Author: Felekian Ara

MY NAME IS STRUGGLE, AND MY END IS VICTORY

Yerkir
24.04.2008 15:06

Yerevan (Yerkir) – Thousands of young people from Armenia and Diaspora
joined in the torch march, held for the ninth time that began at
20:00 on 23 April in Freedom Square. The march was organized by
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Youth Organization and Nikol
Aghbalian Student Union.

"Dear youth, the memory of our forefathers will always remain in
our hearts," a statement by those organizations said. "Our name is
struggle until Turkey recognizes the Armenian Genocide. Our name is
struggle until a fair reparation and return of our homeland."

"I believe we will see our lands returned," said Karo Khorozian,
a member of the project called "To Homeland."

Hrayr Karapetyan, the secretary of the ARF faction in parliament,
addressed those present: "Everyone around the globe pay respects
those days to the memory of the 1915 Genocide victims. Not Armenians
are paying respects but also the entire progressive and civilized
humankind is with us and stands up for the memory of our martyred
people because the civilized world came to realize that this great
crime had its followers. There were Hitlers, there were people who
continued the policies of Taleats, Envers.

"All those governments who speak of human rights and liberties
should first of all recognize this crime, the Genocide because this
is the gravest violation of human rights and liberties, especially
that Turkey has not changed and that people are harassed in today’s
Turkey, people like Hrant Dink. As we were united twenty years ago
and were able to return Artsakh, we will bring back out united Armenia
tomorrow with the help of our unity. Long live free, independent and
united Armenia." he added.

After praying, the participants of the march started to walk to
Tsitsernakaberd hill. A cross and the Armenian tricolor led the
procession.

Young people held up the flags of the countries that have recognized
the Armenian Genocide.

ACTION OF PROTEST TO BE HELD IN FRONT OF TURKISH CONSULATE OF LOS ANGELES ON APRIL 24

Noyan Tapan
April 24, 2008

LOS ANGELES, APRIL 24, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. On April 24,
the Armenian Youth Federation is organizing its annual action of
protest in front of the building of the Turkish Consulate of Los
Angeles. Thousands of American Armenians and apologists of human rights
demand that the Turkish government stop its policy of negationism
over the Armenian Genocide. Nearly 10 thousand people took part in
that action of protest last year.

FIFTH SITTING OF INTERSTATE COMMISSION OF MILITARY-ECONOMIC COOPERATION OF COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN ON APRIL 25

Noyan Tapan
April 23, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The fifth sitting of the interstate
commission of the military-economic cooperation of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization will be held in Yerevan on April 25.

According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the Press
and Information Department of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the draft agreements and programs developed for the purpose of the
further deepening of the military-economic cooperation between member
states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization will be discussed
in the sitting.

INTERNATIONAL BODIES NEED TO BE PROACTIVE IN NOGORNA-KARABAKH CONFLICT
Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia General News
April 22, 2008 Tuesday

International bodies such as the United Nations and the Organisation
of Islamic Conference (OIC) need to be more proactive to help resolve
the prolonged Nogorna-Karabakh conflict, a researcher said.

Komala Imranthy, who works for the Centre for Foreign Policy and
Strategic Studies of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said although
the Nogorna-Karabakh conflict had attracted much attention from
international bodies, no concrete action was taken.

"In fact, OIC was the first to recognise our struggle. There have
been four resolutions made by the UN Security Council since 1993.

"Regrettably, all of it remain on paper. There is no action behind
these words," she told Bernama after a lecture on "War Against
Azerbaijan: Targeting Cultural Heritage" here today.

The Nogorna-Karabakh region which is close to the Armenian border is
part of Azerbaijan.

However, a conflict erupted between the two now-independent nations
since 1923 and in 1988 when Armenia began its territorial claims on
the region.

Imranthy said the invasion led to many Azerbaijan historical monuments
and artefacts being destroyed with some Arabic characters on monuments
replaced with Armenian language.

"About one million Azerbaijanis were internally displaced, following
the occupation," she said.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan Ambassador to Malaysia, Tahir Karimov said
that the conflict was not highly-publicised, perhaps because of its
non-benefits to the West.

"Partly, it is due to the fact that the West does not want to see
anything but its oil interests in Azerbaijan, and partly because of
the proud character of Azerbaijanis who do not want to talk about
their problems," he said in his speech earlier.

Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia,
Azerbaijan, a nation of about 8.6 million people, obtained independence
from the then-Soviet Union in October 1991.

About 96 per cent of the Azerbaijan population is Muslim.

HIGH SCHOOL PROJECT ON GENOCIDE WAS A PORTENT OF REAL-LIFE EVENTS
By Samuel G. Freedman.

