We
witnessed death and destruction in the 1988 Earthquake.
We
saw villages raised and thousands uprooted in Artsakh.
We
bear the scars of the Genocide.
But
in our moments of despair, activists, humanitarians and relief
organizations came to our aid.
In
return, we have also come to the aid of others, fighting to end
the Genocide in Darfur, stop child abduction in Uganda, and raise
money for the victims of Katrina.
As
Armenians, as humanitarians, it’s time again to respond, to help
the victims and survivors of the Haiti disaster. This is our
moment.
Fundraise and Donate, then send the AYF your
message about why everyone should contribute to the fundraising.
Record your messages on your webcams or on your phones and e-mail
us
(ayf@ayfwest.org)
so we can share your message with other Armenians around the
world.
On Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010 one of the worlds most respected and
watched current affairs program, 60 Minutes (CBS TV Network),
will air a segment on the Armenian Genocide. Bob Simon and Peter
Balakian traveled all the way to Deir Elzor to visit the
Armenian Auschwitz and shed light on the untold stories of the
victims of the first Genocide of the 20th century.
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–President Serzh Sarkisian made late on
Thursday his most explicit threat yet to annul Armenia’s
normalization agreements with Turkey in what appeared to be
a tense conversation with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu.
ANKARA (Hurriyet)–Two groups of Turkish parliamentarians will
visit Washington, D.C., to lobby against a House Resolution
recognizing the Armenian Genocide to be voted on by the U.S.
House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 4.
WASHINGTON—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
in contrast to previous State Department positions, refrained
from direct opposition to the Armenian Genocide resolution, when
responding to inquiries Thursday at two separate hearings in
Congress.
YEREVAN
(RFE/RL)–A top U.S. diplomat was reported to praise Armenia’s
position in the stalled normalization process with Turkey at a
meeting with President Serzh Sarkisian on Thursday.
Sarkisian and Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon met in
the Ukrainian capital Kiev after attending the inauguration of
Ukraine’s newly elected president, Viktor Yanukovich.
BAKU
(RFE/RL)–Azerbaijan stepped up its threats to launch a new war
against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday, with Defense
Minister Safar Abiyev speaking of a growing likelihood of “a
great war” with Armenia.
NEW YORK–On Sunday, April 25, 2010,
for the 25th year, thousands of Armenian Americans and people
against genocide will gather in Times Square from 2-4 PM to
commemorate the first genocide of the 20th Century, the Armenian
Genocide.
This year’s commemoration will
underscore the theme: “Turkey is the Question, America is the
Answer.”
YEREVAN (Combined Sources)—A new website is exposing Azerbaijani
propaganda about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The site,
Xocali.net, is titled “The Chronicles of Unseen Forgery and
Falsification,” and it’s an online repository founded by the
Xenophobia Prevention Initiative. It is available in Arabic,
English, French, Russian and Azerbaijani.
ANKARA (Todays Zaman)–A Turkish court on Wednesday arrested and
put behind bars seven senior military officers for allegedly
plotting to overthrow the government. Two of those arrested were
admirals on active duty.
ANKARA—Citing a decision by Armenia’s
Constitutional Court, which ruled in favor of the Armenia-Turkey
protocols last month, the chairman of a key parliamentary
commission of the Turkish parliament said Tuesday that it would
be difficult for Turkey to ratify the protocols.
*******************
Horizon Armenian TV's Manoug
Seraydarian speaks with AYF Western Region Hai Tahd Committee
Chairman Shant Hagopian on the recently launched "Teachathon
252" - an AYF regional campaign to educate
The first of a series of community forums will take place on
February 28 at 4pm at the Karamanoukian Armenian Youth Center in
Glendale, CA (211 W. Chestnut Ave., Glendale CA 91204).
VAN NUYS–San Fernando Valley Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA)
pledged to stand strong against escalating Turkish Government
lobby efforts to defeat the Armenian Genocide Resolution
(H.Res.252), as the House Foreign Affairs Committee prepares to
mark-up the measure on March 4th, reported the Armenian National
Committee Western Region.
YEREVAN
(Combined Sources)—The foreign relations committee of Armenia’s
National Assembly Friday began discussion of the Armenia-Turkey
protocols, as the parliament parliament’s press office announced
that the protocols were part of the agenda of the legislature’s
new session, which convenes Monday.
