Category: News

Burbank Leader , CA
LATimes.com
April 24 2004
Twelve groups to get a piece of CDBG money

City expects to receive about $1.6 million in federal grants for
2004-05 fiscal year.
By Jackson Bell, The Leader
BURBANK – The federal pie was up for its yearly slicing as City
Council portioned more than $1.6 million in grant money among several
community groups and city programs.
“This is the most difficult night of the year,” Councilman Dave
Golonski said at Tuesday’s council meeting. “It’s nice to be able to
provide support to a lot of worthy organizations, but hard to make
the tough choices between how much they get.”
The annual grants, given by the federal government to be doled out by
the city, will bring about $250,000 to a dozen community groups. The
city will use remaining funds for public services and capital
projects, including street improvements along Olive Avenue and Third
Street and code enforcement.
The Burbank Unified School District received $70,000 – the largest
amount – to run its summer youth-employment program. Other recipients
of significant grants include the Burbank Temporary Aid Center,
Burbank Family YMCA and Boys and Girls Club.
“We’re grateful for the continued support,” BTAC staffer Wendy Bocci
said Friday. “It’s very much needed and very well used.”
Bocci said the money will be used to help cover such expenses as
utility assistance, shelter and gasoline vouchers.
But not every organization will receive money. The Armenian Relief
Society, an agency that serves the needs of local Armenian Americans,
was not offered funding.
“I think they’re doing great stuff and I support their efforts,”
Golonski said. “I just don’t think it is as inclusive as it needs to
be to qualify for public funding.”
Burbank expects to receive the money granted by the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development later this year.
In addition, the city could receive nearly $900,000 from the HOME
Investment Partnership Program, and city projects to benefit will be
approved by the council at a later date.

The Globe and Mail, Canada
April 24 2004
Liberal Party workers worry about pink Paul

By JANE TABER

Prime Minister Paul Martin’s team, in an effort to showcase the new
leader, has put his picture on their campaign lawn signs, causing
concern among some party workers who say his face is too “pink” and
he looks like he’s had a “rough night.”
There is worry, too, that political opponents will take marker pens
to deface his image, drawing horns on his head or adding funny
glasses. Putting a candidate’s face on signs breaks a cardinal rule
of political sign design. This, according to the party’s own campaign
manual: “Don’t use a slogan ever. Don’t use a photograph of the
candidate.” A campaign worker, who attended last weekend’s event,
said participants were told that if they are concerned about the
pinkness they may opt to include black in the sign, which will
apparently mute the pink in the PM’s face.
Scrumming on
the campaign plane
In leasing their campaign plane, members of Mr. Martin’s team had
some specific requests. First, they wanted a plane with “integrated
air stairs.”
This is a plane with its own stairs. It does not have to dock against
an airport bridge or have stairs wheeled out from the tarmac. It
allows the Liberals to land anywhere in the country. The Liberals,
sources say, have leased a three-engine 727.
Team Martin’s other request was that the plane be configured to allow
a “scrum area” for the press. This will make the optics much better.
Gone will be the inside-the-airplane shots of the Prime Minister
crouching to avoid the overhead bins or leaning over seats.
The Conservatives, who have leased an A319 Airbus, are also
configuring a scrum area.
Elsie Wayne:
‘I am not a bitch.’
After the Prime Minister accused the opposition this week of baying
“like hounds in heat” during a particularly passionate exchange over
the awarding of government contracts, Conservative New Brunswick MP
Elsie Wayne took offence: “Mr. Speaker, during Question Period the
Prime Minister referred to some female members of this chamber as
baying like hounds in heat. I do not bay like a hound. A baying hound
is a bitch, and I am not a bitch.” Mrs. Wayne is not running in the
next election.
Lama-mania
The Dalai Lama was treated like a rock star when he came to
Parliament Hill Thursday. Here is a breathless e-mail sent around by
an MP’s staffer to all Hill staff: “I had an incredible opportunity
to meet the Dalai Lama outside of Room 160-S and I was just wondering
to all those who were there with a camera if anyone would have
happened to catch that experience on film? I was wearing a black
dress, black shoes and I had a big yellow flower in my hair. If
anyone would happen to have a picture with me in it, would I please
be able to get a copy? (I don’t mind paying for it.)”
Hot and not
Hot: Commons deputy Speaker Bob Kilger. The Liberal MP from Cornwall
replaced his speaker’s robes with a Maple Leafs jersey this week to
watch his son Chad score the first goal and then an assist in the
Leafs’ romp against the Ottawa Senators.
Not: Treasury Board President Reg Alcock. Once the great defender in
Question Period of Paul Martin and Liberal ethics, Mr. Alcock appears
to have been sidelined — coincidentally just after admitting he
mistakenly said the sponsorship scandal only cost $13-million.
Finance Minister Ralph Goodale and Public Works Minister Stephen Owen
are doing the talking. And opposition MPs are now making fun of Mr.
Alcock, referring to him as a “wookie,” which is the tall, hairy
creature from Star Wars.
Hot: Conservative Leader Stephen Harper. Prime Minister Martin can’t
stop talking about him and his so-called scary right-wing policies.
What is he worried about?
Hot: Scarborough Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis for his persistence in
lobbying on behalf of Armenian Canadians. This week MPs recognized as
genocide the mass killing of Armenians during the First World War.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Zaman, Turkey
April 24 2004
Kerry Plays Politics: Recognizes ‘So-Called Armenian Genocide’
November inches ever nearer, which means election year politics have
come into full swing. The Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate,
Senator John Kerry, claimed that 1.5 million Armenians were the
victims of genocide during the Ottoman Era.
Kerry issued a statement for April 24, which is the day Armenians
accept as a remembrance day for ‘so-called genocide’. Kerry said:
“April 24 marks the 89th anniversary of the start of the Armenian
genocide. The Former Ottoman Empire’s rulers killed or exiled 1.5
million Armenian women, men and children with a systematic cleansing
policy. Americans of Armenian origin keep this tragedy alive in our
minds and they remind us to undertake the responsibility to guarantee
such dreadful events never take place again.”
Kerry also pointed out that he has been an important supporter of
Armenian issues for a long time. He said that he was among the
senators who requested that U.S. President George W. Bush push Turkey
to lift its embargo on Armenia.
04.24.2004
aa
Washington, D.C.

