PRESS RELEASE
ARPA Institute
18106 Miranda St. Tarzana, CA 91356
Contact: Hagop Panossian
Tel: (818) 586-9660
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
ARPA Institute presents the Lecture/Seminar: "Fighting in the Trenches
on the Genocide Asset Recovery," by Mr. Vartkes Yeghiayan, on
Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 7:30 PM at the Merdinian School
auditorium.
The Address is 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.
Directions: on the 101 FWY exit on Woodman, go north and turn right on
Riverside Dr.
Abstract: The continuous denial of the Armenian genocide by Turkey is
evidence of a serious defect in the international system of
nation-states that needs to be rectified. In this respect, the
continued pursuit of legal justice by attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan and
others provide the impetus for younger generations to ensure that
never again such inhuman treatment of minorities ever be practiced by
sovereign nations. This lecture will cover the initiation, the
outcome and the current status of the legal cases of Armenian Genocide
survivors’ children and grand children with New York Life, Axa
Insurance Co (French), Victoria Insurance Co (German) and the three
German Banks, namely the Deutsche Bank; the Deutsche Orient Bank and
the Dresner Bank. Mr. Yeghiayan will outline the background facts of
some of the numerous legal cases and the legal issues involved. The
New York Life Insurance, for instance, sold more than 5,000 life
insurance policies to Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. More policies
were sold before 1915 in Ottoman Turkey than in twenty-one states in
the United States. After the Genocide of 1915-1923, many Armenian
survivors fought for compensation for the loss of life of their
relatives, for no avail. Also discussed will be the terms and status
of lawsuits in preparation and planned direction of the future
pursuits.
Mr Vartkes Yeghianyan, Esq., was born in Ethiopia, graduated from the
Armenian elementary school in Addis Ababa and from the American
Academy High School, a Reformed Presbyerian Missionary School in
Larnaca, Cyprus, in 1954. He received his B.A. degree in history, from
the University of California, Berkeley. He attended the Hastings Law
School for two years and continued his studies and graduated from the
Lincoln University with a Juris Doctor’s degree. He has worked for the
California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) for four years, where he has
served as Director of the Santa Rosa Office, (1967-72). He has worked
as a legal consultant for the Ministry of Mines of Ethiopia until 1974
and then as Assistant Director for the Peace Corp for 5 years until
1979. He has worked on a special project for the Washington D. C,
think-tank "American Enterprise Institute" for several years and has
written "The Horn of Africa; Challenges to American Foreign
Policy’. He has played a key role in writing the first draft of the
Constitution for Armenia in 1991. He currently is in private practice
in Law with his wife Rita Mahdessian, in Glendale since 1980. He has
written and compiled ten books on various aspects of the Armenian
Genocide.
For Information Please call Dr. Hagop Panossian at (818)586-9660 or
e-mail at [email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
