Author: Badalian Vardan

GEORGIAN CHURCH IN RARE SPAT WITH GOVERNMENT
Fati Mamiashvili

Opposition parties in Georgia have seized on tensions between the
government and the influential Orthodox church, and are using the
split as an opportunity to attack President Mikhail Saakashvili.

The dispute took off on July 5 when parliament passed legislation
that allow any faith community to register for an organisational
status previously exclusive to the Orthodox Church.

Georgia’s western allies have long been demanded equal rights for
all religions.

The ancient Georgian Orthodox Church is the country’s dominant faith,
with more than 80 per cent of the population describing themselves
as adherents.

The legislative changes merely allow other faith groups to apply for
recognition as legal entities rather than as non-governments. But they
were enough to provoke several thousand people to gather in central
Tbilisi on July 9 and 10 to voice their anger at what they saw as an
attack on their church.

“Now other religions have got legal status. Even without it, they were
demanding to be given some Georgian churches, so in future they’ll
probably be given them,” one of the demonstrators, Lamara Gogua, said.

“This is a measure directed against Orthodoxy, and I cannot remain
silent.”

The church’s ruling Patriarchate gave a guarded response, urging
people to remain calm “despite the presence of reasons for alarm”.

The church synod, meanwhile, issued a statement asking political
leaders to consult the Patriarchate in advance of any future decisions
of this kind.

The head of the church, Patriarch Ilia II, enjoys more public trust
than any political figure in Georgia, surveys show.

Father Daniel, Metropolitan or bishop of Chiatura and Sachkhere, said,
“We must definitely say what we have to say, we must definitely make
the authorities understand what we are saying, and we must believe
that they will pay heed,” the metropolitan said.

Opposition leaders, who have been struggling to capitalise on
Saakashvili’s unpopularity over recent months, seized this opportunity,
demanding that the president exercise his powers to veto the changes
and stand up for the Georgian church. (See Georgian Voters Wary of
All Parties on the opposition.)

“The president must use his veto on this initiative, which was
discussed behind the patriarch’s back,” Irakli Alasania, leader of
the Our Georgia – Free Democrats party, said.

Levan Vepkhvadze, a Christian Democrat member of parliament, went
further on the offensive.

“We’re under no illusion that this decision was drafted and pushed
through without the approval or permission of the Georgia president.

So we will not ask him to veto it, as we are not that naïve,”
Vepkhvadze said.

“Passing this law in an unprecedentedly short space of time, without
considering the views of the patriarch or the public, is a dangerous
step for a state to take.”

Faced with such a heated response, and the danger of being outflanked
by the opposition, the authorities were forced to restate their
loyalty to the church.

The speaker of parliament, David Bakradze, was quick to remind
everyone that in 2002, legislators awarded special status to the
Orthodox Church.

He said all that had happened now was that other faith groups had
been granted rights to apply for the same “legal entity” status
as was currently held by institutions ranging from kindergartens
to universities and clinics. Meanwhile, “the only legal entity with
constitutional status in this country is the Georgian Orthodox Church”,
he said.

Saakashvili’s spokesperson Manana Manjgaladze also sought to calm the
tensions, saying, “The Georgian state would never take any step that
ran contrary to its relationship with the Georgian Orthodox Church”.

None of this was enough to dispel the angry mood, and opponents
of the changes vastly outnumbered supporters in media and internet
discussions. In a Facebook poll, more than 90 per cent of the 11,000
people who responded said they were against the changes.

Analysts say the level of outrage is likely to damage Saakashvili.

“It’s a really delicate issue, and the more politicians steer clear
of it the better,” Giorgi Khukhashvili, head of the Centre for Civic
Projects, said. “Political interference in these matters can only do
harm and spoil the current atmosphere of tolerance.”

Paata Zakareishvili, director of the Institute for Nationalism and
Conflict Studies, pointed out that the changes to the law could win the
authorities a few more friends among Georgia’s various minority groups.

