Category: 2020

On the heels of its successful panel with elected officials in June to discuss the coronavirus pandemic-related matters, the Armenian National Committee of America Hollywood chapter on Wednesday brought together leading educators in a virtual town hall meeting to address the various ways public and Armenian private school systems are tackling the issue of re-opening schools as the ongoing COVID-19 emergency continues.

Participating in the panel were Los Angeles Unified School Board member Jackie Goldberg, Glendale Unified School District Superintendent Vivian Ekchian, Chairperson of the Board of Regents of the Prelacy Armenian Schools and LAUSD Chief Academic Officer Alison Yoshimoto-Towrey.

The panelists outlined the challenges that were brought by the abrupt closure of the schools when the COVID-19 crisis began in the spring and the lessons they had learned from that experience, which will be applied as LAUSD, GUSD and Prelacy Armenian schools prepare to return to distance learning in the fall.

Each touched on the budgetary challenges and how best to accommodate the large number of students each entity operates.

The town hall began with welcoming remarks by ANCA Hollywood co-chair, attorney Lara Yeretsian. The bi-lingual panel discussion was divided into two parts with the English portion of the discussion being moderated by GUSD teacher and ANCA Hollywood board member Nareg Keshishian, while the Armenian portion was led by ANCA Hollywood board member Nane Avagyan, who is an anchor on Horizon Armenian Television and correspondent for the Asbarez Daily Newspaper.

Throughout the town hall, which was conducted on Zoom and livestreamed on the ANCA Hollywood, Asbarez and ANCA-Western Region Facebook pages, the moderators fielded questions from audience members.

Sebu Simonian, Araksya Karapetyan,Mary Basmadjian and Sona Movsesian will be Featured during the Event

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK—The Diamond Anniversary Children of Armenia Fund Summer Soiree will be held virtually this year on August 15 to raise funds for the organization’s COVID Emergency Relief Fund. COAF has been at the forefront of rural development in Armenia for 16 years, providing youth with opportunities for advancement through improved infrastructure, and state-of-the-art education, health, social and economic programs.

COAF’s existing rural health and social services programs have been the focus of attention during the pandemic. Partnerships with the European Union Delegation in Armenia and the Austrian Development Agency have provided humanitarian assistance to vulnerable families throughout 64 beneficiary communities, along with medical equipment to village health centers. The organization has also increased online education programming for students and is in the process of assisting small rural businesses that have faced financial hardship.

The COAF Summer Soiree is an annual benefit historically held in New York City. Like most fundraising events during the pandemic, this year’s Soiree will be available virtually, allowing Armenians worldwide to register for free to learn more about COAF and its COVID outreach in Armenia. Funds raised this year will be reinvested into COAF’s health infrastructure in rural Armenia, providing critical support to village medical facilities in the form of equipment, supplies and capacity-building.
This year’s Summer Soiree is being hosted by Araksya Karapetyan of Good Day L.A. on FOX 11 Los Angeles. Born in Armenia, Araksya moved to the US at a young age and was inspired to become a journalist after visiting her homeland for a summer vacation where she found herself documenting on camera the everyday reality of life there. Araksya also hosted the Annual COAF Holiday Gala last December in New York City, helping raise over $6 million.

Special performances this year include musician/singer/songwriter and one-half of the Los Angeles-based Indie pop duo, Capital Cities! Sebu Simonian toured the COAF SMART Center last year while in Armenia, where he met with students and treated them to a concert. Popular comedian Mary Basmadjian, a recent guest on COAF’s INSTALIVE series on Instagram, will also deliver a comedic sketch during this year’s Soiree. Conan O’Brien’s right-hand woman Sona Movsesian will also be featured with a special appearance.

COAF’s team of child musicians from Armenia will also participate, including kanon-playing duo Meri Musinyan and Kristine Yengoyan, along with pianist Armen Puchinyan & Friends accompanied by jazz sensation Narine Dovlatyan. Musinyan, Yengoyan and Puchinyan have all delivered memorable musical performances at past COAF galas in New York City.

This year has been marked by one crisis after another, whether the global pandemic, the civil rights movement in the US, the escalation of violence on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, and the devastation in Beirut. COAF is taking all necessary steps to prepare for the anticipated waves of COVID-19 infection expected in rural Armenia this fall/winter. All funds raised from the Soiree will go directly to the COAF COVID Emergency Fund, allowing COAF to step up efforts in combatting the COVID-19 crisis. The lives and livelihoods of thousands of people are at risk and your generous contributions will give COAF the opportunity to expand exceptional humanitarian assistance to more beneficiary villages.

Armenians worldwide are being encouraged to register for the Soiree. Individuals unable to to take part in the August 15 event may still participate.

An Armenian cemetery that sits on the grounds of the Holy Savior and the Forty Martyrs churches in Ankara has been desecrated by vandals, reported the Ermenihaber.am news site.

Mustafa Yenerogu, Vice-President of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) founded by Turkey’s former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan has raised the issue with Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş.

He said that the remains were taken out of graves, and human bones were scattered throughout the cemetery.

Yeneroglu called the situation shameful, adding that the remains should be buried immediately, and the cemetery should be restored.

The Ankara Mayor has said they are dealing with that issue.

On a related matter, the Kurdish news site Rudaw is reporting that the Ergen church in the province of Dersim, which was built by Armenians 1,300 years ago, is being looted and stands in ruins in the absence of its original custodians.

The area has been impacted by the Turkish government-led attacks against the local Kurdish population..

“Looters are constantly digging and destroying it here,” Milayim Yildiz, a visitor, told Rudaw.

Locals are calling for the church to be renovated and reopened for tourism.

“Eight years ago, archaeologists came here, they did some research and said they would restore it. They came from Georgia, Armenia and all over Europe […] but no changes have been made yet,” the head of the village Ali Tezkir said.

In 2012, the  Erzurum Department of Culture and Environmental Protection answered the request of Dersim’s Tourism Directorate to renovate and protect the church from vanishing, said the report in Rudaw. So far, no steps have been taken, it added.