Author: Hakobian Adrine

CALL TO ACTION: It’s OK to Say…

action-its-ok-to-say/
May 22, 2009

Garen will finish what Hitler/Pol Pot/Milosevic started," right? See
it’s only a friend kidding around. It’s all for ratings advertising
money through shock-jockery. It’s OK, at least that’s gotta be Bill
Handel’s, of Clear Channel owned KFI 640 AM radio in the "LA Market",
approach to life.

This Burbank-based show is another of the right-wing, loud,
unsubstantiated, crass, yet immensely popular noise machines that
is epitomized by Rush (The Druggie) Limbaugh. In this case, believe
it or not, a discussion of healthcare led to the statement "What the
Turks started, Bill will finish".

While talking about the costs, Handel suggested reducing the
U.S. population to save the government money. Then came a wisecrack
about starting with the Armenians and selling Glendale. So far, it’s
just tacky, and par for the shock-radio course. One person who heard
this called and e-mailed to complain. The upshot? The e-mail was read
and mocked, again no surprises. But then came "What the Turks started,
Bill will finish."

Now it’s time to let the rage flow free. Call, write, and just plain
flood KFI and its owner, Clear Channel with your disgust. These people
(and here I use the term loosely) have to learn what boundaries not
to cross. Handel’s parents being Holocaust survivors doesn’t excuse or
sanction such abuse. Quite the contrary, it makes things all the worse.

When you call, tell them you want a serious apology, one not fraught
with further mockery. Even more, Handel should issue a call to his
listeners to write Obama the Betrayer and contact their Congressional
reps to support the current resolution.

You’ll certainly want to hear the two clips. Unfortunately, you can’t
hear the real offender off KFI’s website. Why? They’ve taken down
that show from their website. Hmm, wonder why that is. Fortunately,
they were downloaded ahead of time and are now available at:
To contact these people, here are
some options:

snail mail address:

3400 W Olive Ave Ste 550, Burbank CA 91505 e-mail:

Robin Bertolucci, Program Director, KFI
AM640,[email protected] KFI station numbers:

Main: (818) 559-2252 Programming: (818) 566-6476 Corporate
headquarters: Clear Channel, 200 East Basse Road, San Antonio, TX
78209 210/822-2828

[email protected]

Let’s flood these people. Especially since it’s a holiday weekend,
let’s fill up their voice mail system. You can find some other numbers
for them on line too. If you’re feeling up to it, flood those as well.

WE SPLIT THEM UP AND IT ENDED

A1+
07:06 pm | May 19, 2009

A1+" got a chance to talk with head of the Ajapnyak district Ruben
Hovsepyan.

He is said to be tied to the incident that took place yesterday
between members of the Republican and "Prosperous Armenia" parties
in the Silikyan area.

"A1+":There were rumors that you were part of the incident that took
place at the Silikyan area yesterday. Is that true?

Ruben Hovsepyan: Not everything in the papers is true.

A1+: So, you were not at the scene and there was no dispute?

R.H.: Such disputes can happen anwyere, but thank God we were there. We
split them up and it ended.

A1+: So, there was no bloody conflict?

R.H.: No, no such thing.

A1+: Were you simply there to split them up?

R.H.: There was no problem with splitting them up.

A1+: Was the dispute based on political or criminal grounds?

R.H.: No, no such thing.

A1+: The police received two alarms and left for the scene.

R.H.: I am not aware of that.

A1+: Recently, the Republican and "Prosperous Armenia" party members
are getting into disputes quite often. What is the reason behind that?

R.H.: Everything is fine in our district.

INDIA ALLOCATED 400 THOUSAND DOLLARS TO THE ARMENIA FUND

LRAGIR.AM
17:52:28 – 19/05/2009

Today, the executive director of the All Armenian Fund Armenia Ara
Vardanyan and the Indian Ambassador to Armenia Rina Pandey signed a
memorandum of agreement, according to which, the Indian side is going
to allocate 400, 000 dollars to the All Armenian Fund Armenia, which
will be directed to the reconstruction of the school of the Artsni
village of the region of Lori; the All Armenian Fund Armenia reports.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
[email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
May 18, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

ANCA CHAIRMAN SHARES ARMENIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY’S
SHARP DISAPPOINTMENT WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA

"You failed to honor your commitment to lift our
nation’s response to genocide to the level of our
shared American values, choosing, instead, to allow
America’s willingness to respond forcefully to this
horrific crime to remain hostage to Turkish threats
and intimidation." — ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian

WASHINGTON, DC – Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
Chairman Ken Hachikian shared with President Barack Obama today the
Armenian American community’s disappointment with his
Administration’s failure to honor his campaign pledges to recognize
the Armenian Genocide and to foster the growth and development of
Armenia.

