“Armenpress” introduces 16th bestseller books list

May 3, 2013 By administrator

10:38, 3 May, 2013

YEREVAN, MAY 3, ARMENPRESS. The book of poems by Armenian poetess Anahit Taryan titled “The Sunny Starfall” tops the bestseller books list introduced by “Armenpress” News Agency. Popular “Masha and the Bear” tale occupies the second position of the rating. The Armenian version of the prominent Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli’s “Stone Dreams” published by “Graber” publishing house occupies the third place in the bestseller books list. Artak Vardanyan translated the novel into Armenian. Aram Ananyan authored the preface of the book and the publication was edited by Seyranuhi Geghamyan. Aylisli’s book is followed by Hovhannes Tumanyan’s tales. “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” by Columbian author Gabriel García Márquez occupies the fifth position of the list. Bakur Karapetyan’s “The Sumgait Diary” occupies the sixth position. This book is based upon actual events.

“Stone Dreams” by Akram Aylisli, but published by “Nork” publishing house occupies the seventh position of the bestseller books list introduced by “Armenpress”. Ashot Aghababyan’s “Lonely” novel takes the eighth place. ”The Book of Lamentations” by outstanding Armenian author St. Gregory of Narek occupies the ninth position this time. This masterpiece by St. Gregory of Narek has always been included in our bestseller books list. And the Armenian version of Akram Aylisli’s “Stone Dreams” published by “Edit-Print” publishing house has appeared in the final position of the Bestseller Books List introduced by “Armenpress” News Agency.

AYF Calls on USC to Retract Invitation of Turkish Vice Consul Tolga Arslan

May 3, 2013 By administrator

LOS ANGELES—The Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) has raised concern regarding the University of Southern California (USC) Center for Public Diplomacy’s decision to invite Tolga Arslan, Turkish Vice-Consul, to speak at the Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars (APDS) Conference on Friday, May 3.

The conference is held annually and has four panels this year focusing on Public Diplomacy’s Domestic Dimensions, Public Diplomacy in Conflict Zones, and Diasporas and Consular Diplomacy. Togla Arslan has been invited to speak on the subject of Diasporas and Consular Diplomacy in order to share his public diplomacy strategies and the most effective ways of engaging with their diasporas. Arslan is not only a representative of a government that actively denies the Armenian Genocide, but he also actively works with organizations in the Diaspora that advocate for the denial of genocide. This concern should not only be a concern to the Armenian community and to human rights advocates, but to the USC faculty and students as well. Inviting a representative of a government that does not engage in just practices in diplomacy reflects negatively upon the department and its credibility.

It is important that those attending this conference are educated and aware of the ongoing human rights violations by the Turkish government. USC should not allow representatives of foreign governments that have one of the worst human rights violation records to influence our education in the United States. It is important that we be critical and that we speak out when we see individuals like Arslan, through his government, attempting to influence our educational system.

The Armenian Youth Federation calls on the USC Center for Public Diplomacy to retract its invitation to Tolga Arslan, and to be truly critical of the representatives that they invite for future panels.

On November 1, Arslan was invited to be the keynote speaker at the UCLA Bruin Model UN conference, where he was supposed to deliver the introductory speech to the conference participants. Arslan canceled his appearance at the last minute due to the combined efforts of the Armenian Youth Federation Western Region (AYF-WR), Armenian National Committee of America Western Region (ANCA-WR), and the UCLA Armenian Student Association (ASA). The BruinMUN organizers thanked the Armenian community for their steadfast commitment to the principles of truth, justice, and human rights.

Founded in 1933, the Armenian Youth Federation is the largest and most influential Armenian American youth organization in the United States, working to advance the social, political, educational and cultural awareness of Armenian-American youth.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev named “press predator”

May 3, 2013 By administrator

May 3, 2013 – 16:32 AMT

Contact.az reported: On World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders released an updated list of 39 Predators of Freedom of Information – presidents, politicians, religious leaders, militias and criminal organizations that censor, imprison, kidnap, torture and kill journalists and other news providers.

“These predators of freedom of information are responsible for the worst abuses against the news media and journalists,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “They are becoming more and more effective. In 2012, the level of violence against news providers was unprecedented and a record number of journalists were killed,” he said.

This year, as in 2012, 2 of the 39 “predators”, are representatives of Azerbaijan – President Ilham Aliyev and his faithful companion in Nakhichevan, Vasif Talybov, Contact.az reported

Paper on Armenian, Greek, Jewish communities to be released in Istanbul

May 3, 2013 By administrator

May 2, 2013 – 16:55 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Luys bimonthly paper will be released in Istanbul to cover events in the country’s Armenian, Jewish, Greek and Assyrian communities, Taraf said.

