Author: Navasardian Karapet

CHERKASSK CITY COUNCIL URGES UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 8, 2010 – 17:31 AMT 12:31 GMT

Upon consideration of an appeal by city council parliamentarian Arayik
Lazarian, as well as Ararat community of Cherkassk region and a
priest of the religious community of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
Cherkassk city council decided to urge the Ukrainian President and
parliament to support the Armenian people and confirm legislatively
the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide at the
hands of the Ottoman Empire.

According to representatives of Ararat Armenian community, this is
an extremely important event for the Armenian Diaspora of Ukraine
and the Armenian people, as a whole. Ararat Armenian community and
the religious community of the Armenian Apostolic Church expressed
their gratitude to parliamentarians for the support. The community
especially appreciated the efforts of Head of Cherkassk city
council Sergey Odarich, Secretary of Cherkassk city council Vasily
Marinkevich and all supporting parliamentarians, as well as experts,
Analitika.at.ua reported.

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Sisters Academy
440 Upper Gulph Road
Radnor, PA 19087
Contact: Susan Pogharian
Tel: 610-757-7090
Fax: 610-687-2450
E-mail: HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]"
SPoghar [email protected]
Web:

Armenian Sisters Academy Receives $50,000 Grant from Connelly Foundation

The Armenian Sisters Academy of Radnor, PA was recently awarded a
$50,000 grant for an ongoing renovation project for its convent. The
convent is the mansion, called the Hovnanian Building, which is attached
to the original school. Although the original school building was built
in 1975, the mansion itself is over 100 years old. The Academy Board of
Directors has been overseeing a project initiative to repair and
renovate key sections of the mansion, the old school building, and the
campus. A proposal was sent to the Connelly Foundation for assistance
in funding this project. The Connelly Foundation is a Conshohocken, PA
based organization that evaluates proposals from many non-profit
entities in the Greater Philadelphia area in the spirit of its founders,
the late John & Josephine Connelly. Based on the Academy’s proposal
submission and a subsequent site evaluation conducted by the
Foundation’s officers, funding was granted for the convent (mansion)
renovation in order to optimize underutilized space and improve the
living quarters of the Sisters who reside there. Aside from the
Sisters’ residence, the mansion also houses the Accounting Department,
meeting rooms for various committees, and the operations center for the
Academy’s largest annual fundraiser. The three Sisters who currently
reside at the Academy were touched by the Connelly Foundation’s grant
of generosity and how it will help improve the quality of their daily
life. Upon receiving the uplifting news, Principal Sr. Louisa
Kassarjian remarked, `It’s reassuring and comforting that an
experienced philanthropic organization such as the Connelly Foundation
cares enough for our Academy and the Sisters’ mission to invest their
time to visit us, provide suggestions for our project, and ultimately
help fund it!’
The Armenian Sisters Academy is a private Pre-K through eighth
grade school that was founded 43 years ago when three energetic nuns
arrived in Philadelphia from Rome for the purpose of educating the
community’s Armenian youth. The curriculum perpetuates the Armenian
identity through the study of its language, culture and history while
providing an excellent American education. The Academy’s nurturing
Christian environment, small class size, and solid Montessori program
has attracted many non-Armenians over the years, as well.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS AMENDMENTS TO LAW ON HOLIDAYS AND COMMEMORATION DAYS

PanARMENIAN.Net –
April 6, 2010 – 13:33 AMT 08:33 GMT

Discussion of the draft law submitted by the ARF Dashnaktsutyun
parliamentary group on announcing April 24 a Day of Fatherland’s
Demands is postponed for 30 days.

A PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent in the parliament reported that
although the project got a negative inference from the Standing
Committee on Education, Science and Youth Affairs, the ARFD insists
on including the draft law in the spring session agenda.

Head of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) parliamentary group
Galust Sahakyan noted during the debates that April 24 is already
marked by the Armenian people as a day of commemoration and grief
and there is no need to attach another name to it.

Meanwhile, ARF Dashnaktsutyun representative Artyusha Shahbazyan
stated that the RPA "has forgotten the values professed by Garegin
Nzhdeh that are fixed in the party’s program."

