Author: Tvankchian Parkev

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
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MEDIA ALERT
September 16, 2005
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
Email: [email protected]

Radanovich Praises House Committee for Passing Armenian Genocide
Legislation

9/15/05

WASHINGTON – Congressman George Radanovich (R-Mariposa) today praised
the House International Relations Committee for passing a resolution
he sponsored reaffirming the United States’ record on the Armenian
Genocide. The resolution was approved by a vote of 40-7.

“The U.S. National Archives is replete with thousands of pages
documenting the premeditated extermination of the Armenian people,”
Congressman Radanovich said. “As the Armenia Genocide was being
committed, the United States launched an unprecedented diplomatic,
political, and humanitarian struggle to end the carnage and protect
the survivors.

“I appreciate the bipartisan support for this resolution, which
properly acknowledges the Armenian Genocide, reaffirms the proud and
groundbreaking chapter in U.S. history to halt the Genocide, and
renews our commitment to preventing other occurrences of man’s
inhumanity to man.”

Congressman Radanovich introduced the legislation, House Resolution
316, with Congressmen Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and
Adam Schiff (D-CA). House Resolution 316 has the support of 140
cosponsors.

“Congressman Radanovich has been a tremendously powerful voice for
Armenian Genocide reaffirmation for over 10 years. Armenian Americans
from around the country are grateful for his unwavering resolve to see
the United States Congress reaffirm this crime against humanity,” said
Aram Hamparian, Executive Director, Armenian National Committee of
America. “We look forward to building on the Committee’s action and to
working with all members of Congress to secure a full floor vote on
Armenian Genocide legislation at the earliest opportunity.”

“On behalf of the Armenian Assembly of America and the pan-Armenian
community, we commend Congressman Radanovich for his steadfast
leadership and tenacity in championing this critical measure,” said
Armenian Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “Throughout his
distinguished career, he has repeatedly fought for U.S. reaffirmation
of this crime against humanity, sponsoring other legislative
initiatives that would properly recognize the attempted annihilation
of the Armenian people as genocide.”

The resolution calls upon the President to ensure that the foreign
policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and
sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic
cleansing, and a genocide documented in the United States record
relating to the Armenian Genocide.

In addition, the bill calls upon the President – in the President’s
annual message commemorating the Armenian Genocide – to accurately
characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million
Armenians as genocide and to recall the proud history of United States
intervention in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.

Congressman Radanovich said that President George W. Bush has already
set forth the textbook definition of genocide in his successive April
24th commemorative statements the past few years by using the
expressions “annihilation” and “forced exile and murder” to
characterize the decimation of the Armenian population.

The bill is supported by the Armenian National Committee of America,
Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian American Community.

Also approved in the International Relations Committee today was a
bill by Rep. Adam Schiff. H. Con. Res. 195 commemorates the Armenian
Genocide of 1915-1923, urges the Government of the Republic of Turkey
to acknowledge the culpability of its predecessor state, the Ottoman
Empire, for the Armenian Genocide and engage in rapprochement with the
Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people.

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness
of Armenian issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership
organization.

NR#2005-097

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP DECLARES ABOUT ABSENCE OF FACTS OF MASS SETTLING OF NAGORNO KARABAKH

ARKA News Agency
Sept 12 2005

YEREVAN, September 12. /ARKA/. The International Crisis Group
declares about absence of facts of mass settling of Nagorno Karabakh,
Vice -President of International Crisis Group Alain Deletroz told a
press-conference in Yerevan. He reported that position of the Group
in this issue is close to approaches and results of fact finding
mission of the OSCE. “There are no mass settling of these regions
by Armenians, but there are separate cases of settling in Lachin,
and in a lesser degree in Kelbajar and Aghdam”, he said. He also said
that the Group sent an appeal to the NKR authorities to prevent new
settlings of the territories. A.A. -0–

Jewish News weekly of Northern California, CA
Sept 9 2005

Local AJCommittee – 60 years of getting things done quietly

by joe eskenazi
staff writer

Think of them as the Navy Seals in wingtips.