Sarkisian
Discusses Protocols, Genocide Recognition on Al Jazeera
YEREVAN –In an interview with the Al
Jazeera News Network conducted on Feb. 12, Armenian President
Serzh Sarkisian said he “absolutely” wants President Barack
Obama to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Answering a question about Obama’s
campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Sarkisian
said Obama had followed up on his pledge but “not to the extent
he had promised before he became the president. But he stated
unequivocally that he hasn’t changed his mind.” Responding to a
follow-up question on whether Sarkisian wants Obama to use the
word “genocide” in reference to 1915, Sarkisian said,
“Absolutely.”
Speaking about the protocols,
Sarkisian said it is the Turkish side that is stalling the
process, noting that “as the leader of the political force which
currently holds parliamentary majority, I rule out any
possibility of the Armenian Parliament not ratifying the
protocols if they are ratified by the Turks without
preconditions.”
During the interview, Sarkisian
reiterated that Russia and Armenia are “strategic partners” and
that the Armenian American community serves as a bridge for good
relations with the U.S.
YEREVAN (Yerkir)—The chairman of the Armenian parliament’s
foreign relations committee Armen Rustamian announced Thursday
that his committee will begin discussions on the Armenia-Turkey
protocols, which were submitted for ratification last week.
ANKARA (Hurriyet)—Turkey warned Thursday that passage of the
Armenian Genocide resolution by a key U.S. congressional
committee early next month would hinder normalization efforts
with Armenia.
ANKARA (Hurriyet)–U.S. Ambassador to Ankara James Jeffrey warned
Turkish deputies on Tuesday that the Armenian Genocide
resolution (H.Res.252) would likely pass through the U.S.
Congress in March unless the Turkish Parliament quickly ratifies
agreements with Armenia to normalize relations and open borders,
The Turkish Daily News reported Tuesday, citing unnamed
“reliable” sources.
The
early momentum driving the Armenian-Turkish protocols have
considerably slowed down in recent weeks. For instance, the
Turkish Foreign Ministry has issued the following official
statement on the Armenia-Turkey Protocols:
STOCHOLM (Today’s Zaman)–The Swedish Parliament is preparing to
vote on a motion that describes the planned annihilation between
1915-1923 of Armenians, Assyrians and Chaldeans by the Ottoman
Turkish government as Genocide.
YEREVAN
(RFE/RL)–Armenian Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamian on Monday
formally put the two protocols on establishing diplomatic ties
and developing bilateral relations with Turkey into
‘circulation’ within the Armenian legislature and appointed the
standing foreign relations committee as the key body on matters
related to the documents.
YEREVAN –In an interview with the Al Jazeera New Network
conducted on Feb. 12, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian said he
“absolutely” wants President Barack Obama to recognize the
Armenian Genocide.
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–President Serzh Sarkisian formally sent
Armenia’s normalization agreements with Turkey to parliament for
ratification on Friday after his government approved legal
amendments making it easier for Yerevan to walk away from the
deal.
LONDON—Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, in a speech at the
renowned Chatham House, said that he would send the protocols
for ratification to Armenia’s parliament, adding that the
Turkish parliament should ratify them first.
YEREVAN, ANKARA (Combined Sources)—Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday slammed efforts by Armenian President
Serzh Sarkisian, who in a letter addressed to his Turkish
counterpart, urged Turkey to honor its commitment to the
protocols.
YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — President Serzh Sarkisian’s message to his
Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, in which the latter was urged
to take decisive steps toward the ratification of the
Armenia-Turkey protocols, was Armenia’s effort to pressure
Turkey and warn that Armenia’s patience was wearing thin,
assessed Armenian Revolutionary Federation Bureau chairman Hrant
Markarian Tuesday.
ANKARA (Combined Sources)–Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu denounced a U.S. congressional committee over the
weekend for scheduling a vote on the Armenian Genocide
resolution, saying that its passage would seriously harm
Turkey’s relations with both the United States and Armenia,
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Monday.
BELMONT, Mass.—Dr.