Some 6.5 per cent of the country’s inhabitants are Armenians with
their own unique Christian church, and 5.7 per cent are Muslim
Azerbaijanis. (See also Concerns Over Anti-Muslim Discrimination in
Georgia.) “The government’s negative rating among the electorate has
already peaked – it could not deteriorate any further,” Zakareishvili
said.

“This decision could even help raise its approval rating among ethnic
and religious minorities.”

Fati Mamiashvili is a freelance journalist in Georgia.

The article is published by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Georgia Plans ‘Circassian Genocide Memorial’

Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 29 Jul.’11 / 18:16

Georgia, which has become the first country to recognize 19th century
massacre and deportations of Circassians by the Tsarist Russia as
genocide, plans to open a memorial next year to commemorate the
victims.

Anaklia, a Black Sea coast village close to breakaway Abkhazia, has
been selected as a site for the planned memorial, Papuna Davitaia,
Georgia’s state minister for diaspora issues, said on July 29.

He said that the memorial’s design would be selected through a
competition planned to be announced by the state commission in charge
of this issue in September.

The Georgian government wants to open the memorial in May, 2012 when
the Circassian diaspora will commemorate 148th anniversary of the
genocide, Davitaia said.

The Georgian Parliament passed on May 20 a resolution saying that mass
killings of the Circassians by the Tsarist Russia in second half of
19th century, accompanied by “deliberate famine and epidemics”, should
be recognized as “genocide”.

In a separate, July 1 resolution the Parliament instructed the
government to undertake measure for opening a memorial and also
Circassian cultural center.

LePoint.fr
Lundi 25 Juillet 2011

Un Turc condamné à 22 ans de prison pour l’assassinat d’un journaliste
d’origine arménienne

Le meurtrier du journaliste turc d’origine arménienne Hrant Dink a été
condamné lundi à un total de 22 ans et 10 mois de prison par un
tribunal d’Istanbul. Figure de proue de la minorité arménienne de
Turquie, Hrant Dink avait été abattu le 19 janvier 2007 devant les
locaux de l’hebdomadaire bilingue turco-arménien Agos, qu’il
dirigeait, à Istanbul. Le tribunal a dans un premier temps condamné
Ogün Samast à la prison à vie, puis a réduit sa peine à 21 ans et demi
du fait qu’il n’était pas majeur au moment des faits, mais l’a aussi
condamné à 16 mois de prison supplémentaires pour possession illégale
d’arme. Avant le verdict, l’accusé a mis en avant sa mauvaise
éducation et a affirmé qu’il avait été manipulé par la presse. “Où
est-ce que j’ai entendu parler d’Agos? Où est-ce que j’ai entendu
parler de Hrant Dink, le traître à la patrie ? Dans (les journaux)

Vatan et Hürriyet !” s’est écrié Ogün Samast. Bien que l’accusé ait
admis le meurtre, son avocat, Me Levent Yildirim, a demandé en vain
l’annulation du procès, du fait de vices de procédure et du statut de
mineur, non reconnu selon lui par les juges, de son client au moment
des faits. Dink oeuvrait pour la réconciliation entre les Turcs et les
Arméniens au regard de leur passé sanglant, mais les nationalistes lui
en voulaient d’avoir employé pour le massacre des Arméniens sous
l’Empire ottoman le terme de “génocide”, qu’Ankara rejette
farouchement. En septembre, la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme
(CEDH) avait estimé que les autorités turques n’étaient pas parvenues
à prendre les mesures appropriées pour protéger Dink et prévenir un
assassinat qui avait secoué la Turquie, et avait provoqué une vague
d’indignation dans le monde entier.

news.am, Armenia
July 30 2011

Premiere of Lost and Found in Armenia scheduled for Christmas holidays (video)

July 30, 2011 | 11:01

YEREVAN. – Shooting of Lost and Found in Armenia, a movie
predominantly made in Armenia, are finished. Armenian News-NEWS.am
correspondent managed to interview the producers of the film Maral
Djerejian (Sideways) and Valerie McCaffrey (American History X, Neo
Ned).

