Author: Nahapetian Lilit

Does Armenia’s Prime Minister Have Serious Health Problems?

12:38 – 03.04.10

Since yesterday, Armenian media have largely been reporting that RA
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan is having serious health problems and
that he visited the Yerevan-based Nairi Medical Center yesterday
because his health condition had declined sharply.

Today some local dailies – Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times), Aravot
(Morning) – reported that Sargsyan stayed late at night at this
medical center and was visited by RA President Serzh Sargsyan and some
governmental officials in the evening.

`In fact, Tigran Sargsyan had a [medical] examination at the Nairi
Medical Center. His state of health is good,’ Assistant to the Prime
Minister Aram Ananyan told Tert.am.

Asked whether the president visited the prime minister yesterday at
the hospital, Ananyan said: `I do not have anything more to add.’
Some local Armenian sources report that the prime minister is having
heart problems. According to others, he was taken to hospital with a
stroke. Aram Ananyan denied the latter while talking to Haykakan
Zhamanak.

Tert.am

CONCERT MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Pasadena Star-News
April 1 2010
CA

A concert marking the anniversary of the Armenian genocide will take
place at 6:30 p.m. – doors open at 5:30 – April 11 at the Pasadena
Jewish Temple and Center, 1434 N. Altadena Drive.

A 101-year-old genocide survivor will be honored and recognized at
the event.

The concert will feature Harmonium Trio; Yin Yin Huang, pianist;
Ling Yan, cellist; Jonathan Wei, violinist; the Yuval Ron Trio;
Cedric Berry, baritone; and special guest artist, concert pianist
Vatche Mankerian.

Admission is free.

03131

ARMENIA WILL RETURN BODIES OF TWO CIVILIANS TO AZERBAIJAN TOMORROW

APA
April 2 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. Armenia will return the Azerbaijani
captive and bodies of two persons tomorrow, press service of the
country’s Defense Ministry issued a statement, APA reports quoting
Armenian media.

On April 3 at 10.00 in Yereskhavan-Sederek area of Azerbaijan-Armenia
border the representatives of Armenian Armed Forces with mediation
of the International Committee of the Red Cross will hand over the
bodies of two persons killed in Armenian territory on March 3 and
Eldar Tagiyev, who was captured on December 28 last year.

Azerbaijan’s State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and
Missing Persons told APA that the bodies of the killed civilians will
be handed over to Azerbaijan in Sederek area of Azerbaijan-Armenia
border. The information that Eldar Tagiyev will be handed over to
Azerbaijan tomorrow is not true.

ARMENIANS AND TURKS TO DISCUSS 1915 EVENTS: HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

news.am
April 2 2010
Armenia

Armenian and Turkish intellectuals intend to meet in Ankara on
the anniversary of 1915 killings of Armenians in Ottoman Empire,
Hurriyet Daily News reports. According to the source, the meeting
occurs "at a time when the historic normalization process between
the two countries has stalled."

The meeting organized by the Ankara Freedom of Thought Initiative
is aimed at improvement of the dialogue between two nations. The
participants will discuss 1915 events. "The Armenian issue from a
historical perspective," "From [the Committee of] Union and Progress
to Kemalism — official ideological denial and termination of the
issue," "The Turkification of the capital" and "The Armenian issue:
How to handle it?" topics are in focus.

"We believe the problem between the two nations will be solved only by
dialogue," Sait Cetin -one of the forum organizers told the Hurriyet
Daily News & Economic Review.

THE SVAZLYAN FAMILY PRESENTED IN ONE FILM

Aysor
April 2 2010
Armenia

Today in the National Library took place the presentation of the
documentary film "The creed of Svazlyan family". The film was dedicated
to the three generation of the Svazlyan family of 20th century.

As the press service of the National Library told Aysor.am the the
film presents the life and the work of the West Armenian national,
social worker, lawyer, orator Mihran Svazlyan in Smyrna, Polis and
Boston, 1863 – 1935.

The film is telling also about the third representative of the Svazlyan
family, doctor of humanitarian studies Verzhine Svazlyan her life
and work, the last years of her life. She has written, recorded and
published the pieces of the national orally told legends in by the
West Armenians, Armenians deported from Kilikia and the Armenians of
Diaspora, by those who have witnessed the tragedy of the Genocide.

