Firms lobbying on Armenia genocide resolution.

Six companies lobbied the federal government in the first quarter on a House resolution that would condemn World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

Details on how much each company spent on lobbying in the January-March period and some of the other matters identified. The companies do not specify how much is spent on the various issues in the disclosure reports filed with the House clerk’s office.

–Chevron Corp., $6.8 million. Climate change, oil industry taxes, energy efficiency, renewable fuels, public lands policy, price gouging.

–Northrop Grumman Corp., nearly $2.6 million. Defense spending, research tax credits, climate change.

–United Technologies Corp., nearly $1.9 million. NASA funding, climate change, patent reform, energy and electricity standards.

–Raytheon Co., nearly $1.4 million. Defense spending, air traffic control funding, export control reform.

–BAE Systems Inc., more than $1.1 million. Defense spending, hybrid-electric technology, research and development tax credits.

–Goodrich Corp., $542,195. Defense spending, labor legislation, U.S. tax on overseas income

Vik Darchinyan vs. Joseph Agbeko

IBF/WBA/WBC super flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan (32-1-1, 26 KOs) is looking forward to winning the IBF bantamweight title from Joseph Agbeko (26-1, 22 KOs) when they clash on July 11 at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.

Darchinyan said. ” Maybe I stay for a year at bantamweight and unify the titles then move up a division – I want to win more world titles. People are talking because I am moving up to bantamweight that my power isn’t going to be enough but that is why I want to go to America and be more focused on my training and show the world my power is more than enough at bantamweight. Everyone knows I have a lot of power in my left. Now with all my sparring – I am more focused on my right and I can feel my right hand is very powerful now, too, and my sparring partners have told me this. My preparation has been very good and there is five and half weeks to go.”

Darchinyan will be sparring with WBA featherweight champion Chris John while he is in the USA. If Darchinyan is successful in winning the bantamweight championship he will equal Jeff Fenech as Australia’s three divisional world champion. He has already equalled Kostya Tszyu by holding all the major body belts of IBF/WBC/WBA. Darchinyan is managed by Elias Nasser and promoted by Gary Shaw.

Bill Handels victim of Holocaust apologized

The Armenian National Committee-Western Region (ANC-WR), joined by community organizations and activists, met with KFI640-AM radio show host Bill Handel and station management regarding offensive comments that aired on Handel’s radio show on May 13 and 14 during a discussion between Handel and Lara Hermanson.

Acknowledging that a line had been crossed, Handel, KFI and Clear Channel management apologized to the Armenian American community. With Handel himself being a descendent of Holocaust survivors, he also made it clear that recognition of the Armenian Genocide is something he has been aware of and passionate about throughout his career and promised to continue raising awareness about the issue.

“We deeply regret the inappropriate comments that were made on Bill Handel’s show last month which deeply hurt the Armenian American community. The comments were wrong,” said Robin Bertolucci, KFI Program Director. “We take responsibility for this offense as any genocide, including the Armenian Genocide, are serious topics that should not be used as the basis for humor.” KFI issued an on-air apology on June 12. KFI also released a video apology from Hermanson and Handel.

The ANC-WR requested a meeting with KFI management to convey the community’s outrage and ask that the situation be addressed. In the meantime, the ANC-WR reached out to dozens of activists and community organizations, such as the Armenian Bar Association, eager to work together on the issue, Asbarez Daily reported

New US Ambassador in Azerbaijan?

PanARMENIAN.Net/ American MG Co-Chair Mathew Bryza, deputy to Assistant Secretary of State, is recommended as U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, American Foreign Policy journal reports.

Recommendation for Bryza’s new appointment was given by former US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried.

Fried and Bryza declined to comment, according to Foreign Policy.