The producers said they have been planning to shoot a movie in Armenia
for a couple of years already, but there were constant financial
problems.

`This is an entertainment film, really awesome piece for laughing. I
guess the actors managed to put into life all the great scenes
elaborated in the scenario,’ said the producer of Lost and Found in
Armenia, producer of Glendale based Red Tie films company Maral
Djerejian, adding that they managed to involve young but already
famous Hollywood actors.

Angela Sarafyan (On the Doll, Kabluey, The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn) and Jamie Kennedy (Bug, Malibu’s Most Wanted, Sol Goode, Son of
the Mask, Extreme Movie, Spring Break `83, Bending the Rules), the two
leading actors are already famous in Hollywood. Angela Sarafyan has
moved to the U.S. and did not visit Armenia for 24 years.

`Both of them fell in love with Armenia and Armenians. I must say that
for Hollywood actors the filming conditions are at least unusual. They
are accustomed to comfort, but found none of that here. They had
really difficult first week but at length both Angela and Jamie fell
in love with Armenians and their hospitality. The features, the
colour, and the peculiarities of Armenia in comedy airs, reflect on
Armenia-Turkey relations, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,’ said the
producer, giving a shot account of the scenario.

According to the scenario, several American youngsters go to Turkey
for holidays and while enjoying their stay decide to try a new
entertainment – parasail flight. Their strong resolution, however,
dwindles as sea storm their boat but the Trukish captain’s encouraging
words prevail on common sense. As a result of parasail mishap U.S.
Senator’s son Billy finds himself in a small village in Armenia, where
at first he is taken for Turkish spy. Here start Blliy’s unbelievable
adventures that will change his life forever.

`We did not work to preserve geographical accuracy. It’s evident that
one cannot reach Armenia from a Turkish seaside and that would not
possibly worry a comedy lover who looks for non-formal, funny
moments,’ said Djerejian.

According to the producer Armenian actors Mikael Poghosyan and Hrant
Tokhatyan also participated in the shootings.

`There are many talented actors in Armenia, there are many experts but
they lack the experience of working with modern cinema. The problem
will be solved if people engage in film production in Armenia,’ said
Djerejian, adding that a single film could greatly promote general
knowledge about Armenia worldwide.

`We did not make Lost and Found in Armenia for Armenian audience only.
It is just a comedy and that is the precondition of its success, I
guess. The film is based on a universal story that is applicable
everywhere in the world. It was merely our wish to make it in Armenia.
We could have shot the film elsewhere because of poor level of
technical equipment in Armenia but the producers of the film are
Armenians, the director, Gor Kirakosian, is also Armenian and we
wanted to make it here,’ said McCaffrey. `We have huge potential four
boosting film industry. A great number of Armenians work in Hollywood
nowadays, but most of them do not pay attention to media. The parents
consider medicine, law, and economics as serious professions for their
children, forgetting that we raised many famous writers and art
people.’

Asked what the Armenians need to fully exploit their potential in
Hollywood industry, the producer said that people should support each
other, invest not only into schools and churches but also into film
industry.

`When I visited the Armenian Genocide Museum, I got astonished that so
many renowned people have touched upon and condemned the Genocide.
Nobody actually knows about that, meanwhile each of those stories
could make a splendid film scenario,’ said McCaffrey, adding that it
would have the same effect as Schindler’s list of Steven Spielberg.

Premiere of Lost and Found in Armenia is scheduled for Christmas
holidays. The authors plan to submit the film for Sundance, Oscar and
Golden Globe in the category of best foreign language film.

watch trailer at

Sydney Morning Herald , Australia
July 30 2011

>From gestation to realisation, lessons of a novice film-maker

by Dani Valent

The creation of Here, a road movie, was something of a road movie itself.

