Author: Kajoyan Gevork

TCA Arshag Dickranian Armenian School
1200 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Tel: 323-461-4377
Fax: 323-323-461-4247

TCA Arshag Dickranian School Holds Its
2014 Commencement Ceremonies

Los Angeles, July 1, 2014 – In an air of celebration, TCA Arshag
Dickranian School held its 33rd Commencement Ceremony for its 12th,
8th, and 5th grades on Saturday, June 21st, at 5:00 p.m. at the Walter
and Laurel Karabian Hall. Honorary guests included His Eminence Arch.
Hovnan Derderian, the Primate of the Armenian Church of the Western
Diocese, school benefactresses Mrs. Cindy Norian and Mrs. Laurel
Karabian, benefactor Mr. Hmayak Baltayan, who joined at the event
along with Board Members, parents and friends to celebrate the
significant achievements of the graduating students.

The Commencement Ceremony began with the Processional of the 12th,
8th, and 5th grade students, followed by the school choir’s rendition
of the American and Armenian National Anthems and the
Arshag Dickranian School hymn.

Third grade teacher and 1997 alumna of Arshag Dickranian School, Mrs.
Violet Tatoian, acted as the MC of the event. Mrs. Tatoian greeted
the students, the guests and teachers in her opening remarks and gave
a heartening speech about her experience graduating from Arshag
Dickranian School. She then invited Board Chairman, Mr. George K.
Mandossian, to deliver his remarks on behalf of the School Board of
Trustees. Mr. Mandossian stipulated upon the curricular and student
achievements attained during the academic year under the
school’s new leadership and ended his remarks by thanking the parents,
the organizations and benefactors for their support.

The MC next called upon the Senior Valedictorians Nerses Bogosyan and
Zhanna Khnkoyan and Senior Salutatorian Lilit Demirtchian to deliver
their speeches. In their deliveries, these outstanding students
thanked their parents for the sacrifices they have made for them, and
the school for giving them the opportunity to learn very valuable
lessons in life. The students also talked about their most fond
memories at the school and of their classmates, moving their
classmates and attendants with their touching words.

Next, Principal Dr. Manoug Seraydarian conducted the Presentation of
the Awards by handing prizes to the achieving students.

The Keynote Speakers of the ceremony were 1994 ADS alumna, Ms. Astghik
Pilossyan, D. Phar., and 2004 ADS alumnus, Mr. Hovsep Yepremian, Esq.
In her speech, Ms. Pilossyan urged Armenians to continue sending their
children to Armenian schools, highlighting the safe environment
Armenian schools offer and the unique Armenian moral system taught at
Armenian schools and expressing how grateful she is for attending
Arshag Dickranian School. On the other hand, Mr. Yepremian discussed
about life after graduating from ADS. Mr. Yepremian advised the
students to work relentlessly towards their goals but to also learn
from their mistakes and utilize that knowledge to move ahead with
their endeavors.

Next, MC Violet Tatoian invited 5th Grade Homeroom Teacher Ms. Lusine
Asatryan and Principal Dr. Seraydarian to present the 5th grade
diplomas, which was followe by presenting the 8th Grade
with their diplomas and finally the Class of 2014. Principal Dr.
Seraydarian invited school benefactor Mr. Hmayak Baltayan to join him
in presenting the diplomas to the 5th grade students and school
benefactress Mrs. Cindy Noryan in presenting the diplomas to 8th grade
students. Principal Dr. Seraydarian then invited Arch. Hovnan
Derderian and Board Chairman Mr. Mandossian to present the diplomas to
the Class of 2014. Students Vahe Arevshatian, Nerses
Bogosyan, Lilit Demirthcian, Chrisitne Dzhulfayan, Gayana Khachikian,
Zhanna Khnkoyan, Narek Mamikonyan, Arthur Mazloumian, Hakop Mkhsian,
Johnny Odabashyan, Hakob Seropian, David Sulian, Mary
Sultanyan and Mariana Toutoundjian stood up when their names were
called and walked across the stage to receive their high school
diplomas amid cheers and applause.

Principal Dr. Seraydarian followed with his message. He sealed his
message by bidding farewell to the graduating students and
congratulating them and their parents for their memorable
achievement. The Commencement Ceremony was concluded with the closing
remarks and benediction of Arch. Hovnan Derderian.

After the recessional, the graduates gathered with family and friends
for carousing, picture taking and congratulating one another.

