Author: Kanayan Tamar

30 COUNTRIES CONFIRM A/H1N1 CASES

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.05.2009 23:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The World Health Organization (WHO) Monday said
that 4,694 cases of the new influenza A/H1N1 infection, including 53
deaths, were confirmed in 30 countries.

Mexico had 48 deaths from 1,626 laboratory-confirmed human cases of
infection. The US had 2,532 infections, including three deaths and
Canada reported 284 cases, with one death. Costa Rica was hit with
eight instances of the virus, including one death.

In Europe, Spain was most affected, with 95 cases of what is also
known as swine flu, and Britain had 47 infections, the health agency
said on its Website.

Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s head of health security, could not say how
the virus would act in Europe.

"It is hard to know what will happen in Europe," he said, adding
that so far nearly all cases in the continent were travel related,
meaning people brought the virus back with them from trips abroad.

Similarly, he said the organization was still trying to understand
the overall nature of the new virus. Pinning down the severity of the
disease was also difficult as there was no quantitative scientific
definition of the term.

"Severity is not a simple issue," he said, adding later, "there is
no epidemiological definition of severity."

The WHO was trying to strike a balance between the level of concern
caused to populations and the need to stay alert, Fukuda said about
the warning system in use.

Currently, the agency has its influenza alert status at phase 5,
just one below the highest possible, though this only tracks the
geographic spread and not other aspects of the disease.

International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
(A Division of the Zoryan Institute)
Megan Swan, Program & Outreach Coordinator
255 Duncan Mill Rd, Suite 310
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M3B 3H9

Tel: 416-250-9807 Fax: 416-512-1736

http:/ /

PRESS RELEASE

DATE: May 6, 2009

Multimedia Art Exhibit on Artistic Responses to Genocide

(Katie Pretti, Steven Loft)

Toronto, Canada – The International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights
Studies (A Division of the Zoryan Institute) is pleased to announce its
upcoming "Remains to Be Seen" multimedia art exhibit on artistic responses
to genocide. The Institute gratefully acknowledges the support provided in
part by the Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts.

"Remains to Be Seen" is the result of an open call for emerging and
established North American artists, invited to convey their thoughts,
experiences, and perceptions of issues surrounding genocide. The exhibit
runs from May 28th to June 7th at the Lennox Contemporary gallery at 12
Ossington Avenue in Toronto.

Rhonda Corvese, the award-winning curator, has been commissioned by the
Institute to oversee the exhibit.

Sixteen artists are participating in the overall event. Eight artists
participating in the exhibit only are Ulysses Castellanos, Arie Galles,
Joyce Lau, Steven Loft, Katie Pretti, Shannon Scully, Veronika Szkudlarek
and Bill Wolff. They work in such media as painting, works on canvas,
photography, video, works on paper and bookworks. All have committed to be
present on opening night, May 28th at 7:00 p.m.

AriePrCambodianFamily

(Arie Galles, Joyce Lau)

On the same night, starting at 6:00 p.m., the work of eight other artists
who also have tackled the subject of mass human rights violations will be
auctioned. These artists are Sara Anjargolian, Vahe Berberian, Sue
Goldstein, Sherri Hay, Hagop Khoubesserian, Jennifer Roberts, Anita
Toutikian, and Bill Wolff. Their work will be on display for the duration of
the event. They have contributed their art for the auction in support of the
Institute’s annual Genocide and Human Rights University Program.

In order to explore the role of artistic representation in remembering and
understanding genocide, the Institute has arranged a panel discussion on
June 4th at Lennox Contemporary gallery. Participating in the panel will be
Prof. Doris Bergen, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Chair in Holocaust
Studies; Arie Galles, artist and educator; Helga Stephenson, Chair of the
Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival; and Atom Egoyan,
multiple-award-winning filmmaker; with Marc Glassman, Editor in Chief of
POV, Canada’s leading documentary and independent film magazine, as the
moderator.

