Author: Manouk Vasilian

Asbarez: D.C. Crash Course: Three Days on Capitol Hill

Manouk Vasilian
  • Community

    •  

  • Latest

    •  

  • News

    •  

  • Op-Ed

    •  

  • Top Stories

14 hours ago

The ANCA Leo Sarkisian Interns supporting bi-partisanship during their first week next to the iconic symbols of the American Democratic and Republican parties

BY LUCINE POTURYAN
ANCA Maral Melkonian Avetisyan Fellow

Only three days into my time in Washington, D.C. with the Armenian National Committee of America, and I experienced a whirlwind of activity that was fit to last me the whole summer. That eventful start set the tone for a productive and engaging summer in the hotbed of American politics, hosted by a dedicated organization fired up to mobilize its Armenian-American youth.

Let me begin by saying that I’m honored to be the inaugural Maral Melkonian Avetisyan Fellow. Her dedication to the Armenian Cause inspired me in my work here with the ANCA in ways I wouldn’t realize until I completed the program. But, I’ll get back to this.

The first day of this internship was marked by a workday-long crash course on the Armenian issues being voted on in Congress during this week. Be alert: if you’re sitting in your chair trying to rub the jet-lagged sleep out of your eyes, the ANCA staff are the abrupt awakening you didn’t know you needed: we’re going to Capitol Hill tomorrow.

That’s right, on just the second day of the internship, my ANCA Leo Sarkisian Summer Internship teammates and I found ourselves navigating the halls of the Rayburn, Longworth, and Cannon office buildings, pitching for the House of Representatives’ support for our foreign aid amendments granting $40 million to Armenia to support democratic developments, and $1.5 million in demining and rehabilitation aid to Artsakh. After spending the day visiting 439 congressional offices, we retired to the ANCA headquarters to watch the results of our efforts in real-time, over pizza. The air in the room was steeped in anticipation, hope, and exhaustion. We had barely gotten to know each other, let alone get settled into the city when we were exclaiming and hugging in sheer joy: we’d come together to a complicated city new to us and made a tangible change on our second day.

The ANCA D.C. team with Californian members of the Leo Sarkisian Internship following a meeting with Senator Feinstein to discuss Armenia and Artsakh related issues this past June

The thrill of the internship didn’t stop there. I was excited to learn that the delegation of interns from California would be sitting in on a meeting with the ANCA staff and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). I remember asking myself, a newcomer to this tempestuous city, if any of these events were happening in my conscious state. We had the opportunity to sit down with the Senator and speak to her about garnering senatorial support for Armenia and Artsakh related priorities. At the end of the meeting, Senator Feinstein requested for the women in the group to sit in the front for our photograph, female powerhouses flanking her. As I left her office, I didn’t think the day could get better.

Then the midday humidity welcomed itself into the city. However, Washington’s humid streets didn’t stop the women in our office from attending Politico’s Third Annual Salute to the Female Chiefs of Staff in the Capitol building. Listening to the advice of these women was inspiring for me both personally and professionally, and while I was still taking in the experience of that event, our tenacious Governmental Affairs Director, Tereza Yerimyan, led us on our way to another event. As we were walking out of the Capitol, we did a double take upon seeing Speaker Nancy Pelosi walking through the Capitol with her entourage and headed right on over for a quick chat about the Armenian Genocide resolution.

And that was just the first week. I will let the rest of the ANCA Leo Sarkisian team discuss the remaining seven weeks, but, in short, it included work on passing four pro-Armenian amendments, constant meetings with members of Congress, grassroots mobilization calls to Armenian Americans across the U.S., meetings with current and former Ambassadors, career exploration lectures, extracurricular expeditions around the capital city’s museums, ice cream socials, and a truckload of excitement and passion on the road to #HaiTahd.

All of which brings me back to Maral Melkonian Avetisyan. When I started this program, I was handed a poem—“When I Wake Up”—that Maral had written back when she was 13-years-old. She wrote about starting each day committed to fighting for a brighter future for Armenia and its children. And, with her inspiration and the ANCA’s guidance, that’s just what we did during this internship—and what I look forward to doing moving forward.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 07/18/2019