EU IS A RELIABLE PARTNER TO ARMENIA, SAYS FM NALBANDIAN

Aysor
April 6 2010
Armenia

"Armenia-EU cooperation remains one of the key courses of country’s
foreign policy; the EU is a reliable political and economic partner to
Armenia; and the increasing number of EU-officials’ visits to Armenia
is evidence of mutuality of this interest," Armenia’s Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian said at the joint conference with EU Commissioner
for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule, who is
on a visit to Armenia.

Minister Nalbandian said that Stefan Fule’s visit to Armenia is a
good cause to discuss items of cooperation between Armenia and the
European Union, especially on the eve of Armenian President’s visit
to Brussels. He stressed the importance of signing the agreement on
free trade, simplification of the visa-application process and pointed
the importance of holding talks on association agreements with the EU.

Parties also discussed a range of international and regional issues.

NG: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION PROCESS BECOMES IRREVERSIBLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 5, 2010 – 15:38 AMT 10:38 GMT

"Washington is making every effort in order Ankara-Yerevan
reconciliation process not to be stalled. Rapid start, marked by
mutual visits of Turkish and Armenian presidents Abdullah Gul and
Serzh Sargsyan to football matches between their national teams and
called soccer diplomacy, was backed by signing the "Swiss Protocols",
or "road map" over settlement of relations on October 10, 2009 in
Zurich. According to the Protocols, Yerevan and Ankara are starting
the political approximation, which in the short term will be crown by
establishment full-fledged good-neighborly relations," Nezavisimaya
Gazeta wrote.

However, according to the newspaper, local publics and conservative
political circles were not ready to what seemed to be appropriate by
political leaders of Turkey and Armenia. "In Turkey, there was an
opinion that defrosting relations with Yerevan imply that Turkey’s
strategic partner – Azerbaijan will become abandoned, with the
unresolved Nagorno Karabakh problem.

The same view was expressed by official Baku, tightened its pricing
policy on gas supplies to brotherly Turkey. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan pledged to save a strategic partnership, making statements
towards Yerevan, like, no normalization take place unless Armenia
return to Azerbaijani jurisdiction Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent
territories and unless Armenia abandon its international campaign
on recognition of the 1915 Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. In
response, Yerevan tightened its position and Armenia announced that
its parliament ratifies the "Swiss Protocols" only after Turkish
counterparts do that. In turn, the Turkish parliament "lost" the Swiss
Protocols in one of its committees, "remembering" either Karabakh
with adjacent territories separated from Azerbaijan, or a permanent
campaign on the Armenian Genocide recognition, the article wrote.

Recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. House Committee on
Foreign Affairs, and the parliament of Sweden resulted in Erdogan’s
announcement about the halt of the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation.

Armenia did not bat an eye and tried to boost the initiative, reminding
to Barack Obama about his promise during the election campaign to
recognize the Armenian Genocide, 95th anniversary of which will be
marked on April 24 and 25.

"The international process of Genocide recognition became
irreversible, many experts say in Yerevan. Such statements do not seem
overoptimistic, if we take into account some serious events in Turkey.

Several local historians, lawyers and jurists in Turkey in interviews
to leading newspapers concurrently called on the authorities not to go
against the flow and accept the facts of mass murder and expulsion of
the Armenians started in the late XIX century and culminated in 1915,
thus finishing that tragic page of the history of Turkish state.

Unlike past years when such statement or confessions were severely
punished by law, the scientists are free now. Like the mayor of
Diyarbakır city Osman Baydemir, who at a regional conference brought a
formal apology to the Armenian people, "almost half of the population
of Diyarbakır before 1915 ", he said. He called upon Armenians to
return to their homeland: "No apology can relieve this tragedy … You
were forced to leave, but be sure: not you – who lost, but we, those
who left here. Because you have taken with you good fortune and peace".

This would be a foreign and local background of talks Erdogan will
hold with Barack Obama and, perhaps, Serge Sargsyan on painful for
Ankara issues. His threats and ultimatums have not proved to be too
effective. And so it’s possible that now, Erdogan after the stick
will have to exercise the carrot policy," NG concluded.