Inside Bagan Temple_BurmaCrawldiaster globe 2

(Jennifer Roberts, Bill Wolff, Sherri Hay)

The International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A
Division of the Zoryan Institute) is dedicated to the study and
dissemination of knowledge regarding the phenomenon of genocide in all of
its aspects. This is achieved through the Genocide and Human Rights
University Program, a comprehensive, accredited, graduate-level course, and
Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal, published in
partnership with the International Association of Genocide Scholars and
University of Toronto Press.

For more information about the exhibit, the auction and the GHRUP, please
visit our website, or email us at
[email protected].

TURKISH-ARMENIAN BORDER SHOULD FIRST BE DETERMINED, THEN OPENED

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.05.2009 11:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ It’s essential to determine the state border
between the Republic of Armenia and Turkey and only then to speak
about opening it, an Armenian expert said.

"There is not state border between the two countries but a dividing
line set by the treaty of Kars which was not ratified by the Republic
of Armenia. It means that official Yerevan doesn’t recognize the
status quo," David Davtyan told PanARMENIAN.Net.

Turkey is well aware of the situation. "If Armenia doesn’t recognize
the Treaty of Kars, it alone is to blame," Turkish Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan threatened in 2005.

"Turkish media tell tall tales about road map and it’s quite strange
that Armenian political forces, which call on the population not to
believe Turks, do swallow the bait," Davtyan said, adding that under
complete secrecy, we can nothing but trust in diplomatic competence
of our authorities and hope that our national interests will be
maximally protected.

San Jose Mercury News
May 3 2009

Review: Incongruity, culture clash and constant change shape the
California of Arax’s ‘West of the West"

By Richard Rayner
Los Angeles Times
Posted: 05/03/2009 12:01:00 AM PDT

The title of Mark Arax’s collection of reportage "West of the West"
comes from Theodore Roosevelt, who famously said: "When I am in
California, I am not in the West, I am west of the West." Roosevelt’s
remark helped create our idea of a state that is not only golden and
opportunity-filled but somehow beyond everywhere else, wherein
experience and social experiment happen in ways that are unto
themselves and constantly surprising.

Arax explores the contemporary manifestations of this idea, showing us
intimate dramas that arise from the tussles among the larger external
forces of landscape, family, immigration, politics and economics. In
"Legend of Zankou," an Armenian rotisserie chicken magnate dons a
white silk suit he hasn’t worn for 20 years, then drives across
Glendale near downtown Los Angeles to kill his mother, his sister and
then himself. In "The Agent," Arax profiles James Wedick Jr., an FBI
agent turned private eye, fighting for the chance to testify on behalf
of two Pakistani Muslims who stand accused in the first terrorism
trial in California. The authorities think (hope) they’ve busted an
al-Qaida cell in Lodi, population 60,000, a farming town at the far
northern edge of the San Joaquin Valley. In reality, Wedick tells
Arax, they’ve found the neighborhood ice cream man and his sad
cherry-packer son guilty of little more than stupidity and railroaded
by a dubious interrogation process.

Arax’s anger and the intense subtleties of his writing thrive on this
sort of incongruity. In "Highlands of Humboldt," he travels to
Northern California’s Lost Coast, where 80 percent of the economy is
driven by the growing of marijuana, a ganja culture that has grown
brazenly since the passing of Proposition 215 in 1996. Proposition 215
legalized cannabis for medical use, but the growers still fear a
federal bust, likely to arrive in the shape of "cars, trucks,
all-terrain vehicles, three-wheelers, a mobile communications center,"
roaring up the hillsides.

Here, Arax explores the clash between the "hippie movement with its
small-scale marijuana gardens" and full-on industrial growers, who
look like hippies, too, but may have a Ferrari stashed beside the
beat-up four-wheel drive. "Weed is a spiritual experience here," says
one redneck Rasta, contrasting what he does with the industrial-style
combines. "We grow it in a sustainable way. We grow it in backyards
using the sun. To the north is hill country. They do it big, out in
the middle of nowhere. They build these huge indoor houses and use
diesel generators to keep the lights burning. They’re grease monkeys."

At the heart of this examination is the notion of culture clash. "This
wasn’t the California I learned as a kid," Arax writes. "No missions
here, no padres with rawhide whips, no neophyte natives planting the
first vineyards and wheat fields and digging the first irrigation
canals."

