie, d’Istanbul a Kars en passant par
Ankara, Erzurum, Van… montre les differences d’appreciation ou de la
(non) comprehension de la Question armenienne, selon les regions et les
gens rencontres. Le film montre aussi les ravages d’un negationnisme
d’Etat sur les cerveaux de generations successives, depuis plus de
90 ans. On voit aussi les limites de la liberte de paroles pour les
intellectuels/journalistes en Turquie.

Dans sa forme le film est reussi : le melange d’animation, reportage
sur le terrain, des extraits de documents et d’archives, avec en prime
la voix “off” de Jean- Claude Dreyfus qui raconte d’une facon très
prenante le conte des loups et des agneaux, apporte un côte spontane.

Dans un registre plus classique les temoignages de Yves Ternon et
de Bernard-Henri Levy envoient un message fort aux negationnistes en
Turquie et ailleurs.

A ne pas manquer

Le Fils du marchand d’olives a recu le prix du Meilleur documentaire
au “Pomegranate film festival de Toronto”, le prix special du jury au
“Reanimania film festival de Yerevan” ainsi qu’une mention d’honneur au
“Los Angeles Film and Script Festival”.

Trouver une salle ICI

WOMEN’S RIGHTS CENTER TO ORGANIZE OUTDOOR ACTION IN YEREVAN

NEWS.AM
April 06, 2012 | 17:36

YEREVAN. – The Women’s Rights Center will organize an outdoor action
in downtown Yerevan at 2.00-4.00 p.m. on Saturday. Pedestrian women and
girls will be photographed and provided pictures for free and also they
will be handed out information leaflets and booklets about the center.

The aim of the action is to make another surprise for Armenian women
and girls and congratulate them on their holiday, and once again to
raise public awareness on domestic abuse.

WHY TURKEY IS AN ECONOMY TO WORRY ABOUT

Apr 7th 2012

COMPARED with the mess that many rich countries are in, most emerging
economies seem in pretty good shape. To be sure, plenty saw their
growth rates slow sharply last year. And as fears over the euro’s
future escalated, some currencies and stockmarkets slumped. But apart
from the poorest places that habitually rely on the IMF’s subsidised
help, only a handful of emerging economies, mainly in eastern Europe,
have had to turn to it for funds.

This resilience is impressive. But it would be a mistake to assume
it will last for ever. For even as rich-world investors pile back
into emerging-market funds, a quick glance at these countries’
vital statistics suggests that plenty of places have a problem or
two. India has a big budget deficit. Several countries, from Venezuela
to Vietnam, have double-digit inflation. South Africa has a sizeable
current-account deficit. But based on the standard warning signs of
trouble-from rapid credit growth and high inflation to a big external
deficit-one country stands out. It is Turkey (see article).

For the past decade Turkey has enjoyed a spectacular boom, fuelled by
equally spectacular foreign borrowing. The economy grew by 8.5% last
year, driven by credit that at one point was surging at an annual
pace of more than 40%. Foreigners lent much of the cash. Turkey’s
current-account deficit exceeded 10% of GDP, more than twice as much
as any of the emerging markets regularly tracked by The Economist.

This turbocharged growth slowed sharply at the end of last year, as
investors’ jitters and a sharp fall in the Turkish lira forced the
central bank to tighten monetary policy. Figures released on April 2nd
showed that annual GDP growth slowed to 5.2% in the fourth quarter of
2011, and initial evidence suggests a further deceleration this year.

Unfortunately, the imbalances remain. Even with much slower growth,
inflation is above 10% and the current-account deficit is likely to
stay around 8% of GDP. With little foreign direct investment, most of
that deficit will need to be funded by flighty bond and bank finance.

Turkey, in short, has not just overheated. It has a growing
competitiveness problem and a dangerous addiction to the riskiest
types of foreign capital.

Living on the edge

For now, foreigners seem unworried. The lira has strengthened and the
Istanbul stockmarket is up by 20% since the start of the year. But
the apparent revival of capital inflows probably has less to do with
confidence in Turkey’s economy than the largesse of rich-world central
banks, particularly the European Central Bank’s massive provision
of liquidity.

