Month: May 2017

UN Secretary General António Guterres has issued a message on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2017:

Journalists go to the most dangerous places to give voice to the voiceless.

Media workers suffer character assassination, sexual assault, detention, injuries and even death.

We need leaders to defend a free media. This is crucial to counter prevailing misinformation.

And we need everyone to stand for our right to truth.

On World Press Freedom Day, I call for an end to all crackdowns against journalists – because a free press advances peace and justice for all.

When we protect journalists, their words and pictures can change our world.

Genocide denied is genocide continued.

Former Superman Dean Cain has produced a new film – Architects of Denial – which delves into the Armenian genocide and the denial by the Turkish government and other authoritative bodies that atrocities ever took place.

“Armenians have been persecuted for centuries. It’s unreal,” recently when discussing his upcoming project. “They were the first bastion of Christianity. They were the first country to, I think, recognize Christianity, and they are the only bastion of Christianity in the Middle East.”

The film shares new insight  into genocide from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, FBI Whistleblower and journalist Sibel Edmonds, US Ambassador John Evans, Genocide Watch founder Dr. Gregory Stanton and a host of eye-witnesses and survivors who reveal how easily the world turns away from the horror of mass extermination for political and economic convenience.

“Turkey has gone around the world aggressively lobbying to make sure there are no references to the Armenian genocide,” said Wikileaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange in the recently released trailer for “Architects of Denial.”

“Architects of Denial” not only digs into the persecution of Armenians and Christians in the Middle East, both past and present, but also sheds light on those politicians who refuse to acknowledge an event many historians and scholars accept as a sad reality.

The trailer shows camera crews confronting two Democratic members of Congress, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas and Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee.

“Do you deny that the Armenian genocide happened?” asks one of the filmmakers of Rep. Johnson.

She replies, “I do deny that.”

Architects of Denial is a first person account of genocide through the eyes of its survivors. Also included are several experts who graphically illustrate the real connection between its historical ‘denial’ with present day mass exterminations in conflict zones around the world.

This film warns that those responsible for genocides who are not brought to justice and confronted with the truth of their crimes, will only set the stage for more worldwide massacres in the future.

Dean Cain and Montel Williams are executive producers of the decumentary directed by David Lee George.

The film is scheduled to be released October 2017 in limited theaters.

 

 

 

The Pegasus Airlines has delayed the launch of flights to Armenia’s capital Yerevan.

“The Turkish Pegasus Airlines will not fly to Armenia starting this June,” Sergey Avetisyan, Head of the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia, told reporters today.

The to start low-cost flights to Zvartnots Airport from June 1, 2017.

“It’s no secret that Armenian citizens often fly to Istanbul. The company has probably carried out marketing research and decided to enter the Armenian market,” Avetisyan said.

He added, however, that the air company has notified in a letter that the launching of flights will be delayed for some time because of certain technical problems.

Is ‘s solo effort at Sunderland our Goal of the Month for April?

Watch the contenders here:

— Manchester United (@ManUtd)

Armenian captain could win another award for his left-foot finish against Sunderland. April witnessed some excellent goals from Manchester United’s first team, Reserves and Academy sides, and voting is now open on

Marcus Rashford has a pair of important efforts in the Goal of the Month poll – the opener in probably the best game of the period, United’s 2-0 home win over Chelsea, and the extra-time winner as the Reds eventually overcame Anderlecht to reach the Europa League semi-finals.

The shortlist includes submissions from the same game at Sunderland: Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s excellent shot on the turn from the edge of the area and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s left-foot finish across the Black Cats’ acclaimed young goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford.

The only overseas entry in this month’s poll comes next, with Matthew Olosunde marking his return to his native United States by scoring a cracker in the Dallas Cup for the Reds’ Under-19 team.

After Rashford’s brace, two strikes from United’s Under-18s are separated in the shortlist by Anthony Martial’s stunning counter-attack at Turf Moor when he broke from inside his own half, outran Burnley’s Joey Barton and played a one-two with Ander Herrera before sweeping the Reds ahead.

Either side of Martial’s effort, one can see Zak Dearnley bursting down the left flank at The Cliff to roll the ball in at West Ham’s near post and Callum Gribbin’s sweet left foot firing in the first of United’s five goals as Reading were defeated 5-2 at home on Saturday.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan held a consultative meeting to discuss the prospects for Armenia’s digital development. A top-level task force was said to have been established based on the statement issued by the heads of EEU-member States. On May 26, 2017, the task force will report back progress in its activities to the heads of EEU-member States’ governments.

In this context, reference was made to the definition of priorities in different areas of digitalization, the formation of structures and institutions responsible for implementation of the digital development strategy, the EEU digital agenda goals, the key targets for expected performance until 2025 and so on. The meeting noted that the global economy is proceeding along the lines of digitization, and Armenia needs to have its own “digital visiting card.”

Highlighting the digitization of the management subject in all areas, Prime Minister Karapetyan said it might be a strong incentive to improve management efficiency.

“This is extremely important. We had to take this step regardless of the Eurasian Economic Union’s program. For example, by digitizing budget, garbage collection and many other services, we can enhance the efficiency of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development. Will digitalization result in more businesses, increased capacity? Yes of course. Digitization implies additional savings. We will understand why municipal budgets fall short of receipts due to incorrect planning and the reasons behind imbalances. The same is true for other sectors,” the Prime Minister said, adding that each department should know its digitalization agenda.

