Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

TAKING ISSUE WITH EXTREMISM

The Collegian (Fresno State Univ), CA
Oct 4 2013

By Megi Hakobjanyan | October 03, 2013 | Opinion

Comment! Print As a junior majoring in political science and a
Christian Armenian born and raised in Armenia, the extremist labeling
from all sides and all issues concerns me.

In my opinion, the reason the government has shut down is because
there is no longer bipartisanship or moderation left in the politicians
and citizens.

I recently read the op-eds of Sumaya Attia and Haley Lambert. As an
Armenian that is still adjusting to American ways, I realized that
the issues being discussed are related to my concerns.

Nowadays most “heated” issues have become black and white, when in
reality, those are the issues that are the most complex and convoluted.

If you believe there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute George
Zimmerman, you are perceived as a racist. If you agree with writings
of Ayn Rand, you are perceived as a die-hard libertarian. If you
believe that many Palestinians in Israel are being treated unjustly,
you are called an anti-Semite, and the list goes on.

It shocks and terrifies me how confident people on both sides are and
how many “moderates,” such as myself, shy away from these topics. We
believe that if we take the “middle man” position and question both
sides, we will be perceived as weak and uneducated.

Having been raised in Armenia and taught history in Armenia until I
was in my teens, I have studied Armenian history extensively.

In 301 A.D., Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity. Since
then, Armenia has been brutally attacked by several Islamic nations,
until it all escalated into the Armenian Genocide of 1915 carried
out by Muslim Turks.

Growing up in Armenia and reading Armenian literature, in which
writers and historians extensively discuss the atrocities that
Christian Armenians underwent during those wars and the genocide,
one can’t help but be raised biased against all Muslims.

However, when I moved to the United States and met many peace-loving
Muslims from all over the world and as I was humbled in Jerusalem by
Muslim hospitality, I understood that even this heated issue is not
black and white.

Attia and Lambert wrote about why one should not or should have to
denounce extremist factions of one’s religion or ethnicity.

As an Armenian and a Christian, I disagree that denouncing extremist
factions of your ethnicity or religion is unfair or prejudicial.

As a Christian, I disassociate myself from Christian entities such
as Westboro Baptist Church or even the preachers that come on this
campus and scream about hell and punishment.

In Oct. 2011, in Los Angeles, 52 Armenians were convicted of a $160
million nationwide Medicare fraud.

At the time, I felt great shame, and my Armenian pride was hurt.

Now in Los Angeles, it seems like when you say you are an Armenian,
the non-Armenians do not always welcome you, as they associate you
with those people who commit fraud.

I don’t let this get me too angry. After all, bad news travels fast
and so do stereotypes.

Instead, I express my deepest regrets that some Armenian-Americans
were involved in such activity. Then I educate the prejudiced people
about my heritage (as that is my responsibility and no one else’s!)
and assure them that there are far more hard-working and patriotic
Armenian-Americans.

It is my opinion that controversial or heated issues are no longer
being talked about because the extremists of both sides don’t allow
conversations to happen.

Being moderate about some controversial issues should not be
equivocated with being weak or apathetic.

Neither side should be hurt or offended when others question them
about their religion or ethnicity.

Megi Hakobjanyan emigrated to Fresno, Calif. from Yerevan, Armenia
during her freshman year of high school. When she graduates, she
plans to work in the field of foreign affairs.

From: Baghdasarian

VIDEO: ARMENIAN MEDIA THRIVES IN GLENDALE, BURBANK AREA

Glendale News Press, CA
Oct 4 2013

Glendale is ground zero for a growing number of newspapers and
stations.

By Joe Piasecki, [email protected]

October 4, 2013 | 6:09 a.m.

As a teenage news junkie growing up in Yerevan, Armine Amiryan longed
to be just like her idol – CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

At 30, Amiryan is living out her dream as a television news anchor
and reporter in Glendale.

Only she’s doing it in her native tongue.

Home to eight Armenian American television stations and no less than
10 Armenian American newspapers, the Jewel City and its environs are
becoming an ever-more-central media hub for the diaspora.

USArmenia TV – where Amiryan, a Burbank resident, also serves as news
director – is an example of a growing Armenian media produced in the
United States, one that increasingly mirrors American tastes and ideas.

MAP: Armenian media locations around Los Angeles

With around-the-clock sitcom, reality and broadcast news shows
supported by advertising sales, the USArmenia model differs from many
older Armenian American media outlets, many of which are closely tied
to political parties or interest groups.

