Followed by the March of Solidarity was the Rally for Armenia – With Our People, For Our People. Raffi Hovannisyan in Yerevan addressed the representatives of the Los Angeles Armenian community via skype at St. Mary’s Armenian Church, Glendale, California, on Sunday, March 3, 2013.
Բնապահպան Եղիա Ներսեսյանը «Բնապահպանական աղետի կանխում. լուծումներ անպատասխանատու հանքարդյունահանման խնդրին» խորագրով միջոցառման բանախոսն էր: Միջոցարումը տեղի է ունեցել Կալիֆորնիայի Շերման Օքս քաղաքում գտնվող Մերտինեան հայկական ավետարանչական դպրոցում 2012 թ. դեկտեմբերի 16-ին: Ներսեսյանի ելույթից հետո տեղի է ունեցել հարց ու պատասխան: Տեսանյութի վերջում կցված են հանդիսատեսների անձնական ուղերձներն՝ ուղղված հայաստանի քաղաքացիական հասարակությանը: Continue reading “Yeghia Nersesian: Averting Environmental Disaster” »
“Analysis of Political and Environmental Struggle” is an event that took place at Luna Playhouse in Glendale, CA, on December 10, 2012. The speakers were Tigran Khzmalyan, a film director, and Yeghia Nersesian, an environmental activist. A Q&A session followed the presentations.
(Հայերեն տարբերակը՝ «Ազգային ինքնասպանությունը՝ ընթացքի մեջ»)
Charles Aznavour vs. Serj Tankian
I asked a provocative question at the Armenian National Committee (ANC) Grassroots conference, on November 25, 2011, regarding the catastrophic proportions of emigration from Armenia, calling it “the white genocide of 2011”. I made sure to emphasize the controversy of the wording, over which the members of the Diaspora community appear to be divided. I wanted to get more opinions.
“White genocide”, as defined in Wikipedia, is the term Western Armenians use to describe assimilation in the West. Until the first years of Armenia’s independence, it has been referred exclusively to the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923. However, the mass emigration that followed Armenia’s independence was often associated with ‘white genocide’ by the public at large. What Eastern Armenians are going to face in the future outside their homeland is most probably gradual assimilation. The reality is that today about half of the Armenian citizens prefer the prospect of non-violent assimilation over a life doomed to poverty, humiliation, and injustice in their homeland at the hands of their own government. Continue reading “National Suicide in Progress” »
by Emil Danielyan
Reprinted from RFE/RL
The Armenian government is planning to make fresh and potentially far-reaching changes in its rules and procedures for international adoptions of children from Armenia following an RFE/RL report suggesting that they may still be riddled with corruption.
Relevant proposals drawn up by Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s office aim to increase the transparency of the process and reduce the role of obscure local middlemen working for Western adoption agencies. They are also meant to make it easier for Armenian families to adopt or bring up orphans.
Armenian children in an orphanage (courtesy Photolur)
An April 2011 report by RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) said that U.S. adoption agencies seem to continue to make thousands of dollars in informal payments to Armenian officials dealing with foreign adoptions. In particular, it cited a sample contract signed by one such agency, Hopscotch Adoptions, with Americans wishing to adopt Armenian and Georgian children.
The contract, offered to a potential client in the United States in 2007, explained that almost $5,000 of more than $30,000 charged by Hopscotch for every adoption would be spent on “gifts to foreign service providers and government functionaries performing ministerial tasks as an offer of thanks for prompt service.” It claimed that such gifts are “customary” in Armenia and Georgia and do not violate U.S. law.
“Gifts and gratuities” were also a separate spending category in a sample agreement that was offered by another U.S. agency, Adopt Abroad, at least until last April.
Officials at the Armenian Ministry of Justice as well as anti-corruption campaigners in Yerevan agreed at the time that such payments amount to bribes and are therefore illegal in Armenia.
Government sources say Prime Minister Sarkisian took the report very seriously, instructing his senior staff to initiate a major revision of existing adoption rules. They were quick to come up with relevant proposals. Those were submitted in June, along with copies of the Hopscotch contract obtained by RFE/RL, to an inter-agency government commission on adoptions headed by Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasian. Continue reading “Government Plans Fresh Changes In Armenian Child Adoption Rules” »
This is a link to the white paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund, “To Donate Or Not to Donate?” in its entirety in PDF format.