PRAVDA, Russia
April 24 2004
Memory day of genocide against Armenians
14:42 2004-04-24
Armenia and the Armenian community abroad mark the Day of Memory of
the victims of genocide against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Yerevan hosts today a “torch procession” to the Memorial to the
victims of genocide against Armenians of 1915.
The statement of the procession organizers – youth department of the
Dashnaktsutyun party, received by RIA Novosti, notes that in the late
19th – early 20th centuries, the Turkish state carried out genocide
against the Armenian people, which was “continued in 1988 by
Azerbaijani Turks.” From the second half of the nineteenth century to
1920, Ottoman Turkey carried out regular persecutions of Armenians,
whose peak fell on 1915, when over 1.5 million Armenians were killed
in different regions of Western Armenia, making part of the Ottoman
Empire.
In historians’ opinion, the roots of the tragic events of the
beginning of the twentieth century lie in the antagonism of great
powers in the south of Europe.
By 1914, when WWI started, great powers had not reached consent on
“the Armenian issue.” As during warfare on the Caucasian front in
1915 Russian troops were successful, Turks took the decision to make
an ethnic cleansing in Western Armenia, believing that the Armenian
population will sympathize with Russia seeing the country as the
liberator of Armenian lands.
European powers were unable to stop mass crimes against Armenians
committed by Turks. Moreover, Germany and Austro-Hungary helped Turks
“cleanse” Western Armenia an a number of other territories of the
Ottoman Empire of Armenian population.
In the opinion of Dashnaktsutyun party members, the last act of
genocide was the murder in Budapest in 2004 of an Armenian officer by
an Azerbaijani serviceman.
The fact of the genocide against the Armenian people has been
recognized by many countries – Russia, France, Argentina, Greece,
Italy, Cyprus, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Uruguay etc.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 24 2004
US citizen detained in Yerevan, accused of subversive actions
YEREVAN, April 24 (Itar-Tass) — The Armenian Prosecutor General’s
Office has questioned and detained a former resident of Yerevan,
currently U.S. citizen Artur Vartanian, who `took an active part in
opposition rallies in Yerevan and actions aimed at the forcible
seizure of power,’ the Prosecutor-General’s Office public relations
office chief Gurgen Ambarian has said.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office the investigators have
found that Artur Vartanian has been permanently resident in the
United States since 1991 and has had U.S. citizenship since 2002.
Although he is a citizen of a different country, Vartanian retained
his Armenian passport and used the rights of an Armenian citizen and
repeatedly crossed Armenia’s state border and participated in
political and electoral processes.
His latest arrival was registered on April 11. Vartanian has since
participated in opposition rallies and actions aimed at the forcible
seizure of power.
Last Thursday Vartanian was detained and charged under two articles
of the criminal code – actions aimed at the forcible seizure of power
and illegal crossing of the state border.
The Armenian Prosecutor-General’s Office has briefed the Foreign
Ministry on the incident. Under the Constitution Armenian citizens
cannot have the citizenship of another country.
`The investigation department of the Prosecutor-General’s Office is
continuing a preliminary probe into the criminal case opened over the
instances of public calls and actions aimed at changing the
constitutional and state system and also public insults against the
authorities,’ the Prosecutor-General’s Office said.
There has been no response from the U.S. embassy to the arrest of
Vartanian yet.
The Opposition says the police has searched the flat of Vartanian’s
friend in Yerevan where the man was staying as a guest.
Nothing illegal was found.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Big News Network.com, Australia
April 25 2004
Iran bans Armenian protest
Iranian authorities Saturday banned Iran’s Armenian community from
demonstrating in front of the Turkish embassy.
The Iranian News Agency said the interior ministry refused to grant
Iranian Armenians a permission to organize the protest to mark the
89th anniversary of Turkey’s 1915 massacre of Armenians.
The ministry, instead, permitted the march be staged in the north of
Tehran away from the Turkish embassy’s building, but the Armenian
community insisted on staging the protest in front of the mission.