Manouk Vasilian 
Thursday, 
13 Arrested In Armenia After Violent Unrest
Հուլիս 18, 2019
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Riot police lined up in a square in Ijevan, . Police in Armenia made 13 arrests early on Thursday after clashing overnight 
with residents of the northern Tavush province who protested against a 
government ban on logging in the area. Several hundred protesters blocked on Wednesday a highway passing through the 
provincial capital Ijevan to demand that the authorities stop preventing them 
from cutting and selling wood from nearby forests. They said logging is their 
sole source of income. Riot police used force after the protesters refused to unblock the highway 
leading to the main Armenian-Georgian border crossing. Police officers were pelted with stones and hit by sticks during the clashes. Eleven of them required hospitalization, according to a spokesman for the 
Armenian police. At least one injured civilian also received medical assistance 
in a local hospital. Traffic through the busy road resumed after police reinforcements were sent to 
Ijevan.The national police chief, Valeri Osipian, also rushed to the town close 
to the Georgian and Azerbaijani borders on Wednesday night. Osipian remained 
there as of Thursday afternoon. A spokeswoman for Armenia’s Investigative Committee, Naira Harutiunian, said 
dozens of people were taken for questioning following the violence. Thirteen of 
them were placed under arrest on suspicion of hooliganism and resistance to 
law-enforcement authorities, while six others signed written pledges not to 
leave their places of residence pending investigation, Harutiunian told 
RFE/RL’s Armenian service. One of Osipian’s deputies, Vartan Movsisian, said the police are now trying to 
track down and arrest other violent protesters. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian condemned the unrest in Ijevan, his hometown, as 
he chaired a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. “Those responsible for 
yesterday’s events as well as the organizers of illegal logging must be 
strictly punished,” said Pashinian. “We will be halting illegal logging in the most resolute manner,” he added. Pashinian also posted on his Facebook page video of Osipian addressing and 
praising police officers lined up in an Ijevan square on Thursday morning. “We will not be lenient towards anyone,” said the police chief. “Everyone must 
receive a punishment for their deeds envisaged by the law.”
European Bodies Asked To Advise On Kocharian Case
        • Gayane Saribekian
France -- The building of the European Court of Human Rights is seen in 
Strasbourg, March 26, 2019. Armenia’s Constitutional Court on Thursday decided to ask the European Court of 
Human Rights (ECHR) and the Council Europe’s Venice Commission to give an 
“advisory opinion” on the legality of coup charges brought against former 
President Robert Kocharian. Kocharian was charged last year under Article 300.1of the Armenian Criminal 
Code dealing with violent seizure of power. The accusation stems from the 2008 
post-election street clashes in Yerevan which left ten people dead. In separate appeals, Kocharian and a district court judge in Yerevan asked the 
Constitutional Court earlier this year to determine whether the Criminal Code 
clause conforms to the Armenian constitution. The court recently agreed to hold 
hearings and rule on the appeals. But it is now seeking advice from the ECHR and the Venice Commission. In a 
short statement, the court said it will suspend the consideration of the 
appeals pending formal responses from the two Strasbourg-based bodies. The 
statement gave no further explanation of the decision. The decision was announced one day after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
launched a scathing attack on the Constitutional Court and its chairman, Hrayr 
Tovmasian, in particular. In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, 
Pashinian accused Tovmasian of cutting political deals with former President 
Serzh Sarkisian to “privatize” the country’s highest court. “The Constitutional Court must get out of this status of a privatized booth,” 
he said, implicitly demanding changes in the court’s composition. He said he 
could initiate constitutional amendments for that purpose. Pashinian also signaled support for Vahe Grigorian, the court’s newest judge 
who has challenged the legitimacy of Tovmasian and six other members of the 
tribunal appointed before the Pashinian-led “Velvet Revolution” of April-May 
2018. Armenia -- Supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian block the entrance to 
the Constitutional Court building in Yerevan, May 20, 2019. Tovmasian, who served as a senior lawmaker representing Sarkisian’s Republican 
Party until becoming the court chairman in March 2018, refused to respond to 
Pashinian on Thursday. “I don’t comment on political statements, I comment on 
judicial acts,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenians service. Asked whether he is ruling out his resignation, Tovmasian said: “Can you rule 
out the possibility of an earthquake in Armenia tomorrow? Can you rule out that 
the world will collapse tomorrow?”
The Venice Commission discussed the dispute over the Armenian Constitutional 
Court at a session held in Strasbourg last month. An internal report on the 
session disclosed by Armenian opposition circles on Monday suggests that at 
least some members of the Council of Europe body defended the court’s 
legitimacy. The report describes as “disturbing” the fact that Grigorian’s 
