Author: Rose Khoyetsian

Photo: Raul Roa/Glendale News-Press

 

– Glendale educators will undergo additional training in order to better instruct students about the Armenian Genocide and other atrocities as part of the school district’s focus on genocide education.

In Glendale schools, students currently learn about genocide in their history classes in the seventh and 10th grades.

As part of an upcoming two-day workshop in January, school officials will bring genocide experts to work with about 25 teachers of history or literature courses.

The training will largely focus on the Ottoman Turks’ massacre of 1.5 million Armenians beginning in 1915.

The teachers will learn about the literature and oral history as it’s related to the Armenian Genocide, said Jacqueline Perez, assistant superintendent of Glendale Unified.

“This has very strong implications for our community, and we definitely want to be the leader in ensuring our teachers are well prepared to deliver this instruction,” Perez said.

Beginning in 2013, Glendale school officials have given both students and teachers the day off on April 24, the date recognized around the world to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.

Earlier this year, Glendale school officials took a unanimous vote to designate April 24 on district calendars as “Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day.”

Armina Gharpetian, president of the Glendale Unified School Board, said the school district was the first in the country to both close school on April 24 and designate that day on the district’s calendars.

Now, it’s only fitting that the school district also take steps to provide training for teachers, she said.

“I think we should take the lead on this,” she said.

Kazakhstan’s parliament called on Wednesday for the capital city to be renamed after President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a week ahead of a national holiday dedicated to the 76-year-old leader who has the power to accept or reject the proposal, Reuters reports.

The unanimous vote in favor of renaming Astana adds to the growing personality cult around Nazarbayev who has run the Central Asian country since 1989.

Last week, Kazakhstan’s central bank said the portrait of the President would appear on a bank note for the first time, which enters circulation on Dec. 1, the officially celebrated Day of the First President.

Astana simply means “capital” in Kazakh and was given to the city in 1998 shortly after the government relocated there from Almaty, the country’s biggest city and commercial hub.

Lower house deputy Kuanysh Sultanov, who read out the proposal in parliament, said he expected Nazarbaev to respond within weeks.

Nazarbayev has rejected similar proposals in the past but appears in the last few years to be more favorable to such moves. Several monuments featuring him have been erected and a prestigious university and network of schools have been named after him.

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s 17^th annual Pan-European Phoneathon, led by the fund’s French affiliate and with the participation of its affiliates in Germany and Switzerland, will take place during November 16-20, mobilizing Armenian communities throughout the three countries.

Proceeds from the large-scale fundraising campaign will be used to rebuild Artsakh communities that have sustained heavy damage as a result of the four-day war this year, to provide assistance to the Syrian-Armenian community, and to support the continued growth of agricultural-development projects in Armenia’s Tavush Region.

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s affiliate in Greece will have its own phoneathon, which will be held during November 19-20 in Athens. Proceeds from this campaign will be contributed to the construction of the kindergarten of Karin Tak, a village in Artsakh’s Shushi Region. The kindergarten-construction project, now underway, is slated to be completed in summer 2017.

Valérie Toranian, editor-in-chief of the French magazine Revue des Deux Mondes, and journalist and entertainer Nikos Aliagas will serve as the godmother and the godfather of the Pan-European Phoneathon, respectively, making appeals for unity and support throughout the five days of the event.

In the course of the Pan-European Phoneathon, more than 600 volunteers stationed in Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, and Lyon will make calls to Armenian households, businesses, and organizations, to request their support of far-reaching projects that will benefit Armenia and Artsakh, as well as our compatriots in Syria.

Last year, the Pan-European Phoneathon raised a total of over 1.3 million euros, which was used for various agricultural projects in Tavush, the construction of multifunctional community centers in Artsakh, and assistance to war-affected Syrian-Armenians and Iraqi-Armenians.

Armenian communities in Europe have held phoneathons for the past 16 years, consistently expanding their donor bases and fundraising totals. Hayastan All-Armenian Fund phoneathons are also held annually in South America, through the fund’s Argentinean and Brazilian affiliates. The Brazilian-Armenian community’s phoneathon, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s last major fundraising event for 2016, will be held during November 26-27.

A testament to the growing stature of these phoneathons — whether in Europe, South America, or elsewhere — is the fact that their volunteer corps continue to draw the participation of numerous non-Armenian individuals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump with his victory in the US presidential election, voicing hope that joint work will resolve the crisis in bilateral ties, the Kremlin said Wednesday, Sputnik News reports.

