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New Zealand: Armenian National Committee officially launches Armenian Genocide awareness

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The Armenian National Committee of New Zealand (ANC-NZ) has formally launched to coincide with events in capital Wellington and Auckland, which will raise awareness of the Armenian Genocide and the century-long battle for justice.

ANC-NZ’s inaugural Chairperson will be Hoory Yeldizian, who announced her newly-formed organisation’s goals at the New Zealand Parliament, where an international delegation is visiting, which includes Boston-based Professor Taner Akcam and her colleagues from the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU), including Executive Director Haig Kayserian.

“Our primary objectives are to advocate for the interests and concerns of the Armenian-New Zealander community to the New Zealand Government and its agencies, including in relation to local community issues, fostering closer cultural and trade relations between New Zealand and the Republic of Armenia, as well as public awareness in support of a independent Armenia and its security, to advance the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the New Zealand Government, for the recognition of the Republic of Artsakh, and to represent the collective Armenian-New Zealander viewpoint on matters of public policy,” Yeldizian said.

She added: “We are very grateful to our colleagues across the ditch at the Armenian National Committee of Australia for helping us join the international family of ANCs, and we look forward to working closely with them. And this couldn’t have been achieved without the support of the Armenian Society of New Zealand and the Armenian Society of Wellington, who we look forward to working alongside to achieve tangible outcomes for the greater Armenian good.”

Kayserian, who was present at the inaugural events on behalf of ANC-AU along with Administrator Olivia Dilanchian, congratulated the new ANC-NZ team.

“We very much welcome and are beyond delighted at the formation of ANC in New Zealand, which is made up passionate Armenian-New Zealanders with outstanding resumes, ready to do their community proud,” Kayserian said.

An ANC-ANZ Council is also being established to help coordinate closer cooperation and resources between ANC-AU and ANC-NZ, and for their Trans-Tasman activities.

Joining Yeldizian, who is a solicitor, on the inaugural Committee is Politics lecturer, Dr. Maria Armoudian, forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Yvette Kelly and digital marketing consultant, Alex Yeldizian. Further additions are expected to be announced in coming months.

Two British colonies fighting over flags, New Zealand claims Australia copied its flag

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New Zealand's acting prime minister claims Australia copied its flag

New Zealand’s acting prime minister claims Australia copied its flag

New Zealand’s acting prime minister wants Australia to come up with a new flag, claiming it copied New Zealand’s. The Australian and New Zealand flags are often mixed up due to their similar appearance.

New Zealand’s acting Prime Minister Winston Peters on Wednesday alleged that Australia had copied New Zealand’s national flag and demanded Australia design a new one, local media reported.

Peters, who is holding the fort while Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is on a six-week maternity leave, flagged the issue on local broadcaster TVNZ.

“We had a flag that we’ve had for a long time, copied by Australia, and they should actually change their flag and honour the fact that we got there first with this design,”  Peters said.

The Australian and New Zealand flags are often confused due to their similarities. Both flags are blue with the Union Jack in the top left corner and the stars of the southern cross.

The New Zealand flag’s southern cross has four red stars outlined in white, while Australia’s southern cross has five white stars and an additional Commonwealth star with seven points — six for the Australian states and one representing its territories.

The New Zealand flag was adopted in 1902, while Australia adopted its current flag design in 1954 — more than 50 years later — but after going through three previous versions since the first 1901 design.

Two years ago, New Zealand spent about $18 million (€15.4 million) on a referendum to decide whether to change its flag, but New Zealanders ultimately voted no, with 56.6 per cent choosing to stick with the current flag.

Deportation controversy

Peters’ flag accusation comes after he criticized Australia for deporting New Zealand nationals without a trial.

“When you’re in a foreign country you’re expected to obey their laws,” the New Zealand Herald quoted Peters as saying. “But someone should be tried before they’re evicted from a country,” he continued.

Peters, who is also New Zealand’s foreign minister, and Justice Minister Andrew Little appeared on the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s “Foreign Correspondent” program last week, where he said there appeared to be a “venal, political strain” to them and “certainly not consistent with any humanitarian ideals that I thought both countries once shared.”

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/new-zealands-acting-prime-minister-claims-australia-copied-its-flag/a-44815568

New Zealand politician urges government to acknowledge Armenian Genocide

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New Zealand politician, calling Armenian Genocide

New Zealand politician, calling Armenian Genocide

By Tony Wright

Re-published from NewsHubNew Zealand governments have been constantly running scared from officially recognising the 20th century’s first great crime against humanity – the Armenian Genocide.It’s believed up to 1.5 million of the 2 million Armenian civilians living in the Ottoman Empire (now modern day Turkey) were slaughtered during the First World War.

While the purges and mass-death events were front page news in New Zealand at the time, and even witnessed by Kiwi soldiers who were captured by Ottoman forces at Gallipoli, no New Zealand government has ever officially acknowledged that the Armenian Genocide took place, and that needs to change.