claims were hailed by some pro-government members of the Armenian parliament. Grigorian said in the parliament on June 20 that only he and another judge of 
the 9-member court, Arman Dilanian, can make valid decisions. He argued that 
under constitutional amendments which took effect last year the court now 
consists of “judges,” rather than “members,” as was the case until April 2018. He said that the seven other members of the court therefore cannot be 
considered “judges.”
The eight other members of the Constitutional Courts, including Dilanian, 
dismissed Grigorian’s claims in a joint statement. Kocharian Trial Judge Tight-Lipped About Office Raid
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia -- Judge Davit Grigorian orders former President Robert Kocharian's 
release from custody, Yerevan, May 18, 2019. A Yerevan judge presiding over the suspended trial of former President Robert 
Kocharian refused on Thursday to clarify why his office was searched and sealed 
by law-enforcement authorities earlier this week. Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Davit Grigorian only confirmed that 
officers of the Special Investigative Service (SIS) confiscated his computer 
during Tuesday’s raid. “I don’t want to talk about that now. I will express my position later on,” 
Grigorian said when asked about what he is accused or suspected of. Nor would he say if he sees a connection between the search and his handling of 
the high-profile trial. The SIS said on Wednesday that Grigorian’s office was searched as part of an 
ongoing criminal investigation conducted by it. A spokeswoman for the 
law-enforcement agency did not give any details of that probe or say whether 
the judge could be prosecuted. Grigorian ordered Kocharian freed from custody on May 18 five days after the 
latter went on trial on charges mostly stemming from the 2008 post-election 
violence in Yerevan. The judge also decided to suspend the trial, questioning 
the legality of the coup charges and asked the Constitutional Court to pass 
judgment on them. The decisions angered political allies and supporters of Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian.Heeding Pashinian’s calls, hundreds of them blocked the entrances to 
court buildings across Armenia’s on May 20. Pashinian demanded a mandatory 
“vetting” of all Armenian judges, saying that many of them remain linked to the 
country’s “corrupt” former leadership. Kocharian was arrested again on June 25 hours after Armenia’s Court of Appeals 
overturned Grigorian’s decisions. His trial has still not resumed, however, 
because the Court of Appeals has yet to send materials of the case back to the 
lower court. Earlier this month, Kocharian’s lawyers accused the Court of Appeals of 
deliberately dragging out the judicial process to make sure the ex-president 
remains under arrest as long as possible. They said Grigorian might again free 
the ex-president accused of usurping power in the final weeks of his 1998-2008 
rule. It also emerged this week that in March a Yerevan resident asked the SIS to 
launch criminal proceedings against Grigorian. The citizen’s lawyer, Garik 
Malkhasian, refused on Thursday to specify his client’s allegations against the 
judge. He also could not say whether the search conducted in Grigorian’s office 
is connected with them. Press Review
“Haykakan Zhamanak” comments on late-night clashes in Ijevan between riot 
police and local residents protesting against a government ban on logging in 
nearby forests. The paper says that the Armenian authorities are right to crack 
down on a long-running deforestation of the area. “This is a very profitable 
business and profits generated by it have long fuelled entrenched local clans,” 
it says. “They felt safe in the past. But after the revolution the situation 
changed and the new authorities moved to stop industrial logging. In recent 
days, the noose [around those businesses] tightened and the problem became more 
acute.” The paper says the same clans organized Wednesday’s protests and 
ensuing clashes with security forces. “Zhamanak” praises Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s comments made in an 
interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Wednesday, saying that they reflect 
the public mood in the country. “There is no doubt that today’s judicial system 
and the Constitutional Court are incompatible with the New Armenia,” writes the 
paper. It says Pashinian voiced support for Vahe Grigorian, a Constitutional 
Court judge who has effectively declared seven other members of the court 
illegitimate. “At the same time, it is obvious that even the prime minister does not yet have 
solutions, especially after reservations and critical comments voiced from 
Venice [Commission,]” the paper goes on. “In the coming months the solutions 
will definitely be found and we will have a Constitutional Court and judicial 
system corresponding to today’s Armenia. But Nikol Pashinian’s team will not be 
able to win back the lost time, the year wasted by it.”
“Zhoghovurd” says government bodies should have issued more detailed warnings 
about the contamination of Lake Sevan reported a few weeks ago. The paper says 
officials should have indicated concrete areas where swimming is considered 
hazardous, instead of effectively urging swimmers to stay away from the entire 
lake. It also calls for a “direct dialogue” between the government and private 
entrepreneurs operating resorts located along the Sevan coastline. (Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org