Located at 1200 North Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, the TCA Arshag
Dickranian Armenian School is a federally tax exempt, Pre-K to 12th
grade private educational institution. For more information visit

###

PROTEST IN CEMIGEZEK DISTRICT OF DERSIM
July 1, 2014

A march has taken place in the CemiÃ…~_gezek district of Dersim against
the construction of a dam and hydroelectric complex that will affect
historic sites and flora and fauna in the area. Following the decision
of the Government to implement compulsory purchase of land in the
area local people organised a protest march.

The protesters pointed out that the dam over the Tagar river that runs
through the district centre, which has a population of around 3,000,
will damage the 200 year-old bridge and affect ancient caves used by
the Urartu civilisation.

Shop keepers joined the protest by keeping their shutters down as
the protesters made their way to the town square accompanied by pipe
and drum.

The spokesperson for the Tagar river solidarity platform, Hakan
Gökalp, spoke at a rally in the square, saying: “The Tagar is our
life source and has flowed freely for thousands of years. Now they
want to divert it into pipes and tunnels and take it elsewhere for
the sake of electricity. The Tagar valley will be destroyed and the
old bridge will no longer have water flowing under it. The natural
balance will be upset. CemiÃ…~_gezek is the only place in the world
where chamois and human beings co-exist.”

Gökalp stressed that no one in the district wanted the dam, adding:
“Whether from the AKP, CHP, MHP, BDP, whether Alevi, Sunni, Kurdish
or Turkish, everyone is opposed to the hydroelectric project.”

The Japan Times, Japan
June 29 2014

Great War seen as root of conflict in Middle East, Armenian genocide

‘First genocide of the century’ still divides Turkey and West; Levant
remains religiously riven

by Philippe Alfroy

ISTANBUL – A century later, World War I casts a haunting shadow far
from the trenches of Western Europe, having spawned two crises that
still strain international relations: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
and the Armenian genocide.

When Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V declared “holy war” on Britain, France
and Russia on Nov. 24, 1914, his five-century-old empire was already
in decline and had lost most of its European territory.

Convinced that Germany, an ally, was destined for a speedy victory,
the empire’s governing “Young Turks” movement saw the war as a chance
to consolidate its grip on power, block the economic rise of London
and Paris, and reclaim Central Asia.

The Ottoman Army inflicted a brutal defeat on British and French
forces on the strategic Gallipoli Peninsula during the Dardanelles
campaign in 1915, but its war turned into a nightmare on the eastern
front against Russia.

Tens of thousands of soldiers died in battles that drew in Armenian
fighters who fought alongside Russian troops in a bid to cast off
Ottoman rule.

Defeated by Russia in Armenia and the Caucasus, the Ottomans responded
by attacking the Armenian minority in their midst.

The Armenians: ‘us or them’

“There are two alternatives: either the Armenians will liquidate the
Turks, or the Turks will liquidate them,” an Ottoman official, Mehmed
Resid, wrote in his memoirs. “Faced with the need to choose, I did not
hesitate long. Before they do away with us, we will get rid of them.”

The arrest and massacre of 2,000 Armenian leaders in Istanbul on April
24, 1915, began what is described as the first genocide of the 20th
century — although modern-day Turkey categorically refutes the term.

In less than a year, hundreds of thousands were forcibly displaced and
their possessions were seized. Many of them were killed. A century
later, the mass killings continue to fuel a bitter controversy,
regularly upsetting relations between Turkey and the West.

Armenians, backed by many historians and a growing number of foreign
parliaments, say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
killed in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey admits large-scale massacres took place, but says they were
perpetrated in self-defense against the Russian threat. Overall, it
says, 500,000 died in fighting and of starvation.

The Armenian academic Rouben Safrastian rejects the Turkish arguments.
“Massacres of Armenians took place well before World War I,” he
argued. “The war was simply a good excuse to carry out a criminal
plan.”

“For us, the question is just as painful as it was 100 years ago,”
said the vice president of the Armenian national assembly, Eduard
Sharmazanov. “Turkey needs to end its policy of denial and apologize
to the Armenian people.”

There have been gradual signs of change in Turkey. During a trip last
year to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu called the events of 1915-16 a “mistake” and an “inhuman
act.”

“In recent years, there have been commemorations in Turkey, university
conferences. It’s a small revolution,” said Turkish analyst Burcu
Gultekin Punsmann. “A pretty deep process of revision is underway in
Turkish society, even if it is not yet obvious at the political
level.”