The author of the film, the producer and the composer is Karine
Kharatyan, the scenario is by journalist Laura Minasyan.

ERDOGAN MEETS WITH AZERBAIJANI DELEGATION HEADED BY RAMIZ MEHDIYEV

APA
April 1 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku – APA. While on a visit to Ankara, Azerbaijani delegation led
by head of the President’s Executive Office Ramiz Mehdiyev met with
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, APA reports.

Bilateral relations between the two countries, Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, Turkey – Armenia relations, latest developments around
so-called "Armenian genocide" and other issues were discussed at the
meeting. Mehdiyev said that Erdogan’s last speeches were supported
by Azerbaijani side. In respond, Erdogan noted that Turkey had always
supported Azerbaijan, and would do it in the future as well.

Other issues of mutual interest were also discussed during the meeting.

Today, Azerbaijani delegation met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmad
Davudoglu. Nagorno Karabakh and Turkey-Armenia relations were in the
focus of attention at the meeting.

Meetings with Turkish Parliament’s Speaker Mehmet Ali Shahin and
other officials are also expected to take place.

Note that, department heads of Azerbaijani Presidential Administration
Ali Hasanov, Novruz Mammadov, Elnur Aslanov and other officials are
in the delegation headed by Ramiz Mehdiyev.

TURKISH HISTORIAN AFFIRMS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

armradio.am
01.04.2010 16:41

Prominent Turkish historian told Taraf newspaper in an interview that
"the Young Turks planned to annihilate the entire Armenian population."

Historian Selim Deringil told Taraf that there was also a distinction
between the aims of the Young Turks and their predecessor Sultan
Abdul Hamid at the turn of the 19th century, Asbarez reports.

"The difference between Sultan Abdul Hamid and the Young Turks was
that the Young Turks wanted to completely destroy and annihilate the
Armenians, while Sultan Abdul Hamid sought to get rid of a certain
element of Armenians, to diminish their economic dominance and to
create and Islamic bourgeoisie."

"There were Armenians [living] everywhere [in Turkey]. The massacre
of Armenians took place in different cities. Today, the official
history states that in all the areas where people were killed there
were Armenians revolts; however, the majority of those were not
rebellions," said Deringil.

The historian told Taraf that between 1841 and 1897, 300,000 Armenian
were massacred under Sultan Adbul Hamid. He claims that 800,000 were
murdered during the Armenian Genocide.

Deringil also cites the failures of Turkish policy after the
establishment of the modern-day Republic. He told Taraf that at the
onset of the Republic an estimated 300,000 Armenians lived in Turkey,
while today that number has dwindled to 70,000.

"Annihilation does not only happen through killings," claimed
Derengil. "If you make life unbearable [for people] they will pick
up and leave."

Derengil also criticized Turkish historians, who, he said, spend
all of their time trying to rationalize Turkey’s official denialist
position on the Genocide. "They work only to prove that Armenian
assertions are baseless."

After World War I, Derengil said, there was plenty of evidence that
demonstrated the crimes, kidnapping and rape of Armenian women in
Anatolia beginning in 1915. He cited that at that time the number of
adoptions was 300,000"

"This is worth discussion."

TURKEY’S ARMENIANS DEMAND APOLOGY FROM ERDOGAN
Ara Khachatourian

03/30/turkey%e2%80%99s-armenians-demand-erdogan%e2 %80%99s-apology/
Tue, Mar 30 2010

To minimize the damage caused by his threats to deport Armenians
working illegally in Turkey, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan met with what his office called "the leader of the Armenian
community in Turkey" on Fri., March 26.

Except, that person does not represent the Armenian community nor
its institutions.

Berdos Sirinoglu, the president of the Board of Trustees of the
Armenian Holy Savior Hospital, told reporters following talks with
Erdogan that no good could come out of bringing up what happened a
century ago, and that what happened between Turks and Armenians was
a fight "among friends."

"This was 100 years ago. There is no point in digging further into
the past. I cannot understand why some people try to keep it open,"
added Sirinoglu, who said his own grandfather died in the 1915 events.

"There is no need to call the events genocide either."

