Author: Nanijanian Alex

NEW AMBASSADOR OF PHILIPPINES HANDS HIS CREDENTIALS TO RA PRESIDENT

Noyan Tapan

Jan 23, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. On January 23, new Ambassador of
Philippines to RA Victor Garcia III handed his credentials to RA
President Serzh Sargsyan. In a private talk following the solemn
ceremony of handing credentials S. Sargsyan expressed gratitude for
Philippines’ permanent balanced position at international organizations
over issues regarding Armenia.

According to the report provided to Noyan Tapan by the RA President’s
Press Office, during the meeting the interlocutors attached importance
to further activation of bilateral contacts and estimated as sufficient
the current potential for cooperating in individual spheres.

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
January 22, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

ANCA "CANS FOR THE CAUSE" INITIATIVE COLLECTS OVER
10,000 FOOD ITEMS FOR NATIONWIDE OBAMA DAY OF SERVICE EFFORT

— Grassroots Effort Honored U.S. Humanitarian
Relief for Armenian Genocide Survivors

— ANC Chapters Teamed up with Local Armenian American
Groups and Citizens Across the Country

WASHINGTON, DC – Local Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) chapters teamed up with Armenian American groups and local
activists to collect over 10,000 food items for community food
banks across the U.S. during National Day of Service activities
spearheaded by President Barack Obama.

The ANCA’s "Cans for the Cause" initiative was organized in honor
of U.S. humanitarian assistance efforts for survivors of the
Armenian Genocide from 1915-1923. American humanitarian assistance
efforts to Armenian populations devastated in Turkey during the
Hamidian massacres of 1895 and subsequently the Armenian Genocide
of 1915 represented the first American Red Cross foreign
humanitarian assistance campaign and was instrumental in saving
countless lives.

"During the Armenian Genocide and in the aftermath of this terrible
crime, Americans participated in an unprecedented humanitarian
relief effort for the survivors of Ottoman Turkey’s brutal campaign
of race extermination," said ANCA Executive Director Aram
Hamparian. "As a community we owe a tremendous debt to the
generosity of the American people and strive to honor this proud
chapter in U.S. history by doing our part to feed the hungry and
bring hope to those facing hardship both abroad and here on our own
shores."

The ANCA campaign was spread out across 20 individual food drives
in 12 states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington, DC. These efforts were
part of the wider Day of Service activities, which coincided with
Martin Luther King Memorial Day (January 19) and the Presidential
Inauguration (January 20th). Local food drives inspired
contributions from people of all ethnicities and walks of life –
committed to ending hunger. The Burbank, California drive was
supported by contributions from State Assemblyman Paul Krekorian
and Burbank City Council candidate Garen Yegparian.

The National Day of Service, first initiated by Congress in 1994,
honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King by transforming the
federal holiday honoring Dr. King into a national day of community
service grounded in his teachings of nonviolence and social
justice. Highlighting and expanding that initiative, President
Obama announced the "Renew America Together" initiative, which
culminated in over 13,000 community service events around the
country. Community efforts, including the ANCA Cans for the Cause
initiative, were highlighted on the Renew America Together website
–

Local food banks have highlighted the important role that community
groups play in ending hunger in our neighborhoods. Capital Area
Food Bank President and CEO Lynn Brantley noted that "The food bank
is seeing record numbers of people seeking food assistance and we
expect to see more with the collapsing economy. Food drives play a
critical role in food bank operations and during these challenging
times, support from groups like the Armenian National Committee of
America helps us nourish those in need and shines a light on the
issue of domestic hunger."

In the week leading up to the national Day of service, ANCA "Cans for
the Cause" national coordinator Garo Manjikian provided local
activists with an organizing "tool kit" for local community
activists and groups, which outlined the steps for program success.

"Armenian American community response to the ANCA ‘Cans for the
Cause’ campaign was amazing, with local ANC, Armenian Youth
Federation and Armenian Relief Society chapters, groups like the
Heros Foundation, and activists leading the charge in their cities
across the U.S.," said Manjikian. "We have been encouraged by the
daily updates, photos and supportive emails from Armenians and non-
Armenians alike and look forward to building on this initiative in
the future."

Visit the ANCA Facebook page
( 58)
and ANCA Website () for updates and
photos from local "Cans for the Cause" efforts. For comments, or
to further highlight the "Cans for Cause" initiative in your area,
contact national program coordinator Garo Manjikian at
[email protected] or (202) 775-1918.

ARMENIAN LOBBY PUTS PRESSURE ON OBAMA

Today’s Zaman
Jan 20 2009
Turkey

US based-Armenian diaspora organizations have raised the pressure
on US President-elect Barack Obama for the official recognition of
Armenian claims of genocide ahead of today’s presidential inauguration.

Some 20 Armenian-American advocacy, civic, religious, charitable and
educational organizations have sent a joint congratulatory message to
Obama to mark his inauguration, while they also outlined the Armenian
community’s expectation of the incoming Obama administration.