We recognise the Jewish Holocaust of World War II, the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian genocide, and
closer to home, the East Timor genocide.So why don’t we do the same with the Armenian Genocide?The answer is simple: New Zealand’s link to Gallipoli and Turkey.Turkey refuses to admit that the Armenian Genocide took place at all – its official line is that thousands of Armenians died in military uprisings – not as victims of ethnic cleansing.

If a New Zealand government moved to officially recognize that the Armenian Genocide took place, then Turkey would likely threaten to ban Kiwi passport holders from visiting the old Gallipoli battlefields – or at least make the process much more difficult than it is now.Here are some of the 29 countries that officially recognise the Armenian Genocide:Germany, Canada, France, Russia, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Greece and Syria.In many of these countries, denial of the genocide is punishable by a fine or even imprisonment.

It’s interesting to note that soldiers from France and Canada also fought the Ottoman forces at Gallipoli, and yet those nations still decided to stand up to Turkey and recognise the Armenian Genocide.

So, my challenge to the Jacinda Ardern-led Government is this:

Take a stand and officially recognise that the Armenian Genocide took place. Make it law. Teach it in Kiwi classrooms alongside other genocides like the Jewish Holocaust. Do it for peace, and as a chilling warning of what can happen during a war.

Over 18,500 New Zealand soldiers didn’t die in World War I so that foreign powers could still hold us to ransom a century later.

 

New Zealand PM announces pregnancy

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New Zealand’s prime minister is due to have a baby in June and will take six weeks of maternity leave. She said that like many women she can balance child rearing and professional responsibilities.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Friday that she is expecting a child with her partner Clarke Gayford.

“This year we’ll join the many parents who wear two hats. I’ll be PM & a mum while Clarke will be ‘first man of fishing’ & stay at home dad,” Ardern said.

The 37-year-old took over leadership of the labor party just three months before the September 23 election.

She found out she was pregnant on October 13, two weeks before becoming prime minister.

Ardern said that she had asked Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters to take over her duties for six weeks after the expected June due date.

“I fully intend to be contactable and available throughout the six-week period when needed,” she said. “I will make arrangements for appropriate ministers to act in my other portfolios over the six weeks I am away from Parliament.”

“Clarke and I are privileged to be in the position where Clarke can stay home to be our primary care-giver. Knowing that so many parents juggle the care of their new babies, we consider ourselves to be very lucky,” she said.

Gayford has a fishing television program and was even out at sea the day Ardern was announced labor party leader.

Ardern had previously said that she and Gayford wanted a family but that they had doubts whether she could conceive.

“Clarke and I have always been clear we wanted to be parents but had been told we would need help for that to happen,” she said.  “That’s made this news a fantastic surprise.”

Woman’s choice

The prospect of Ardern starting a family and being prime minister at the same time came up during the election when a television journalist suggested the public had right to know her plans.

She answered but said that it was unacceptable for employers to ask such questions from women and that child rearing should not be an obstacle for women’s professional advancement.

“For other women, it is totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace,” she said.

“It is a woman’s decision about when they choose to have children and it should not predetermine whether or not they are given a job or have job opportunities,” she said.

“I’ve been really open about that dilemma because I think probably lots of women face it,” she said. “For me, my position is no different to the woman who works three jobs, or who might be in a position where they are juggling lots of responsibilities.”

The comments resonated with many voters.

Ardern will be only the second world leader to give birth while in office. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had a daughter in 1990.

cw/rc (AFP, AP, dpa)

New Zealand’s prime minister announces sudden resignation

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resignNew Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key says he is resigning after some eight years in office, taking the country by surprise with the abrupt announcement.

55-year-old Key cited family matters as the reason for his sudden resignation.

Speaking at a weekly media conference in Wellington on Monday, he said it had been “the hardest decision” he had ever made.

He was first elected prime minister in 2008 and has led the National Party since ten years ago.

“It’s been a decade of a lot of long, lonely nights for her,” he said in reference to his wife, adding, “And it’s the right time for me to come home… On a family basis, I don’t think I could commit much longer.”

Key, who is a wealthy former stock broker, said he would stay in the parliament so the National Party would not need to go through by-elections.

The National Party is set to hold a meeting on December 12 to choose Key’s successor. Key said he would vote for his deputy and finance minister, Bill English, to take over if his name is put forward.

English told reporters at a press conference that he had not yet decided whether to stand for leadership but did not rule it out.

He praised the prime minister’s “intelligence, optimism and integrity” and said he would be “judged by history as one of New Zealand’s greatest leaders.”

If English becomes prime minister, he would likely continue with many of Key’s core policies, analysts say.

