ANKARA (Zaman)–Massoud Barzani, president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, called on Turkey for face-to-face talks to end high-running tensions over Kurdish terrorists based in northern Iraq and argued that Turkey and Iran’should get used to the idea of Kurds’ right to independence. In a television interview broadcast Monday on the Turkish NTV news station, he [...]

STEPANAKERT (Karabakh Foreign Ministry)–Legislators from all factions represented in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic parliament issued a statement Monday urging the international community to recognize the planned pogroms of Armenia’s in the Azeri city of Sumgait in 1988 as Genocide and punish the perpetrators of these acts. Below is the English translation of the parliamentary announcement: On [...]

BAKU (Armenpress)–The United Nations General Assembly cannot regulate the Karabakh conflict, the Azeri Trend news agency Tuesday quoted the Russian Minsk Group co-chairman Yuri Merzlyakov. Referring to Azerbaijan’s decision to discuss the issue of "frozen conflicts" in the territories of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova (GUAM) at the UN General Assembly session, Merzlyakov said that [...]

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Before wrapping up a visit to Armenia, Poland’s foreign minister Ann Fotyga met with President Robert Kocharian Tuesday, who told the minister Armenia was interested in expanding its relations with Poland, the largest economy of Eastern Europe. Kocharian was quoted by his press office as saying that to attain this objective the sides had [...]

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Armenian and Polish foreign ministers Monday signed a memorandum on cooperation in Euro-integration sphere for 2007-2008. Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told today at a press conference which followed after the signing ceremony, that the rich experience of Poland in Euro-integration process may be useful for Armenia. Taking into consideration the political, economic similarities [...]

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–The Armenian parliament, in a vote of 66 to 5, Monday overwhelmingly approved the third and final reading of a bill on dual citizenship, which would allow members of the Armenian Diaspora to hold citizenship. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation the main proponent of the right to dual nationality welcomed the adoption of the [...]

ISTANBUL (Combined Sources)–The Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul district of Sisli initiated an inquiry into the slogans "We are all Hrant Dink," and "We are all Armenia’s," chanted during the funeral of the murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, Turkish newspapers reported. The prosecutor’s office filed an application to the Interior Ministry to open a criminal investigation [...]

YEREVAN (ARF Press Office)–The Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation held separate meetings Monday with Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Arkady Ghoukasian. A delegation headed by ARF Bureau chairman Hrant Markarian and including fellow bureau members Vahan Hovanessian, Albert Adjemian, Mario Nalbantian, Vigen Baghoumian, Garo Armenian and Vicken Hovsepian, as well as [...]

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–President Robert Kocharian Saturday met with a visiting French delegation headed by that country’s Regional Administration Minister Christian Estrozi. Kocharian’s press office discussed, with pleasure, the rate and success of Year of Armenia in France, which include hundreds of events and which has transformed into a celebration of French-Armenian friendship. They also exchanged ideas [...]

GLENDALE—The 2007 honorees of the 4th Annual Business Awards Gala of Armenian American Chamber of Commerce (AACC), were recently interviewed about their lives, successes, challenges, and thoughts on the future. Vahak Hovnanian, Hacop Baghdassarian, and Sonia Medzadourian Crow are being honored by the AACC because they are exemplary businesspeople and generous community philanthropists. The Business [...]

No, I’m not discussing Alcoholics Anonymous, though the people involved ought to be in rehab. No, I’m not discussing overtly anti-Armenian activities. No, I’m not discussing an abominable abortion. No, I’m not discussing just Armenian absurdity, which in some circles is rife. No, I’m not discussing Armenian a–holes, though you might understandably think so. No, [...]

During his tour of the United States in February 2005, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans met with various Armenian-American groups on both coasts. In response to repeated questions as to why U.S. officials did not use the term Armenian Genocide, Amb. Evans stunned his audiences by openly acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. Even though his [...]

WESTWOOD–"Ebb and Flow of the Armenian Communities of the Indian Ocean" is the theme for the next UCLA international conference, Saturday and Sunday, March 17-18, 2007. Sixteen scholars from Armenia, Europe, and North America will discuss the important commercial, cultural, and intellectual roles of the Armenian communities of Southeast Asia from the seventeenth through twentieth [...]

FRESNO–The Armenian Students Organization and Armenian Studies Program of California State University, Fresno are co-sponsoring the 8th Annual Armenian Film Festival, from 7 to 10 p.m. on Friday, March 2. The Festival will take place in the Leon S. and Pete P. Peters Educational Center (in the Student Recreation Center) on the Fresno State campus. [...]