President of Artsakh meets participants of

Manouk Vasilian

President of Artsakh meets participants of “Towards Holy Etchmiadzin, Towards Sacred Artsakh” forum

Save

Share

13:02, 5 July, 2019

STEPANAKERT, JULY 5, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan on July 5 met with participants of the “Towards Holy Etchmiadzin, Towards Sacred Artsakh” Pan-Armenian Youth forum in Stepanakert Culture and Youth Palace, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

The President noted the importance of holding such events in Artsakh highlighting the substantial role of the Armenian Apostolic Church in cementing the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora trinity, maintaining the Armenian national identity, developing and strengthening the Armenian statehood.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan and other officials attended the event.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Angela Gulbenkian Made Her Name as a High-Flying Art Heiress. Now, a Warrant Is Out for Her Arrest

Manouk Vasilian
Art Net News
 
 
 
Angela Gulbenkian Made Her Name as a High-Flying Art Heiress. Now, a Warrant Is Out for Her Arrest
 
Angela Gulbenkian, who married into one of Europe’s wealthiest, most renowned art collecting families, faces two charges of theft in London.
 
Sarah Cascone,
 
Angela Gulbenkian, a German woman who married into one of Europe’s wealthiest and most renowned art collecting families, faces two charges of theft in London for art deals gone awry—and now, a warrant is out for her arrest. She stands accused of stealing £1.1 million ($1.4 million), most of which relates to the sale of one of Yayoi Kusama‘s famous polkadot yellow pumpkin sculptures.
 
Hong Kong-based art advisor Mathieu Ticolat alleges that his firm, Art Incorporated, paid Gulbenkian—who was claiming to represent an anonymous seller—$1.38 million for the 179-pound pumpkin. The deal went into contract in April 2017, but the pricey artwork, he contends, never arrived.
 
“There are a number of people with claims against Angela,” Christopher Marinello of Art Recovery International told artnet News. He has been working with Ticolat since late 2017 to get the money back. “We’re going to be relentless—she’s a serial fraudster.” (Gulbenkian told Bloomberg she had offered to arrange the delivery of the Kusama before legal proceedings were initiated; Marinello denies this.)
 
Yayoi Kusama, PUMPKIN (2018). A similar work by the artist was part of a failed deal arranged by Angela Gulbenkian. She now faces charges of theft, and a warrant for her arrest has been issued in Germany. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © Yayoi Kusama.
 
Born Angela Ischwang, Gulbenkian, age 37, is married to Duarte Gulbenkian, great-grandnephew to Calouste Gulbenkian, the British-Armenian art collector and oil baron. But despite her famous surname, Gulbenkian is affiliated with neither the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum nor the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the family’s official institutions in Portugal, which are said to be worth a collective $3.6 billion, according to Bloomberg.
 
Ticolat filed a criminal complaint against Gulbankien in January 2018. Gulbenkian was notified to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on May 21, the BBC reports. The court date was postponed until yesterday. Gulbenkian did not appear, citing her recovery from a surgical procedure.
 
But Bench chairwoman Claire Harris felt “substantial concern” about Gulbenkian’s doctor’s letter “and the ambiguity of the document,” according Sutton & Croydon Guardian. The court denied her request for a second adjournment, issuing a warrant for Gulbenkian’s arrest in Germany.
 
Marinello echoed Harris’s skepticism about the letter, written in German. “In fact, we have information that she’s been seen at various art fairs around the world,” he said.
 
Angela Gulbenkian and her former business partner, Florentine Rosemeyer. Photo by Angela Gulbenkian, via Instagram.
 
Gulbenkian’s online presence still presents her as a high-flying art collector. Her Instagram account, @pantaraxia, identifies her as “Fine Art Collector | Gulbenkian Private Art Collection” and, at one point, according to Marinello, an associate was conducting correspondence via an @gulbenkian.foundation email address. She previously ran the London company FAPS-Net with art adviser Florentine Rosemeyer until spring 2018. Rosemeyer subsequently hired Gulbenkian at her new Munich venture, Rosemeyer Art Advisors, but the company’s website currently makes no mention of Gulbenkian.
 
As of press time, Gulbenkian’s lawyers had not responded to inquiries from artnet News.
 
Angela Gulbenkian’s former business partner, Florentine Rosemeyer subsequently hired Gulbenkian at her new Munich venture, Rosemeyer Art Advisors. This screenshot of the company website was taken on May 31, 2018.
 