“We’re a classic Western TV format,” said station President Bagrat
Sargsyan, whose family at one point owned the first Armenia-based
company licensed to broadcast CNN and MTV. “The difference between
USArmenia and any other channel is the language.”

With the acquisition of KIIO- Los Angeles Channel 10 earlier this year,
USArmenia became the first Armenian-language station nationally to
broadcast on an FCC-licensed terrestrial channel, Sargsyan said.

Other local Armenian channels lease airtime from cable and satellite
providers by hooking into fiber optic transmission lines maintained
by Charter Communication’s Glendale offices.

In a nod to the importance of Glendale to its viewers locally and
around the world, the company is moving from a rented building in
Tarzana to its own office tower at 229 N. Central Ave., near the
Glendale Galleria and the Americana at Brand. USArmenia purchased
the building in May for $4 million, according to Los Angeles County
assessor’s office records.

Amiryan, who trained at CNN as an international news fellow in 2006,
said she hopes to expand news coverage to include more Glendale,
Burbank and Los Angeles stories, perhaps with traffic and weather
reports.

Currently, the station’s four half-hour weekday news segments
rely heavily on reports filed in Armenia with a smaller number of
U.S.-based stories. Many of Amiryan’s local stories – coverage of
a Glendale forum on teen drug abuse, a DreamWorks press conference,
a local water-rate increase and an interview with Rep. Adam Schiff
(D-Burbank), for example – are then shared with affiliates abroad.

“People in Glendale know what’s going on in Armenia and people in
Armenia know what’s going on in Glendale,” she said.

VIDEO: DreamWorks Animation and Back to Business program

Age of the Entrepreneur

Until recently, immigration patterns were the dominant force carving
California’s Armenian media landscape – especially newspapers, said
Vahram Shemmassian, who heads the Armenian Studies Program at Cal
State Northridge.

A generation after survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide arrived,
a second wave of Armenian immigrants sought refuge in California
during the 1970s as civil war raged in Lebanon. With the Iranian
Revolution of 1979 came a third wave, followed by a fourth wave of
Soviet-acculturated Armenians after the fall of communism.

New immigrants, Shemmassian said, “felt the need to be connected with
their homeland, whatever the homeland was for them.”

And so “every time there was a wave of immigration, another media
outlet formed,” said Greg Krikorian, a Glendale school board member
and publisher of the English-language magazines Business Life and
Senior Living.

“Each of those papers has a network, so [businesses and local political
campaigns] have to advertise in at least four Armenian papers. Choose
just one or two, it could work against you,” said Krikorian, who also
works as a media and advertising consultant.

Among newspapers operating in the Glendale area, three identify
themselves as affiliates of different, and opposing, Armenian political
parties, and some cater to specific heritage groups. Still others –
often publishing primarily in English – voice political opinions but
do so independently, according to interviews with several Armenian
American newspaper editors and publishers.

These days, Krikorian said, he is seeing media outlets develop under
a new wave of immigrants: entrepreneurs like Sargsyan who steer clear
of a particular intra-cultural niche.

Appo Jabarian, publisher of the English-language weekly USA Armenian
Life, said he encountered some initial resistance to the notion of
independent news reporting when he founded his first paper in 1978
while a student at Glendale Community College.

Jabarian and fellow English-language weekly publisher Harut Sassounian,
owner of the California Courier, said they work to keep bias out of
news reporting, reserving opinion for clearly labeled pieces.

Sassounian also writes a syndicated weekly political column that
appears in USA Armenian Life as well as Asbarez, a newspaper affiliated
with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. That paper publishes five
Armenian-language editions and one English-language edition each week.

Ara Khachatourian, editor of Asbarez’s English-language content,
said the paper makes a special effort to promote the activist and
public-service initiatives of the party but also aspires to fairness
in its news reporting. In addition, he said, it publishes opinion
pieces like Sassounian’s that don’t always stick to the party line.

Shemmassian, the CSUN professor, cautioned against characterizing
media funded by political groups as propaganda.

“These are not narrow-minded venues. It’s an open dialogue,” he said.

“The whole American system [of press freedoms] allows Armenians to
open up and say what they feel they need to say.”

‘Cultural Learnings of America’

American influences are also changing the substance of that dialogue,
said Armenian American actor Ken Davitian.

During a 2007 interview at a local Armenian station, Davitian found
himself the object of criticism for a nude scene, part of his breakout
role as a documentary producer in the comedy “Borat: Cultural Learnings
of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”

But others praised him for being the first actor to speak Armenian
throughout a major Hollywood film.