Conflict in the Middle East

World War I also redrew the map of the entire Middle East, sowing the
seeds of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In 1916, Ottoman forces, led by German generals, quickly gained the
upper hand over British troops in Palestine and Mesopotamia, an area
that covers modern-day Iraq, Kuwait and parts of Syria.

But British forces proved highly adept at mobile warfare in the
desert, one of the few places where fighting on horseback was still
possible.

They were assisted by the actions of T.E. Lawrence, the fabled British
archaeologist who rallied Arab nationalists in revolt against Turkish
rule and sultans.

His hit-and-run attacks on Turkish supply lines were a marginal part
of the campaign, but the legend of “Lawrence of Arabia” had dramatic
propaganda value, and his writings on insurgency tactics remain highly
influential.

By 1917, the British had turned the tide of the campaign, taking
Baghdad and Jerusalem. By the following year, Allied forces had
occupied Damascus and Beirut and had effective control over the entire
region.

The Arabs who supported them had bought into promises from Britain and
France that they would win independence after the war, but they were
to be bitterly disappointed. Behind the scenes, Britain and France had
already carved up the region between themselves under the Sykes-Picot
Agreement of May 1916: Lebanon and Syria to France; Jordan, Palestine
and Iraq to the British.

Adding to the confusion, and cutting across their agreements with both
the French and the Arabs, the British had also announced the infamous
Balfour Doctrine in 1917, in which Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour
had promised a homeland for Jewish people in Palestine. The doctrine
formed the basis for the creation of the Israeli state three decades
later, and a conflict that continues to tear apart the region to this
day.

The armistice signed at Mudros in Greece on Oct. 30, 1918, marked the
final dissolution and dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. Five
centuries of imperial rule was at an end.

But the fighting was not over for Turkey, which spent another four
years in a war of reconquest to regain lost lands in Anatolia,
particularly against the Greeks. It was these battles that allowed
Mustafa Kemal, who later took the surname Ataturk, to lay the
foundations of modern-day Turkey.

Bell tower consecrated in Armenian church of Ukrainian city

June 28, 2014 | 18:36

Cathedral of St. Nicholas (St. Nikoghayos) was handed to the Armenian
religious community in the Ukrainian city of Kamenetz-Podolsk on
Friday.

Head of Ukrainian Diocese Archbishop Grigoris Buniatyan consecrated
the bell tower of St. Stephanos (Stephen), the Armenian Cathedral of
St. Nicholas (XV century Armenian church).

The Ukrainian city hosted events organized by the Union of Armenians
of Ukraine and the Ukrainian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
AnalitikaUA.net reported.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Civil initiatives must unite to get results – opposition MP

15:29 * 29.06.14

Heritage parliamentary group member Zaruhi Postanjyan commented on
civil activists’ recent actions.

Since all the civil initiatives have political aims – and political
aims must be in harmony with national interests- they must combine
their efforts to get results.

“The Heritage party’s call for unification, which is one of the points
in the four forces’ program, applies to activists as well. Desired
results are impossible to achieve without unification and civil
activists, who have a political agenda as well,” she said.

“In fact, their demands are political, and it is only by combined
efforts that we can get the demands met,” Mrs Postanjyan said.

As to the force used against activists by law-enforcers, Postanjyan said:

“If activists unite, police, who will then be a minority, will stop
using force.”

Armenian News – Tert.am

France Inter
Daniel Morin à André Manoukian : Salut l’Arménien

Vendredi 27 juin, dans sa chronique > (France
Inter, 12h15), l’humoriste Daniel Morin s’est fendu d’un hommage bien
caricatural au départ de l’émission d’André Manoukian. Mtiné sur des
airs de Charles Aznavour et Johnny Hallyday, “l”hommage” s’est voulu
proche de l’humour à la Mathieu Madénian dans ses délires sur la
communauté.

André Manoukian, qui dernièrement sur France 2 avait déclaré être
“plus proche d’un Turc de gauche que d’un Arménien de droite”, devrait
prendre la tête d’une nouvelle émission sur France Inter la saison
prochaine.

dimanche 29 juin 2014,
Jean Eckian (c)armenews.com

US HOUSE COMMITTEE ADOPTS TURKEY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

Cihan News Agency, Turkey
June 27 2014

ISTANBUL – 27.06.2014 19:28:47

A US House of Representatives committee passed a religious freedom
measure on Thursday that will hold Turkey accountable for the return of
“thousands of stolen Christian holy sites” and specifically urged the
immediate reopening of the Halki Theological Seminary on Heybeliada
in the Sea of Marmara.