The court proceedings also include a second criminal charge against Gulbenkian over money allegedly stolen from her client Jacqui Ball. Marinello says he has also heard from other parties who are seeking to recover money from Gulbenkian, including London interior design firm Percy Bass Ltd., which redid her bedroom in the style of a Kusama pumpkin.
 
“Percy Bass was told Angela was part of the Gulbenkian Foundation of Portugal. Percy Bass started work on the flat as they were told funds for a deposit were coming from Portugal. They received a forged bank transfer notification from the Millennium BCP bank in Portugal from the Gulbenkian Foundation,” Patricia Maher, a firm employee, wrote in an email provided to artnet News by Marinello. “No payment was ever received.”
 
Separate from the new criminal case, Ticolat filed a High Court civil suit against Gulbenkian in June 2018. That month, a Singaporean company, Artseen—either the pumpkin’s owner or an intermediary in the transaction—informed Ticolat that it had never received his payment, and that the work had subsequently sold to a third party.
 
Ai Weiwei with Angela Gulbenkian. Photo via Instagram.
 
Last summer, a judge agreed to freeze Gulbenkian’s assets, and gave her until August 20, 2018 to pay Ticolat back in full, at which point the case would be dropped. Gulbenkian ignored the ultimatum, and failed to file a defense, leading to a default judgment against her from the court in November.
 
“We will pursue Angela and anyone who has handled these funds anywhere in the world until they are returned in full,” Marinello insisted, adding that he is considering pressing criminal charges against some of Angela’s family members. “We know where some of the money has gone of course. Angela spent a great deal of it on private jets, lingerie, travel, a masseuse, interior design work, paid part of her rent…”
 
He is frustrated by how slowly the case has been moving through the British judicial system. “Look at Anna Delvey,” Marinello said, referring to the woman who lived as a high-flying German heiress in New York before she ended up in court and sentenced to up to 12 years in prison. “She’s sitting in jail right now for a $200,000 unpaid hotel bill, whereas this lady stole $1.5 million and is still getting sympathy from the courts—up until yesterday!”
 
 
 
 
 
 

Asbarez: 3 Armenian Carriers Step Up after Putin Halts Flights to Georgia

Manouk Vasilian
  • Armenia

    •  

  • Latest

    •  

  • News

    •  

  • Top Stories

9 hours ago

Anti-Russian protesters in Tbilisi last week

Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot, which will completely halt flights to Georgia on July 8, said passengers could travel to Georgia via the north Caucasian Vladikavkaz or Yerevan and from there travel to Georgia by land or air transport, the Russian TASS news agency reported.

Aeroflot made the announcement after President Vladimir Putin of Russia signed a decree Friday banning all flights from Russia to Georgia after a standoff at the parliament in Tbilisi where a Russian lawmaker, who was attending a conference of Orthodox church, spoke from the podium setting off a large-scale demonstration by Georgians who were angered that a Russian official was allowed to speak from the legislature’s dais.

Three Armenian carriers – Armenia Aircompany, Taron Avia and Atlantis European – will increase the number of passenger flights to Russia and Georgia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s adviser Hakob Tchagharyan said on Facebook on Monday.

He said he asked all Armenian carriers about their readiness and availability to participate in the transport of passengers from Russia to Georgia and vice-versa immediately after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order on suspending Russian flights to Georgia beginning on July 8.

“I am happy to note that three airlines – Armenia, Taron Avia and Atlantis European – are ready to participate in settling the crisis that has emerged between brotherly peoples, with five designated aircraft, the number of which can grow with another two. The Prime Minister has been briefed on the results,” Tchagharyan wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Aeroflot said passengers who have bought tickets for direct Moscow-Tbilisi flights will not be charged additional money in case they decide to change the direction of the flight. Passengers who have already purchased tickets for Georgia flights, scheduled for after July 8, may receive a refund of the full price of the ticket or change the date of transportation for free.

In a related development Georgian Airways said it will offer transit flights Tbilisi-Yerevan-Moscow to its passengers. In addition to Georgian Airways, another Georgian airline MyWay Airlines operates flights to Russia.

The Russian Transport Ministry said earlier that flights of Georgian airlines to Russia will be suspended from July 8. “The reason for the suspension of flights is the need to ensure a sufficient level of aviation security, as well as overdue debts for air navigation activities before the State ATM Corporation,” the ministry said, according to TASS.

On June 20, protesters began rallying outside the parliament building in Tbilisi against the participation of Russian parliamentarians in the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodox.

Georgia’s opposition joined the demonstrators and called for the resignation of the government and the parliament speaker. More than 200 people, including police officers and reporters, were injured.

