Action in Vanadzor during Sargsyan’s visit
09:24 pm | April 28, 2012 | Politics
On April 27, Serzh Sargsyan visited Vanadzor as part of the election
campaign ahead of the parliamentary elections. On the occasion of his
visit, the group of activists of Vanadzor in defense of Teghut had
organized an action called “Let’s Save Teghut”.
Watch the video to see what happened at Hayk Square in Vanadzor.
Iranian commander says U.S. radars in Turkey will cause severe birth defects
April 28, 2012 – 20:11 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – A senior Iranian commander has warned that the
US-backed radar system in Turkey will soon cause myriads of severe
birth defects and fatal diseases in the host country, Press TV
reports.
`In the not too distant future, the Muslim people of Turkey will
witness the births of children with congenital malformation, cancer
and refractory diseases as a result of such systems,’ Commander of the
Aerospace Division of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said.
The Iranian commander noted that the U.S. deployed the radar system in
Turkey, which is part of a broader missile system in Europe, in an act
of submission to Israel, and in an attempt to provide `a proper
psychological condition’ for Tel Aviv.
Hajizadeh also highlighted Iran’s might in terms of responding to any
military aggression by Israel and pointed out, `We have arrangements
that will definitely render the shield ineffective and we will
demonstrate the methods and tactics to counter the missile shield in
time of action.’
Computer rooms open at Armenian schools through Orange support
April 28, 2012 – 20:58 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – Today, on April 28 with the support of Orange
Armenia, computer rooms with internet access were opened at Yerevan’s
N 14 special school for children with visual impairments and at the
special educational complex for children with hearing impairments.
`As a telecommunications company our business mission is to facilitate
communication among people and cover distances.
However, we are also responsible for extending a helping hand to those
who due to their disabilities or other reasons are isolated from the
surrounding world and are unable to benefit from telecommunications
opportunities. From now on these children will have almost the same
opportunities as their peers, and for the children with disabilities
it is even more important to gain computer skills from early years, as
they will provide them with much more opportunities to be independent
and self-reliant in future,’ Orange Armenia CEO Bruno Duthoit said.
Computer needs of those with visual impairments are different from
ordinary needs, and therefore many years ago a special software AREV
was developed by National Institute of Mathematical Machines, the
updated versions of which could not be run on old computers available
at school. New computers will enable the children to benefit from the
opportunities provided by the state-of-the-art technologies, i.e., use
internet, scan text and listen to scanned e-text, obtain other
computer skills, etc.
Computer room is equipped with 7 computers, a projector,
printer/scanner and Orange Flybox router.
Special school N 14 for children with visual impairments is the only
suchlike school in the whole republic. It has been operating since
1939 and has 96 pupils (age of 6-20), including children from RA
regions who stay at school at night. Here the children study for 12
years and after graduating around 90% of the them enter higher
educational institutions.
The special school N 154 for children with hearing impairments has 154
pupils, with children from RA regions and Nagorno Karabakh among them.
Orange has allotted total AMD 5,204,600 to open computer rooms in
these two special schools, according to a press release.
Expert deems Tavush shelling climax of Azeri aggressiveness
April 28, 2012 – 16:42 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian political analyst linked the Azerbaijani
armed forces’ activity with a chain of events, starting from insults
addressed to Armenians and Armenia voiced by President of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev during a Euronest meeting in Baku, followed by Aliyev’s
meeting with representatives of the so-called Azeri diaspora, as well
as the ceasefire violations at the contact line on Armenian Genocide
commemoration days.
`Recent Azeri actions became the culmination of the whole process,’
Narek Galstyan said.
On April 27, 4:15 am local time VAZ 2107 car belonging to an Armenian
serviceman was shelled on the road to the village of Aygepar in Tavush
Province of Armenia. As a result the driver and two other servicemen
were wounded, Armenian Defense Ministry press service reports.
Despite the measures taken, the two servicemen died on the way to
military hospital of Berd town, with another hospitalized. A criminal
case has been instigated under Article 104 of RA Criminal Code.
Investigation is under way.
On April 25, ceasefire violation by Azerbaijani armed forces was
registered in the north-eastern region of the contact line between
Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani side opened fire from
various caliber weapons towards the Armenian positions in village of
Doveg, Armenia’s Tavush province.
The shelling left the local kindergarten and a GAZ-53 truck damaged.