For 60 years, the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the American
Jewish Committee has been in, out and done with a situation before
anyone was the wiser. Operating largely under the media and
community’s radar, AJCommittee members rarely read about their
exploits in the next day’s papers – but, then again, that was never
the goal.

`We don’t make a fuss about things in the newspapers. It works better
this way. You don’t want to embarrass people unless they need to be
embarrassed,’ said Joe Durra, a local board president in the
mid-1980s.

`We put a lot of pressure on companies. If you’re like Bechtel and
Chevron and doing work in Saudi Arabia where no Jews are admitted at
all, [we] had to pretty much stay under the radar, right?’

Added Richard Johns, the AJCommittee’s immediate past president,
`Sometimes people don’t pay attention to us. They don’t pay attention
to us the first 30 or 40 times. We don’t yell or scream or
pontificate. We just try to be quiet and influential.’

Like most people, Johns can’t give a particularly succinct answer
when asked what, exactly, the AJCommittee does. It was founded 99
years ago in response to Russian pogroms, and, in short, has worked
to end discrimination against Jews and minorities in the United
States and around the world since – in its own way.

Rather than lead a demonstration in front of the Saudi consulate, for
example, the AJCommittee smuggled anti-Semitic, jihadist textbooks
out of the Wahabi nation, translated them and presented the tangible
evidence to the Saudi ambassador.

It was behind-the-scenes work at major international corporations
that helped to break the Arab boycott of Israel and the glass ceiling
for Jewish executives. Behind-the-scenes work got rabbis into
Catholic schools to explain Judaism to the students.

`More often than not, we’ve found that working with some degree of
discretion has been infinitely more productive than going in for the
immediate hit and the banner headline,’ said Ernest Weiner, the
AJCommittee’s regional director since 1972.

`Many people here treat diplomats almost as decorations. We don’t,’
he explained.

This way, the committe has cultivated a worldwide network of friends
and contacts. It’s only a matter of a few phone calls to set up
meetings with officials from China to Qatar. A network such as this
is a big help when you’re, say, hoping to do something about the
International Red Cross’ ongoing brushoff of Israel’s Magen David
Adom – as the local AJCommittee does..

But the issues confronting the committee often aren’t global at all.
One of Johns’ pet projects was dealing with anger that the
100-foot-tall cross atop San Francisco’s Mt. Davidson was on public
land.

While some groups advocated tearing down the metal cross, Johns and
the AJCommittee quietly organized an auction – `where anyone could
buy this baby’ – in which the land atop the hill was purchased by an
Armenian group for $20,000.

The Armenians made the cross into a memorial for the Armenian
genocide and also, at the AJCommittee’s behest, set up some displays
about the separation of church and state.

`So, church and state are separate up there,’ said Johns.

Zaman, Turkey
Sept 11 2005

ECHR’s Decision on Minority Foundations on Sept. 20
By Emre Demir
Published: Saturday, September 10, 2005
zaman.com

European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will announce its critical
decision about the property problems of the minority foundations on
September 20.

ECHR will adjudicate the cases applied by Yedikule Surp Pirgic
Armenian Hospital Foundation and Fener Greek Boys High School
Foundation against Turkey.

The Court is also expected to adopt a new practice regarding the
Lausanne Treaty’s articles on religious minority foundations.

In recent years, ECHR accepted the applications from the
aforementioned two foundations against Turkey for the “violation of
property and discrimination”.

The foundations demanded the restitution of the buildings, which the
Supreme Court of Appeals decided to restore to their former owners,
to provide other minority foundations to have same property rights.

Yedikule Surp Pirgic Armenian Foundation demand the restitution of
two buildings in Istanbul, owned by donation in 1943 and 1967. Fener
Greek Boys High School demand the restitution of the school building
of which some parts were owned by donation in 1952 and the remaining
was bought in 1958.