According to Kremlin, Putin sent a telegram to Donald Trump congratulating him on his victory in the US presidential election and wishing him success in the responsible job as head of state.

“In a telegram, Putin expressed hope toward joint work to lift Russian-US relations from the state of crisis, as well as to address the pressing issues of the international agenda and the search for effective responses to global security challenges,” the Kremlin said.

In the telegram, Putin voiced hope that the crisis in US-Russia relations will be overcome through joint work. Putin also said he hopes that dialogue between Moscow and Washington, taking into account positions of both countries, meets the interests of the US and Russia.

The Republican Party has retained its majority in the US House of Representatives, projections suggest, the BBC reports.

The TV networks ABC and NBC both projected a Republican majority in the 435-seat chamber, which the party has controlled since 2010.

Republicans also appeared to be set to keep control of the 100-seat Senate, where 34 seats were being contested.

The Democrats need to gain four seats if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency and five if Donald Trump wins.

That is because the vice-president is automatically a member of the Senate.

A court in Armenia will consider an appeal against the life sentence given to the Russian soldier Valery Permyakov, who had killed seven members of a family in the city of Gyumri, reports, quoting the press-service of the Armenian Justice Department.

The appeal lodged on September 7 is connected with charges of attempted border crossing, attorney Eduard Agadzhanyan said earlier.

On August 23, a court in Armenia sentenced Permyakov to life in prison. He was found guilty on all accounts including murder, assault related to robbery and attempt to cross the border illegally.

As Permyakov had pleaded guilty to the murder, the lawyer could not appeal these charges, according to legal ethics. That’s why Agadzhanyan has lodged an appeal against the sentence regarding attempted border crossing.

The family, including a six-month-old baby, was killed as a result of an armed assault on January 12, 2015. Valery Permyakov, a soldier at a Russian base in the Armenian town of Gyumri, was arrested and later charged with the murder of two or more persons under the Armenian Criminal Code.

Famed Armenian novelist, editor, screenwriter and  translator Ruben Hovsepyan passed away today at the age of 77.

Born in Yerevan in 1939, Hovsepyan graduated from the Faculty of Geology of Yerevan State University and went on to study screenwriting in Moscow.

His first book Searches was published in 1965. His more than a dozen books have been translated into several languages. Hovsepyan has also edited several volumes and journals.

Hovsepoyan has translated the works by Leo Tolstoy and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude.

The collection of notes of Khachaturian’s famous works’ arrangements for piano trio will be presented at Aram Khachaturyan House Museum on November 9.

The collection comprises some of Aram Khachaturian’s famous works, arranged for piano trio by Avetik Pivazyan and Ruben Asatryan special for Khachaturian trio. The authors have remained faithful to the original works and retained Khachaturian’s artistic style and colours.

The collection has been published at “Komitas” publishing house. The book is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia. Besides, a little concert will take place during the presentation. These arrangements will be performed by the musicians of Khachaturian Trio.

On the same day the museum will also host the opening of the exhibition “Dedication to Aram Khachaturian”. The works of the Honored Artist of Armenia Henrik Elibekyan will be presented to the audience.

The Michigan State University (MSU) has been granted $1.2 million to develop new less commonly taught language courses, reports.

Center for Language Teaching Advancement, or CeLTA, faculty have been awarded funding by the Mellon Foundation for 38 months to create new language programs through a partnership with the Big Ten Academic Alliance.

Though MSU already offers 29 less-commonly taught languages, or LCTLs, CeLTA faculty hope to add many more, including Armenian, Burmese, Gaelic, Hmong, Serbo-Croatian and Sinhala, according to the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages’ website.

The new LCTL courses will be taught via CourseShare, an online distance-learning program used throughout Big Ten Academic Alliance schools.

Although LCTL learners agree that access to these languages is important, some students think the university could be doing more.

“Hopefully in the future MSU will show its commitment by hiring a full-time, in-person teacher instead of relying solely on digital language instruction,” doctoral student Shelbi Meissner said.

“Yesterday’s signature of the new political agreement on electoral reform in the Republic of Armenia between the Government coalition and opposition parties, and consulted with civil society representatives, is a positive development supporting the implementation of electoral reform in the country,” Maja Kocijancic, Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairsand Security Policy, said in a statement.

“The European Union’s financial assistance, together with that of other international partners and the engagement of the Government, will enable the implementation of the technical aspects defined by the new Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia,” she added.

“The electoral stakeholders in Armenia should now fully implement the new electoral legislation in good faith in order to increase credibility, transparency and public trust in the new electoral system and procedures in line with international standards,” the statement reads.