"As a community, we have been proud that you have stood with us
as we have worked toward Congressional commemoration, Presidential
recognition, and Turkish acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide. As
you have stated so eloquently and repeatedly, the facts of this crime
are undeniable. The Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, as the
Turkish government shamefully contends, but rather a widely documented
mass crime supported by an overwhelming body of evidence," the message,
on the Web site of the Public Radio of Armenia, was quoted as saying.

"Our government must clearly and unequivocally condemn the 1915 crime
of race extermination by Ottoman Turkey that, during the course of
eight years, killed one-and-a-half million Armenians, emptied vast
areas of the Armenian homeland and inflicted grave material harm to
every aspect of the Armenian people’s cultural heritage, depriving
it, to this day, of its right to exist on its native soil. Sadly,
the inevitable consequence of Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge this
crime has been its inability to adapt to the changing realities in
the region," the message said.

RA PRESIDENT TAKES PART IN OPENING OF GREAT POETESS SILVA KAPUTIKIAN’S HOUSE-MUSEUM

Noyan Tapan

Jan 20, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN. On January 20, RA President Serzh
Sargsyan took part in the solemn opening ceremony of great poetess
Silva Kaputikian’s house-museum. Attaching importance to house-museum’s
opening he considered invaluable the huge literary heritage left by
the prominent poetess.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA President’s Press Office,
S. Sargsyan walked about the house-museum accompanied by poetess’
son, Ara Shiraz.

PROCREDIT BANK ARMENIA OPENS ITS 5TH BRANCH IN COUNTRY

Noyan Tapan

Jan 20, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN. ProCredit Bank has opened its new –
5th branch located at the Citadel Business Center, 1st floor (105/1
Terian Street, Yerevan). The first branch of the bank opened in the
city of Vanadzor (Lori marz) in July 2008.

ProCredit Bank Armenia started operating on February 5, 2008. It is a
bank with 100% foreign capital and provides a comprehensive package of
banking and financial services. Its activities are aimed at crediting
small and medium business. Another direction of ProCredit Bank’s
activities is to contribute to the formation of savings culture in
the society.

ProCredit Bank Armenia is a member of ProCredit group which is
composed of 22 financial structures operating in Eastern Europe,
Africa and Latin America whose activities are headed and controlled
by Frankfurt-based ProCredit Holding AG.

The founders of ProCredit Bank Armenia are ProCredit Holding AG that
owns 67.49% of shares, KfW Bank (Germany) with 15.84% of shares and
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Developemnt (EBRD) with 16.67%
of shares.

ProCredit Bank Armenia currently has over 4 thousand customers,
including users of savings services, as well as a credit portfolio
of about 24 million USD and a deposit portfolio of more than 8
million USD.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TAKES PART IN THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE HOUSE-MUSEUM OF WELL KNOWN POETESS SILVA KAPUTIKIAN

ARMENPRESS
Jan 20, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh Sargsian
took part today in the opening ceremony of the house museum of well
known poetess Silva Kaputikian.

Press service of the president told Armenpress that S. Sargsian
stressed the importance of opening of the house-museum and considered
the enormous literary heritage of the outstanding poetess invaluable.

Accompanied with Silva Kaputikian’s son Ara Shiraz, President
S. Sargsian walked around in the house museum.

RACISM IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM
By Ismet Berkan

Turkish Press
Jan 19 2009

RADIKAL- Today is the second anniversary of the murder of Hrant
Dink. Many factors played a role in his slaying, but the Ergenekon
probe or other investigations of the ‘deep state’ shouldn’t make us
forget that this murder was basically a racist one. Dink was killed
because he was Armenian and also a person on the forefront who
went outside the customary psychology of minorities. That’s why we
shouldn’t forget racism and racists in our fight against all sorts of
‘deep state’ or criminal groups.

Racism is again on the rise now. He’s not aware of this, but Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also contributes to this racism. What’s
more, he’s doing this by saying that we don’t favor anti-Semitism. For
example, he said that the people who died in Gaza were killed because
they were Muslim. Let’s question this point of view a little. Were
the children from Gaza exposed to Israeli bombs and bullets just
because they were from Gaza? You may be asking what’s the difference,
because Muslims live in Gaza. Actually, there’s a huge difference.

If these children were killed not because they were unlucky enough
to born in Gaza, but because they have Muslim parents, we’re saying
that those who killed them committed these murders for religious
reasons, that is, to get rid of members of the Islamic religion,
aren’t we? So aren’t we saying that this war isn’t a classical war,
but a ‘war of hatred’? That’s what Erdogan is saying without thinking
about it so much, that is, he means that members of his religion are
being killed by people who hate their faith.

If you bring the issue of religion into this and point to it as the
reason for these murders, you open a door that you shouldn’t. What’s
more, if you’re doing this as a person who is against the idea of the
‘conflict of civilizations’ and wants to end this mentality, it means
you’re quite confused. I don’t think this is what Erdogan wants or
that he’s trying to incite anti-Semitism. But you see that Erdogan’s
innocent words actually incite racism.