Now, he said, film and television for Armenians is increasingly modeled
after Hollywood productions and more likely to take on cultural taboos.

“I think [Armenian American media] are modernizing the diaspora,”
Davitian said. “They’re doing their best to compete.”

But Armenian media also helps preserve cultural roots, Davitian said.

He credits a pair of Armenian radio shows he listened to as a child
in East Los Angeles during the 1960s with preventing him from losing
the language.

One media executive, however, says broadcasters and publishers
should go heavy on news and public affairs programming and light
on entertainment.

Vrej Agajanian, president of the Armenian-language broadcaster AABC,
said he emphasizes public service and discussion-based programming and
“things that affect Armenian life here.”

As host of a daily talk show in Glendale for the past 14 years,
Agajanian devotes nearly an hour of airtime each day to U.S. news
analysis – a practice he feels is threatened by increasing
commercialization of Armenian television.

“On American TV, news is entertainment,” he said. “They go through
the motions. I’m trying to keep real news around.”

,0,7308914.story

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT BACKS PRESIDENT’S AMNESTY PROPOSAL

Interfax, Russia
Oct 3 2013

YEREVAN. Oct 3

The Armenian parliament has voted for the amnesty proposal of President
Serzh Sargsyan.

The amnesty will be held on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of
Armenian independence, which was celebrated on September 21.

Armenian Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasian told reporters on Thursday
that the amnesty would refer to 1,200-1,300 inmates: approximately
500-600 of them would be released from prison and the rest would have
their prison terms cut. The amnesty will be completely implemented
before December 25, 2013.

Armenia has had eight amnesties throughout the period of its
independence. There were two amnesties in 1995 and one in each of
the years 1997, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2009 and 2011.

Te cm

From: Baghdasarian

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS DISCUSES COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA

The Emirates News Agency (WAM), UAE
October 3, 2013 Thursday 5:46 AM EST

Sep 29, 2013 (The Emirates News Agency)

ABU DHABI: The Director of the Economic Affairs Department at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Jassim Mohammed Al Qasimi, has
discussed with Gegham Gharibjanyan, Armenian Ambassador to the UAE,
ways to develop cooperative relations between the two countries and
to prepare for the meeting of the Joint Committee meeting between
the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Armenia.

During the meeting the parties also reviewed a number of topics of
mutual interest between the two countries.

From: Baghdasarian

BRITISH COUNCIL TO SUPPORT THE DISABLED IN ARMENIA’S REGIONS

October 04, 2013 | 17:30

The British Council starts a 3-year program to support the disabled
in Armenia. The program will focus on local administrations,
representative of the Yerevan office said.

According to the preliminary polls, the main problems of the disabled
in Armenia are the availability of schools and public buildings,
as well as employment opportunities.

“According to official statistics, 6% of Armenia’s population has
disability to some extent, but the data provided by the Armenian
NGOs shows it is even higher – about 10%,” Inessa Muradyan said,
addressing the third forum of village communities being held in Jermuk.

In addition to Armenia, the program will also be conducted in Georgia,
Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Jordan and Lebanon.

In Armenia, the program partners are the Ministry of Labour and the
Ministry of Territorial Administration.

“Under this program, we plan to hold trainings for the representatives
of state agencies, local governments and the media. We plan to start
the project in 2-3 regions,” she said.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN POLICE CHIEF: YEREVAN WILLING TO COOPERATE WITH BAKU IN CRACKDOWN ON DRUG TRAFFICKING

YEREVAN, October 4. /ARKA/. Armenia is willing to cooperate with
Azerbaijan in the crackdown on drug trafficking, Armenian Police Chief
Vladimir Gasparyan said Friday while summarizing results of the local
anti-drug operation called Canal-Caucasus. The office coordinating
this operation is located in Yerevan.

“Armenia has no untouchable topics,” he is quoted by Novosti-Armenia.

“Criminality has no nationality.”

Nikolay Bordyuzha, Secretary General of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization, said on his side that in the Canal international
anti-drug campaign is being run under the auspices of the organization
are taking part not only the CSTO member countries but also 22 states.

“Armenian and Azerbaijani police officers are normally cooperating
with each other within this operation,” he said.

The local Canal-Caucasus anti-drug operation was carried out in
Armenia from October 1 to 4.

In this connection, CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha and
Russian Federation Federal Drug Control Service Director Victor Ivanov
traveled to Yerevan. —0—

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

‘POSTANJIAN IS NOT A TURK, BUT A MOTHER OF FOUR’

Friday,
October
04

“Zaruhi Postanjian is not a Turk, but a mother of four, and an original
woman,” the secretary of ARFD faction Aghvan Vardanian said during
parliamentary briefings, when commenting on the recent events in
the PACE.