As the editor-in-chief of the paper Sahnur Kazanci noted, “we, Armenians, have long been living next to Greeks and Assyrians, sharing happy events of our lives. The paper is merely a chance to expand the coverage of those events.”

Luys will be released in 28 pages, one of them fully in Armenian.

Richard Hovannisian and Elie Wiesel in Conversation on Genocide

May 2, 2013 By administrator

ORANGE, Calif.–On April 17, Professor Richard Hovannisian, First Holder of the AEF Chair in Modern History at UCLA and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Chapman University and the University of California, Irvine, engaged in “Conversation” with Dr. Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor, regarding the moral obligation of mankind to honor and preserve the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust by documenting and preserving witness and survivor testimonials, advocating for recognition, and promoting education.

Before a capacity audience in the Wallace All Faiths Chapel, the scholars touched upon their unique individual experiences and that of their communities while dealing with concepts of truth and justice in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust. Hovannisian posed the question of whether there can ever be real justice for Holocaust victims, even with the countless monuments and reparations they have received, to which Wiesel simply said “no”. Hovannisian added that the Armenians, on the other hand, have not even been given the satisfaction of a modicum of formal recognition by the Republic of Turkey. He wondered about Dr. Wiesel’s view of the Holocaust being beyond the bounds of history and therefore incomparable and argued instead that the Holocaust, like the Armenian Genocide, could be contextualized and historicized without making either of them seem rational.

Dr. Elie Wiesel spoke of the Armenians’ “passion for memory” and for preserving every detail of a calamity that marked and traumatized all subsequent generations of Armenians both in homeland and Diaspora. Wiesel then described how the Armenian cause “eventually became my cause,” and discussed the importance of remembrance and what might happen once the last witness eventually passes away.

Dr. Hovannisian emphasized that selectivity of memory poses a challenge for those not connected to an event, as the Holocaust has been universalized, while Armenians still struggle with denial. “The history is not just our history, but mankind’s history,” said Hovannisian, and stated that memory must not just be linked to a single victim group.

There currently exists two institutions in Los Angeles that preserve, digitize, index and utilize survivor testimonials from the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust—UCLA’s Armenian Oral History project led by Hovannisian, and the Shoah Foundation’s much more extensive collection at the University of Southern California. Hovannisian began the UCLA program in the 1970s by having students interview survivors of the Armenian Genocide. The interviews were later transcribed and translated by a subsequent generation of students.

“Elie Wiesel and Richard Hovannisian in Conversation” was moderated by Chapman University History Department Chair Jennifer Keene and was part of the University’s week-long events featuring Elie Wiesel and organized by the Rodgers Center of Holocaust Education headed by Dr. Marilyn Harran.

In the days prior to the Chapman program, Professor Hovannisian lectured in Yerevan, Armenia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay; Berlin, Germany; and Scottsdale, Arizona. On April 21, he was the keynote speaker of the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide at St. Mary Church in Costa Mesa, California, and on May 1-2 returned to Chapman University on May 1-2 for guest lectures in two Holocaust classes. He will make a presentation on the destruction of Smyrna/Izmir in a communitywide program at St. Leon Church in New Jersey on May 17, and will be the featured speaker in Montreal on May 25 on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Armenian republic.

islamization of the Turkish society (Turkish Airlines bans red lipstick for flight attendants)

May 2, 2013 By administrator

May 02, 2013 | 12:48

Turkish Airlines leadership introduced new regulations for flight attendants banning them from wearing brightly-colored lipsticks.

The company’s air hostesses are obliged to wear make-up in pastel colors, Hurriyet reported. Tattoos and wigs will be banned for the staff, too.

In response to new regulations of the national air carrier, numerous female users of social networks posted photos of themselves wearing bright red lipstick.

The air company has recently banned alcohol on internal flights, and the move was harshly criticized by those opposing islamization of the Turkish society.

Illinois to host Ottoman Genocides of Anatolian Christians symposium (Armenian, Assyrian and Greek)

May 2, 2013 By administrator

May 2, 2013 – 14:57 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Less than a month after the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center ran its first program on the Armenian Genocide, a two-day symposium covering even more ground is slated for the same venue, Skokie Review reported.

The Ottoman Turkish Genocides of Anatolian Christians: A Common Case Study will draw scholars from around the world to present original research on the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides.

The conference, due on May 10-11, is moderated by Zoryan Institute Executive Director George Shirinian, who edited the book: “The Asia Minor Catastrophe and the Ottoman Greek Genocide: Essays on Asia Minor, Pontos, and Eastern Thrace, 1913–1923.”

Organizers include the Armenian National Committee, the Assyrian Center for Genocide Studies and the Asia Minor and Pontos Hellenic Center, which was founded by George Mavropoulos.

