Wave of Armenian immigrants expected

[Guest]

Wave of Armenian immigrants expected

First group of what is expected to be 1,000 newcomers to land in LAX next week.

 

By JUDY SECKLER

 

 

DOWNTOWN -- An influx of about 1,000 Armenian immigrants will arrive in Los

Angeles over the next several weeks, said Louisa Gurjin, deputy director of social

services for the Armenian Relief Society of Western U.S.A.

"I was told three airplanes," Gurjin said. "The first arrival is next week. Catholic

Charities will meet the group at the airport."

Marie Chalian Read, president of the Armenian Relief Society of Western U.S.A.

could not confirm whether the group had sponsors or where they were going to end up.

 

In the year that Read has been with the office, she has seen it handle at times

between 80 to 120 immigrants a day.

"We have special grants from Los Angeles County to help us provide services," she

said.

"Our organization helps refugees with ESL classes, helps prepare and find jobs and

fill out government papers. We also provide money for child-care while out looking for

job.

School board member Chuck Sambar was surprised to get the news.

"It sounds like a large amount of people. It must be a substantial humanitarian effort

if Catholic Charities is involved," he said.

Catholic Charities in Los Angeles did not return calls to confirm arrival dates, status

of the immigrants or plans for their relocation. The organization, affiliated with the

Catholic Church, is a worldwide network of charitable groups.

Ritch Wells, a spokesman for the city of Glendale, said he was unaware of the

incoming group.

The immigrants had been living in Austria. It could not be determined Thursday how

long they had lived in that country.

Bert Thermann, a representative for the Austrian Mission at the United Nations said

there could be several reasons the group was leaving Austria for America.

"There's nothing new about transients coming through Austria," he said.

In order for the incoming group to meet the refugee criteria of the Geneva

Convention, individuals would have to prove a well-founded fear of prosecution,

Thermann said. There would be procedures in the U.S. to determine if such a claim was

founded.

Another possibility for the group's arrival, Thermann said, could be a "major family

reunification exercise." Many immigrants might have family connections in the United

States.

The first flood of Armenian immigration occurred between 1979 and 1980 with the

fall of the Shah of Iran and the hostage crisis at the American Embassy. Armenians fled

to Germany, Austria and Switzerland for five to 10 years.

Eric Panosian, a teacher specialist for the Glendale Unified School District, said that

in his 1979 Toll Middle School yearbook, he was one of four Armenian students in

grades seven through nine.

Another big wave of Armenian immigration occurred in the late 1980s after a

massive earthquake and the fall of the Soviet republics when Armenia gained

independence, he said.

[Guest]

News from Glendale in the Times Community Newspapers

 

Paper criticized for immigration coverage

Two leaders of the local Armenian community say paper's coverage on issue was

negative.

 

By JUDY SECKLER

 

 

CITY HALL -- In comments at the Glendale City Council meeting, Councilman

Rafi Manoukian blasted the News-Press for its coverage of a group of Armenian

immigrants coming to the city.

"The News-Press is Armenian-bashing," Manoukian said from the council dais.

"And I am making a recommendation to the Glendale Human Rights Coalition to look

into this hate crime."

Later by phone, Manoukian said he had overreacted to the situation, and he would

make that point heard at the next council meeting.

Manoukian's main objection to the coverage was with what he described as stories'

sensational headlines on the front page of the paper.

"The content of the stories didn't bother me," he said. "It was the impression that

was left -- immigrants are invading the schools. I don't understand why it's news to have

immigrants come to city. People come from all over to settle in this city."

Three stories on the issue of 1,000 Armenian immigrants coming to Glendale were

published in the News-Press between Friday and Tuesday. They carried the headlines

"Wave of Armenian immigrants expected," "School district ready for kids" and

"Immigrants might overcrowd schools."

One of Manoukian's critics, Vache Mangassarian, producer and anchor for cable

television's Armenian National Network, wholeheartedly agreed with the councilman.

The men are normally on opposite ends of most issues, but in this case, Mangassarian

said the paper's immigration stories created a prejudice that was not necessary.

"The negative sticks with people," he said. Mangassarian said he received a high

volume of calls from the story in Friday's paper announcing a new wave of immigration.

"People were outraged," he said.

Mangassarian saw the coverage as divisive.

"There were three negative stories on Armenians on Friday's front page. Foreigners

are naturally suspicious. They think that these stories are a conspiracy against

Armenians."

Mangassarian was referring to the Friday edition of the News-Press, in which the

front page contained a story on Armenian immigrants moving to Glendale, a story that

referenced a slaying suspect who has an Armenian last name, and an article on an

Armenian man being arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder in a an alleged

drunken driving incident.

Other reactions to the series of immigration stories were milder.

" I was surprised to see a series of stories," said Vicken Papazian, executive director

for the Armenian National Committee of America.

"I didn't know it was newsworthy. Given the problems and violence lately with

Armenians and Latinos, there is a sensitivity to negative press. The feeling is that it gives

others an opportunity to be unfairly critical toward these groups."

Papazian went on to say he was under the impression that the teacher-student ratio

at Glendale Unified was good, and that the new immigrant population wouldn't be a

problem.

The district will be monitoring closely the influx of new immigrants students that

come to the welcome center, district spokesman Vic Palos said.

"We don't know what's going to happen," he said.