TEN years after I started writing Here with New York filmmaker Braden
King, I arrived on set in Armenia: a puddled driveway, a crumble-down
hotel, a gleaming church backed by a shy rainbow. As I was introduced
to the 40-person crew, the script supervisor, Gaby Yepes, hid the
script from me. ”You don’t want to see this,” she said, letting long
hair fall over her clipboard. ”There’s red pen all over it.”

Her job was to record what happened as the film was filmed.

The script, the document that I knew intimately, every comma, every
nuance sweated over, was victim to reality: actors changed lines,
night fell so shots were rethought, sheep didn’t dart across the road
the way they were supposed to. I could have felt devastated,
protective, outraged at the licence being taken (naughty sheep!), but
I felt excited: how amazing to create a template for all this
activity, close attention and each clapperboard call of ”Action”.

Later that day we drove to a field where lead actor Ben Foster put on
a yellow raincoat, picked up a surveyor’s tripod and became Will
Shepard, the cartographer we created on the page years before.
”There’s our guy,” I said to Braden, marvelling at the magic of the
process: we wrote him and there he is, walking around, being real.

What seemed less real was the scene around me. There was our lead
actress, Lubna Azabal, having make-up applied on a stool in a paddock.
Standing in the long grass like an apparition was a high-ranking
priest, a beatific black-robed minder assigned to the production by
the Armenian Orthodox Church.

Around us, pale mountains drew a jagged horizon, a backdrop for tiny
Armenian hamlets where history and ruin are written in the buildings
and roads and in the faces of the villagers with their donkeys,
sunflowers and doughty Lada cars.

Here is a road movie and a love story about an American cartographer
and an Armenian expatriate photographer. But Braden and I didn’t start
thinking of it like that. We met in 1999 while I was working in New
York travel writing for Lonely Planet. We got to talking at a party,
discovered a mutual obsession with maps, threw bits of narrative at
each other and they stuck. We ran out, found a bar, started writing on
napkins (just like in the movies!), and when I came home to Melbourne
we continued by email and phone.

A bit later – diverted by babies, years and a million words of
journalism – we had a script.

Early in the process I warned Braden that I wasn’t a real filmmaker
like he was, scarcely knew my crossfades from my jumpcuts, and hadn’t
updated my favourite film since Wings of Desire in 1989. He told me to
shut up heaps of times but that feeling persisted.

In 2007, we took the script to the Sundance Institute Screenwriters
Lab, an intensive workshop that matches writers with industry mentors.

I flew to the wildflower-dotted mountains of Utah, anxious that I’d
walk into conversations that I wouldn’t understand. And, in fact, that
did happen, and I stamped the ground looking for a hole to swallow me.
What also occurred were meetings with smart and accomplished
filmmakers (Atom Egoyan, Walter Mosley, Susan Shilliday, Howard
Rodman, John August and Gyula Gazdag) who asked difficult, energising
questions about the world we’d created with our writing.

Octogenarian screenwriter, the gracious and penetrating Stewart Stern
(he wrote Rebel Without a Cause), led an automatic writing session
that sent my hand racing across the page and my mind traipsing into
the mountains. We were asked to write what our films were really
about. In a scrawl I wrote about ”layers of meaning, darkness
unwrapping itself into expansion, understanding that things sometimes
need to change, truth as conjecture …” Later, I walked in the hills
until I was lost, coming upon a deer dismembered by a mountain lion. I
let myself own the notion of being a screenwriter, at least for now.

Most of the writing I do involves me in a room. I write, I press
”send”, it gets published. It’s clean. Filmmaking is incredibly
unwieldy and difficult. We wrote, we pressed send (and send and send)
and after years of work by lots of people, mostly by the director,
Braden King, there’s a two-hour film. It’s called Here, the script is
covered in red pen, and it’s about a man, a woman, maps, travel and
truth as conjecture.