Based on Armenia’s digital development vision, a Prime Minister-headed national governing council shall be established for support of digital development in Armenia. Karen Karapetyan instructed those responsible to set up a working group within the Council that will develop and submit the structure of digitization and the planned activities.

The Spanish city of Cullera has officially recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian Embassy in Spain reports on its Facebook page.

About 30 Spanish cities have now recognized the Armenian Genocide.

A 23-year-old woman has given birth to naturally conceived quintuplets at Erebuni Medical Center in Yerevan today. The babies (4 girls and 1 boy) weigh between 600 and 900 grams.

The Karapetyan family lives in a dormitory in the city of Metsamor. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs will provide the family 7.5 million AMD (about $15,000), of which 2.5 million will be given in cash, the rest will be transferred to the family’s account.

More than 50 miners are trapped after an explosion in a coal mine in Iran, state media reports say, the BBC reports.

It happened at the Zemestan-Yurt mine in Golestan province in the north.

Two people are reported to have died and 25 others are wounded. One emergency services spokesman said that 16 people had managed to escape.

There are some reports that the incident was caused by a gas explosion, possibly as someone was attempting to start a lorry engine.

Pirhossein Koulivand, the head of Iran’s emergency services, told the country’s news agencies that the number of trapped miners may be much higher, with 40 trapped in one section, and a similar number in another.

He said that 12 miners had escaped unhurt, and another four were injured and taken to hospital for treatment.

The rescue operation has reportedly been hampered by concerns about gas in the tunnels.

Gradual restoration of Turkey’s internal political situation will create conditions for the steady development of relations with Russia, President Vladimir Putin said as he opened talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Wednesday, TASS reports.

“We proceed from the understanding that the internal political situation will be eventually restored and this will create greater conditions for the steady development of Russian-Turkish relations,” Putin said.

“It is good that we have a chance to meet in due course and discuss key issues of bilateral cooperation and major international developments, including on such pressing issues as the Syrian crisis,” Putin said.

“The mere fact of this mode of our joint work shows that Russian-Turkish relations are taking on more significance and are being restored to its full format,” he said.
Putin heartily welcomed the Turkish delegation, thanking Erdogan for having accepted the invitation to come to Sochi. The Russian president stressed that bilateral relations are developing “as we had planned with you.”

In his turn, Erdogan noted that the two leaders will have a good opportunity on Wednesday to discuss both aspects of bilateral cooperation and regional issues. “I’m sure that those steps that we are taking together will change the fate of the whole region,” Erdogan said.

Asbarez – Garo Paylan, Member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was in Toronto on April 30, with over 1500 attendees from the Toronto Armenian community gathered to greet the parliamentarian.

The event was sponsored by the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) and organized by a joint Toronto-Armenian organizing committee comprised of the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, Armenian Evangelical Church of Toronto, St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church and the St. Gregory Armenian Catholic Church of Toronto along with the Bolsahay Armenian Cultural Association, Nor Serount Cultural Association, and the Armenian National Committee of Toronto.

Representatives of the major Armenian organizations including: the aforementioned organizing bodies along with the Zoryan Institute, Armenian General Benevolent Union, Armenian Relief Society, Armenian Youth Federation, Armenian Seniors Organization of Toronto, Homenetmen and Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural and Educational Society were all present. Also present was Raffi Bedrosyan, a lead organizer of the Surp Giragos Diyarbakir Church reconstruction project in Turkey.

Representing Toronto’s Kurdish and Assyrian communities were the Toronto Kurdish Community Centre and the Centre for Canadian-Assyrian Relations, respectively.

The event started with a short video presentation highlighting Garo Paylan’s civic activism over the past few years. Sevag Belian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, then took the stage to present the organizing committee message and introduced Paylan. Belian commended Paylan’s ongoing pursuit for equality, justice, and democratic values, proclaiming “Mr. Paylan, your actions are humbling and inspiring. An inspiration that with it displays a tenacity that forces one to fully appreciate the true meaning of our struggle for justice and democracy.”

The parliamentarian took the stage to great applause and appreciation. He provided an overview of the current political climate in Turkey, the aftermath of the constitutional referendum and the ongoing uncertainty and concern regarding the rights and freedoms of the minorities living in Turkey. Paylan stressed the importance of acknowledging history, specifically in regards to the Armenian Genocide, stating, “unpunished crimes lead to new crimes.”

Furthermore, Paylan highlighted the importance of maintaining and upholding the values of democracy, tolerance, respect and human rights in the Republic of Turkey and around the world.

The attendees had the opportunity ask questions, after which, Belian invited the President of the Armenian Community Centre of Toronto to present Paylan with two gifts on behalf of the joint organizing committee: Aram Adjemian’s “The Call from Armenia, Canada’s Response to the Armenian Genocide” reference publication and Kaloust Babian’s photography retrospective.

Paylan’s presence and exceptional remarks were an inspiration to the entire community and particularly to the upcoming generations who vowed to carry on the torch in the collective struggle of the Armenian people around the world.

Garo Paylan is a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) and is a deputy representing the 3rd district in Istanbul. Paylan is a member of Turkey’s Armenian community and has long been an activist on human rights, freedom of speech, minority rights – particularly Kurdish and Armenian issues, including the Hrant Dink murder case.

The Armenian National Committee of Toronto (ANCT) is a chapter of the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC), the largest and the most influential Canadian-Armenian grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout Canada and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCC actively advances the concerns of the Canadian-Armenian community on a broad range of issues.