In a May 18th letter to the White House, Hachikian addressed both
the President’s decision not to honor his repeated promises to
recognize the Armenian Genocide, as well as his recent proposal to
cut aid to Armenia by 38% even as he increases overall foreign aid
spending and the level of assistance he seeks to the regions of
Europe, Eurasia, and South/Central Asia.

The full text of the ANCA letter is provided below:

A PDF version can be found at:
Obama_0509.pdf

#####

May 18, 2009

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing on behalf of the Armenian National Committee of
America to voice the Armenian American community’s profound
disappointment with your decision not to honor your pledge to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.

In breaking your clearly stated and unambiguous commitment, you
bitterly disappointed all those who believed in your solemn word to
change a flawed U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide, a policy that
you yourself, in a letter you sent to your constituents last year,
sharply criticized as "inexcusable." More broadly, you failed to
honor your commitment to lift our nation’s response to genocide to
the level of our shared American values, choosing, instead, to
allow America’s willingness to respond forcefully to this horrific
crime to remain hostage to Turkish threats and intimidation. This
failure continues the morally flawed policy of allowing Turkey to
veto our stand on human rights by effectively imposing a "gag" rule
on U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Your broken pledge represents both a grave offense to Armenian
Americans and a disservice to all Americans who understand that our
nation’s leadership in confronting genocide should never be reduced
to a political issue that can be traded away, retreated from under
pressure, or used to advance a political agenda, of any kind. The
ongoing dialogue between Armenia and Turkey should have no bearing
on your willingness to speak the truth about the Armenian Genocide;
our stand against all instances of genocide should be
unconditional.

What is so particularly disturbing about your reversal is that, in
the course of your service in the United States Senate and your
candidacy for the Presidency, you articulated a thorough knowledge
of the facts of the Armenian Genocide, a firm grasp of the
practical geo-political implications of proper American recognition
of this atrocity, a comprehensive view of the value of Turkey’s
relationship to the United States, and a clear understanding of the
profound moral issues at stake in the condemnation and
commemoration of this crime against humanity. Nothing has changed
since you gave your word except your failure to uphold it.

I respectfully call upon you to act quickly to correct your stand
on the Armenian Genocide by properly and immediately condemning and
commemorating this crime, and by working publicly toward the
adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution before the U.S.
Congress.

The Armenian American community is also troubled that, despite your
pledge to maintain aid to Armenia and to foster her growth and
development, you have called for a 38% cut in economic aid to
Armenia. This represents the sharpest cut, by a significant
margin, among all the recipient nations of Europe, Eurasia, and
South and Central Asia, and takes place with the context of
substantial proposed increases to each of these three regions and a
roughly 9% overall escalation in international affairs spending.

The singling out of Armenia, which has sent troops to Iraq and
Kosovo, appears set to contribute to our operations in Afghanistan,
and hosted the first NATO exercise in the region following the
Russia-Georgia war, for such a dramatic cut, even as it endures
dual Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades and an acute economic
crisis, is profoundly troubling to our community. Compounding this
disappointment was your decision to breach the Armenia-Azerbaijan
military aid parity agreement in favor of Baku, a move that tilts
the regional military balance and sends a dangerous signal to
Azerbaijani leaders who have made no secret of their intent to use
force of arms to settle the Nagorno Karabagh issue.

I appreciate your attention to the concerns of the Armenian
American community and remain hopeful that you will, consistent
with your campaign commitments, revise the course your
Administration has chosen on issues of special concern to Armenia
Americans. We would, of course, welcome the opportunity to meet
with you to discuss these matters personally and in greater detail.

Sincerely,

[signed]
Kenneth V. Hachikian
Chairman

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIAN-INDIAN RELATIONS DISCUSSED

ARMENPRESS
May 18, 2009

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandyan received May 16 Eurasian Coordinator of the Indian Foreign
Ministry Divyab Manchanda.

Armenian Foreign Ministry press service told Armenpress that greeting
the guest the foreign minister noted that Armenia highly underscores
the Armenian-Indian traditional warm relations and is interested in
their further development.

D. Manchanda pointed out that Indians have special warm attitude
towards Armenia and its people and the authorities of the country
are aimed at expanding bilateral partnership and cooperation.

During the meeting the sides spoke over the directions of boosting
cooperation. Edward Nalbandyan also underscored the activation of
political dialogue.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 16 2009

Russia, Turkey to help solve problem of Nagornyy Karabakh – Putin

Sochi, 16 May: A compromise on the problem of Nagornyy Karabakh should
be found by those involved themselves, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin has said after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep
Erdogan.

"Concerning the complex problems coming to us from the past, among
which is also the problem of Karabakh, a compromise must be found by
those involved in the conflict themselves," he believes.

"All of the other states who are assisting in achieving a compromise
on this issue can perform only the role of mediators and guarantors of
the implementation of the agreements already reached," Putin
emphasized. However, the Russian prime minister announced, "both
Turkey and Russia are interested in problems of a similar kind being
solved and will assist this in every possible way".