PRIME MINISTER: ARMENIA TO RECORD 7% INFLATION IN 2010

ARKA
Apr 1, 2010

YEREVAN, April 1. /ARKA/. Armenia will record seven-percent inflation
in 2010, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said Thursday at a
regular meeting of cabinet ministers.

He said that one percent of this inflation rate will be created by
direct and indirect impacts of gas price rise.

Natural gas price for Armenia’s consumers will be raised 37.5% to
AMD 132 on April 1, 2010, from present AMD 96 per one cubic meter.

Those consumers using more than 10,000 cubic meters of gas monthly
will pay $243.13 per each 1,000 cubic meters instead of $215 presently.

Sargsyan said that direct impact will add 0.5% and indirect 0.9%
to the 2010 inflation.

He finds it wrong to subsidize gas prices.

In his opinion, this is not the best way to solve social problems
and curb inflation.

The premier even thinks this is the worst way, considering poverty
reduction strategy.

Instead, he hailed subsidies for the poor and said that the
president-ordered 15-percent increase of social benefits for 110,000
families would neutralize negative impacts of the gas price rise.

Besides, senior people will have their pensions increased by 11%
in November.

Calculations show that these steps will contribute to poverty reduction
in Armenia.

Sargsyan stressed that gas price rise will have a soft impact on
family budgets, since gas consumption lessens in this season.

TURKEY ADVISED TO FOLLOW SERBIAN PARLIAMENT’S EXAMPLE AND APOLOGIZE TO ARMENIANS FOR GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.04.2010 18:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Some representatives of Turkish intelligentsia
urge Turkey, which seeks EU membership, follow Serbian parliament’s
example, which recently condemned the 1995 killings of Bosnian Muslims
in Srebrenica and apologize to Armenians for 1915 Genocide.

The offer was advanced by Maya Arakon, assistant professor of
International Relations from Yeditepe University and Soli Ozel,
professor of International Relations and Political Science at Istanbul
Bilgi University.

According to Maya Arakon, Serbia which seeks EU membership, tries
to whitewash its past; Turkey can initiate similar steps regarding
Genocide issue.

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic
destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during
and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and
deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to
lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths
reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the
Genocide survivors.

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

MARCH 26 – APRIL 1, 2010

HIGHLIGHTS:

YPC WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND WEBSITE REPORT FOR 2009

"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: CONFLICT OF INTERESTS AMONG REPRESENTATIVES OF POWER

NATIONAL PLATFORM OF EASTERN PARTNERSHIP CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM BEING FORMED IN
ARMENIA

CASE OF "GIND" VERSUS FOUNDER OF "CHORRORD ISHKHANUTIUN" SUBMITTED TO
RECONSIDERATION

YPC WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND WEBSITE REPORT FOR 2009

In compliance with Article 12 "Transparency of financial sources" of the RA
Law "On Mass Communication", we present the 2009 financial report of Yerevan
Press Club Weekly Newsletter and the website

In 2009, a total of 7,683,400 AMD was spent for the publication of YPC
Weekly Newsletter and the support of the website in the
English and Russian languages.

The whole sum was covered by a grant provided by Open Society Institute.

According to the RA Law "On Public Organizations", the report on financial
activities of Yerevan Press Club for 2009 is placed on YPC website
in the "Mission" section.

"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: CONFLICT OF INTERESTS AMONG REPRESENTATIVES OF POWER

On March 30, the final "Press Club" show, dealing with the establishment of
democratic institutions in Armenia, went on the air of "Yerkir Media" TV
company. The cycle is produced under Yerevan Press Club project, supported
by the Open Society Institute. The guests of the program host, YPC President
Boris Navasardian were Tigran Yeranosian, Leading Specialist of Legal
Department of RA President’s Office, Grisha Balasanian, correspondent of
"Hetq" online publication, and Khachik Harutiunian, lawyer, expert of
Transparency International Anti-Corruption Centre. The discussion centered
on the issue of conflict of interests among representatives of power.