Here screens on Wednesday at 6.30pm and Saturday at 4pm. Dani Valent
and Braden King will participate in a Q&A at both sessions. See
miff.com.au.

news.am, Armenia
July 30 2011

Turkey locks neighbors’ water – Armenian expert

July 30, 2011 | 18:02

YEREVAN. – Armenia disposes the abundance of its water resources not
effectively, said expert in Physical Geography and Hydrometeorology
Ashot Khoetsyan to a press conference on Saturday.

According to him, most of water supplies of Armenia freely flow to the
neighboring republics.

“It is not a secret that 40 – 50% of the water resources of Azerbaijan
are formed in Armenia but we simply let this water go without even
using it for the benefit of agriculture,’ he said.

In contrast to Armenia, Turkey, having greater financial and technical
capabilities, has established powerful hydraulic units on the upper
reaches of Tigris and Euphrates, the major sources of water for
neighboring Syria and Jordan.

“During the summer months, when neighboring countries are particularly
dependent on water, Turkey might anytime close the sluices on these
rivers and put these countries on the brink of acute crisis,’ noted
Khoetsyan.

Seyran Ohanyan promises to handle Armenian officers’ problems in future

July 30, 2011 – 14:54 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A ceremony of promoting 308 graduates of the
Military Institute after Vazgen Sargsyan to the rank of lieutenant
took place in Yerevan on July 30.

As the Armenian Defense Ministry’s press service reports, Minister of
Defense Seyran Ohanyan, Head of Armenia’s Armed Forces General Staff,
colonel general Yuri Khachaturov, high ranking military officers and
relatives of graduates were present at the ceremony.

The Defense Ministrer congratulated the future lieutenants and
stressed that officers of the Military Institute many times proved
devotion to the Motherland.

`It is a world-view to be an officer, but it is a way of life to be a
military man. You should understand that officer is a heroic and very
responsible profession. I am confident that those of you distinguished
by exceptional service will replenish ranks of great Armenian
commanders,’ Ohanyan underscored speaking about the role and
importance of an officer in the society.

As regards social problems of the officers, the head of Armenian
defense assured that as in previous years, problems of officers and
their families will remain in the spotlight of the country’s Defense
Ministry in the future.

308 Lieutenants recruited to the Armenian Armed Forces
30.07.2011 15:25

Artak Barseghyan
`Radiolur’

Today 308 graduates of the Vazgen Sargsyan Military Institute of the
Ministry of Defense received the rank of lieutenant. The ceremony was
attended by Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, Chief of the General
staff of the Armed forces Yuri Khachaturov, other officials.

Congratulating the graduates, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan noted
that Officers of the Military Institute had repeatedly proved their
devotion to the Motherland.

`Being recruited to the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia, you
will contribute to the strengthening of our army,’ the Minister said,
adding that the military educational institutions of the national army
are well developed and able to fulfill their tasks.’

Speaking about the role of the Officer in the society, Seyran Ohanyan
said, in part: `Being an Officer is a mentality, whereas being a
serviceman is a lifestyle. You should realize that the Officer’s
profession is a heroic and a very responsible one. Be sure that those
devotees of the motherland, who stand out for their impeccable
service, will steadily ascend to join the brilliant constellation of
the outstanding Armenian commanders.’

AZERBAÏDJAN-ARMÉNIE
Aliev : « Ces gens là ont une case en moins »

Haykakan Jamanak rapporte les déclarations du président
azerbaïdjanais, lors d’une conférence de presse avec le PM turc
Erdogan, qui a mis en cause « la déficience mentale » des dirigeants
arméniens, et plus précisément de M. Sarkissian. Le Président Aliev
est allé jusqu’à déclarer : « Je connais bien les positions de
[Sarkissian]. De fait, cela montre la nature agressive de l’Arménie.
Mais avoir des exigences territoriales en Turquie ? Cela signifie
simplement que ces gens-là ont une case en moins », tout en
conseillant in fine au Président arménien de « sortir d’un rêve »…
M. Aliev a par ailleurs répété que l’Azerbaïdjan reprendrait
finalement le contrôle du Karabagh « par des voies pacifiques ou par
les armes »…