The protests eventually forced the Speaker of Parliament of Georgia to step down.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili blamed Russia for the protests, to which Russia’s PM Dmitry Medvedev reacted by saying that the accusations are non-professional and that blaming Russia distorts the situation.

On June 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian airlines to suspend flights to Georgia effective July 8.

Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople to elect interim leader

Manouk Vasilian

Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople to elect interim leader

Save

Share

16:13,

YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople will elect a Patriarchal Locum Tenens on June 27th, the synod has decided. The synod’s meeting was chaired by Archbishop Aram Atesian, the Patriarchal Vicar.

On March 8, Patriarch Mesrob II died in an Istanbul hospital after being more than a decade in a dementia-related coma.

The patriarchate has requested the Turkish government to allow holding elections of a new patriarch, a requirement by law.

An election of a new patriarch will most likely take place after the June 27 locum tenens election.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




California bill calls to divest pension funds from Turkish government

Manouk Vasilian
Public Radio of Armenia


California bill calls to divest pension funds from Turkish government

2019-06-15 19:34:45

Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian is supporting a legislative push in Sacramento to prohibit major California public pension funds from investing in the Turkish government, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. 

The bill would require the $360 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System to halt new investments in the Republic of Turkey and abandon existing ones if the U.S. government imposes sanctions on the country for failing to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The bill was authored by Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, who also represents the central-southern San Fernando Valley. It passed the state Assembly last month, despite opposition from the pension funds, who argue that divesting from Turkey could diminish investment returns.

The effort to divest public funds from Turkey began at UCLA in a successful campaign by Armenian student activists in 2014. All nine UC schools followed suit before the Glendale-based Armenian National Committee of America began campaigning for the legislation on a state level.

Both counciman Krekorian — who respresents a large swath of the eastern San Fernando Valley —  and Assemblyman Nazarian are confident that the bill will pass. A similar bill he authored passed both state houses and was vetoed by then-Governor Jerry Brown in 2017, but Gov. 

“Both houses of the Legislature have seen this issue as a moral issue,” said Nazarian in an email. “It is shameful that the Government of Turkey refuses not only to recognize its role in the Armenian Genocide, but the fact that the Armenian Genocide even took place.”

“The Republic of Turkey has imprisoned tens of thousands of dissenters, opposition leaders, academicians and journalists seeking to promote democracy and human rights,” said Krekorian.

EU Urges Armenia to Normalize Relations With Turkey Without Preconditions

Manouk Vasilian
Sputnik News Service
Thursday 8:17 PM UTC
EU Urges Armenia to Normalize Relations With Turkey Without Preconditions
 
 
BRUSSELS, June 13 (Sputnik) – The European Union confirmed its support for the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey and called upon both sides to proceed without preconditions, the EU-Armenia Partnership Council said in a joint statement on Thursday.
 
“On Turkey, the EU reiterated its support for the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations and stressed the need for both sides to engage in this process without preconditions,” the statement said.
 
The statement also said that Yerevan was designated to receive over 160 million euros ($181 million) worth of assistance from the European Union throughout 2017-2020 and an additional 25 million euros ($28 million) in 2019 “in recognition of Armenia’s determination to pursue a reform agenda and to implement the CEPA [Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement] effectively.”
 
The European Union signed CEPA with Armenia in November 2017, saying it does not preclude Yerevan from membership in the Eurasian Economic Union. The partnership agreement covers political dialogue, economic and security spheres.
 
 Armenia and Turkey have strained relations due to their differing assessments of WWI history. Armenia has maintained that around 1.5 million of its people were killed or starved to death by the Ottoman Empire during the war, and insisted on the international recognition of these events as genocide. Turkey has repeatedly denied accusations.
 
As of 2019, a total of 33 states, including Russia, Canada, France and Germany, as well as all states but Mississippi of the United States, have recognized the massacre as genocide.

Part of dorm burned down in fire in Armenian monastic complex of Haghpat

Manouk Vasilian
News.am, Armenia
June 9 2019
 
 
Part of dorm burned down in fire in Armenian monastic complex of Haghpat
10:58, 09.06.2019
 
As a result of a fire in the monastic complex of Haghpat, a part of the dorm burned down, press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.
 
According to the source, the fire was extinguished at 9 o’clock.
 
The department of Lori of the Armenia Ministry of Emergency Situations, together with four combat crews, fought the spread of fire that broke out in one of the buildings of the Haghpat monastery complex in Haghpat village of Tumanyan district, Lori province.