House Resolution 4347 (H.Res. 4347), the Turkey Christian Churches
Accountability Act, was introduced by Republican Congressman Ed Royce
from California in March. The resolution then was referred to the
House Foreign Affairs Committee, which held a hearing on Thursday.

H.Res.4347 was adopted with a majority by voice vote in the committee
on Thursday. The resolution requires that the US Department of State
formally report to the US Congress on an annual basis about the status
of Turkey’s “return of stolen Christian churches and properties in
Turkey and occupied Cyprus.”

The US House of Representatives had adopted a similar resolution
(H.Res. 306) in December 2011, calling upon the Turkish government “to
honor its international obligations to return confiscated Christian
church properties and to fully respect the rights of Christians to
practice their faith.”

The Democratic Party’s Virginia Representative Gerald Connolly and New
York Representative Gregory Meeks strongly criticized H.Res. 4347 in
the committee hearing on Thursday. Connolly said that the resolution
does not adequately reflect the close friendship between the US and
its NATO ally Turkey, adding that Turkey has been taking positive
steps to protect the religious properties in the country.

“At a time when it needs to be a priority for us to maintain our
strategic relationship with Turkey, adopting this resolution will
harm our relations with Turkey. Turkey is playing an important and
unanticipated role by hosting more than 1 million Syrians who fled the
civil war in Syria. When Iraq is getting pulled into more violence,
it is not appropriate to isolate a valuable and trusted partner like
Turkey — the majority Muslim, democratic Turkey — for the stability
of the region,” Connolly said, according to Turkish press reports.

Republican Party California Representative Dana Rohrabacher mentioned
the difficulties faced by the Muslim community in Greece during the
committee hearing and suggested that issue should also be mentioned
in the resolution.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has 24 members from the Republican
Party and 21 members from the Democratic Party. Because it was a voice
vote, the vote count it is not clear or with what margin the resolution
was adopted, according to reports. The resolution must now be adopted
both by the House of Representatives and the Senate. If it is adopted
by both chambers of Congress in its current form, then the US Secretary
of State will be presenting an annual report on the subject to the
foreign relations committees of the House and Senate until 2021.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry criticized the adoption of the resolution
in a statement on Thursday, saying that the claims in the resolution
are groundless and based on erroneous information and accusations.

The ministry stated that as part of a reform program in place since
the early 2000s, Turkey has restored many non-Muslim places of worship
to the original owners and has enabled the registration of non-Muslim
properties as religious community foundations and paid for immovable
property that cannot be returned.

“It is unacceptable for certain circles who are against Turkey in
the US Congress to take such a step that is not productive and full
of unjust claims when Turkey is taking concrete steps to broaden all
of its citizens’ rights and freedoms, including non-Muslims,” the
statement read. The Foreign Ministry also criticized the fact that
Turkey is being singled out as other problematic issues with regard
to other religions are not mentioned in the resolution, adding that
the resolution is not compatible with the multicultural structure of
the US.

The Foreign Ministry also said that this type of step is damaging to
the US-Turkish partnership and stressed that the US administration
needs to speak out against “irresponsible efforts.”

However, Ken Hachikian, chairman of the US-based Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA) said, “Americans of Armenian, Greek and
Assyrian heritage — the descendants of those subjected to genocide by
Ottoman Turkey from 1915-1923 and whose churches continue to be held
captive by the Turkish Government — join with friends of all faiths
in welcoming committee passage of the Royce-Engel Turkey Christian
Churches Accountability Act.”

Ankara denies claims that the events of 1915 amount to a genocide,
arguing that both Turks and Armenians were killed when Armenians
revolted against the Ottoman Empire during World War I in collaboration
with the Russian army, which was then invading Eastern Anatolia.

“The adoption of this measure sends a strong signal to Ankara that it
must stop its anti-Christian conduct and start coming to terms with
its moral, material and legal obligations to Armenians, Syriacs,
Cypriots, Pontians and other victims of Turkey’s still unpunished
genocidal crimes,” said Hachikian.

The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) criticized the
resolution for singling out Turkey in a newsletter that was sent
to Turkish-Americans living in the US. ATAA also stressed that the
resolution makes no mention of Muslim and Jewish properties in other
former Ottoman lands.

“Targeting people of Turkish heritage reflects the tactic of a
dangerously growing number of members of Congress to payoff narrow
constituencies who hate Turks,” said the ATAA newsletter.

ISRAEL AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, Italy
June 27 2014

Simone Zoppellaro | Yerevan

Next year the centennial of the Armenian genocide will be remembered.