Winston Peters, the leader of the rival New Zealand First Party, hinted that the country needed a change in policy. He said Key had consistently misled the public about the state of the economy, and his resignation showed he was “unable to muddy the waters anymore.”

New Zealand earthquake damage will cost BILLIONS, Prime Minister John Key says

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earthquake-2A powerful earthquake in New Zealand has killed at least two people and destroyed infrastructure and property. The premier indicated that the damage was likely to amount to billions of dollars.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on Monday indicated that damage caused by a 7.8 magnitude that struck the South Pacific nation on Sunday could cost the country around 2 billion New Zealand dollars ($1.43 billion, 1.33 billion euros), local news reported.

“It’s hard to believe that the bill is going to be less than a couple of billion,” Key told Radio New Zealand.

The devastating cost of the New Zealand earthquakes that rocked the country could cost “billions”, according to the Prime Minister John Key.

After surveying some of the damage from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tremors that hit, Key has indicated that it will cost them “a couple of billion dollars”, according to Radio New Zealand on Monday.

“It’s hard to believe that the bill is going to be less than a couple of billion,” he told Radio New Zealand, according to their Twitter account.

New Zealand was also hit by another strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 as well as a hundreds of aftershocks.

Emergency response teams were already flying by helicopter to the region at the epicentre of the original 7.8 magnitude quake, which struck just after midnight some 91 km (57 miles) northeast of Christchurch in the South Island, amid reports of injuries and collapsed buildings.

New Zealand earthquake: strong aftershocks as roads and rivers blocked – live

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earthquakeNew Zealand News 1 hour ago

A 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit New Zealand’s South Island early Monday morning, with reports of aftershocks. It hit some 96km (59 miles) from Christchurch, the U.S. Geological Survey said. A tsunami warning, which…

Sometimes you get the odd jolt that wakes you up but last night the jolt just kept on getting stronger as the house shook around me and things fell onto the floor, the house was moving side to side and it was hard to stand, that’s when you know it’s BIG.

Not at work today just staying away from the city as civil defence has asked people to stay away from the CBD and I have packed a rucksack with water and supplies ready for the next aftershock which I am sure will come.

I am beginning to think I can predict them as last week I said to a friend I feel like a quake is due, it has been too long.

It is a scary act of God that leaves us feeling vulnerable and small, in Wellington the earthquake followed torrential downpours and tonight gale force winds. O joy!!

 

New Zealand soldiers witness and rescued victims of Armenian Genocide

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SCCZEN_220416SPLARMENIAN2_620x310These moving stories show that New Zealand soldiers were not just pawns in a game of empires, and nor were ordinary citizens isolated from traumas elsewhere. They rescued victims of the first genocide in modern history, the horror of which would move Raphael Lemkin to coin the term genocide in 1943 and begin building an international legal framework to outlaw crimes against humanity.

The powerful links between New Zealanders and victims of the Armenian Genocide are, however, cast in a different light because, despite the wealth of evidence presented in newspapers, diplomatic cables, trials, governmental archives, and the words of the victims themselves, the Turkish state – from 1918 to now – denies that a genocide took place.

This forgotten past, now uncovered, brings into question the special relationship that exists between Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey. Can New Zealand state officials stand on a platform with Turkish officials at Gallipoli knowing that they actively refuse to acknowledge the truth of what happened to the Armenians? Knowing now that New Zealanders risked their lives for the survivors?

NEW ZEALAND: A leader Iwi Maori calls to boycott Memorial Day Dardanelles support for Armenians

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arton109996-480x320David Rankin clan chief and researcher Ngapuhi Maori called to boycott the centenary celebrations of the ANZAC (battles of the Dardanelles) this year “because the Turkish government used the event to distract the Armenian Genocide in which more than a million indigenous Armenians were killed by the Turks. ”

“The Armenian holocaust began April 24, 1915, so what better way for Turkey to hide than putting all the attention on ANZAC Day,” said Mr. Rankin. “The indigenous Armenian population was killed by the colonizers Turks and our involvement in the centenary of the Gallipoli ANZAC supports the genocide of the colonizer. Indigenous peoples must stand up and fight the oppressor ”

“Turkey was the Islamic State of his day,” said Mr. Rankin. “It killed nearly a million and a half Armenians because they were Christians and that they were the territories that the Turks wanted to colonize. We effectively support by going to the commemorations that are orchestrated at Gallipoli. This is a diversionary tactic. ”

Mr. Rankin has written to the Turkish ambassador in New Zealand about it in January, but has not received a response. “This shows me that their attitude towards indigenous peoples has not changed in a hundred years. We can still be ignored and treated like crap, “said Mr. Rankin.

Mr. Rankin called Maori and other indigenous groups to boycott the events of the ANZAC Memorial Day this year and as a sign of solidarity with the indigenous Armenians, to stop wearing poppies this year.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015,
Stéphane © armenews.com