But Arax’s experience of the state has been darkened for a long
time. He grew up in Fresno, where, one night in 1972, his father was
shot to death. Arax’s first book, "In My Father’s Name," explored the
event and its aftershock. When that book was published in 1996, the
murder was unsolved; here, in an epilogue, Arax describes how the
killers finally were found, and he confronts the woman who set the
slaying in motion. It’s charged and highly moving stuff, almost like a
James Crumley novel in miniature ‘ but painfully real.

His father’s death turned Arax into a writer and defined the kind of
relentless, troubled and troubling reporter he has become. The feeling
of something deep and personal binds the disparate pieces in "West of
the West." Much of the material here originally appeared (in a
different form) in the Los Angeles Times, where Arax was a staff
reporter for many years. Arax mourns what has happened to the paper in
the digital age, reserving particular venom for the slashing of the
magnificent newsroom by "carpetbaggers from Chicago." On this subject,
as elsewhere, he goes at events with the fierce bulldog tenacity that
is one of his trademarks.

Sometimes, as in "The Summer of the Death of Hilario Guzman," a more
novelistic complexity is revealed. "He had a job that paid twenty
cents for every tray of Thompson grapes he picked and laid out in the
105 degree sun to make raisins. In the two harvests since the family
left Oaxaca in the spring of 2003, he had never made the minimum wage,
never picked more than 250 trays, $50, in a ten hour day," Arax
writes, describing the grueling labor Hilario Guzman put in before he
flipped his car and was killed. In the end, Guzman’s story becomes a
frame for a panoramic portrait of the complex and contradictory
relationship between immigrant workers and the Central Valley farming
economy that they drive.

Arax roams California, but his writing feels most rooted in the vast
plain that stretches from Los Angeles to San Francisco. "Into the
vine’s thick curtain," he writes, "they dove on hands and knees, gnats
flying in their faces and sulfur dust choking their lungs. Had a
stranger come upon the field just then, he would have seen the vines
shaking violently, but by what sustained force he wouldn’t be able to
tell. Not until he walked right in, bent low, and stuck his nostrils
in the ferment would he know that it was a farmworker, no more than
five and a half feet tall, slashing inside the green canopy. Baked
earth, dried leaves, black widow webs, and mildewed berries stuck to
the sugar juice splattered on his skin."

Arax is trying to put his finger on the shifting nature of the place
where he grew up and to which, as an adult, he returned. Occasionally,
his politics can sound a little shrill, but like all good reporters,
he has the knack of putting us there, fixing an era and making us
reassess our relationship to an economic and geographic landscape that
never stops changing.

Nonfiction
TITLE: "West of the West: Dreamers, Believers, Builders, and Killers
in the Golden State"
AUTHOR: Mark Arax
PUBLISHER: Public Affairs
PRICE: $26.95; PAGES: 350
BOOKSIGNING: 7 p.m. Friday at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd.,
Corte Madera. 415-927-0960

12222638

TURKEY WILL NOT BACK OFF FROM PRECONDITIONS, SAY HOVANESSIAN

Yerkir
Thursday, April 30, 2009

YEREVAN (Yerkir)–Referring to statements made Wednesday by Turkey’s
Army Chief of Staff calling for the simultaneous resolution of the
Karabakh conflict and the Armenia-Turkey border opening, the head
of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Parliamentary bloc Vahan
Hovanessian said that Turkey was not going to back away from setting
pre-conditions in the negotiations process.

In his remarks to reporters on Wednesday, Army Chief of Staff
Gen. Ilker Basbub said, "Armenia’s borders should be opened
simultaneously with the withdrawal of Armenian forces from occupied
Azeri territories" Basbub’s comments are the first instance in which
the powerful Turkish Military has revealed its views on the issue of
normalizing relations with Armenia.

Hovanessian pointed out to his fellow legislatures that Basbug was
speaking on behalf of Army adding that, for the first time, the
opinion of that structure was being heard.