These buildings were taken from the foundations by an application to
the Office of Treasury Undersecretary channeling the Supreme Court of
Appeals.

The Court of Appeals seized the buildings of the Greek foundation by
a court decision on 7 March 1996 and the buildings of the Armenian
foundation by the decisions taken on 30 November 1997 and 24 February
1998.

If ECHR case ends up against Turkey, hundreds of buildings seized by
the court of appeal’s decision in 1974 may be restituted.

Minority foundations, which demanded the return of the real estates
they formerly restituted to Turkey, are closely following the
decision due by ECHR.

ARMENIA 83RD ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX

Pan Armenian News
08.09.2005 02:43

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to the Human Development Annual Report of
the UN Development Programme (UNDP), all republics of the Commonwealth
of Independent States are included in the group of countries with
average development level. Russia has occupied 62nd place on human
development index, Belarus – 67th, Ukraine -78th, Kazakhstan – 80th,
Armenia – 83rd, Turkmenistan – 97th, Georgia – 100, Azerbaijan –
101st, Kyrgyzstan – 109th, Uzbekistan – 111th, Moldova – 115th,
Tajikistan – 122nd out of 177 countries researched. Indices of
health state of nations, life length, social protection, per capita
Gross Domestic Produce, education and cultural level, crime and
environment record served as criteria for UN experts. Norway, Island,
Australia, Luxembourg and Canada got highest marks on the parameters
mentioned. The US and Japan have lost two points as compared with
past year and occupy 10th and 11th places respectively. All Baltic
states, were included in the countries with high development level
(Estonia – 38, Lithuania -39 and Latvia – 48). Mali, Burkina-Faso,
Sierra Leone and Niger were named among 32 most retarded countries.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MET WITH ARMEN JIGARKHANYAN

Pan Armenian News
08.09.2005 06:47

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
head of the Moscow Dramatic Theater, actor Armen Jigarkhanyan, reported
the Press Service of the Armenian leader. The President appreciated
the contribution of A. Jigarkhanyan to the cinema. Having noted
Jigarkhanyan’s role in the development of Armenian-Russian cultural
relations, R. Kocharian considered actor’s participation in events
on the occasion of the Year of Russia in Armenia and Year of Armenia
in Russia scheduled in 2006 desirable.

ARMENIAN-US CONFERENCE TO TAKE PLACE IN YEREVAN IN SPRING 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7. ARMINFO. Armenian Parliament Speaker Artur
Bagdassaryan continues his official visit to the US.

The press service of the Armenian Parliament reports that Bagdassaryan
and the leadership of the Sister Cities International have discussed
the development of the cooperation between Armenian and US cities. The
sides agreed to hold a join conference in Yerevan in spring 2006 with
the participation of representatives of various US regions. Inter-state
relations executive of the organization Colebreaker said that the
establishment of inter-regional ties between Armenia and the US will
open up good social-economic and cultural development prospects for
Armenian cities.

During Bagdassaryan’s meeting with Vice President of the Habitat for
Humanity Thomas Jones the sides discussed the organization’s programs
in Armenia aimed to provide housing to the country’s poor. The sides
stressed the importance of the program carried out in Harbert, Ararat
region jointly by the Armenian Parliament and Habitat for Humanity.

Similar programs will be carried out in Maralik and Gyumri.

Bagdassaryan has also met with President of the Transparent House
association of the blind Peter Demayo. The sides discused the prospect
for developing cooperation with the Union of the Bind of Armenia and
agreed to organize training courses for Armenian blind students in
the US.