In the international debate on recognition, a special position is
that of Israel

For a long time the issue of the Armenian Genocide has been
considered taboo by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Over the
years, attempts to obtain its public recognition have been vetoed by
different governments, worried that the move would jeopardize relations
with the main strategic ally of Israel in the region at that time,
Turkey. And this regardless of the fact that, since the very first
years following the events, several in the Jewish world and in the
Zionist movement itself raised voices of sympathy and condolence for
a tragedy that in many ways heralded the horrors of the Holocaust.

Mavi Marmara

Things started to move only in the aftermath of the Freedom Flotilla
incident on May 31, 2010, when six ships of activists flying American,
Swedish, Turkish and Greek flags attempted to break the Gaza Strip
blockade imposed by Israel to bring humanitarian aid to the civilian
population. On that occasion, the largest ship, the MV Mavi Marmara,
was stormed by Israeli special forces, with an operation that cost life
to nine Turkish activists and caused the suspension of diplomatic
relations between the two countries. A crisis that, despite the
American mediation, hasn’t been mended yet.

Less than a year after the events, in May 2011, the Knesset addressed
the issue of the Armenian genocide for the first time in a public
session, following the proposal of Zehava Gal-On, an MP from the
leftist Meretz. For years, proposals like the one of Gal-On had been
scuppered by successive governments, with the idea that the issue
should be addressed “through an open debate based on data and facts,
and not on political decisions or declarations,” according to the
words used in 2009 by Likud Minister Gilad Erdan. Or, to put it in a
nutshell: outside of the parliament. However, this time no veto came,
and the issue was discussed openly.

The Azeri factor

Still, a new strategic factor of Israeli foreign policy derailed
once more the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Knesset:
the increasingly close relationship – in political, economic and
military terms – between Israel and Azerbaijan. A relationship,
quoting the words of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made
public by Wikileaks, which is like an iceberg: “nine-tenths of it is
below the surface.”

The Azerbaijani government, opposed to Armenia cause of the unresolved
issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, claimed by Baku as part of its national
territory, adverses any international recognition of the Armenian
genocide. For this purpose, it uses lobbying and diplomatic pressure
against countries willing to do so. In the case of Israel, Azerbaijan
found a great ally in the far-right nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu.

The following are the words pronounced on May 18, 2011 by the Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of Yisrael Beiteinu, Danny
Ayalon: “There is no chance that the Knesset would recognize the
Armenian Genocide. It is impossible. We cannot afford ourselves to
deface relations with our main strategic partner in the Muslim world
– Azerbaijan – for some vexed historical questions concerning events
that took place hundred years ago.” Thus, also in 2011 the question
of genocide was archived.

The Erdogan speech

However, a more significant change of course occurred in recent months,
when the issue of the Israeli recognition of the Armenian genocide
came back into the international limelight, raising new hopes in
Yerevan and among the Armenian diaspora. A decisive contribution,
according to what reported by the Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar in
Al-Monitor, was given by the speech delivered by the Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the eve of the 99th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide, on April 23.

The speech, though far from recognizing a genocidal will in the
massacres that took place in the Ottoman Empire starting from 1915,
represented a significant – and in many ways unexpected – step forward
in the issue. For the first time, in fact, a Turkish Prime Minister
addressed his condolences to “our Armenian citizens and all Armenians
around the world”.

This, apparently, would have produced a certain embarrassment in Tel
Aviv, in a political establishment still torn between the desire not
to jeopardize relations with the old and new allies mentioned above,
and the need to take a stand on an issue that becomes more and more
hardly avoidable. This, in particular, with the centenary celebration
of the Armenian genocide just round the corner, in 2015.

Some steps taken recently by the influential American Jewish
community were of great importance in the direction of a change. Thus,
Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman, after years
of denial, finally admitted last May that what happened at the expense
of the Armenians during WWI can be defined as genocide. Or, just a
few days before, the publication of a “tribute to memories of the
victims of the Metz Yeghern” signed by the American Jewish Committee,
which has provoked a strong protest from the Turkish Ambassador in
Washington, Serdar Kılıc.

Reuven Rivlin

But, most of all, what arouse significant hopes was the election to
Presidency of Republic of Reuven Rivlin, on June 10. Greeted with
jubilation by the representatives of the ancient Armenian community
of Israel and by the Armenian press in general, the fact raised
great expectations as Rivlin has proven, over the years, to be one
of the politicians in Israel more involved in the recognition of the
Armenian genocide.