Kindergarten students and staff were evacuated for security purposes.
As a result of necessary measures by the Armenian armed forces, the
Azerbaijani side was forced to stop the shelling.
Shakhtar FC reaches Ukrainian Cup final
April 28, 2012 – 10:23 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – Donetsk Shakhtar FC played a match against Volyn FC
in Ukraine Cup semifinal.
Shakhtar’s Alex Teixeira recorded the first goal with an excellent
pass from Armenian midfielder HenrikMkhitaryan, then hosting Volyn
kicked back.
Eventually, Shakhtar gained a victory over Volyn 4:3 thus making it
into the final of Ukraine’s Cup.
The other semi-final match-up will be played between Metallurg and
Karpaty on April 28 in Donetsk.
Hraparak: Moscow-based Armenian tycoons arrive in Armenia
tert.am
10:25 – 28.04.12
A Moscow source told the paper that a large group of Russia-based
Armenian tycoons have arrived in Armenia to contribute to the
conduction of upcoming elections in Armenia.
They are coming to mobilize the circles under their influence, their
friends and relatives in favor of the authorities and first of all the
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).
They will spend their money and do everything to preserve the power
pyramid in Armenia just as it is. The maintenance of status-quo in the
country is profitable for the tycoons, the paper concludes.
Gov. Brown Issues Proclamation on Genocide Anniversary
asbarez
Friday, April 27th, 2012
Gov. Brown
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Jerry Brown issued a proclamation on the anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide. Below is the text of the proclamation:
Between 1915 and 1923, Armenians were subjected to torture,
starvation, mass murder and exile from their historic homeland. 1.5
million lost their lives. The Armenian Genocide, also known as the
`First Genocide of the Twentieth Century,’ represented a deliberate
attempt by the Ottoman Empire to eliminate all traces of a thriving
noble civilization.
Armenian communities all over the world commemorate this tragedy on
April 24. On this day, we honor the victims and survivors of the
genocide, and reaffirm our commitment to preventing future atrocities
from being committed against any people.
NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of
California, do hereby proclaim Tuesday, April 24, 2012 as `Day of
Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.’
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great
Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 19th day of April
2012.
Thousands Commemorate Genocide at Montebello Monument
asbarez
Friday, April 27th, 2012
Children place flowers at Montebello Montument on April 24 (photo by
Berj Djamdjaian)
Thousands of community members visited the Armenian Genocide Martyrs
Monument in Montebello on April 24 to commemorate the 97th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide.
At 1:30 p.m. the official commemoration program organized by the
United Armenian Council of Los Angeles, a grouping of all political
parties, all denominations of Armenian churches, cultural and
political organizations, as well as other associations.
This year, the UACLA had invited Dr. Israel Charny, the foremost
Genocide scholar in the world, to discuss the impact of Turkey’s
continued denial of the Genocide, as well as Israel’s refusal to
officially recognize the crime.
Welcoming remarks were delivered by Tom Alexanian, following which
scouts from the Homenetmen and AGBU led the flag ceremony.
After the singing of the Armenian and US national anthems by Raffi
Kerbabian, the program’s master of ceremonies, Harut Sassounian
announced that President Obama, once again, failed to honor his pledge
to recognize the Genocide.
Armenia’s Consul General to Los Angeles, Grigor Hovannisyan spoke of
Turkey’s attempts to create schism within the Armenian community. He
expressed that he was confident that those efforts will fail.
Speaking on behalf of the Armenian Bar Association, Garo Ghazarian
spoke of the legal components of the Armenian Cause, while LA City
Councilman Paul Krekorian stressed the need to emphasize that the
attempt to annihilate the Armenian race has failed.
On behalf of the UACLA, Armenian National Committee of America-Western
Region chairwoman delivered remarks in English (see below), while
UACLA member Kevork Hallebian delivered remarks in Armenian.
Rep. Adam Schiff, Assemblyman Mike Gatto, LA City Council member Paul
Krekorian and Dennis P. Zine, LA City Attorney Carmen A. Trutanich, LA
City Controller Wendy Greuel, Glendale School Board Member Greg
Krikorian, Candidate for CA Assembly Adrin Nazarian, Montebello City
Councilmembers Jack Hadjinian and William Molinari were among the
political officials who attended the commemoration event.