Angered by these statements and the apparent effort to unilaterally
represent and speak for the Armenian community of Turkey, the relatives
of slain journalist Hrant Dink kicked off a petition Tuesday distancing
themselves from Sirinoglu and his comments.

The petition, entitled "We live in a different Turkey," has received
wide support and prompted a wave of protests by Armenians in Turkey,
who say that Sirinoglu and his vice-chairman Herman Baloyan, who also
attended the meeting, do not represent or speak for the community.

"Sirinoglu is not the leader of Turkey’s Armenian community," read
the petition announcement, as reported by the Istanbul-based Agos
newspaper. Dink was the editor of Agos before his murder in January
2007.

Sirinoglu "is the president of the Holy Savior Hospital and that
position does not give him the right to make announcements on behalf
of the Armenian community. Thus, Sirinoglu’s announcements only
reflect his personal opinions. We expect those who are creating
confusion in the community to immediately correct their mistakes,"
added the announcement.

Sirinoglu also said that Armenians felt safe in Turkey and had no
complaints to that effect. "Those people who have been away from
their country for a long time should come and see Armenian property
and schools, they should see how Armenians live in Turkey, and then
they should decide," he said.

"Hearing Sirinoglu’s announcement that ‘Armenians feel safe in
Turkey-Have you ever heard any complaints from them?’ prompts us
to think that perhaps we live in a different Turkey," the petition
continued.

"Sirinoglu may feel safe in this country. But, that’s a lie," added
the petition, which went on to stress that Armenians are subjected
to racial and ethnic discrimination and are being used for political
goals.

"We expected Sirinoglu to remind the prime minister of the murder
of Hrant Dink three years ago and demand that those responsible are
brought to justice," emphasized the announcement.

Sirinoglu said most of the 1.5 million Armenians who were living in
Anatolia when the massacres began migrated to other countries-Lebanon,
Syria, Iraq, the United States, France, etc. "I am not saying nothing
happened, but there is no benefit in digging deeper into the past. If
we do this, our future will remain in the dark," he said.

Sirinoglu went as far as taking the blame for the inflated figure
of 100,000 illegal Armenians announced by Erdogan in his deportation
threat earlier this month. "We gave the figures to the prime minister.

Since he trusted us deeply, he did not check it with other sources. We
apologize for this," said Sirinoglu, adding that the correct figure
was about 20,000.

"Sirinoglu’s apology for the inflated figures raises suspicion,"
the petition read. "We believe that all of this was staged and was a
coordinated effort to portray the Turkish government as a benevolent
entity."

"We condemn the prime minister’s announcement and express that we do
not share Bedros Sirinoglu’s views," read the petition, which also
called on Erdogan to issue an apology.

US ‘STRONGLY COMMITTED’ TO KARABAKH SOLUTION

news.az
March 31 2010
Azerbaijan

Donald Lu The US chargé d’affaires in Baku has said that the USA
sees talks as the only solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh.

‘The US is strongly committed to the resolution of the Karabakh
conflict. We see no alternative to the negotiations, we believe in a
peaceful solution of this conflict. These negotiations will require
political will from the leaders of both countries,’ Donald Lu told
journalists yesterday.

He said that the people of Azerbaijan should know that the leadership
of his country, the president and the secretary of state were committed
to a resolution.

Commenting on the long awaited appointment of a new US ambassador to
Azerbaijan, the chargé d’affaires said the new appointee would be
someone experienced and highly skilled in diplomacy.

‘This ambassador is worth waiting for,’ Donald Lu said. ‘The relations
between the US and Azerbaijan are very strong and the US has a profound
interest in Azerbaijan. I would like to remind you that the deputy
secretary has visited Baku, members of Congress visit Azerbaijan,
we have the military visiting here. We hope that we will soon have
an ambassador here. As you may know, our system in the US is very
complicated. Many countries around the world do not have an American
ambassador yet, many important countries including Azerbaijan. It is
not a reflection of our relations with Azerbaijan, it is a reflection
of the bureaucracy in the US. We hope that the new ambassador will
come soon.’

The USA has had no ambassador in Baku since the departure of the last
incumbent, Anne Derse, in July 2009.