"We all know what significance the army has in Turkey and we also know
who leads the political landscape there," said Hovanessian, adding that
the top army head also sided with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
who for weeks has been pre-conditioning the normalization of relations
with Armenia on a resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Responding to questions from the press on the possibility of opening=2
0 the borders with Armenia, Basbug recalled Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s statements that the opening of the borders with
Armenia will be done simultaneously with the withdrawal of Armenian
force from "occupied Azerbaijani territory."

"The prime minister has clearly said the border opening will take
place at the time when Armenian troops are withdrawn," Basbug told
a news conference, according to Turkish media. "We completely agree
with this."

"I believe that the Turks, have once again, shown that our rosy
optimism that there are no preconditions are baseless," said
Hovanessian, adding that the armed-forces and the prime minister in
Turkey have more weight that the president or the foreign minister,
who have also repeatedly echoed the same position in recent weeks.

The ARF leader went on to cite other aspects of Basbug’s statements,
in which the General says Armenia does not recognize the Kars Treaty
and objects to the inclusion of Genocide recognition within Armenia’s
Constitution.

A secret treaty signed between Turkey and the Soviet Union in 1921,
the Kars Treaty drew the current boundaries of Turkey and Armenia. The
treaty also recognized the historic Armenian territories of Karabakh
and Nakhichevan as being part of then Soviet Azerbaijan.

Hovanessian emphasized that Basbug’s comments were indicative of the
pre-conditions being pushed by Turkey, adding that the Armenian 0D
government’s continued silence on the matter is "a dangerous policy
shift that must be corrected."

It remains unclear, when the Armenian and Turkish governments plan
to establish diplomatic relations and reopen the border. Neither
government has officially disclosed the framework yet.

Meanwhile, reports in the Turkish press have said that the United
States was closely involved in the drawing up of the Turkish-Armenian
statement.

According to "Hurriyet Daily News," Erdogan agreed to sign it only
after Washington threatened to recognize the Genocide.

Meanwhile, diplomatic sources in Yerevan said on Thursday that Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian will fly to Washington this weekend for
talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Turkish-Armenian
relations will be high on their agenda.

Clinton and Nalbandian already discussed the issue over the phone
on Monday.

According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Clinton described the
"roadmap" agreement as "historic."

‘Boarding now for Baghdad’ ` BMI prepares to reopen air links with Iraq

By Simion Calder, Travel editor

Saturday, 2 May 2009
Independent/UK

The departure boards at Heathrow could soon be augmented by the return
of a city that fell off the airline map 18 years ago: Baghdad. Even
though the Foreign Office warns against all travel to the Iraqi
capital, one of Britain’s leading airlines hopes to launch a link from
London within a year.

"BMI is ready and willing to re-establish air links between Heathrow
and Baghdad," said Nigel Turner, the airline’s chief executive. He has
met senior Iraqi government officials in a bid to secure rights for the
route: "The ability to travel by air between Heathrow and Baghdad is
vital in supporting the considerable energy going into bringing
business ties and investment back to normality," said Mr Turner.

BMI, which is the second-biggest airline at Heathrow, already serves a
number of "niche" destinations in the region, including Yerevan in
Armenia and Aleppo in Syria. It has shifted away from highly
competitive short-haul European and long-haul transatlantic services to
"mid-haul" links where it faces few rivals. From Heathrow to Bishkek in
Kyrgyzstan, for example, the lowest return fare is £599, about twice
the rate for a flight to Boston, which is the same distance from
London. Fares to Baghdad are likely to be higher still.

BMI will target business, government and NGO travellers, as well as
"VFR" traffic ` people visiting friends and relations. It will also
capitalise on its membership of the Star Alliance, with airlines such
as Air Canada and United of the US transferring passengers at Heathrow.

The airline is likely to have the route to itself, at least initially.
A spokeswoman for British Airways said the company had "no current
plans" to return to the route it abandoned in 1991. A spokeswoman for
the leading flight specialist, Trailfinders, said: "We’ve not
registered any significant level of enquiries for travel to Iraq."

Before BMI begins services to Baghdad, the UK government will need to
rescind its existing ban on direct links between the two countries. In
addition, safety concerns about the airport must addressed to the
satisfaction of the airline’s security officials.

