PRESS RELEASE

Armenian National Committee
San Francisco – Bay Area
51 Commonwealth Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: (415) 387-3433
Fax: (415) 751-0617
mail@ancsf.org

Contact: Roxanne Makasdjian (415) 641-0525

ANC RECEPTION FOR SF BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PRESIDENT AARON PESKIN
ANCA CHAIRMAN KEN HACHIKIAN AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ARAM HAMPARIAN IN SF

Friday, Feb. 4, 2005 – The Bay Area Armenian National Committee held a
reception in recognition of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors’
President Aaron Peskin, at ANC’s San Francisco offices. Also welcomed
were ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian and Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

The Bay Area ANC endorsed Supervisor Peskin in both his elections to the
Board of Supervisors, in 2000 and 2004. Peskin has sponsored the
Armenian Genocide commemorative resolution in San Francisco for each of
the past 5 years, has attended all of the commemorative events during
his tenure, has assisted the ANC in various city and county initiatives,
and has sponsored a resolution calling upon Bay Area Congressman Tom
Lantos to support Congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

“I’ve always believed that the most important thing to understand in
politics and human development is the ‘how come’ and ‘why,'” said
Peskin, explaining his early awareness of Armenians because of his
father. Peskin’s father is a psychiatrist and professor who studied the
impacts of the Holocaust on the children of Holocaust survivors. When
Peskin was a boy, his father provided expert testimony in the trial of
Gourgen Yanikian, who assassinated the Turkish Consul General in Los
Angeles in 1973, because of Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide.

Referring to the Armenian Genocide, Peskin said, “It’s an experience
shared by our communities.” On a trip to Israel with his parents,
Peskin visited Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter as a boy. “We met the
Armenian Patriarch, and it was something I never forgot.”

Having been elected by his peers last month to head the Board of
Supervisors, Peskin said he was optimistic about what the Board could
accomplish. “We have reached our stride,” said Peskin, referring to the
working relationship of the Supervisors.

ANCA Chairman and Executive Director Report on Armenian-American Issues

Armenian National Committee of America Chairman Ken Hachikian and
Executive Director Aram Hamparian reported on the current political
environment in the nation’s capitol in regards to Armenian-American issues.

“This is going to be a very tough year for Nagorno-Karabakh,” said
Hamparian. “The powers in the region are looking for a settlement, and
pressure has come down on Armenia and Karabakh.” Hamparian cited the
recent statement by Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones,
calling Karabakh’s leaders “criminal secessionists.” Hamparian also
noted the recent moves by Azerbaijan to get anti-Armenian resolutions
passed in the Council of Europe and United Nations.

Hamparian said the ANCA is working to have an Armenian Genocide
Resolution initiated in Congress within the next 8 – 10 weeks, and that
the ANCA is planning a large Congressional reception in Washington, DC
on April 20th, commemorating the Armenian Genocide. He referred to the
foreign aid negotiations and US – Armenia tax treaties as areas of
success, saying similar successes are being sought in the area of Social
Security benefits for US citizens living in Armenia.

“The biggest issue we’re addressing now is military aid parity,”
Hamparian said. After three years during which the US administration
provided an equal amount of military aid to Azerbaijan and Armenia, last
year the administration broke its earlier promise of parity and put
forth a budget allocating four times more aid to Azerbaijan. “This
sends a signal that the U.S. is on the side of Azerbaijan,” said
Hamparian. He also raised concerns that Azerbaijan may arm itself more
once it begins to receive oil revenues from the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline due
open in 2006.

Chairman Ken Hachikian described the political perspective of the
current administration. “We have a Republican-controlled Congress; an
administration with a very conservative view of the Middle East and of
the political weight of Israel; and a perception of the importance of
Turkey.” He said the view of the importance of Turkey to the US
“transcends Republicans and Democrats.” Hachikian said that although
Armenian-Americans have friends among the Democrats, the Democratic
leadership is in disarray. “We have friends among Republic congressmen
as well, but their leadership is not allowing them to confront the
administration on our issues. We have to look for ways to develop key
relationships with key Republicans.”

Notwithstanding the government’s alliance with Turkey, Hachikian said
recently Turkey’s actions have been an asset for our cause: it’s refusal
to allow US troops to attack Iraq from Turkey; calling US actions in
Iraq “genocidal”; and taking actions which aggravate its other important
ally, Israel.

In order to be effective in the current political arena, Hachikian said,
“We must be intelligent, we must be selective and well organized. We
have to recognize who has the levers of power today and work with them.
We need to seek victories where the administration will let us succeed.”

Hachikian said the real assets of the ANC are the local activists who
cultivate and maintain relationships with their representatives. He
said one of the consequences of those local efforts is that while
Armenian-Americans represent one half of one percent of the US
population, one third of the members of Congress (144 members) are part
of the Armenian Issues Caucus in Congress. “That’s not because we have
an office in Washington DC. That’s because of the local ANCs,” said
Hachikian. “Hopefully, the political capital that you build locally, we
spend wisely in Washington.”

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