Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors slams Trump for not recognizing Armenian Genocide

May 3, 2017 By administrator

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has urged the White House to recognize the Armenian genocide.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger recommended sending a letter to President Donald Trump, mynewsla.com reported.

She noted that Trump, like past presidents, stopped short of describing the 1915 events as “genocide”.

Supervisor Hilda Solis said officials should not be “intimidated by the threats that are made by the Turkish government,” which has long denied that a genocide occurred.

The board will also urge the county’s congressional delegates to support House Resolution 220, sponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, which would formally recognize the genocide.

Representative of the Armenian community Peter Darakjian, told the board there were no local survivors left to share the horror of the genocide, now that a 101-year-old woman had died.

“History seems to repeat itself if it goes unrecognized. Genocide seems to do the same,” Darakjian said. “Enough already, after 102 years.”

Los Angeles County is home to more than 200,000 Armenians.

Australia’s New South Wales Legislative Council slams Azerbaijan

September 11, 2014 By administrator

The New South Wales Legislative Council adopted a motion on Wednesday, Sept 10, adding its voice to the international condemnation of Azerbaijan on its aggression directed towards the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia.

The motion, which was moved in the Upper House of Australia’s largest State by the Hon. Rev. Fred Nile MLC, outlined the course of events whereby the Azeri armed forces on numerous occasions seriously violated the ceasefire, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia.

International condemnation of Azerbaijan has continued as a result of Azerbaijan’s recent actions and the declaration of war made by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev via the popular social media platform, Twitter.

Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia), Vache Kahramanian, has been working closely working with Members of Parliament to brief them on the recent developments in the South Caucasus and the dangerous escalation of violence demonstrated by Azerbaijan.

Kahramanian said: “Today the Parliament of New South Wales once again demonstrated its principled stance, confirming it stands firm with oppressed people from around the world.”

The motion follows on from the recognition of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh by the New South Wales Parliament in October 2012. Nile and a NSW Parliamentary delegation of seven visited Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh in 2013.

Azerbaijan Council Of Europe Commissioner Slams Baku For Human Rights Violations

September 8, 2014 By administrator

By RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service

September 08, 2014

The Council of Europe’s human rights chief has harshly criticized Azerbaijani authorities over what he says is the deterioration of human rights and basic freedoms in the oil-producing Caspian Sea country.

The council’s human rights commissioner, Nils Muiznieks, told RFE/RL on September 8 that a “wave of arrests of human rights defenders” had increased in recent months.

He said the sitation was “totally unacceptable” and “flies in the face of the human rights obligations undertaken by Azerbaijan” when it joined the 47-nation European human rights body.

In an e-mail interview, Muiznieks cited several cases in which Azerbaijani journalists and bloggers critical of the authorities have been jailed, persecuted, or humiliated.

“The few critical voices that are still outside the country’s detention facilities face mounting pressure and often had to leave the country, when not under a travel ban, and had their bank accounts frozen,” Muiznieks added.