A key watchdog of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has given a mostly negative assessment of government-drafted amendments to an Armenian law regulating the work of non-governmental organizations, it emerged on Wednesday.
Pasadena ANC Visits Local Armenian Businesses With State Assemblymember Portantino
Leaders of the Pasadena Armenian National Committee took California State Assemblymember Anthony Portantino (D-44) on a tour of Armenian American businesses in the City of Pasadena on December 11, 2009 to help the Assemblymember better understand the challenges facing Armenian American business owners in this challenging economy and what actions, if any, the State can take to improve the economy.
Today’s Turkey Has No Place in EU, Says Greek Minister
Only days after the EU foreign ministers’ warning over Ankara’s ‘failure’ to open its ports to shipping from Greek Cyprus, Greece’s Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas says although Turkey has a place in the bloc, it is not the Turkey of today.
Andrei Sakharov’s Ideals Being Forgotten
Yelena Bonner, the widow of Soviet-era rights defender Andrei Sakharov and an outspoken rights campaigner in her own right, has lamented what she says is a decline in the invocation of her late husband’s name and ideals, RFE/RL’s Russian Service reports.
Tales of Winter
Finally it snowed! And finally, I used freshly split logs to start a long-awaited fire with dried kindling in the fireplace. It was the seventh of the month, and it had not yet snowed until now. That was a change from yesteryears, when Thanksgiving came in the middle of snowstorms stranding air and land travelers. The Greens attribute all this change to global warming, which, if persists, will melt the Antarctic snow and raise the sea levels to surpass that of the Great Flood, which prompted Noah to build his arc. Waves and wind had directed the arc towards Armenia, and when the waters receded, the arc had settled on our very own Mount Ararat—unlike the British Navy, which couldn’t (rather wouldn’t) climb our mountain as Gostan Zarian had portrayed in his novel Nave Lerran Vrah (The Ship on the Mountain).
Youth Organizations in Armenia Issue Statement Condemning Azeri Threats
Youth organizations in Armenia released an open statement on Friday condemning Azerbaijan’s recent threats to use force against Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The letter, read at a press conference at the Yerablur memorial complex, is open for all youth, students and political organizations to join, the organizers said.
Turkey Shuts Down Kurdish Political Party
Turkey’s Constitutional Court late Friday delivered a landmark ruling, banning the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) for alleged links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Karabakh Marks 18 Years of Statehood and Democracy on Human Rights Day
As the world marked the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Thursday, The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic commemorated two declarations of its own, celebrating the decision of its people to declare independence in 1991 and a vote by the population in 2006 to approve a new constitution reaffirming democratic statehood.
ARF Parliament Leader Meets with U.S. Representatives, East Coast Communities
Armen Rustamian, a leading member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s Supreme Council in Armenia is touring East Coast Armenian-American communities visiting with congressional and other U.S. government representatives, announced the ARF Eastern US Central Committee. Rustamyan is also a member of Armenia’s National Assembly, serving as chairman of its Standing Committee on Foreign Relations. During his visit, he will discuss a wide range of issues tied to Armenia’s foreign policy and will reiterate the ARF’s continued opposition to the Armenia-Turkey protocols.
Armenia Needs New Approach to Protocols
The tacit rebuke by foreign minister Eduard Nalbandian of the forceful comments made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Washington signals official Yerevan’s ambivalence to the political goings on around it and further reinforces the need for a new approach to diplomacy by Armenia.