The only UK tour operator to Iraq is Hinterland Travel, which ran its
first trip to the country in March. The company’s founder, Geoff Hann,
said he had already taken bookings for next year.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN RAFFI HOVHANISYAN AND TIGRAN SARGSYAN

LRAGIR.AM
19:07:12 – 29/04/2009

On April 29, during the discussion of the Armenian government and the
National Assembly, the head of the Heritage Party Raffi Hovhannisyan
addressed questions to the Armenian prime minister Tigran Sargsyan in
connection with the Armenian and Turkish relations, saying that it is
necessary to give up the joke of the words "without preconditions"
and being transparent as the newly appointed prime minister was
pledging a year ago.

Raffi Hovhannisyan asked Tigran Sargsyan whether the prime minister
or any other person is going to give an answer to Erdogan who stated
that in the UN Armenia should be considered as occupant. He asked also
whether anybody is going to remind Turkey who occupied the Armenian
historical territories, Shahumyan and Karabakh. The next question was
about the roadmap, in particular the provisions the latter contains.

Tigran Sargsyan answered that they are realizing very well that this
is a sensible topic for the Armenian nation in Armenia and out of
it. And, he said that the government has to be very cautions with their
statement especially if it concerns establishing diplomatic relations
with Turkey. He recalled that the Armenian foreign minister Nalbandyan
described in details the policy of Armenia. The prime minister
said that there are political forces which do not want the Armenian
government to establish relations with Turkey without preconditions
and to open the border. But he said that all the discussions on this
topic will be public to enable the Armenian people and the National
Assembly to assess them. He added that the decisions taken in this
connection will be those of the National Assembly.

Tigran Sargsyan said to have another important issue to dwell on,
stating that the Armenian policy will never be anti-Turkish, but it
has to be pro-Armenian.

Raffi Hovhannisyan disagreed with Tigran Sargsyan and asked directly
whether there is the point in the Armenian and Turkish agreement
concerning the implementation of the agreement of Kars and setting
up the commission of historians to study the genocide issue. Tigran
Sargsyan answered that there have not been and there are not such
points as Armenia are establishing relations with Turkey without
preconditions. He stated that Armenia’s stance has not changed since
1990 adding Armenia has been stating since then that we are for
establishing relations with Turkey without any precondition. Tigran
Sargsyan assured everyone that the Armenian and Turkish agreement
does not contain such provisions.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT TIGHTENS REQUIREMENTS TO BOTTLING OF MINERAL WATER

ArmInfo
2009-04-30 13:47:00

Armenian government has adopted technical regulations to requirements
on bottling of mineral water.

Armenian Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsyan said this initiative is
called up to observe quality of mineral water and protect interests
of consumers in this way. He also added that sometimes drinking water
is mixed with the mineral one. This leads to distrust of local and
foreign consumers in Armenian mineral water.

THE LIAR MUST BE PUNISHED!
Avedis Kevorkian,

PA USA
25 april 2009
Philadelphia

Once again, America has a Liar in the White House.

Once again, the Armenians have been successfully lied to by a
politician.

Once again, Turkey has shown that it is the most powerful country in
the world, with the American president dancing to the Turkish tunes.

Once again, the Armenians have learned that they have no friends
in Washington. No, correct that! Once again the Armenians have been
exposed to the fact that they have no friends in Washington.

Whether or not the Armenians are intelligent enough to learn that
fact depends on whether or not the Armenians decide to do something
about lying politicians.

I refer, of course, to the fact that the Liar in the White House,
Mark 3, taking his orders from Ankara, refused to use the "Genocide"
word in the usual presidential hypocritical statement.

Of course, no one really expected a genocide-recognition statement from
the White House. We saw that almost as soon as the Senate confirmed
the appointment of Senator Clinton as Secretary of State, the Turks
summoned her to Ankara and told her what she must do and not do and
whom she must appoint as flunkies (pro-Turks) and whom she must not
(pro-Armenians).

Then to make sure Washington had received the Turkish message, the
Liar in the White House was commanded to go to Ankara and get his
instructions first-hand and then visit the tomb of Mustafa Kemal
and pay homage to the pederast as one of the greatest people in the
history of the universe.

