PRESS RELEASE
The Adjutant General’s Department
Kansas Army National Guard
Kansas Air National Guard
Division of Emergency Management
CONTACT: Joy D. Moser
Director, Public Affairs Office
Work: (785) 274-1192
Home: (785) 232-4518
FOR RELEASE ON June 17, 2004
No. 04-071
June 18 Ceremony Marks Kansas-Armenia Partnership Day
A ceremony at the State Defense Building, 2800 SW Topeka Blvd., Topeka,
will mark “Kansas-Armenia Partnership Day” on Friday, June 18. The
ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Room 11 and will feature remarks
by Maj. Gen. (KS) Tod Bunting, the adjutant general; Col. Joe Wheeler,
Plans, Operations and Training Officer, Kansas Army National Guard;
and Command Sgt. Maj. Dale Putnam. They will share information about
their recent visit to Armenia, the National Guard State Partnership
Program and plans for an upcoming visit by an Armenian delegation.
Since 2003, Kansas has been partnered with Armenia through the
State Partnership Program. This program pairs developing nations
in Europe, South America and Asia with the National Guard in states
and territories to foster mutual interests and establish long-term
relationships. In April, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a proclamation
declaring June 18, 2004, as “Kansas-Armenia Partnership Day” in Kansas.
“Kansas troops are deployed around the globe helping to protect the
cause of freedom through force of arms and it is through programs like
the State Partnership Program that peace will be strengthened,” said
Bunting. “By modeling military-to-military, military-to-civilian and
civilian-to-civilian relationships, our Citizen-Soldiers are showing
the world how we, as Soldiers and Airmen, are servants of the people
instead of the other way around. Our Constitution starts ‘We, the
People of the United States…” Through this program, it is “We the
People” of Kansas who are reaching out in a spirit of cooperation to
the people of Armenia to show them who we are and how we live and to
learn from them who they are and how they live.”
In addition to Bunting, other dignitaries attending the ceremony
include Alex A. Kotoyantz, a retiree from the Kansas Department
of Transportation in Junction City and an active member of the
Armenian community in Kansas. Kotoyantz was a key advocate for the
“Kansas-Armenia Day” proclamation.
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