The New York Times
April 23, 2008 Wednesday

Samuel G. Freedman is a professor of journalism at Columbia
University. His e-mail is [email protected]

In 1993, when Travis Hofmann was a freshman of 15, he had traveled
little beyond the sand hills that surrounded his hometown, Alliance,
Neb. He was the son of a railroad engineer, a trumpeter in the high
school band, with a part-time job changing the marquee and running
the projector at the local movie theater.

In Travis’s class in global geography at Alliance High School,
however, the teacher introduced the outside world with the word and
concept of genocide. The teacher, Tim Walz, was determined that even
in this isolated place, perhaps especially in this isolated place,
this county seat of 9,000 that was hours away from any city in any
direction, the students should learn how and why a society can descend
into mass murder.

Mr. Walz had already taught for a year in China, and he brought the
world into his classroom in the form of African thumb pianos and
Tibetan singing bowls. For the global geography class, he devised
something far more ambitious than what the curriculum easily could
have been — the identification and memorization of capitals,
mountain ranges and major rivers. It was more ambitious, too, than
a unit solely on the Holocaust of the sort many states have required.

"The Holocaust is taught too often purely as a historical event,
an anomaly, a moment in time," Mr. Walz said in a recent interview,
recalling his approach. "Students understood what had happened and
that it was terrible and that the people who did this were monsters.

"The problem is," he continued, "that relieves us of
responsibility. Obviously, the mastermind was sociopathic, but on the
scale for it to happen, there had to be a lot of people in the country
who chose to go down that path. You have to make the intellectual
leap to figure out the reasons why."

So Mr. Walz took his students — Brandon Bell, the wrestler;
Beth Taylor, the cheerleader; Lanae Merwin, the quiet girl always
reading some book about Queen Elizabeth; and all the other children of
mechanics, secretaries and a town dentist — and assigned them to study
the conditions associated with mass murder. What factors, he asked them
to determine, had been present when Germans slaughtered Jews, Turks
murdered Armenians, the Khmer Rouge ravaged their Cambodian countrymen?

"It was different and unusual, certainly not a project you’d be
expecting," Mr. Hofmann, now 31, of Phoenix, remembered recently
of the class. "The biggest part was just the freedom to explore
things. No matter how abnormal or far-fetched an idea might sound,
you can form an opinion. Instead of just going in and having a teacher
say, ‘Here’s information, learn it, know it, you’ll be tested on it,’
it was, ‘Here’s an idea, run with it.’ "

For nine weeks through the winter and early spring that school
year, through the howling blizzards and the planting of the first
alfalfa on the plains, the class pored over data about economics,
natural resources and ethnic composition. They read about civil war,
colonialism and totalitarian ideology. They worked with reference
books and scholarly reports, long before conducting research took
place instantly online.

Most, like Mr. Hofmann, had spent their entire lives in and near
Alliance. A few had traveled to Washington, D.C., with the school
marching band. A few had driven four hours to Denver to buy the new
Nirvana CD. Mostly, though, the outside world was a place they built,
under Mr. Walz’s tutelage, in their own brains.

When the students finished with the past, Mr. Walz gave a final exam
of sorts. He listed about a dozen current nations — Yugoslavia,
Congo, some former Soviet republics among them — and asked the class
as a whole to decide which was at the greatest risk of sliding into
genocide.

Their answer was: Rwanda. The evidence was the ethnic divide
between Hutus and Tutsis, the favoritism toward Tutsis shown by
the Belgian colonial regime, and the previous outbreaks of tribal
violence. Mr. Walz awarded high marks.

Then summer arrived and school let out. The students did what teenagers
did in Alliance over the summer. They water-skied at the reservoir,
swam in the Bridgeport sand pits and mostly "cruised the Butte,"
endlessly driving up and down Box Butte Avenue.

THE next April, in 1994, Mr. Walz heard news reports of a plane
carrying the Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, being shot
down. He told himself at the time, "This is not going to end up good."

It did not. Over the next three months, militant Hutus killed 800,000
Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The reports reached even The Alliance
Times-Herald, the local daily newspaper. Mr. Walz’s students, now
juniors, saw their prophecy made into flesh and blood.

"It was terribly chilling," Lanae Merwin, now 31, of Hastings,
Neb., recalled in a recent interview. "But, to us, it wasn’t totally
surprising. We’d discussed it in class and it was happening. Though
you don’t want a prediction like that to come true."