And, yet, the Armenians continued to fool themselves that an honest
man had entered the White House. But, that is yesterday’s story.

What is now important is whether or not the Armenians have learned
an important lesson.

What is now necessary, if the Armenians are still interested in having
an American president use the "Genocide" word, is to learn and take
action. If not, let us not masturbate in the months leading up each
April 24, and just get on with our lives.

If Genocide-recognition on the part of an American president is
important, then the Armenians must start thinking of the next elections
and, starting yesterday, begin to take action.

What is that action? All Armenians everywhere must make plans to vote
for the Republican candidate in every election–beginning with all
local elections, including those this year (such as in Pennsylvania).

That includes voting against those Democrat politicians who utter
lip-service love of the Armenians but who have no influence on their
Democrat president. Let them, too, end up on the outside looking in
after the next election.

But, you say, the Republican presidents are liars, also. Yes, I agree,
but this is not a reward for past behavior. The Republicans are to be
used as the carrier of a message to the Liar in the White House–and
to all politicians–that they must learn they cannot depend on the
Armenian vote and that the Armenians look for results, not words,
and that the Armenians will now vote against a candidate, rather than
for a candidate.

If, in the 2010 Congress, the Republicans take control, the Liar in
the White House and all his Turkey-loving advisors will have to realize
that it was the Armenian vote that put the Republicans in control.

Fortunately, most Armenians live in the most populous states and
these states have enough Senators and Representatives to swing control.

If every Armenian says to every Democrat politician–Yes, even to
your "friend," the one you like to boast about because you have been
photographed with him–"You and your president lied to me, so out
you go," and if every Armenian votes Republican the message will
get through.

The Armenian media has a major role to play in this campaign. It must
constantly remind its readers to "Think Republican. Vote Republican."

It must do so on a regular basis and stop pandering to those people
and groups who purport to represent the Armenians and who carry
on with politicians as if they were honorable people. And, no more
publicity about those phonies who join the Armenian Caucus but produce
no results.

Turkey is fighting a war. It has declared war on the Truth, and is
engaging on a campaign of Vericide, and the Armenians must fight back
and it is imperative to include Turkey’s allies, starting with the
Liar in the White House.

If the Armenians act in their self-interest and vote against the
Democrats and change the face of Congress, they could very well also
change the face of politics. But, let us not get carried away.

First, teach the Liar in the White House a lesson; give him a Congress
he will not welcome.

If that happens, the Liar in the White House will be faced with two
choices: He will continue to lick the boots of the Turkish president
and seriously contemplate losing in 2012 or, in hopes of getting
re-elected, will live up to his past promises and statements and
will deliver in April 2011 and also in April 2012. Of course, if the
Republicans also realize who put them in control of Congress, and why,
they, too, will pass Genocide-recognizing Resolutions.

If the Armenians have the intelligence to vote Republican in the
next election, it could end up in a win/win situation: A consummation
devoutly to be wished.

For this situation to come to pass, it means that each Armenian must
act intelligently, and not rely on those who profess to represent the
Armenians who have shown how ineffective, if not downright useless,
they are.

But all, depends on the Armenians showing some intelligence. Aye,
there’s the rub, Somehow, the words "Armenian" and "intelligence"
do not seem to go together–as the Turks know.

PRIME MINISTER SAYS "NAIRIT" IS IMPORTANT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

Panorama.am
18:05 28/04/2009

The Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan today visited "Nairit
factory" CJSC accompanied by the Ministers of Economy, Energy and
Natural Resources. The Prime Minister got acquainted with the ongoing
processes of the production and the perspectives of developments the
factory has got.

The Prime Minister has notified that the factory is working and giving
product. He emphasized the development of the factory’s potential to
give more products.

Tigran Sargsyan stressed that the real potential of "Nairit" should
be much used to create thousands working places and to contribute to
the development of other factories.

"Chemical industry has real perspectives for Armenia but there is no
chemical industry without "Nairit", hence it is of great importance
for the state," the Prime Minister said.