He reiterated that Z. Postanjian’s question is unacceptable to him
and their faction, adding that Heritage faction has to do some work
regarding the issue. “We need to understand at last whether it is the
opinion of their faction or not,” Vardanian said, noting that it is
Heritage that should give an assessment and take a decision.

According to Aghvan Vardanian, National Assembly speaker Hovik
Abrahamian met with heads or representatives of all the factions”. “We
said the question she asked is unacceptable to us, but we didn’t say
that Z. Postanjian should be excluded from the Armenian delegation
to the PACE,” he noted.

“It is up to the National Assembly speaker to make a decision on this
matter,” Aghvan Vardanian said in conclusion.

TODAY, 13:57

Aysor.am

From: Baghdasarian

NO CHOLERA CASES RECORDED IN ARMENIA, HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS

15:00 04/10/2013 ” HEALTH

The information that a case of cholera is recorded in Armenia is
untrue. There are no cholera cases in the country, the Armenian Health
Ministry told Panorama.am.

Due to the cholera epidemic in Iran, the Armenian Health Ministry
is taking necessary measures at Armenia-Iran border checkpoint to
prevent the penetration of cholera infection into Armenia.

The Ministry said earlier that 910 passengers arriving in Armenia
from Iran underwent medical checks. They all were confirmed healthy.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Baghdasarian

SARGSYAN AND BORDYUZHA DISCUSS CSTO MEETING RESULTS

YEREVAN, October 3. / ARKA /. Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan
received on Thursday the Secretary General of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha.

Sargsyan’s press office said Bordyuzha spoke about the outcome of the
11th meeting of the CSTO’s Intergovernmental Commission on Military
and Economic Cooperation.

It said the two men also discussed a set of issues related to the
conduct of an anti-drug operation codenamed “Channel-Caucasus” in
Armenia. Bordyuzha was also said to have spoken about the operation
of CSTO academy in Yerevan.

Nikolai Bordyuzha was in Yerevan at the invitation of the Secretary
of National Security Council of Armenia Arthur Baghdasaryan. -0-

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

REVUE DE PRESSE N2 – 03/10/13 – COLLECTIF VAN

Publie le : 03-10-2013

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN [Vigilance
Armenienne contre le Negationnisme] vous propose une revue de presse
des informations parues dans la presse francophone, sur les thèmes
concernant la Turquie, le genocide armenien, la Shoah, le genocide
des Tutsi, le Darfour, le negationnisme, l’Union europeenne, Chypre,
etc… Nous vous suggerons egalement de prendre le temps de lire ou
de relire les informations et traductions mises en ligne dans notre
rubrique Par
ailleurs, certains articles en anglais, allemand, turc, etc, ne sont
disponibles que dans la newsletter Word que nous generons chaque jour.

Pour la recevoir, abonnez-vous a la Veille-Media : c’est gratuit !

Vous recevrez le document du lundi au vendredi dans votre boîte email.

Bonne lecture.

Collectif VAN : l’ephemeride du 3 octobre Info Collectif VAN –
– La rubrique Ephemeride est a retrouver
quotidiennement sur le site du Collectif VAN. Elle recense la
liste d’evenements survenus a une date donnee, a differentes
epoques de l’Histoire, sur les thematiques que l’association suit au
quotidien. L’ephemeride du Collectif VAN repose sur des informations en
ligne sur de nombreux sites (les sources sont specifiees sous chaque
entree). “3 octobre 1940 — Statut des juifs en zone libre : premier
statut des Juifs publie au Journal Officiel du 18 octobre 1940 après
accord avec l’Allemagne. Les citoyens juifs francais sont exclus de
la fonction publique, de l’armee, de l’enseignement, de la presse,
de la radio et du cinema. Les Juifs ” en surnombre ” sont exclus des
professions liberales. Le Juif est defini du point de vue racial : ”
est regarde comme Juif toute personne issue de trois grands-parents de
race juive ou de deux grands-parents de la meme race, si son conjoint
lui-meme est juif “. Cette loi elimine les Juifs des organismes elus,
des postes de responsabilite, de la fonction publique, l’armee, la
magistrature, l’enseignement, la presse, la radio, le cinema. Statut
redige par Laval, Raphaël Alibert, garde des Sceaux, et Petain. 1
064 instituteurs et professeurs juifs perdent leur poste (408 en
zone occupee et 656 en zone libre). La collaboration, presidee par
le Marechal Petain, entraînera la deportation de 75 721 personnes,
dont 6012 enfants.”