SETTLEMENT OF THE KARABAKH CONFLICT TILL THE END OF 2005 IS POSSIBLE ONLY IN CASE OF A GOOD WILL OF THE PARTIES IN THE CONFLICT

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 6 2005

YEREVAN, September 5. /ARKA/. Settlement of the Karabakh conflict
till the end of 2005 is possible only in case of a good will of the
parties in the conflict, as the Chair of the OSCE Dimitrij Rupel
stated at a press conference after the meeting with the NKR President
Arkadi Ghukasyan, which was over late yesterday in Yerevan. According
to him, when regulation of the conflict it’s necessary to be guided
by 2 principles: territorial integrity and the right of the nation
to self-determination. According to Rupel, there are some formats
for settlement of the conflict, namely through the OSCE Minsk Group,
dialog of presidents, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the sides of the
conflict. “Personally I am ready to speak to everybody, including the
authorities of NKR, if it fostered the settlement of the conflict”,
he said. According to him, parliamentary elections will be held
in Azerbaijan, and elections are not always a component fostering
the settlement of the conflict. To remind, after Armenia Rupel will
visit Azerbaijan, where he will discuss the issues of settlement of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and elections in Azerbaijan. According to
diplomatic sources in Baku, Rupel will meet AR President Ilham Aliyev,
Prime-Minister Arthur Rasi-zade, Speaker of the Parliament Murtuz
Aleskerov, Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mamediarov. A.H. –0–

RUSHAYLO: CIS TO EMBARK ON WORKING OUT A NEW MODEL OF INTEGRATION SOON

ARKA News Agency
Sept 2 2005

MOSCOW, September 2. /ARKA/. Commonwealth of Independent States
intends to embark on working out a new model of integration adequate
either to common interests or present priorities of the Commonwealth
member countries, ARKA News Agency’s correspondent reports from
Moscow quoting CIS Executive Committee’s Secretary General Vladimir
Rushaylo as saying at his meeting with journalists from the CIS and
Baltic countries. “To solve this conceptual problem the Chairman
of the Council of Heads of States Vladimir Putin proposed to set
up a high-level group in the frame of the UN”, Rushaylo said. In
his words, not only officials, but also representatives of the
community, culture activists and persons familiar with the law and
economics are planned to be included in the group. “The decision to
improve the Commonwealth structure made at summit in Kazan is just
the first stage of CIS reformation”, Rushaylo said and added that
this work will be continued, as any reformation and optimization
envisages a series of measures, not a single-step action. Economic
cooperation based on various-levels and various-pace integration,
security and stability as well as joint resistance to new challenges
and threats, such as international terrorism, organized crime,
drug trafficking and man-caused disasters, are the CIS top-priority
directions. In his words, development of cooperation in humanitarian
area includes education, healthcare, sciences and culture. Rushaylo
also said that an agreement on humanitarian cooperation was signed
at CIS presidential meeting in Kazan. “This agreement initiated
by Russian Federation is focused on strengthening traditional ties
of the nations included in the CIS in culture, education, science,
information, mass communication, sports and tourism areas”, Rushaylo
said. In his opinion, this shows serious understanding of humanistic
values for resisting extremism, intolerance and terrorism. “Approving
the agreement on humanitarian cooperation, the states obtain needed
instrument for signing completely new projects”, the CIS official
said. He said he meant human resources, which are considered in all
countries as capacity for modernization and economic growth. M.V. -0–

CONFERENCE OF SOCIAL INVESTMENT FOUNDATIONS TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN ON SEPTEMBER 13-15, 2005

ARKA News Agency
Sept 1 2005

YEREVAN, September1. /ARKA/. The conference of the Social Investment
Foundations (SIF) will be held in Yerevan on September 13-15, 2005 in
Yerevan, Head of the World Bank Yerevan Office Roger Robinson told
journalists. He said that the conference will be dedicated to the
10th anniversary of the Social Investment Foundation of Armenia. He
reported that Heads of SIFs from all over the world, particularly
from Latin America, Asia, Africa and CIS will participate in this
conference. “For the first time in world’s practice such an event
will be held in Yerevan, and I believe this fact shows that other
countries can learn from our experience”, Robinson said. He said that
SIF of Armenia work at a high level and this level will improve in
future as well.

SIF of Armenia program is the first program developed in CIS. A.A.