Actually, as there’s no real sensitivity about racism in Turkey
and most of us, if we act like racists, don’t face the slightest
criticism, we don’t even realize who we’ve hurt or offended in our
speech or writings.

When a child was being sought to kill Dink, the prospective murderers
were told that they would kill an Armenian. In other words, they were
supposed to kill not a human, but an Armenian. Since this murder
which shook us two years ago, you can see that we haven’t still
come to our senses. We may not be aware of this, but racism is the
greatest problem."

Protest staged outside RA prosecutor general’s office after court
hearing on "case of the seven"

YE REVAN, JANUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. After the end of the January 16 court
sitting on "the case of the seven", those who had staged a protest at
the building of the Shengavit general jurisdiction court decided to
organize a march to the RA prosecutor general’s office and continue
their protest there. Dozens of policemen and "red berets" tried to
prevent the demonstartors from doing so: they divided the crowd into
two parts and started to disperse the demonstrators by pushing them in
different diections. As a result of almost one-hour jostling, a woman
fainted, and another suffered a face injury. The negotiations between
the coordinator of the Armenian National Congress Levon Zurabian and
police representatives gave no result: the law enforcers insisted on
the protesters’ leaving and not organizing a march.

Nevertheless, many of the demonstrators reached by public transport the
area adjacent to the prosecutor general’s office and continued their
protest action there, chanting "Free, Independent Armenia", "Freedom"
and "Struggle, Struggle Till the End". On their way to the prosecutor’s
office, the busus with protesters were being followed by police cars.

BOOK ENTITLED ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH AND INDONESIAN LANGUAGES

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
January 14, 2009 Wednesday

A book entitled Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has been published in
English and Indonesian languages with support of the Embassy of
Azerbaijan in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The book features legal aspects of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the
Khojali genocide and other terrorist actions committed by Armenians.

The book was forwarded to ministries, parliaments, NGOs, libraries,
education institutions located in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Presentation ceremony of the book will be held on January 20.

EYEWITNESS: CHRISTIAN LOWE IN MOSCOW

The Scotsman
16 January 2009

UNTIL the financial crisis hit, Shahin Kerimov sent money home from
his job in Russia to his family in Azerbaijan. Now his wages have
stopped, they have to wire him cash to buy food.

Kerimov worked a tough, dirty job building blocks of flats in
Moscow so he could make a better life for his wife and children. His
employer promises to pay him what he is owed soon. "I have two small
children. They are waiting so I can earn some kind of money and
bring it home," he said in the bare-walled flat, where he and his
workmates are squatting. "The last time we were paid any money was
two months ago."

His experience illustrates how the pain of the global slowdown
has spread beyond the world’s economic powerhouses into developing
countries far removed from the financial markets and hedge funds
where the crisis first emerged.

Kerimov is one of an estimated ten million migrants from former
Soviet republics working in Russia. The cash they send to family is
a lifeline for the economies of their home countries, in some cases
accounting for nearly half of gross domestic product. So when workers
are laid off from construction sites or factories in Moscow, the
economic effects are felt thousands of kilometres away in households
in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and elsewhere.

Russia hosts the world’s second-largest number of migrants, after
the United States – and it is a hard life. Many do not have proper
work permits and are regularly rounded up by police. The majority
are dark-skinned Muslims, sometimes making them targets for attacks
by gangs of racist skinheads.

Until now, the money made it worthwhile. Many of the migrants went
into construction: buildings were going up everywhere and labour
was in short supply. Since the financial crisis froze credit lines,
that work has almost ground to a standstill.

In the wider economy, the global crisis has hit demand for Russia’s
commodity exports and left companies strapped for cash and cutting
jobs. Rouble depreciations have pushed up the costs of refinancing
foreign currency debt. The man who employed Kerimov said he would
pay him and his colleagues the wages they are owed, but is struggling
because the whole sector has ground to a halt.

"Everyone is holding money up… everyone is on the alert," said
Valery Tishchenko. "You don’t know which way to turn."

While they wait for the cash they are owed, Kerimov and about
five workmates from all corners of the old Soviet Union live in
a second-floor flat in the complex they had been building, in the
Moscow suburb of Lyubertsy.

They sleep on beds nailed together out of spare pieces of wood,
with polystyrene insulating slabs as mattresses. Heat comes from a
scavenged electric stove they hooked up to a wire poking out of the
wall. There is no plumbing, so they fill buckets with cold water from
a tap outside and wash in an alcove.

"We live by taking out loans, or sometimes a friend will help,"
said Kerimov, as he watched a meal of onions and tomatoes cook on
the makeshift stove. "Sometimes I even have to ring home and ask my
parents to help."

He said returning home was not an option. In Azerbaijan unemployment
is high and the average monthly wage is a little over £200 – less
than half the figure in Russia.

"We will wait until the end, until they pay the money," Kerimov said.

"Something has to be done."

–Boundary_(ID_HlD25/xh9/rLtWsvJFgSPw )–