This anti-Muslim hate cartoon was posted on one of Arapahoe Community College’s (Littleton, Colorado) public boards on 23 March 2006.

I took it down from the board but did not take it to the incompetent Campus Police.

Several similar cartoons were spread around the same school a few months ago when the Muslims around the world were rioting the Danish cartoons. The police confiscated those cartoons.

If you speak to the Hamshen, they will say to you, “We are Armenians,” but when you point the camera at them, they say “We are Turkish.” Turkey is not a nation of free speech, although it may present itself as such. Therefore, there’s a double dialogue in Turkey. There’s a dialogue that you see presented publicly, and then there’s a dialogue behind closed doors. There is an increasing number of people in Turkey who do believe it was genocide; however, they would not say this publicly. – Andrew Goldberg, New York filmmaker, 23 March 2006

Read the rest of the interview at http://www.aztagdaily.com/interviews/goldberg.htm

The majority of an Azerbaijani forum, according to a poll, admit that Armenian monuments are being destroyed in Azerbaijan.

Here is what I found while browsing the topic “Armenian monuments are being destroyed in Azerbaijan. Is it true or not?”

As of 24 March 2006, sixty one users of www.day.az/forum (the relatively tolerant Russian-language Azerbaijani forum) participated in a poll question “Armenian monuments are being destroyed in Azerbaijan. Is it true or not?”

Thirty five of them said that it was true, while ten of those thirty five said “Yes [Armenians monuments are being destroyed in Azerbaijan] and it is the right thing to do.” Another nine responded “Yes, so what?”

24.59% (15 users) said that it was not true and claimed to have evidence supporting their point. One of the arguments is that there is an Armenian church in Baku (Azerbaijan’s capital), therefore Armenian monuments are not being destroyed. According to those fifteen, the hundreds of photographs and video documents testifying to the Azerbaijani vandalism are fabrication and Photoshop materials.

26.23% (16 users) admitted the destruction and said they were sorry (I assume some of them, if not most, are Armenian users).

If the poll reflects (which I doubt) the real approach of the Azerbaijanis to the destruction of the Armenian monuments, it means the majority of them are well aware what is happening to the Armenian heritage in their Republic.

Why would Mr. Piotrovski remain silent until going to Armenia? Do people have to go to Armenia in order to “remember” what happened in December of 2005 to a beautiful medieval cemetery?

Hermitage Director Denounces Destruction Of Armenian Monuments In Azerbaijan

Yerevan, March 22 /Armenpress/ Director of Hermitage Museum in Russian Saint Petersburg, denounced on Tuesday destruction of Armenian cultural and historical monuments in Azerbaijan, saying destruction of such monuments was a crime irrespective of where it takes place.

The director of one of the world's richest museums, Boris Piotrovski, has come to Armenia to deliver a series of lectures to students. Piotrovski said the recent destruction of an old Armenian cemetery in Nakhichevan enclave of Azerbaijan was also a cultural crime. He said the order to destroy the cemetery was politically motivated.
Piotrovski said international organizations should be more resolute in fighting back and preventing similar crimes.

www.armeniadiaspora.com

Don’t want to show Andrew’s documentary in LA? You wish! Andrew will do it himself!

Here is a 23 March 2006 LA Times article that Andrew informed others and me in a mass e-mail.

(Oregon Public Broadcasting)

'Armenian Genocide' will show at Egyptian
With KCET-TV refusing to air his documentary, Andrew Goldberg has rented out his own theatre.
By Rachel Abramowitz, Times Staff Writer
March 23, 2006

With local PBS affiliate KCET-TV refusing to air his documentary "The Armenian Genocide," filmmaker Andrew Goldberg has decided to rent out Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre to show the film in continuous free screenings on April 17 — the same day it will be playing on most of the top PBS stations in the country.

"We will continue to screen the film that day and night as long as we have the theater," Goldberg said Wednesday.

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The filmmaker, who is paying for much of the $10,000 tab out of his own pocket, noted that "the largest market of Armenians outside Armenia is in Los Angeles."

Goldberg's one-hour documentary focuses on the Ottoman Empire's role in the massacre of at least a million Armenians during and right after World War I.

The Ottoman Empire became the modern republic of Turkey, whose government disputes that a genocide occurred, attributing the deaths instead to war, disease and starvation.

The documentary has already created a flap, in part because PBS commissioned a 25-minute panel discussion to run afterward, which featured two academics who believed that the killings constituted genocide, and two who argued that a holocaust did not occur.

An Armenian group launched an online petition against the panel program and several members of Congress complained to PBS. They argued that the network would never follow a documentary about the genocide of Jews during World War II with a panel discussion featuring holocaust deniers.

KCET said it wouldn't run either the documentary or the panel follow-up.

Bohdan Zachary, the station's executive director of programming, said it would instead air a French documentary about the Armenian genocide, which the station felt offered a more comprehensive examination of the issue.

As a response to my letter concerning “Talaat Movement” being a Google sponsor, I have received a letter of “most sincere apology” from Google. While Googling “talaat pasha,” a website in “honor” of that murderer was shown to the right as a “Sponsored Link.”

Hello Simon,

Thank you for your email. Please accept my most sincere apology if this
has offended you or anyone else for that matter.

I understand that you saw an inappropriate advertisement on a Google
results page. Our AdWords Specialists have removed this ad.

The advertisement you saw was generated through the AdWords program,
which
is designed to give thousands of small business owners the power to
quickly and efficiently generate traffic for their sites. The ads they
create run on our site immediately. Our editorial staff reviews all ads
to
make sure that they are appropriate for our site. Since we show ads
immediately, there is often a short period of time when the ad is
running
before being reviewed and approved by Google AdWords Specialists.
Please
note that we try to keep this lag as short as possible.