Concept Schools, Illinois, and the Turkish Imam Gulen Movement

May 1, 2013 By administrator

By: Sharon Higgins

Introduction

On March 19, 2013, the Illinois State Charter School Commission approved two new Chicagocharter schools to be operated by Concept Schools. The

decision reversed a ruling by ChicagoPublic Schools.Concept Schools is a charter management organization associated with the Gulen movement, areligious group with a global reach that originated in Turkey forty years ago. The movement isinvolved with business, media, interfaith dialogue, and Turkish culture promotional activities

–

but it is especially known for its focus on establishing schools. People in Turkey are familiar with the movement and aware of its connection to certain Turkishschools. People in other countries who are not familiar with themovement may only notice that a local school is“Turkish run.

To date, members of the Gulen movement have opened hundreds of private

schools in over 100countries around the world, as well as 135 charter schools in the United States. The creation of charter school law presented the Gulen movement with the opportunity to establish schools in theUS that would be fully funded by American taxpayers.The founders of Concept Schools opened the movements first charter schools in 1999, twoHorizon Science Academy schools in Ohio. Today, Concept is a regional organization thatoperates 27 charter schools in seven Midwestern states, two of which are Illinois: the ChicagoMath and Science Academy and Quest Charter Academy in Peoria.This report will provide readers with a basic understanding about the Gulen movement, itsstructure in the US, and some of the activities in which it is engaged, especially as they relate tothe

movement’s charter schools in Illinois. It contains the following sections:

The real motivation of the Gulen movement — charter schools and all — is to accumulate political and financial resources to further the transformation of Turkey itself, according to JoshuaHendrick, assistant professor of sociology and global studies at Loyola University in Maryland and perhaps the leading U.S. scholar of Gulen.

Portland Press Herald (1)

By: Sharon Higgins

Assyrian Genocide Memorial Erected in France (750,000 Assyrians murdered by the Turks)

May 1, 2013 By administrator

(AINA) — A memorial to the Assyrian victims of the Genocide perpetrated against Assyrians, Greeks and Armenians in World War One by Ottoman Turks was erected yesterday in the town Arnouville, outside of Paris. The Genocide, which began on April 24, 1915 and lasted until 1918, claimed the lives of 750,000 Assyrians (75%), 500,000 Greeks and 1.5 million Armenians.

According to the Assyrian Genocide Research Center, “this is a historical day for the Assyrian nation, to commemorate the victims of the genocide and to point out the current atrocities brought upon the ancient St. Gabriel Monastery by the so called “modern” Turkey.”

The St. Gabriel Monastery, founded in 397 A.D., has been embroiled in a legal battle over its land, with the Turkish government attempting to seize the Monastery’s lands (full coverage). The Monastery is located in the Tur Abdin plateau near Midyat in the Mardin Province in Southeastern Turkey.

Paris is host to a large community of Assyrians, most of whom having arrived during and after World War One, to escape the Turkish genocide.

Istanbul police fire tear gas at May Day demonstrators

May 1, 2013 By administrator

Violent groups who gathered to hold unauthorized May Day rallies on Wednesday clashed with police in İstanbul’s Şişli and Beşiktaş districts, Today’s Zaman reported.

Tensions escalated when the groups attempted to march towards the city’s central Taksim Square despite government prohibition of gatherings there due to ongoing construction in the area. A group consisting of members from the Turkish Communist Party (TKP), the Workers’ Party (İP) and the Halkevleri Association came together in front of the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) building in Beşiktaş. Police intervened with gas bombs when the group tried to walk up to Taksim to mark the day, detaining two protesters. CHP Deputy Chairman Gürsel Tekin was among those affected by the gas. Some of the protestors threw cobblestones at police officers and two reporters covering the incidents were injured during the clash.

Another group gathered in front of the headquarters of the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DİSK) on Halaskargazi Street in Şişli. They were holding banners and shouting slogans. Some of the protestors threw lit fireworks and stones at police and attacked shops in the area with Molotov cocktails. Police used gas bombs to stop them.

Yet another group of protestors, covering their faces, gathered in Şişli’s Okmeydanı district and started to march towards Taksim Square shouting slogans in favor of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) — a left-wing terrorist group that has intensified its terrorist activities targeting public servants and state buildings in the past year. Police fired tear gas at the demonstrators as they tried to break through barricades around the square. They also threw stones, fireworks and Molotov cocktails at police.

The heart of the May 1 celebrations has always been İstanbul’s busiest square, Taksim, which, until 2009, was off limits to May 1 demonstrators following May Day 1977, also known as Bloody May Day, when 34 people were killed after unknown assailants opened fire on the crowd. Since then, May Day in Turkey has always been a source of tension. Thousands of police were stationed in several locations on Wednesday to block access to the square.

read more on http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/

By: Sharon Higgins