Mr. Hofmann remembered having a similar reaction. "It was just strange
to know that something was discussed not too long before that could
actually happen," he said. "Just a surreal feeling. To everyone else,
it’s 8,000 miles away — no one cares. How can you grasp it? But to
us, it was, we talked about it. For us, it was something that reached
us directly."

Years have passed. Mr. Walz left Alliance and moved to his wife’s
home state, Minnesota; he is the only active teacher now serving in
the United States Congress. His former geography students have moved
as adults to Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and New York. Ms. Taylor lived
in Poland for a while.

Now, in 2008, April has come again. It is, among other things, the
month for genocide remembrance — the month when Rwanda was convulsed,
when the Khmer Rouge conquered Cambodia, when Armenians commemorate
what they call the Great Catastrophe, when Yom HaShoah, Holocaust
memorial day, almost always falls. (Though this year, because of the
Jewish lunar calendar, it will be observed on May 1.) The lessons of
a classroom in Alliance 15 years ago still matter.

"You have to understand what caused genocide to happen," Mr. Walz said,
with those grim anniversaries in mind. "Or it will happen again."

HAMDEN HIGH SCHOOL HOLDS GENOCIDE SYMPOSIUM

Noyan Tapan
April 18, 2008

LOS ANGELES, APRIL 18, ARMENIANS TOADY – NOYAN TAPAN. On the initiative
of the students of the Hamden High School of the Connecticut State
of the United States of America, a symposium on genocide has taken
place and the genocides of the 20th century have been presented.

The students have spoken about the mass killings in the Belgian Congo,
Cambodia, Rwanda and Darfur during the symposium.

1901 N. Allen Ave.
Altadena, CA 90001
Tel: 626.794.2722
Fax: 626.296.2922
Email: [email protected]

April 18, 2008

PRESS RELEASE

*Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi of California to be the Keynote
Speaker of the 93^rd Armenian Genocide Commemoration in Glendale*

GLENDALE, CA — On April 24, 2008 the Armenian Genocide United
Commemoration Committee is organizing a political rally at Glendale
Civic Auditorium (1401 N. Verdugo Rd., Glendale, CA 91208) at 8 pm to
mark the 93^rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi of the State of California will be
the keynote speaker. Lt. Governor Garamendi is the 46^th Lieutenant
Governor of California. California State Senator Jack Scott of the 21^st
District, California State Assemblyman Paul Krekorian of the 43^rd
district, Mayor of Glendale John Drayman, and Consul General of the
Republic of Armenia, Armen Liloyan, will also participate in the program.

The AGBU-AYA San Fernando Valley Chapter Sardarabad Dance Group and the
LARK Davigh Dance Group of Glendale will perform at the event. They will
be joined by singer Razmig Mansourian, and Arpi Bosnoyan who will recite
poetry.

This rally will be the closing ceremony to the 93^rd anniversary
commemorations of the Armenian Genocide. Free parking will be provided.
We appeal to every Armenian to participate in the observance of the
Armenian Genocide and also become active in the pursuit of the Armenian
Cause.

# # #

ALL OSCE MINSK GROUP MEMBERS SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN TALKS ON KARABAKH – AZERBAIJAN

Interfax News Agency
April 16 2008
Russia

All OSCE Minsk Group members should participate in talks on the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, Deputy Azeri Foreign Minister Araz
Azimov said.

"I do not speak of changing the format of the talks, but on the need
for a comprehensive use of the Minsk Group’s potential, which has
not happened as yet," Azimov said.

"We could discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at least once a month,
with participation of the co-chairmen, as well as with other Minsk
Group member countries," he said. The position of European countries
with their democratic values could tell favorably upon the negotiating
process, he said.

"I do not attack the co-chairmen, that [are represented by] influential
nations. But the inclusion of other Minsk Group countries could
exert a favorable influence," he said. He said that the Minsk Group
represented many countries with their interests: Turkey, Germany,
Sweden and their inclusion could help to prevent monopolization of
the talks.

The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group working as a mediator for
solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are the U.S., Russia
and France.

PRESS OFFICE
Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 889-5150; Fax: (212) 889-4849
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

April 15, 2008

___________________

MARDIGIAN FOUNDATION DONATES $1 MILLION TO THE FUND FOR ARMENIAN RELIEF (FAR)

New York, New York – At-risk children in Yerevan received a gift of
hope recently, when the Edward and Helen Mardigian Foundation of
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, gave a $1 million gift to the Fund for
Armenian Relief (FAR) to support its Homeless Children’s Center in
Yerevan.

The Center, to be renamed the Helen and Edward Mardigian Family
Children’s Center, is a proactive program, working with at-risk
children before they end up on the street. The Center’s social
workers, psychologists, and medical professionals work to keep
children in stable, loving homes, rather than having them end up
abandoned and living in orphanages or other institutions.