Before the conclusion of the official portion of the event, Arous
Ghazarian read the names of the UACLA organizations, whose
representatives, one-by-one placed wreaths at the monument.
This ceremony was followed by a requiem Mass led by religious leaders.
Western Primate Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Western Prelate
Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Rev. Joe Matossian of the Armenian
Evangelical Church, Father Krikor Shahinian of the Armenian Catholic
church and Arch. Vache Hovsepian led the clergy representing all
churches in the community in the requiem service.
Droves of community members visited the Montebello monument on April
24, with hundreds of Armenians continuing to arrive after the close of
the event.
Nora Hovsepian
Our Time Has Come
Speech by ANCA-WR Chairwoman Nora Hovsepian at Genocide Commemoration
in Montebello
Our time has come.
Ninety-Seven years after my grandmother Vergine, then an innocent
9-year-old little girl who instinctively clung to the branch of a
weeping willow tree overhanging the raging river where her mother and
siblings had drowned themselves to escape being raped by Turkish
gendarmes who had just axed her father to death before their eyes;
Ninety-Seven years after little Vergine and so many others, so many
lone survivors of each of our families, rose from the ashes of
destruction to create a new Diaspora far away from their homeland;
Ninety-Seven years after nearly all of our precious survivors, having
raised their children and grandchildren as torchbearers of their
legacy, left this world without ever witnessing justice;
Our time has come for ACTION.
It is true that through four generations in the Diaspora, we have
succeeded in keeping the issue alive. We have evolved from survival to
activism, from despair to defiance, from grief to outrage. We have
achieved an independent Armenia which, in partnership with the
organized Diaspora produced from the Genocide, can now act as the
legitimate and legal representative of the Armenian Nation in seeking
justice for our People. But we have not yet succeeded in formulating a
framework for a just conclusion. And we are not the only ones
struggling with a dilemma.
Ironically, just as we deal with the challenge of keeping our issue
alive in the face of inevitable time and assimilation, so too must
Turkey deal with its own dilemma of how to reconcile with its past in
the face of mounting international pressure.
Turkey deals with this dilemma by desecrating any remaining proof of a
historical Armenian presence and by distracting the world with an
artificial debate about whether the Genocide is a historical truth,
but we must go beyond that by focusing attention on the real debate:
The question after all is NOT whether a Genocide actually occurred.
Everyone knows it did.
And the question is NOT whether the Genocide should be recognized by
foreign governments. They have their own political calculations which
unfortunately drive their cowardice.
Rather, the question is this:
HOW CAN TURKEY ATONE FOR ITS CRIMES?
Certainly, there is no atonement when the Turkish Government
criminalizes the mention of Genocide or when it blockades Armenia and
uses its surrogate, Azerbaijan, to try to destroy the people of
Artsakh.
There is no atonement when Turkish operatives are now bold enough to
try a new tactic of infiltrating our communities, attempting to
convince unsuspecting Armenians, that reconciliation can come through
individual efforts to sit down and talk about our differences, to talk
about how the Turks were traumatized by the fall of the Ottoman
Empire, to talk about how Armenians were just casualties of war, and
how we should forget the past, move on, and all just get along.
There is no atonement when the Turkish Government manipulates
well-meaning international mediators and a terribly vulnerable
Armenian Government into believing that this issue can be resolved by
protocols which start with the question of whether the Genocide
occurred rather than the question of how Turkey will begin the process
of accountability.
And there is certainly no atonement when Turkish and Azeri agents and
lobbyists lay siege to the truth by spending millions of dollars each
year to engage in massive disinformation campaigns decrying their
false innocence and blatantly bullying foreign governments, including
our own United States Government, into surrendering their moral
authority.
And does anyone ask why?
Why does modern Turkey, which seeks to separate itself from its
Ottoman predecessor, go to such great lengths to silence us even now,
97 years after the crime?
The answer lies in a glance at any world map. The same pan-Turkic plan
that drove the Young Turks to try to exterminate the Christian
Armenian nation which stood in its way still exists today. The same
pan-Turkic plan is behind the current blockades of Armenia and
Artsakh, still trying to choke our nation out of existence with
impunity.
And the answer also lies in the inevitable consequences. After all,
Turkey’s acknowledgement of its crime is only the beginning of the
discussion, not the end. With recognition come reparations and
restitution.