Washington Times, DC
April 24 2004
Armenia’s head to visit France’s Chirac
Yerevan, , Apr. 24 (UPI) — The president of Armenia was to travel
Sunday to France for a meeting with French president Jacques Chirac,
the Itar-Tass news agency reported Saturday.
President Robert Kocharyan will reportedly be discussing efforts to
settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
France is a co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh,
along with Russia and the United States.
On April 27, Kocharyan and his delegation will leave Paris for Warsaw
to attend the World Economic Forum. He will take part in a working
meeting on the Caucasus and meet with the Forum’s President Klaus
Schwab.
Kocharyan also will meet with the Polish and Georgian presidents,
Alexander Kwasniewski and Mikhail Saakashvili.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 24 2004
Armenia’s president Robert Kocharyan to visit France
YEREVAN, April 24 (Itar-Tass) – President Robert Kocharyan of Armenia
will head for France on a working visit on Sunday. He plans to meet
his French counterpart Jacques Chirac on Monday, the presidential
press service reported on Saturday.
One of the key topics of the talks will be the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. France is a co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk
Group on Nagorno-Karabakh alongside with Russia and the USA and takes
an active part in the conflict’s settlement.
During the talks the presidents will also discus bilateral political
dialogue and economic cooperation.
On Sunday evening, Kocharyan and his wife will attend a concert by
Charles Aznavur at the Paris Palace of Congresses that will be
devoted to the 80th birthday of the prominent French singer and
songwriter of Armenian descent.
The Armenian president also plans to meet the head of the French
company `Bouig’ Olivier Bouig.
On April 27, Kocharyan and his delegation will leave Paris for Warsaw
to attend the World Economic Forum. He will take part in a working
meeting on the Caucasus and meet with the Forum’s President Klaus
Schwab. Within the framework of the Forum Kocharyan will meet with
the Polish and Georgian presidents, Alexander Kwasniewski and Mikhail
Saakashvili.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Tehran Times, Iran
April 24 2004
Armenia Veteran Protests British Refusal to Recognize ‘Genocide’
YEREVAN (AFP) — An Armenian veteran of World War II decided to
return the medals he earned as a British pilot after Britain’s
ambassador denied that “genocide” was committed when the Ottoman
Empire killed up to 1.5 million Armenians, according to Armenia’s
count, at the end of World War I.
“I was deeply insulted by the British ambassador qualifying these
events as an atrocity, not genocide. I decided to return the medals I
received from Britain’s government, in protest,” Harutun Shiklanian
told reporters Friday.
Shiklanian’s parents fled their homeland after the massacre, which
had killed his grandparents, he said.
Shiklanian, who served as a pilot and photographer in the British air
force during the World War II, was awarded Britain’s Defense Medal
and War Medal last year.
“During the war I fought for human rights, but now I am disappointed.
I know you were not voicing your own opinion, but that of the British
government, and I feel it necessary to return my medals,” the
81-year-old veteran said in a letter to Ambassador Thorda
Abbott-Watt.
The issue of whether various nations recognize the “genocide” is one
of the most sensitive in Armenia.
The episode also remains one of the most controversial in Turkish
history. Turkey recognizes that 300,000 Armenians had died along with
a large number of Turks at the end of the war.
Abbott-Watt recently told the ***California Courier***, an
English-language weekly run by the Armenian diaspora in the United
States, that “the British government had condemned the massacre as an
(atrocity) at the time.

ArmenPress
April 23 2004
GEORGIAN POLICE PULL OUT STONE CROSS IN COMMEMORATION OF GENOCIDE
VICTIMS
AKHALKALAKI, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS : Georgian police officers have
pulled out a stone cross erected on a hill on the outskirts of
Akhaltsikha down in western Georgia in commemoration of the Armenian
genocide that was to be opened officially on April 24.
A local A-Info news agency reported that police officers detained
Ludwig Petrosian, who was steering the work, who was released after
spending 4 hours in custody. Petrosian later said that the cross
stone was pulled out at the order of local governor Nikoloz
Nikolozishvili ( a former ambassador to Armenia) on grounds that the
erection was not sanctioned by local authorities, however, Petrosian
said the permission was given by Akhaltsikha municipality.
Local Armenians were expected to organize a protest rally today
morning.