The generous gift from the Mardigian Foundation will allow FAR to
expand and enhance the Center’s family-oriented programs designed to
strengthen the community surrounding at-risk children.

"It was heartbreaking to see what is happening to Armenian children,"
said Janet Mardigian, a member of the Diocesan Council of the Armenian
Church of America (Eastern), who toured FAR’s Homeless Children’s
Center in July 2007. "Anyone who visits cannot leave without shedding
tears. It was very difficult coming home from there. I love children
and have a soft spot for them. They are the ones who need help."

IMPACT OF WITNESSING ARMENIA FIRST-HAND

Upon returning to the United States, Mrs. Mardigian described the
experiences of her first trip to Armenia to Edward, her husband of 38
years. "Before this journey, I didn’t understand the depth of FAR’s
programs in Armenia. There are so many components that FAR deals with
in Armenia – the mindset of locals after communism, dealing with the
government, people still living in domiks since the earthquake – so
much still needs to be done. Seeing FAR’s work, however, gave me
hope. I am very impressed with FAR."

During the tour of the Center, Mrs. Mardigian and the others had a
chance to meet not only the qualified and dedicated professional
staff, but also to talk with some of the young children whose lives
have been improved by the care and guidance they get at the Center.

"At the Homeless Children’s Center, there were two little girls there,
eight- and nine-year old sisters. I couldn’t take my eyes off them!
If I could have, I would have brought them home," shared Mrs.
Mardigian.

Those two young girls, Gohar and Inessa, came to the center in April
2007 after living on the streets alone. They had low self-esteem and
were emotionally anxious. The problem facing these two young girls
was that their parents divorced in 2005. While their mother tried her
best to care for them. She rented a small apartment and found a way
to send them to school, where they excelled. But soon their mother
lost her job. She had no emotional or financial support from her own
family, and started drinking. As their mother’s drinking got worse
and her care for her daughters deteriorated, the authorities stepped
in, bringing the two girls to FAR’s Center.

At the center, FAR’s professionally trained social workers and
psychologists organized a meeting with the sisters’ grandmother, who
did not realize the poor state her granddaughters were in. With the
support of FAR and their grandmother, Gohar and Inessa’s mother
received the treatment she needed. And the girls received the care
and direction they needed to regain the hope of childhood.

Today, thanks to FAR’s efforts, Gohar and Inessa live in a much safer
environment with their mother and grandmother.

MAKING A REAL DIFFERENCE FOR CHILDREN

After hearing about the children helped by the Center and the
continuing need for pro-active, family-centered efforts to help
at-risk children, the Mardigian family asked FAR what they could do to
help.

"We wanted to support something worthy and deserving," said Edward
Mardigian Jr., who is planning his frist trip to Armenia in September
2008. "We chose the Homeless Children’s Center based on the
recommendation of FAR Chairman Randy Sapah-Gulian and because of FAR’s
strong experience as child welfare advocates in Armenia, as well as
its track record as pioneers in effecting positive change in
children’s lives. Children are our future. We must cultivate the
youth, especially the Armenians."

Mr. Sapah-Gulian noted that the Mardigian gift provides critical
funding that can be used immediately for programs to help at-risk
children. "Ultimately we will help foster a strong and confident next
generation to lead and grow Armenia into a brighter future," he said.

"I have known Mr. and Mrs. Mardigian Sr., since I was a child," he
continued. "They have always focused on the children. This gift is
in keeping with their vision. The Mardigian Foundation is a long-time
supporter of children’s programs."

THE HELEN AND EDWARD MARDIGIAN FOUNDATION – CONTINUING TO GIVE BACK

Established in 1955, the Helen and Edward Mardigian Foundation has
provided significant support to various religious, cultural, and
educational philanthropies, including a major contributions towards
the building of the St. John Armenian Church of Greater Detroit and
the restoration of many historic Armenian churches and monasteries
worldwide. It has also provided generous support towards the Armenian
General Benevolent Union (AGBU) and the Armenian Assembly of America.

The Foundation has funded three museums, including the Edward and
Helen Mardigian Museum in the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem and the
museum in the Armenian monastery in Geghard, Armenia. The family also
created the Helen and Edward Mardigian Institute at the Eastern
Diocese, a highly successful training program for educators and Sunday
School teachers.

"My parents instilled philanthropy in all of us when we were
children," said Mr. Mardigian, Jr. who runs the Foundation with his
mother, recalling: "when I was 12 years old, I overheard my mother
telling my father about a donation. I decided to give some money to
Leader Dogs for the Blind. After I received a note thanking me for
the contribution, I decided next year to give more."

