ANCA Endorses Peter Koutoujian in Special Congressional Election‏ - Armenian Weekly

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Armenian Weekly (armenianweekly@hairenik.com)

Wednesday, July 03, 2013 Recent Articles from the Armenian Weekly... ANCA Endorses Peter Koutoujian in Special Congressional Election OneArmenia: Uniting Armenians for Change A Friendship that Will Never Vanish in Smoke ‘What does the AYF-YOARF mean to me?’ Sassounian: Despite Lavish Public Praise, US Deeply Troubled by Erdogan Search Armenian Weekly ANCA Endorses Peter Koutoujian in Special Congressional Election WASHINGTON—The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has announced its endorsement of Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian for United States Congress. After the Massachusetts Senate special election on June 25, Rep. Ed Markey’s 5th district House seat is now vacant, which means another special election will be held to fill the remainder of Markey’s term. Koutoujian with ANCA National Board Member Stephen Mesrobian, ANCA Eastern Region Board Member Tamar Kanarian and ANCA Eastern Massachusetts activists Mikael Garabedian and Dikran Kaligian. “We stand with Peter Koutoujian as he embarks on his new path to Congress. His leadership in Massachusetts and in the Armenian American community has been steadfast and inspiring, and he has the ANCA’s full backing in this election process and beyond,” said ANCA National Board member Stephen Mesrobian of Foxborough, Mass. Peter Koutoujian is a leader in the Armenian-American community, especially in... Read More »      • Email to a friend • Article Search • OneArmenia: Uniting Armenians for Change At midnight on June 30, Yerevan time, an idea was transformed from potential to reality. The stroke of midnight signaled the end of the voting period of OneArmenia’s SHIFT initiative, an international crowdsourcing effort that yielded 75 proposals. The world at large then chose among them by voting for the best idea to receive a $10,000 grant to be implemented in Armenia. Sarkissian with ONEArmenia’s core creative team at the cliffs of Goris in southeastern Armenia while on location for a video shoot in April. From left: Anahid Yahjian, Patrick Sarkissian, Narek Khachatryan, Oksana Mirzoyan. The SHIFT initiative is the latest project of OneArmenia, an organization founded in 2011 by Patrick Sarkissian. Sarkissian was born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit; Sarkissian’s father was an Armenian from Greece, and his mother was a Greek from Chicago. Sarkissian recalls, “They always said that I was a very disruptive character, and that’s sort of become part of my mantra,... Read More »      • Email to a friend • Article Search • A Friendship that Will Never Vanish in Smoke If Greg Minasian is remembered for anything in his afterlife, it is the profitable and eclectic cigar nights he organized for St. Gregory Church in his Merrimack Valley community of North Andover. The late Der Vartan Kassabian in his pastoral days with good friend Greg Minasian. He did this in the name of his good friend, Rev. Vartan Kassabian, who pastored this church for six years before joining the Lord in 2009. No doubt when the two of them are reunited in the hereafter, they’ll catch up on old news over a good cigar and a glass of brandy. Except for God and family, nothing relaxed the cleric more than a Cuban corona if he could get his hands on one. He wasn’t fussy. You could always count on Der Vartan for a timely sermon. He mesmerized the youth of his community and endeared himself to the elderly. After 15 years of service, he was just getting started in his vocation. In his spirit, some 140 guests gathered at his former church for the annual cigar extravaganza. Included... Read More »      • Email to a friend • Article Search • ‘What does the AYF-YOARF mean to me?’ Winners of the Campership Essay Contest Patil Tcholakian Age: 13 Detroit “Kapernik Tandourjian” AYF Chapter At first that’s easy. The AYF means my friends, seminar, camp, and AYF meetings. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that the AYF is all bigger than that. The AYF is really my past, present, and my future. The AYF teaches me about my past. It teaches me my history about Karekin Njdeh and the Fedayiswho fought for our freedom. The AYF teaches me to remember and honor the victims of the genocide. The AYF also connects me to my past as a 3rd-generation member. The AYF is my present. It is AYF meetings and socials. It is Camp Haiastan, Seminar, and Olympics. It is the AYF that I have the best friends who will be with me for life. I know that the AYF is my future. All that I have gotten from the AYF I hope to give back one day. I hope to be an active and important member of our Senior chapter. I hope to teach the younger kids all that I have learned from... Read More »      • Email to a friend • Article Search • Sassounian: Despite Lavish Public Praise, US Deeply Troubled by Erdogan Some months ago I wrote a column titled, “Obama Is Exploiting Turkish Leaders’ Craving for Flattery,” explaining that the U.S. president is able to persuade Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to do his bidding by taking advantage of his weakness for lavish praise! Those aware of Erdogan’s authoritarian streak—on full display during the recent brutal attacks on protesters in Istanbul and other Turkish cities—have been deeply troubled by U.S. officials’ repeated mischaracterization of the prime minister’s dictatorial regime as “a role model for the Islamic world.” The insincerity of such assessments was exposed when WikiLeaks made public thousands of confidential diplomatic cables from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, indicating that American officials’ real opinion about Erdogan is the exact opposite of what they have been stating in public. The embassy dispatches, published by the German magazine Der Spiegel, described the Turkish prime minister “as a power-hungry... Read More »