Behaviour of the Turkish government towards its Jewish citizens during the Holocaust

Interview with Corry Guttstadt Turkey, the Jews and the Holocaust.
http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-478/_nr-910/i.html

Turkologist Corry Guttstadt has published a comprehensive study of the behaviour of the Turkish government towards its Jewish citizens during the Holocaust. In doing so, she has investigated a chapter of twentieth-century history that has thus far been all but neglected by international Holocaust research. Sonja Galler spoke to her about her findings

| Bild:
| Much is made of the fact that there are approximately 20,000 Jews in Turkey today, a figure that is frequently held up as evidence of the country’s tolerant attitude towards its Jewish minority. It is often claimed that this success story began when persecuted Sephardic Jews found refuge in the Ottoman Empire, the forerunner of the modern Turkish state …

Corry Guttstadt: Well, there are currently over 20,000 Jews in Iran too. A number alone is not necessarily a reliable indication of whether somewhere is safe or free from anti-Semitism. As far as Turkey is concerned, it is important to emphasise that only 20,000 Jews now live in the country. That’s in stark contrast to the estimated 120,000 to 150,000 that lived in the region at the end of the First World War. Both before and after the Second World War, and most particularly after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the vast majority of Jews left Turkey. This was a reversal of the trend of previous centuries.

Over the course of many centuries, the Ottoman Empire was an immigration destination for Jews fleeing the Reconquista in Spain and pogroms in Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, to portray the Ottoman Empire as a “multicultural paradise” is absurd and ahistorical. As non-Muslims, the Jews were subject to countless constraints. Like the Christians, they had to pay a poll tax and were obliged to behave in a submissive manner towards Muslims. Moreover, it must be said that there were numerous fluctuations in the fortunes of the Jews in the 600-year history of the Ottoman Empire.

Sunni people are in danger in Azerbaijan

Religious intolerance in Azerbaijan worries local Sunni muslims

Mosque demolitions in Baku undermine tolerance claims and lead some to accuse the government of clinging onto the Soviet system of keeping a tight rein on believers, Leyla Amirova reports for IWPR.

Great banners across Baku’s streets celebrate the city’s role as “Islamic Culture Capital 2009”, but away from the gaze of visiting delegates, Azerbaijan’s authorities have taken a tough stance on Muslims who dare to worship without their permission.

On 11 May, Salman Aliev, a 50-year-old oil worker, said he was witness to the destruction of a mosque on the Oil Rocks, an offshore drilling settlement built on stilts and rock where 5,000 men work surrounded by the Caspian Sea.

“In the morning I heard this loud noise of machines from the direction of the mosque. When I got there, I saw how the wall of the mosque was being destroyed with a crane,” he said.

The mosque had been a well-built two-storey structure, with a minaret, a dome and air-conditioning but, while Aliev watched, the workers reduced it to a pile of rubble.

“They were not doing this because they wanted to. There was an order from the management, and so as to not lose their jobs they did this,” he said.

Next US President : A Republic Day Speech

My fellow Armenians!

Ninety-one years ago your nation has reestablished a long-cherished statehood in the territory of “Sev Jandam”. The courage of the passionate visionaries who stood up for the patriotic “chmoyutyun” should live on in our hearts just as it lives on in the hearts of Armenians.

My dear fellows, many of you may think I have totally “qaqmej”-ed your expectations on April 24. Let me yell a “No” to those people. I have been in long consultation both with your Government and your opposition, who appeared to be rather “esh kerats esh metsatsats” professionals and must assure you that we are on the right track.   

The people of America and the President will continue to “qtsel” the US nationals of Armenian origin. You have been devoted citizens to this country and unique patriots in building prosperous and proud United States. We should always remember your “tiroj maman” in building our foreign strategies. Yes, we can!

My friends… Today I stand with you and Armenians everywhere with a sense of solidarity, “tqats unem”ism and “paxaq stuts”ism.

God Bless America!

http://chemarina.livejournal.com/27126.html

Eurovision scandals:Armenia Azerbaijan and Karabakh

 
Eurovision 2009 – Georgia, Putin, Azerbaijan and Iran …

The 54th Eurovision Song Contest is just over in Moscow. As one of the unexpected aspects of Eurovision – World’s largest musical contest – the observers mention its growing political background. Using popularity and huge worldwide audience of Eurovision, some countries use this song contest to promote political goals.

The next example was the clip “Always” by AySel & Arash presented by Azerbaijan. In decorations and haircut of the actress, who presented Azerbaijan, the image-makers from Baku used images of Poets’ Mausoleum in Tabriz in Iran as an illustration of Azeri-Türk culture. The observers consider this to be a promotion of ideas of unification of Northern Azerbaijan (Baku) and Southern Azerbaijan (Tabriz).