L’éditorial d’Aravot relève que ni le PM turc, ni surtout le Président
azéri n’ont aucun droit de donner des leçons de tolérance à qui que ce
soit. L’éditorialiste rappelle que c’est Ilham Aliev qui menace tous
les jours de déclencher une nouvelle guerre et renvoie de son pays
toute personnalité portant un non arménien… L’éditorialiste estime
toutefois que les réactions aux propos de Serge Sarkissian ne sont que
des tentatives de détourner l’attention du fait que les coprésidents
du Groupe de Minsk et la secrétaire d’Etat américaine H. Clinton
intensifient les pressions, respectivement sur l’Azerbaïdjan et la
Turquie.

Ambassade de France en Arménie

Rédaction Merie Hakobian

S’exprimant dans le magazine de langue anglaise « L’Année des affaires
», Aliev accuse l’Arménie de posture non constructive dans les
négociations visant à règler le conflit du Haut Karabakh.

« L’Azerbaïdjan s’est engagé à un règlement rapide du conflit. Selon
l’Acte final d’Helsinki, parmi les principes de l’intégrité
territoriale et le droit des peuples à l’autodétermination il n’y a
aucune contradiction. Le droit des peuples à l’autodétermination peut
être réalisée dans le cadre de l’intégrité territoriale, et c’est la
seule façon de résoudre le conflit.”, dit-il, poursuivant ” Notre
position de principe sur le conflit du Haut-Karabakh est de restaurer
l’intégrité territoriale de l’Azerbaïdjan et le retour rapide de nos
citoyens à leurs terres natales. Seulement alors, il y aura la paix
dans la région et la coopération. Toutes les parties profiteront de ce
développement. L’Azerbaïdjan n’acceptera jamais l’indépendance du
Karabakh et qu’il rejoigne l’Arménie. Cela n’arrivera jamais. ”

Selon lui, le budget militaire de l’Azerbaïdjan a dépassé le budget de
l’Etat d’Arménie. “En bref, les dirigeants de l’Arménie et le lobby
arménien devraient évaluer correctement la vraie réalité et se rendre
compte que la communauté internationale ne reconnaîtra jamais
l’occupation et le conflit, tôt ou tard ils seront résolu,”, a -t-il
conclu.

samedi 30 juillet 2011,
Jean [email protected]

news.am, Armenia
July 30 2011

International community does not contribute to settlement of Karabakh
conflict by addressless statements – Armenian ruling party

July 30, 2011 | 15:11

YEREVAN. – The estimations of Assistant Secretary of Defense for
International Security Affairs of Pentagon Alexander Vershbow on
Nagorno-Karabakh completely reflect the objective reality and state
the fact that not only there was no positive shift after the Kazan
meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents but there is a
recession, the press secretary of ruling Republican Party of Armenia,
MP Eduard Sharmazanov told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

`Vershbow speaks sensible but he does not indicate which party’s guilt
it is. He does not state that it was by virtue of Azerbaijan’s that
Kazan meeting was unsuccessful, that the militarism of Baku triggered
on the line of contact. Such non-specific statements cannot possibly
bring any contribution to the settlement of the conflict,’ said
Sharmazanov, adding that Armenian president recently reiterated his
commitment to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs of
Pentagon Alexander Vershbow stated earlier that from point of view of
OSCE peace efforts, there has been a step back in Nagorno-Karabakh
peace talks.

According to Vershbow, an attempt to ensure a “breakthrough” in talks
on Karabakh in Kazan was not successful and the “tension along the
contact line between the parties is increasing.”

Vershbow stressed that Armenia and Azerbaijan “are still not able to
finalize the Basic Principles of [Karabakh] conflict resolution, and
we remain in unconstructive and dangerous stalemate.”