Even President Obama, who continues to fail to recognize the Armenian
Genocide, said in his speech yesterday at the Holocaust Museum:
`Remembrance without resolve is a hollow gesture. Awareness without
action changes nothing. In this sense, `never again’ is a challenge to
us all.’ What a fitting sentiment for our own issue of Genocide
recognition and reparations.
So this is why we, as a Nation, must continue our move to the next
level. We don’t need anyone to affirm to us that the Genocide
occurred. Any presidential or congressional proclamation stating the
fact is really just symbolic at best, and at worst, is meaningless lip
service. What we do need is accountability for the crime, as required
by any criminal justice system here and internationally.
The United Armenian Council with its member organizations, including
the Armenian National Committee of America, is at the forefront of
waging this war. We have developed multiple fronts in this battle,
from introducing and passing Return of Churches resolutions through
our political friends and supporters, to working with legal scholars
to seek redress through the Court system for Genocide-era claims, to
initiating Hye Votes, a massive voter registration drive to ensure
that our community’s collective voice is heard, to supporting
Armenian-American candidates who seek elected office, and to
advocating for Hye Tad in every possible arena.
But we cannot do it alone. We are the conduit for you, for our
Grassroots, for our People.
Every single one of us owes a heavy debt to little Vergine and all the
other heroic survivors of the Genocide to prove that their efforts to
keep our national identity alive after unspeakable attempts at
destruction were not in vain.
If you continue to believe in the probability of our success,
especially after witnessing the improbable rise of an independent
Armenia in our lifetime, then think of how we can each account to
ourselves as to what we can do to advance our Cause.
So continue to attend community events such as this one where we mourn
our martyrs, pray for their souls, and pay our respects with monuments
and gatherings and speeches. But also recognize that our obligations
to them do not stop there. Our obligations do not stop because we now
have an independent Republic or because 97 long years have passed
since the crime against our Nation.
No, our obligations began the day the Genocide to exterminate us
failed, and they will continue until justice is achieved.
So pay your debt to our Nation with your time, your commitment, your
money, your dedication, your sacrifice, anything you can. Spread the
word to anyone who will listen. Guide the youth to carry the banner of
our struggle. Lobby your elected representatives to lift Turkey’s gag
rule over our government. Register to vote, then actually go out and
vote. Support our supporters. Fight for justice, fight for recognition
and reparations, and above all, do whatever you can, whenever you can,
to fight for our Noble Cause.
24 Avril
28 Avril Commémoration du Génocide des Arméniens à Evreux
L’ANSA (Association Normande de Solidarité avec l’Arménie) célébrera
la commémoration du génocide des arméniens aujourd’hui samedi 28 avril
2012 à 14 heures au Parc François MITTERRAND à EVREUX, en présence du
maire d’EVREUX Monsieur Michel CHAMPREDON et des élus locaux.
Les habitants des villes d’Evreux et de Rouen participeront à la commémoration .
À 14H30 rafraîchissements à la suite de la cérémonie
Pour toute information contacter Serge TATEOSSIAN, nouvellement élu
président de l’ANSA : 06 63 98 46 09
L’ex-président et fondateur de l’ANSA Guy SOUDJIAN a réintégré
l’équipe en sa qualité de secrétaire, et la charge de vice-Président
est tenu désormais par Jean ASSADOURIAN, également ancien-président de
l’ANSA !
photo : le maire d’Evreux, Michel Champredon
samedi 28 avril 2012,
Jean Eckian ©armenews.com
ANI
Projet de boutiques de souvenirs sur le site d’Ani
La Turquie désire tirer les profits de l’industrie touristique du site
d’Ani, la capitale arménienne de la dynastie des Bagratides. Selon le
journal turc « Zaman » Ahmet Kara, le préfet de la région de Kars
(dans laquelle entre le site d’Ani) désire placer à Ani des boutiques
vendant des souvenirs et cartes postales liées au site. Ces boutiques
créeraient des emplois et assureraient des revenus auprès des
habitants du village voisin d’Odjakl. Après la spoliation des terres
arméniennes et du site d’Ani, cette initiative dépouillera encore plus
de son identité arménienne la ville d’Ani car sur les objets-souvenir
ou les cartes postales, le ministère turc du tourisme, fidèle à son
habitude, effacera toute trace arménienne du site.
Krikor Amirzayan
samedi 28 avril 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com