Unfortunately, it seems you saw the advertisement before we had a
chance
to review it. We have since had the opportunity to review the ad and
have
deemed it inappropriate for our site.

Simon, again, please accept our apologies. We thank you for your
patience
and continuing support.

[…]

Sincerely,

Jessica R.
The Google AdWords Team

The great news that our blogpal and world-known photojournalist Onnik Krikorian has been nominated for the National Geographic’s All Road’s Award gives me courage to share some personal news.

Today, when I was working at my college’s library, our president’s secretary came by and gave me a packet of tickets to Seattle (Washington) and Long Beach (California).

At the first place, I will be attending the 88th International Convention of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, where Madeleine Albright will be the keynote speaker. During the second general session of the convention I will be recognized on the stage along with 19 other students who have been named a Guistwhite scholar out of 600 applicants. Of course, I will also get to see some of my friends (hopefully, including my Russian friend Elena and my Azerbaijani friend Azar), and I am really looking forward to it!

In Long Beach, I will be attending the American Association of Community Colleges convention, where on 22 April I will represent the State of Colorado as the New Century Scholar (out of 1600 college nominees 50 are selected to represent the United States).

The best news is that I have also won America’s most prestigious college award, but I won’t name it now, since USA TODAY (America’s most circulated daily) has the exclusive privilege to report about it. So check the 24 April 2006 USA TODAY issue for my photograph and biography. I can say that only 20 out of 1600 students get the award. Those 1600 are nominated by their schools and have to have high GPAs and a record of extensive community activities.

Earlier this month, I was also named to the All-Colorado Academic Team (please DON’T check the link my photo is horrible) .

Lately there has been observable Azerbaijani and Turkish obsession about monuments, whether it is destruction of medieval Armenian head stones or protests against Armenian genocide monuments in France.

Why am I putting the words “Azerbaijani” and “Turkish” together again? The thing is that the officials of those two countries (I don’t say nation, since at a recent event Turkish and Azerbaijani students said that Turkey and Azerbaijan are one nation, but two countries. Whatever works.) are honoring the defeat of the Armenian army (read also the massacre of the Armenian civilians) in Nakhichevan, an Armenian region in Azerbaijan where the latest vandalism took place.

As Turkish Zaman reports on 21 March 2006, “A Turkish War Memorial, for Turkish soldiers who died protecting Nahcivan (Naxcivan/Nakhchivan) lands from Armenian occupation during World War I, was opened with a ceremony in Ordubad.” The city Ordubad is Nakhichevan’s second largest city and is very close to the Armenian cemetery (now destroyed) of Hin Jugha (Old Julfa).

Is it a coincidence that the Turkish monument is built next to the site where thousands of Armenian monuments were wiped out just four months ago?

Turkish War Memorial in Nahcivan Opened
By Cihan News Agency, Ordubad
Published: Tuesday, March 21, 2006
zaman.com

A Turkish War Memorial, for Turkish soldiers who died protecting Nahcivan (Naxcivan/Nakhchivan) lands from Armenian occupation during World War I, was opened with a ceremony in Ordubad.

“Turkish Armed Forces will always stand beside its Azeri brothers as was the case in the past,” said Staff Officer Celalettin Bacanli in his speech.

“Have no doubts; the Turkish people and Turkish Armed Forces will always stand beside Azerbaijan, just as they did throughout history,” added Bacanli, declaring the memorial a sign of recognition for Azeri and Turkish brotherhood, as he reminded of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s words, “Azerbaijan’s problem is our problem, its happiness is ours.”

Turkey’s Nakhchivan Ambassador Ismail Sefa Yuceer, Military Attaché of Naxcivan Mehmet Torun, Deputy Governor of Ordubad, Itibar Ismailov; and many citizens from both countries participated in the ceremony.

During World War I, soldiers from some of the divisions under Nuri Pasha were martyred fighting against Armenians.

The location of the Turkish Memorial was determined after talking to witnesses of the war and historians. President of the Nakhchivan Assembly Vasif Talibov also helped in the preparations of the war memorial.

According to a Hetq article in Armenian (20 March 2006), two families in Armenia are claiming that Cher, the American singer whose father is Armenian, is their relative.

Abarantsi?

A more convincing argument is that Cher’s father, Karapet Sargsyan (Garabed Sarkissian), was from Aparan and left for America during WWII. Cher’s alleged cousin tried to meet her in a Moscow concert, but was unsucsefful.

Is Cher really Abarantsi? I would bet so!

p.s. Arapantis are the people of Aparan, a city in Armenia. There are many jokes about Aparanatsis (jokingly called Abarantsis). Aparan is like Armenia’s Arkansas. No offenses, my sweetheart also has Aparantsi roots.

“Metz Yeghern” is the Armenian term for the Armenian genocide, like the Holocaust term “Shoa” for the Jews.

In the last years, Vatican Popes have reffered to the Armenian genocide as “Metz Yeghern” in their speeches.

from www.ihradio.org
As the Catholic World News reports on 20 March 2006,Pope Benedict XVI held a meeting with Catholic Armenians (most Armenians are Apostolic/Orthodox) and said that Metz Yeghern contributed to the division of the Armenian nation.

A tragic history has contributed to the divisions among Armenian Christians, the Pope observed. He mentioned the Metz Yeghern, or "great evil," that saw hundreds of thousands of Armenians slaughtered by Turkish persecutors during the forced migration from the Mediterranean to the land now known as Armenia. While the Armenian Apostolic Church is now established both in that country and in Lebanon, the diaspora caused the Armenian Catholic community to find a new base in Lebanon.

Read the whole article at http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=43071