PRESS RELEASE
Analysis Research and Planning for Armenia (ARPA) Foundation
P.O.Box 33603
Granada Hills, CA 91394
Tel: 818-586-9660
Fax: 818-881-0010
Email: [email protected]

Event: Lecture on `Dollar Diplomacy & the Armenian Genocide’
Speaker: By Hrayr S. Karagueuzian
Date: April 23, Friday
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Merdinian Armenian Evangelical School
Address: 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Abstract: Except for a short period after the end of the First World
War, Turkey has consistently denied that it ever conceived and
employed a policy of intentional destruction of its Armenian citizens
during 1915-1923.
For Turkey, an overwhelming motive to cover-up the centrally conceived
and implemented ethnic cleansing is to prevent tarnishing the sacred
image of the `New’ Turkish Republic’ and its founding leader Mustapha
Kemal. Modern Turkey is packaged and sold to the Turks as a Government
distinct from the previous `terrorist’ regime of the Committee of
Union & Progress (the Ittihadists) whose leaders were convicted and
sentenced to death in absentia by the Turkish Military Tribunals for
their role in committing the mass murder. Turkey’s disclosure of these
facts and those responsible for the carnage will also expose Mustapha
Kemal as a war criminal who himself was sentenced to death in 1920 in
absentia. The unjust enrichment realized by the Turks through the
massive theft of the victims’ wealth are contributing factors that
preempt recognition and acknowledgment.
For the victorious Allies of World War I, acknowledging the massacres
as `Genocide,’ with the later UN-mandated moral, legal and financial
obligations would de facto violate West’s initial pledge made in 1923
to `renounce any and all financial claims’ against Turkey. These
financial deals directly involved Genocide money. Later Turkey’s
membership to the NATO alliance and its increasing lucrative arms
contracts with the U.S. further hardened and perpetuated the policy of
denial by all parties. New U.S. archival documents in the form of
official US diplomatic correspondences and memos hitherto unprocessed
will be presented that detail Turkey’s organized attempts to cash in
on the victims’ life insurance policy benefits and theft of their bank
accounts and valuables deposited in various Ottoman Bank branches.
NOTE. An analysis of these newly declassified documents by the speaker
are now published in a book coauthored by Yair Auron & entitled: `A
perfect Injustice: Genocide and Theft of Armenian Wealth’
(Transaction, 2009). Few copies of the book will be available for
purchase by interested attendees.
ARPA Institute is a non-profit 501c(3) organization located at:
18106 Miranda St., Tarzana CA 91356 . PHONE/FAX (818) 881-0010
26/1 Vazgen Sargsyan Str., Yerevan 0010, Armenia. Tel: (374 10)545538
(39)
Directions to Merdinian Auditorium
On the 101 FY Exit on Woodman, Go North and Turn Right (East) on
Riverside Dr.

About the Speaker
Hrayr S. Karagueuzian, PhD, FACC. Received his B.Sc. in 1969 in
Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, from the Damascus University,
M.Sc. in 1972 in Pharmaceutical Biology and his Ph.D. in 1978, both
from Columbia University, New York, NY, Since 2007 he serves as the
Director of the Translational Arrhythmia Research Section, Division of
Cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and since 2009
(July) as Professor of Medicine (Step VI), Division of Cardiology
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Previously, he has Directed
the Basic Cardiac Electrophysiology at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
in Los Angeles. Dr. Karagueuzian has been and is a member of numerous
international committees, editorial and review Boards of international
journals and publications, committees and societies. He is the
recipient of numerous research, technical and scientific awards,
grants and honors, as outstanding investigator and scientific
researcher. He holds five patents in the field of Fibrillation and
Defibrillation. Hrayr is the author of over 130 technical papers, 20
chapters in books, and numerous abstracts, review articles and letters
to the editors. His research and technical capabilities has led him to
pursue the study of U.S. archival documents and memos related to the
life insurance policy benefits and the theft of the bank accounts of
the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey. He is the
author of and has served as the committee chair of the ARPA
Institute’s `Health Education and Lifestyle Program (HELP), which has
been (and is still being) implemented in Armenia and Artsakh, when he
was on the Board of Directors of ARPA Institute, 1994-2004.
For further information please call (818)881-0010 or contact
info@arpain