Cheap money in the rich world has allowed Turkey to dodge an immediate
crisis. And if liquidity remains plentiful, the country may continue
to skirt trouble for some time. But eventually, on today’s course,
the danger of some kind of crash is worryingly large.

To lessen that danger Turkey needs to boost its saving and improve
its competitiveness. With its private sector addicted to spending on
foreigners’ dimes, Turkey’s government needs to compensate by saving
more. In fact, the opposite has been happening. Although Turkey’s
fiscal position is healthy compared with those of other emerging
economies, the tax take has been flattered by the unsustainable
import boom. Adjust for these transient revenues and the IMF reckons
that Turkey’s underlying budget balance, before interest payments,
has shifted from a surplus of around 5% of GDP between 2003 and 2006
to a deficit now.

Tighter fiscal policy would help reduce the current-account deficit.

But it will not be enough. A lasting improvement in Turkey’s external
accounts demands structural reforms to boost competitiveness and
improve the flexibility of its workers. It is a puzzle that, for
all its booming growth, Turkey does not attract more foreign direct
investment. One reason may be its labour laws, which in many ways look
like those of a rigid southern European economy. Another obstacle
to investment is a thicket of regulations. Turkey ranks 71st in the
World Bank’s “Doing Business” league tables, better than Greece but
worse than Kazakhstan.

These kinds of reforms will take time, so it is essential that
Turkey’s leaders start now, even if low interest rates in the rich
world keep the foreign money flooding in. The trouble is that most
of those leaders do not recognise the urgency. With confidence that
borders on complacency, the prevailing view in Ankara is that the
foreign capital will keep flowing, and that Turkey has a bright
future which foreigners will want to share. That hubris, coupled
with the macroeconomic imbalances, are good reasons to be wary about
Turkey’s prospects.

from the print edition | Leaders

AMERIABANK TO SUPPORT A MAJOR PROJECT IN TRANS-CAUCASUS THROUGH TRADE FINANCE

arminfo
Thursday, April 5, 13:11

Ameriabank will support a major project in South Caucasus through its
trade finance facilities, the press service of the Bank told ArmInfo.

A world-wide industrial leader, SIEMENS, was commissioned by Armenian
ASCE GROUP to lead the reconstruction and upgrading of a steel-making
plant in Charentsavan, Armenia. The project budget is USD 26 million,
out of which USD 15 million will be funded by Ameriabank. To kick
off the project, Ameriabank issued a letter of credit in the amount
of EUR 8.7 million.

Ameriabank financed this strategically important project for Armenia
through the Global Trade Finance Program of IFC, a member of the
World Bank Group.

Mr. Gagik Sahakyan, Corporate Banking Director of Ameriabank, said:
“We are proud to fund the construction of a metallurgical plant in
line with the best international practices. It will boost industrial
output and total GDP, create new jobs, and provide a competitive
domestic source of steel fixtures to substitute imports. Ameriabank
also highly values cooperation with IFC which funding made it possible
to finance such projects under very competitive terms.”

Thomas Lubeck, IFC Regional Manager for the South Caucasus, said:
“This project is an excellent example of how our work with financial
intermediaries translates into support to other sectors of economy,
which aids technology transfers, boosts employment and combats
climate change.”

To note, Ameriabank CJSC is a universal bank offering corporate,
investment and retail banking services in a comprehensive package of
banking solutions.

ARMENIAN WEIGHTLIFTERS PREPARED WELL ENOUGH TO STRUGGLE IN ANTALYA FOR WORTHY PLACES

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 5, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS: All the 3 Armenian weightlifters
participating in the tournament of the European Weightlifting
Championship – Samvel Grigoryan, Vanik Avetisyan and Hayk Hakobyan, are
prepared well enough to struggle for worthy places. The tournament will
be held April 6-16 in Antalya, Turkey. Coach of National Weightlifting
Team of Armenia, international-class referee Pashik Alaverdyan told
this Armenpress before leaving for Antalya.

As Mr. Alaverdyan said, all the three athletes have a practice of
participation in international competitions.

“This time the Armenian team will come forth without its leading
weightlifters, but the European Championship is not a qualifying
Olympic tournament in contrast to the World Championship 2011, and
all our best athletes either train with an individual program or have
not fully recovered from traumas yet.