BRITISH DIPLOMAT NOTES LACK OF CLARITY IN ARMENIAN-TURKISH TIES

Mediamax
May 14 2009
Armenia

14 May: British Foreign Office Special Representative for the South
Caucasus Brian Fall said in Yerevan today that "if we look at the
process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish ties through foreign observers’
eyes, we will see that there is not 100-per-cent clarity in it".

Fall said this at a briefing while commenting on Turkish Prime Minister
[Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s] statement made in Baku on 13 May.

At the same time, the British diplomat pointed out that "answers
to all questions should be found in Yerevan and Baku" and the
sides should continue the dialogue in order to eliminate "possible
misunderstandings".

"We welcome the signs of rapprochement in relations between Armenia
and Turkey. We would like to see decisive steps taken by Armenia and
Azerbaijan this year to settle the Karabakh conflict," Fall said.

Answering the question on Turkey’s intensifying role in regional
processes, the British Foreign Office Special Representative for
the South Caucasus said that "the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk
Group remains the main driving force, supporting the efforts of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents".

"As for Turkey, this country plays a big role in regional developments,
however, one should not consider it as an alternative mediator
mechanism in the Karabakh conflict settlement," Fall said.

IRAN BEGINS GAS EXPORT TO ARMENIA: NIGEC MANAGING DIRECTOR

Zawya.com
/sidZAWYA20090514055602/Iran%20begins%20gas%20expo rt%20to%20Armenia:%20NIGEC%20managing%20director
M ay 14 2009

TEHRAN — National Iranian Gas Export Company Managing Director
Seyyed Reza Kasaiizadeh announced that Iran started the exportation
of natural gas to Armenia on Wednesday.

High ranking officials from both countries attended the Iran-Armenia
gas pipeline inauguration ceremony, SHANA reported.

According to the deal signed in May 2004, Armenia will pay for the
gas with electricity it produces at a Soviet-era nuclear power plant.

Based on the agreement Iran is supposed to transfer 3 million cubic
meters of gas per day to Armenia by the end of 2010, and from the
beginning of 2011 raise this volume up to 4 million cubic meters
per day.

The volume of gas exports could gradually rise to 6.3 million cubic
meters per day.

In exchange, Armenia will pay 3 kilowatt/hours of electricity for
each cubic meter of the Iranian gas.

The NIGEC managing director said the pipeline has a diameter of
30 inches and runs for 113 kilometers from Tabriz, East Azerbaijan
Province to the Iran-Armenia border.

The two countries had originally agreed to finalize the project in
January 2007, but the Armenians later said they were not ready.

HURRIYET: ERDOGAN LEAVES FOR AZERBAIJAN WITH A PLAN IN EXCHANGE FOR OPENING OF BORDER WITH ARMENIA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
13.05.2009 11:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan left for
Azerbaijan on Tuesday to reassure its leaders that Turkey’s efforts
to reconcile with Armenia would not undermine Baku’s interests.

The visit is aimed at "eradicating misunderstandings and
misperceptions" over Turkey’s policies, Erdogan told reporters before
his departure, pledging that Azeri interests remained a priority
for Ankara.

"Nobody should have the slightest doubt that Turkey will continue to
defend Azerbaijan’s interests as it has done so far," he said. "Our
relations are strong and based on a culture of fraternity."

Erdogan, accompanied by several ministers, including Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu and Energy Minister Taner Yildiz is scheduled to meet
with President Ilham Aliyev and address the Azeri parliament Wednesday.

Erdogan is expected to arrive with a proposal on "liberation" of five
regions. If Baku accepts it, he will discuss it in Russia with Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi Saturday.

The Ankara-Yerevan thaw has reportedly disturbed Azerbaijan. Some
media reports have suggested that Azerbaijan, a supplier of oil and
gas to Europe, might even halt the sale of natural gas to Turkey.

Russia, which has been mediating between Armenia and Azerbaijan over
Nagorno Karabakh, is reportedly pushing for a summit between Aliyev
and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in June aimed at moving to
formally end the conflict, Hurriyet reported.

DIASPORA STUDENTS OF ARCHITECTURAL UNIVERSITY TO PAY AS MUCH TUITION AS RA CITIZENS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
12.05.2009 15:55 GMT+04:00

This year equal tuition pay was established for both local and Diaspora
students of Yerevan State Architectural University.

The decision was passed and submitted to the University by RA Diaspora
Ministry, after students expressed their dissatisfaction with tuition
payment. Initially this policy extended to Armenian students from CIS,
now it includes all Armenian Diaspora representatives.

"I’d like to thank the Institute of Architecture for this decision. I
hope that similar decision will be taken by other RA Universities
either," RA Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan noted.

Similar application was submitted to Yerevan State Medical Institute,
but not satisfied as yet.