Interestingly, the organizers of Eurovision 2009 allowed the Iran-related decorations used by Azerbaijan, although they did not allow Armenia to use a photo of the Armenian Grandmother and Grandfather monument just because it is on the territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijan accepts that Grandmother and Grandfather is an Armenian monument, but did not allow Eurovision to display it because they argue it would be promotion of the Armenian approach to the Karabakh conflict. And in Azerbaijan the phone number to vote for Armenia was blocked, at all.
More pictures here
http://javakhk.livejournal.com/53333.html

Inga and Anush Arshakyan in final stage of Eurovision-2009. Vote for N9

 

Inga and Anush Arshakyan

Brave FM Nalbandian

My colleague Khatchig Mouradian, the editor of the Armenian Weekly, reported Wednesday that requests to interview Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian while he was in Washington were denied.

This is most troubling, especially at a time when flow of information from official Yerevan is so little, that we, in the business, are forced to decipher through propaganda-laced news reports from Turkey and Azerbaijan to make sense of this so-called “roadmap” to normalization of ties between Turkey and Armenia.

By shutting out interview requests, Nalbandian missed a golden opportunity to discuss this critically important matter and shed much-needed light on whether this roadmap is more than just an agreement to negotiate or does it come with detrimental strings attached for Armenia. It would have also served as a way for Armenia to lay to rest the speculations and disinformation surrounding this matter and, once and for all, lifting the veil of secrecy that has shrouded the talks-especially from the Armenian government.

Now, more than ever, the need for transparency and frankness with the Armenian people is of utmost importance.

Nalbandian’s refusal to discuss with the Armenian press this and other matters of interest to our readers calls into serious question the strategy being pursued by the Armenian authorities and further clouds the already murky atmosphere created after the April 22 announcement of the “roadmap” deal.

Aside from the three burning questions on whether there’s been an agreement to establish a historical commission to discuss the Genocide, Armenia’s recognition of the Kars treaty and a parallel resolution to the Karabakh conflict, Mouradian probably had a series of other related and important questions for Nalbandian.

Here are a few examples:
If the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is a stated priority in Armenia’s foreign policy, how then can Armenia’s president tell the Wall Street Journal that he was not asking President Obama to recognize the Genocide?

Did President Obama, in fact, use his campaign pledge as a bargaining chip to ensure that US interests were realized?

What role does the foreign ministry envision the Diaspora playing in this “roadmap” process?

Will the appointment of a new foreign minister in Turkey impact the talks?

How is the foreign ministry dealing with the vocal opposition by Karabakh Armenians to this effort and are their concerns being taken into account during the-called “fruitful” discussions with Clinton and others?

Why the secrecy?

Since the press was shut out of this process and any semblance of frank dialogue was denied, it leaves us to wonder about these and other questions that are related to the “roadmap.”

What would you ask Eduard Nalbandian if you had a chance to interview him? Feel free to comment!

http://www.asbarez.info/2009/05/06/nalbandian-shuts-out-the-press/

Turkish songs are banned in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has banned Turkish songs on the radio and television in Azerbaijan as a protest against the (talks toward the) opening of the Turkish border with Armenia. Azeris are readying themselves to demonstrate in front of Turkey’s embassy in Baku, and a boycot of Turkish goods is also on the agenda.

Mikel Housep Martirossian -The mission of Dhaka’s last Armenian

 Michael Joseph Martin is guarded about his exact age and reluctant to accept he will be the last in a long line of Armenians to make a major contribution to the history of Bangladesh.

Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, was once home to thousands of migrants from the former Soviet republic who grew to dominate the city’s trade and business life.

But Martin, aged in his 70s, is now the only one left.

“When I die, maybe one of my three daughters will fly in from Canada to keep our presence here alive,” Martin said hopefully, speaking broken Bengali with a thick accent. “Or perhaps other Armenians will come from somewhere else.”

Martin came to Dhaka in 1942 during World War II, following in the footsteps of his father who had settled in the region decades earlier.

They joined an Armenian community in Bangladesh dating back to the 16th century, but now Martin worries about who will look after the large Armenian church in the city’s old quarter.