U.S. Congress Insults Feelings of Turkey

A resolution approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week, in recognizing the Armenian Genocide, asks the Obama administration to endorse history, with the risk of insulting their ally. With Turkey's importance to the U.S. , that will be hard to do, and the U.S. may lose Turkey as an ally.  

 “The passing of House Resolution 252 introduces a new dynamic into the State Department’s hopes for “normalization” of relations between Armenia and Turkey. The Armenian Genocide is marked as beginning April 24, 1915. On the 94th anniversary last year, President Obama decried the “great atrocities” – but defied his own campaign promise by following the precedent of other modern presidents and stopping short of using the word “genocide.” said John Hughes.

In my opinion, I think no matter what the U.S. should recognize the genocide.  The U.S. has other allies around the world and since this resolution was passed, there must be hope somewhere in these people's hearts to recognize the genocide and that it is not a lie.

Billboards Tell the Truth

Every year the organization "Peace Of Art" creates a new billboard to support the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Every year they are posted up around Massachusetts, two usually in our hometown of Watertown. Here is this years billboard.

If you're interested in seeing past years billboards check out http://www.peaceofart.org/

On Thurs., March 4, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on the Armenian Genocide Resolution. The resolution passed by a vote of 23 to 22. The resolution will now be sent to the House of Representatives for a vote by the full chamber at a date to be set by the Speaker of the House.
In his introductory remarks, Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, underlined the undisputed fact of the Armenian Genocide, noted that the overwhelming majority of scholars affirm the fact of the genocide, and urged his colleagues for vote for it. He added, “It is now time for Turkey to acknowledge the reality of the Armenian Genocide.”

Turkey says it is recalling its ambassador to the U.S. for consultations following a resolution declaring the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I as genocide, reported AP. The move came minutes after the U.S. congressional panel approved the resolution Thursday. A government statement said Ambassador Namik Tan was being recalled with immediate effect. The House Foreign Affairs Committee endorsed the resolution with a 23-22 vote, even though the Obama Administration had urged Congress not to offend Turkey by approving it.

A bi-partisan majority today rejected Turkey’s gag rule, setting the stage for Speaker Pelosi and the full U.S. House to properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide. The Committee’s message was simple yet powerful: Turkey doesn’t get a vote or a veto in the U.S. Congress.

As Americans of Armenian heritage, it holds great meaning to see our nation move one step closer to putting the painful lessons of the Armenian Genocide to work in helping to end the cycle of genocide, in Darfur and around the world.

March 4,2010

Armenia Yerevan

This summer, citizens of Yerevan will most probably pay 206 drams for 1 cubic meter of water instead of the previous 181 drams.

Trade director of "Yerevan Water" Company Gagik Margaryan informed that the company had appealed to the Public Services Regulatory Commission to increase the price for water supply and disposal by 25 drams, but the appeal will be examined in May. If the appeal is upheld, water prices will be increased by 14 percent.

In my experience not many Armenian houses receive water and there is absolutely no reason to increase the water prices. If every house received water then it would have been fine to increase water pricing.

Earthquake Strikes Turkey!!

A magnitude 6 earthquake has struck Turkey at 4:32 a.m. The earthquake killed 57 people as it knocked down stone or mud brick houses, the earthquake passed through six villages. About 100 ther people were injured in affect of the earthquake, the quake struck 550 kilometers east of the capital city Ankara. The quake which struck at at 4:32 caught many people a they were asleep, it was followed by 30 aftershocks.