Important, in this regard, was the declaration issued last month by
the same Rivlin. Words that seem to echo the famous statement that,
according to Louis Lochner of the Associated Press, Adolph Hiltler
would have pronounced in 1939 (“Who speaks today of the extermination
of the Armenians?”): “Whoever thought of the Final Solution got
the impression that, when the day comes, the world will be silent,
like it was about the Armenians. It is hard for me to forgive other
nations for ignoring our tragedy and we cannot ignore another nation’s
tragedy. That is our moral obligation as people and Jews.”

Over the last few days, there was a visit to Yerevan by a delegation
of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry for a series of consultations
having as objective to expand the cooperation between the two countries
in the economic and political spheres. On the occasion, the delegation
visited the Memorial of the Armenian Genocide.

Hard to say if, in the end, conciliatory positions like that of Rivlin
will prevail, or instead those of the ones who think “offensive, and
even blasphemous” (thus Yosef Shagal of Yisrael Beiteinu, in 2008)
to compare the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust of the Jews.

Certainly, what remains is the unease towards those willing to
sacrifice the memory of thousands of victims on the altar of political
interest.

US HOUSE: TURKEY MUST RETURN CHRISTIAN PROPERTIES CYPRUS

Greek Reporter
June 27 2014

by Sotiria Nikolouli
Jun 27, 2014

The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House has passed the Turkey
Christian Churches Accountability Act (HR 4347), introduced by Chairman
Ed Royce, which requires an annual report from the State Department on
the status of stolen, confiscated or unreturned Christian properties
in Turkey and in the north of Cyprus.

On the passage of the Act, Chairman Royce said: “I have long
been concerned that Christian heritage sites in Turkey have been
deteriorating and disappearing in the face of hostile government
policies. Despite optimistic claims by Turkish leaders, a majority
of religious properties remain unreturned”.

There is even, he added, legislation before the Turkish Parliament
“to convert the landmark Agia Sophia in Istanbul from a museum to
a mosque”.

“The US must hold Turkish leaders to their promises. By passing
this legislation, the US sends a message to Turkey that it must
return church properties to their rightful owners, while providing
an objective measure of their progress each year,” he concluded.

The draft law which was presented by Royce and the minority leader
Eliot Engel strengthens previous legislation (HR 306) that was adopted
unanimously by Congress in December 2011 and called on Turkey to
respect its international obligations and to return confiscated
fortunes of Christian churches and to fully respect the rights of
Christians to practice their religion.

The legislation specifically calls the US Secretary to record all
Christian churches, places of worship and other church properties,
including movable assets, such as works of art and objects from Turkey
and areas of the Republic of Cyprus under military occupation by
Turkey and that have been claimed as stolen, confiscated or illegally
removed from the owners of Christian churches.

It also requires a summary of that information to be included in
the annual reports of human rights and religious freedoms of the
State Department.

The legislation refers to the north of Cyprus. The legislation was
promoted by Greek American and Armenian American organisations.

After the Turkish invasion churches in the north were vandalized and
looted, and icons, frescoes and mosaics were removed. Much of the
stolen items have been traced in Europe’s illegal antiquities trade
markets and in auctions around the world.

(source: CNA)

LATVIAN PARLT SPEAKER TELLS ARMENIAN FORMIN ABOUT PRIORITIES OF LATVIA’S EU PRESIDENCY

Baltic News Service / – BNS
June 26, 2014 Thursday 4:10 PM EET

RIGA, Jun 26, BNS – The Eastern Partnership will be one of the
priorities of Latvia’s upcoming EU presidency, which is slated
for the first half of 2015 when the EU will be holding discussions
on how to enhance cooperation with its eastern neighbors, Latvian
parliament speaker Solvita Aboltina told visiting Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian on Thursday, BNS was told at the Latvian
parliamentary press service.

Aboltina acknowledged each country’s rights to choose its own foreign
policy direction. Although Armenia has announced its intention to
join the Eurasian Customs Union, Latvia supports closer ties between
the EU and Armenia.

The officials agreed that current trade volumes between Latvia and
Armenia are not very high and that there are good possibilities
to develop economic exchange, especially considering the number of
bilateral agreements between the two countries. Latvia considers food
production, construction, wood processing, tourism and education,
as well as freight shipping, logistics and IT to be particularly
perspective areas for cooperation with Armenia.

“Armenian is a significant partner of Latvia in the South
Caucasus region. Relations between the two countries are developing
successfully, with the open and constructive dialogue being a proof
it,” the Latvian parliament speaker said, describing relations between
Latvia and Armenia.