"They taught us to want to give back, communicating that this country
was good to them and so they wanted to give back to the community," he
said. "My father focused on the Armenian community, however, he
wanted to serve everyone, which is why my father started the
foundation."

FAR PIONEERS CHILD PROTECTION IN ARMENIA

To confront child abandonment and institutionalization, FAR Homeless
Children Center has grown since opening in February 2000from providing
basic crisis intervention as a temporary safe haven for street
children, to becoming a full-service facility for at-risk children
with branch locations in the provinces, a national hotline, family
outreach and strengthening services, a UNICEF-sponsored foster care
program, a national child protection network, and much more.

FAR’s Center, open 24 hours every day, has a unique multidisciplinary
approach that has helped more than 2,300 troubled children in the last
seven years. The combined instrumental, emotional and protective
assistance contributes significantly ot the rehabilitation of children
who have been found living alone on the streets, engaged in begging or
vagrancy, having dropped out of school, and/or with various behavioral
problems. They are usually careless, parentless, or in physical
danger, whether environmentally or bodily.

The Homeless Children Center is considered a crown jewel in FAR’s
portfolio of programs. Founded in response to the 1988 earthquake, FAR
has served millions of people through more than 220 relief and
development programs in Armenia, Karabagh and Javakhk. It has
channeled more than $265 million in humanitarian assistance by
implementing a wide range of projects including emergency relief,
construction, education, medical aid, and economic development.

In 2008, FAR was awarded its second consecutive four-start rating by
Charity Navigator, America’s premier charity evaluator, for sound
fiscal management. This "exceptional" designation from Charity
Navigator differentiates FAR from its peers and demonstrates to the
public it is worthy of their trust. By offering hope and more
promising prospects in Ar,menia, Karabagh and Javakhk, FAR binds the
Diaspora and the Armenian family together around the globe.

For more information on FAR or to send donations, contact us at 630
Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016; telephone (212) 889-5150; fax (212)
889-4849; web ; e-mail [email protected].

* * *

E-mail photos available upon request.

CAPTION (1): Edward Mardigian, Sr., and his wife Helen, whose Edward
and Helen Mardigian Foundation recently gave a $1 million gift to the
Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) to support its Homeless Children’s
Center in Yerevan.

CAPTION (2): Janet Mardigian and her husband Edward Mardigian Jr.

CAPTION (3): Janet Mardigian joins Archbisho Khajag Barsamian,
Primate, and other Diocesan leader on a tour of FAR’s Homeless
Children’s Center in Yerevan during a recent trip to Armenia by the
Diocesan Council and the FAR Board of Directors.

NA OFFICIAL AND OPPOSITION DELEGATIONS IN STRASBOURG ON OCCASION OF PACE SESSION

Noyan Tapan
April 14, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The PACE spring session will be held
on April 14-18 in Strasbourg. The Armenian delegation also takes
part in its proceedings. The report of John Prescott, the head of the
PACE monitoring mission in the February 19 presidential elections in
Armenia, on the elections is on the agenda of the session’s first
day. The issue of including the report on the state of democratic
institutions in Armenia in the agenda as an urgent one is to be also
decided through voting. In case of its adoption the issue will be
discussed on April 17.

According to Radio Liberty, Hovhannes Igitian, a member of the Armenian
National Movement party Board, is also in Strasbourg. According to
him, the main goal of his stay in Strasbourg is to meet with Council
of Europe and PACE officials. "The first goal of our delegation’s stay
here is that there should be no political prisoners in Armenia. Second,
we should bring the freedom of expression and press to the standards,
which are accepted here," H. Igitian said. According to him, during
the meeting with Council of Europe Chairman Terry Davis the latter
said that he will attend to these people’s fate himself. The ANM
Board member also mentioned that is is needless to speak about the
"disgraceful amendments" made to the valid law On Holding Meetings,
Rallies, Processions, and Demonstrations lately, as Armenia has
adopted them "only temporarily, to exclude rallies in Armenia for two
or three months, and it is obvious that they will be liquidated soon
and Armenia will return to the former law."

By the way, the relatives and supporters of arrested oppositionists
held an action of protest on April 14 in front of the Council of
Europe Yerevan Office. As Melisa Brown, the wife of former Foreign
Minister Alexander Arzumanian, who is arrested at present, said to
Radio Liberty, they did not expect any reception from the office
responsibles and they have already sent their letter with thousands
of signatures to Council of Europe demanding releasing the political
prisoners, having an effect upon the RA authorities in the issue of
freedom of expression and rallies.