Bakou exhorte Ankara a ne pas repeter l'” erreur ” de 2009 ” La Turquie
scelle ses frontières et a rompu ses relations diplomatiques avec
l’Armenie après que ce pays ait occupe nos territoires et ce malgre la
resolution du Conseil de securite de l’ONU sur cette question. Nous
n’avons aucune objection a la Turquie si elle dit qu’elle ira de
l’avant avec l’Armenie a condition de mettre fin a cette occupation
” a declare Mammadov.

Depeche de l’APA [ 02 Octobre 2013 15:47 ] – Agence de Presse
d’Azerbaïdjan Le Collectif VAN vous propose un article de l’APA
(Agence de presse azerie) date du 2 octobre 2013. Les articles de ce
site (ecrits generalement dans un francais rudimentaire) ne sont pas
commentes de notre part. Ils peuvent contenir des propos negationnistes
envers le genocide armenien ou d’autres informations a prendre sous
toute reserve.

Grèce: le chef des neonazis d’Aube doree en detention provisoire
Arrete le week-end dernier avec 17 autres deputes de son parti,
le chef du parti neonazi grec Aube doree, Nikos Mihaloliakos, a ete
place en detention provisoire jeudi soir. Il est accuse de “diriger
une organisation criminelle”. Mercredi, quatre autres elus d’Aube
doree avaient ete inculpes du meme chef d’accusation.

Turquie, le dernier village armenien Bientôt, Vafekle sera rattachee
administrativement a la grande ville d’Antakya, Berch n’aura plus
le pouvoir de dire non et l’appetit de la Turquie moderne ne fera
qu’une bouchee du dernier coin de paradis armenien en terre ottomane,
surmonte d’un carillon et de son joli clocher.

La guerre des grands ensembles, de Kiev a Erevan Ce choix eurasiatique,
annonce par le president armenien a Moscou, est du reste conforme au
choix des citoyens Armeniens qui seraient près de 67% a etre favorables
a l’adhesion de leur pays a l’Union eurasiatique. Aussitôt, l’UE a
reagi avec beaucoup de fermete par le biais du ministre lituanien des
Affaires etrangères Linas Linkevicius qui a affirme que: “Si l’Armenie
decide de rejoindre l’Union douanière, cela veut dire qu’elle ne
pourra pas signer d’accords de libre echange avec l’Union europeenne”.

10000 armeniens de Syrie en Armenie Plus de 10000 Syriens d’origine
armenienne se sont deplaces en Armenie. Le chef de la commission ad hoc
pour les Armeniens de Syrie Firdus Zakaryan a declare a Lragir.am que
les Armeniens de Syrie se rendent en Armenie via le Liban et l’Egypte.

Syrie : le gouvernement turc pourrait renouveler le mandat pour
l’envoi de troupes en Syrie ” Les developpements recents montrent
que le regime syrien a atteint un point où il est pret a utiliser
toutes les methodes ou les armes contre le droit international “,
est-il explique dans la motion, qui souligne que ” la Turquie est le
pays qui sera le plus touche par les attaques menees par le regime
et l’incertitude et le chaos en Syrie “.

En Turquie, le gouvernement Erdogan veut contre-attaquer sur les
reseaux sociaux En Turquie, la guerre qui oppose, depuis la fin mai
2013, le gouvernement aux manifestants qui denoncent son autoritarisme
sur les reseaux sociaux, ne s’apaise pas. Plus familiers du Net, ces
derniers ont gagne la première bataille. Mais voila qu’une seconde
manche est engagee: le parti de la Justice et du developpement (AKP,
au pouvoir depuis 2002) a leve une “veritable petite armee sur les
reseaux sociaux, où 6.000 adherents du parti seront desormais charges
de faire entendre la parole officielle”.

La police turque epinglee par un rapport d’Amnesty Un rapport
d’Amnesty International denonce la brutalite de la police turque,
lors des manifestations antigouvernementales de juin dernier.

L’ONG evoque, en particulier, un recours excessif aux gaz lacrymogènes,
qui auraient cause de nombreuses blessures : “On sait que 8000
personnes ont ete blessees durant les manifestations. Des organisations
des droits de l’Homme nous ont dit que 60% des blessures, qu’elles
avaient pu constater, etaient dues a des capsules de gaz lacrymogènes”.

Retour a la rubrique

From: Baghdasarian