Dikran Kaligian presented a lecture entitled “The Armenian
Revolutionary Federation Under Ottoman Rule, 1908-14,” on
Thursday, January 21, 2010, at the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395 Concord Ave.,
Belmont, MA. The lecture was the first of the year for NAASR.
WASHINGTON–US
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Howard Berman (D-CA),
a leading Congressional supporter of human rights and a
longstanding friend of the Armenian American community, has
scheduled a vote of his panel on the Armenian Genocide
Resolution, H.Res.252, for Thursday, March 4, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America.
TAKE ACTION
Armenian Genocide Resolution Committee Vote on March 4th
PASADENA, CA –
Leaders of the Armenian American community in Pasadena exchanged
ideas with a leader of the Pasadena chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at a
meeting held at the Pasadena Armenian Center on February 3.
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James
Steinberg reportedly assured president Serzh Sarkisian on
Thursday that the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations is
“very important” for the United States.
WASHINGTON (RFE/RL)–The
likelihood of another Armenian-Azerbaijani war for
Nagorno-Karabakh has increased as a result of the U.S.-backed
rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey, according to America’s
top intelligence official.
BOSTON—Armenian
and Jewish community leaders here launched an online petition
urging people to sign a letter to President Obama and the
Congress that calls for the immediate passage of H. Res. 252,
the Armenian Genocide Resolution pending in Congress, announced
the Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts.
WASHINGTON–The
newly-appointed Turkish Ambassador to the US, Namik Tan, called
the pending Genocide resolution in Congress “baseless” and
expressed confidence during a speech Tuesday that his country
did not expect any adverse steps from “our ally, the US.”
ANKARA (AFP)–A top Turkish
diplomat will travel to Switzerland and the United States to
seek their support over an Armenian court ruling that Ankara
says threatens deals with Yerevan to normalize relations, a
foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
GLENDALE, CA–Leaders and activists from
the Armenian National Committee of Glendale on Tuesday attended
a session of the Glendale City council where they voiced concern
over the city police department’s discrimination and harassment
of five Armenian police officers. Below is the statement they
read to the five-person city council.
Obama’s $40 Million
for Armenia and ANCA’s Response
YEREVAN
(RFE/RL)–A top U.S. diplomat was reported to praise Armenia’s
position in the stalled normalization process with Turkey at a
meeting with President Serzh Sarkisian on Thursday.
BAKU
(RFE/RL)–Azerbaijan stepped up its threats to launch a new war
against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday, with Defense
Minister Safar Abiyev speaking of a growing likelihood of “a
great war” with Armenia. 
YEREVAN
(Combined Sources)—The foreign relations committee of Armenia’s
National Assembly Friday began discussion of the Armenia-Turkey
protocols, as the parliament parliament’s press office announced
that the protocols were part of the agenda of the legislature’s
new session, which convenes Monday.
The
early momentum driving the Armenian-Turkish protocols have
considerably slowed down in recent weeks. For instance, the
Turkish Foreign Ministry has issued the following official
statement on the Armenia-Turkey Protocols: 
YEREVAN
(RFE/RL)–Armenian Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamian on Monday
formally put the two protocols on establishing diplomatic ties
and developing bilateral relations with Turkey into
‘circulation’ within the Armenian legislature and appointed the
standing foreign relations committee as the key body on matters
related to the documents.
WASHINGTON–US
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Howard Berman (D-CA),
a leading Congressional supporter of human rights and a
longstanding friend of the Armenian American community, has
scheduled a vote of his panel on the Armenian Genocide
Resolution, H.Res.252, for Thursday, March 4, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America.
BOSTON—Armenian
and Jewish community leaders here launched an online petition
urging people to sign a letter to President Obama and the
Congress that calls for the immediate passage of H. Res. 252,
the Armenian Genocide Resolution pending in Congress, announced
the Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts.
WASHINGTON–The
newly-appointed Turkish Ambassador to the US, Namik Tan, called
the pending Genocide resolution in Congress “baseless” and
expressed confidence during a speech Tuesday that his country
did not expect any adverse steps from “our ally, the US.”
om
the Armenian National Committee of Glendale on Tuesday attended
a session of the Glendale City council where they voiced concern
over the city police department’s discrimination and harassment
of five Armenian police officers. Below is the statement they
read to the five-person city council.