NATIONAL PLATFORM OF EASTERN PARTNERSHIP CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM BEING FORMED IN
ARMENIA

On March 31 at "Urbat" club in Yerevan a briefing, dealing with the
establishment of the National Platform of Eastern Partnership Civil Society
Forum in Armenia, was held. Eastern Partnership (EaP) is the new initiative
of EU and six partner countries (Armenia is among them). The idea of forming
national platforms, uniting NGOs, in six partner countries was advanced at
the Forum. The Forum took place in November 16-17, 2009 in Brussels and was
assisted by more than 200 civil society actors of EU and EaP countries. The
Forum is an institutional collaboration of civil society with Eastern
Partnership, and is supposed to be held once a year. The initiative group on
establishing a National Platform in Armenia is composed by 21 NGOs,
attending the Forum in Brussels. YPC President Boris Navasardian was elected
as Coordinator of Civil Society Forum in Armenia.

During the briefing the formation of Armenian National Platform was
announced, the draft of its concept and the "Eastern Partnership Civil
Society Forum" book were presented. The book is compiled and published by
YPC, and includes documents on the foundation and activities of the Forum
(it is stored on YPC website, , "Publications" section).

The briefing, organized by YPC, is the first from the events cycle dealing
with Civil Society Forum and Armenian National Platform. Both the briefing
and the book are supported by Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

CASE OF "GIND" VERSUS FOUNDER OF "CHORRORD ISHKHANUTIUN" SUBMITTED TO
RECONSIDERATION

On March 25 RA Civil Court of Appeal released the judgment on the
application of the founder of "Chorrord Ishkhanutiun" newspaper, "Ogostos"
LLC. The latter appealed against the decision on the suit of "Gind" printing
house, rendered by court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash
administrative districts of Yerevan on November 16, 2009. As it has been
reported, the court of first jurisdiction secured the claim of the
plaintiff, obliging "Ogostos" to pay off the debt for printing costs and
imposed a ban on the issue of the newspaper until the debt of 2 million 673
thousand AMD (around $ 6,800) is paid. Meanwhile, "Chorrord Ishkhanutiun"
started to be published under a new title, "Chorrord Inknishkhanutiun" (see
YPC Weekly Newsletter, November 13-19, 2009).

At the session of March 25 the Civil Court of Appeal called off the decision
of the court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash of November
16, 2009 and resolved to submit the case to reconsideration by the same
court.

When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.

You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]

Subscription for the Newsletter is free. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
this mailing list, please send a message to: [email protected]

Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
_____________________________________ _______
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site:

MARANCI TO PRESENT TALK TITLED "ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS: THE EXCAVATION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF ZVARTNOTS"

Noyan Tapan
March 31, 2010

PRINCETON, MARCH 31, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On April 14,
the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) will feature a
presentation by ALMA Research Fellow Dr. Christina Maranci. According
to , her talk, titled "Rock, Paper, Scissors:
The Excavation and Reconstruction of Zvartnots," will consider the
initial excavations at the site, the participation of Toros Toramanian,
and the scholarly controversies surrounding its original appearance.

Maranci received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in the department
of art and archaeology in 1998.

THE APPEAL TO PLANT 1,5 MILLION TREES FINDS A WARM RESPONSE
By Hovik Afyan

Azg Daily
March 30 2010
Armenia

February 19 issue of "Azg" daily has informed that World Armenian
Congress and representatives of the youth organizations of the Union
of Armenians in Russia have put forward an initiative under heading
"In commemoration of the innocent martyr"; they have decided to plant
1,5 million trees in Yerevan until the 100th anniversary (in five
years) of the Armenian Genocide, to create a Park of Rebirth.

The Union of Armenians in Russia has called on the Armenian youth
organizations to participate in the tree planting perpetuating the
memory of each victim of the Armenian Genocide.

The appeal to plant 1,5 million trees finds a warm response. The
Union of Armenians in Russia has announced the start of the five-year
tree-planting program from March 31. On that day, a tree planting will
be held in the schoolyards of N169 secondary school after Shiraz and
N163 school, also N174 kindergarten, as well as in the territory of
the metropolitan regiment of the Armenian Army.

All the educational centers have shown great enthusiasm for
participating in the tree planting perpetuating the memory of 1,5
million victims of the Armenian Genocide.