Tweet
Armenian National Committee - Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918
Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
www.anca.org
PRESS RELEASE
April 28, 2009
Contact: Andrew Kzirian
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Discusses Armenian Genocide Recognition at UCLA
Los Angeles, CA - Representatives from the Armenian National Committee
- Western Region (ANC-WR) Board, staff, supporters and former interns
attended an event at the UCLA School of Law featuring US House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi. The event, hosted by the Williams Institute, the
Department of Women Studies and the Center for the Study of Women,
took place on Thursday, April 16th. On campus to discuss her recent
book, `Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters' Pelosi also
touched on several current event issues including the economy and
Afghanistan as well as the genocide in Darfur, the Rwandan Genocide,
and the Armenian Genocide.
During the question and answer session, ANC-WR Board Member Aida
Dimejian asked the Speaker if she thought President Obama would
unequivocally reaffirm the Armenian Genocide in his upcoming remarks
commemorating April 24th. Responding to the question, Pelosi noted
that `the President is a values-based person' and reiterated that the
issue of the Armenian Genocide has always been a top priority of hers.
Touching on the human face of the issue, she recalled of seeing the
aged genocide survivors that attended the October 2007 vote on
H.Res.106 in the US House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Pelosi also took the opportunity to introduce Hassan Bubacar Jallow,
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, who
joined the community in the packed auditorium for the event. In
concluding her remarks regarding genocide, she emphasized that it was
important that `we act upon the issue in a way which makes a
difference.'
Raffi Kassabian, a member of the ANC-WR's State and Regional Affairs
Committee as well as a recent alumnus of the UCLA School of Law ('08)
and the ANCA Leo Sarkisian Internship ('02) was impressed by the
visible impact that the issue of genocide made during the event.
`Having the Speaker both address this important issue and introduce
Prosecutor Jallow during the discussion really drew the attention of
the audience. There was a palpable appreciation for the cycle of
genocide of which we, as Armenian Americans, are all too aware,' said
Kassabian.
`Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughter's', written to
address the public's interest in Pelosi's groundbreaking rise from
local public servant to the Speaker of the US House of
Representatives, touches on several recurring themes including the
message of never losing faith and the importance of addressing human
rights issues with a foundational commitment to truth.
This was readily apparent to Tamar Tavlian, a second year student at
Pasadena City College and an alumna of the ANC-WR
Internship-Externship Program (Summer '08) who also attended the
event. She along with Dimejian, Kassabian, and long-time ANC
supporter Elizabeth Boyajian briefly met with Pelosi following the
event.
`We let her know that the Armenian American community appreciates her
past support and requests her continued, strong leadership as we work
to ensure that the Armenian Genocide is unambiguously acknowledged by
both the Obama Administration and the US Congress,' said Tavlian.
The Armenian National Committee - Western Region is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in
the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of
offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States
and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANC-WR promotes
awareness of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918
Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
www.anca.org
PRESS RELEASE
April 28, 2009
Contact: Andrew Kzirian
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Discusses Armenian Genocide Recognition at UCLA
Los Angeles, CA - Representatives from the Armenian National Committee
- Western Region (ANC-WR) Board, staff, supporters and former interns
attended an event at the UCLA School of Law featuring US House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi. The event, hosted by the Williams Institute, the
Department of Women Studies and the Center for the Study of Women,
took place on Thursday, April 16th. On campus to discuss her recent
book, `Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters' Pelosi also
touched on several current event issues including the economy and
Afghanistan as well as the genocide in Darfur, the Rwandan Genocide,
and the Armenian Genocide.
During the question and answer session, ANC-WR Board Member Aida
Dimejian asked the Speaker if she thought President Obama would
unequivocally reaffirm the Armenian Genocide in his upcoming remarks
commemorating April 24th. Responding to the question, Pelosi noted
that `the President is a values-based person' and reiterated that the
issue of the Armenian Genocide has always been a top priority of hers.
Touching on the human face of the issue, she recalled of seeing the
aged genocide survivors that attended the October 2007 vote on
H.Res.106 in the US House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Pelosi also took the opportunity to introduce Hassan Bubacar Jallow,
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, who
joined the community in the packed auditorium for the event. In
concluding her remarks regarding genocide, she emphasized that it was
important that `we act upon the issue in a way which makes a
difference.'
Raffi Kassabian, a member of the ANC-WR's State and Regional Affairs
Committee as well as a recent alumnus of the UCLA School of Law ('08)
and the ANCA Leo Sarkisian Internship ('02) was impressed by the
visible impact that the issue of genocide made during the event.
`Having the Speaker both address this important issue and introduce
Prosecutor Jallow during the discussion really drew the attention of
the audience. There was a palpable appreciation for the cycle of
genocide of which we, as Armenian Americans, are all too aware,' said
Kassabian.
`Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughter's', written to
address the public's interest in Pelosi's groundbreaking rise from
local public servant to the Speaker of the US House of
Representatives, touches on several recurring themes including the
message of never losing faith and the importance of addressing human
rights issues with a foundational commitment to truth.
This was readily apparent to Tamar Tavlian, a second year student at
Pasadena City College and an alumna of the ANC-WR
Internship-Externship Program (Summer '08) who also attended the
event. She along with Dimejian, Kassabian, and long-time ANC
supporter Elizabeth Boyajian briefly met with Pelosi following the
event.
`We let her know that the Armenian American community appreciates her
past support and requests her continued, strong leadership as we work
to ensure that the Armenian Genocide is unambiguously acknowledged by
both the Obama Administration and the US Congress,' said Tavlian.
The Armenian National Committee - Western Region is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in
the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of
offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States
and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANC-WR promotes
awareness of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.