First batch of Armenian-made Kalashnikov rifles ready to be delivered to the Army
Film: Oscar-nominated Filmmaker Atom Egoyan Explores Grief, Guilt In ‘Guest Of Honour’
In the sprawling melodrama Guest of Honour, Oscar-nominated writer and director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) tells the story of Jim (David Thewlis), a health code inspector whose daughter, Veronica (Laysla De Oliveira), is accused of a crime she didn’t commit.
The screenplay, which is nonlinear like many of Egoyan’s previous films, skips back and forth to reveal a narrative centered on hefty themes like memory, guilt and grief and the relationship between a father and daughter that is tearing from the seams.
While the dramatic elements are plentiful and much too complicated to delve into fully, some of the most fascinating scenes of Guest of Honour are the moments viewers get to see Jim inside the restaurants he is scoring on their cleanliness and safety. It is a profession Egoyan found fascinating because of the difference between Jim’s job responsibilities and how he handles his day-to-day life.
“[Jim] goes into these places to see that they are conforming to code and following rules,” Egoyan said in an interview by phone last month. “He sees that a way of managing all these divergent cultures and traditions is somehow only possible if being regulated. Meanwhile, he’s dealing with a mess of things in his own life that have not been tended to properly.”
It is during these restaurant inspections that Jim, while his life is far from perfect, can dictate what it means for the owners of these venues to be able to continue operating their businesses. He takes his job seriously and it shows in the attention to detail he gives each establishment he visits.
“There is something that gives him space to reflect on his life,” Egoyan said. “He’s very obsessive about his work. It’s an outlet for these other issues that he’s dealing with.”
Grief is one of those issues. It’s a subject Egoyan has confronted many times before, including in dramas like 1997’s The Sweet Hereafter, which tells the story of a horrific school bus accident in a small town; 2002’s Ararat about the Armenian genocide; and 2008’s Adoration, a film based partly on the true story of a failed terrorist bombing on a flight to Tel Aviv from London in 1986. As a writer who is Armenian, Egoyan said there is already a natural “backdrop of extreme grief” present when he starts to tap into a script’s difficult emotions.
“Then, there are the people that you lose on the way [and] the relationships you have,” he said. “All the normal things that I think call to the sense of how frail the connection we have to each other actually might be and how important it is to hold onto every moment as long as possible.”
Although Egoyan has not found the same level of critical acclaim that he did for The Sweet Hereafter 23 years ago, he considers it a film so special that it would be impossible to recreate.
“I was at a certain point in my life and a certain point in my creative development,” he said. “There were things that I explored and not explored. I got to explore them with a cast that I completely trusted. All those things come together and you feel it.”
Guest of Honour is currently available for purchase on Blu-ray, as well as rental on VOD platforms, including iTunes and Amazon Prime.
Kiko Martinez is a film journalist and critic based in San Antonio, Texas.
Coronavirus: Armenian Doctors Fuel Fake News
Anahit Martirosyan recently recovered from coronavirus. But the 48-year-old, who lives in the city of Echmiadzin in western Armenia, did not actually believe that the virus was even real until she became infected herself.
“I went out without a face mask and I thought that the problem did not exist in reality,” she said. “I believed officials and doctors who were, and still are, agitating against wearing face masks and lockdown measures, on the grounds that Covid-19 is a myth. I didn’t know that doctors could also spread disinformation.”
Martirosyan ended up developing severe bilateral pneumonia.
She was just one of thousands of Armenians who have fallen victim to fake news stories that spread about Covid-19. Disinformation and unverified facts have become a serious danger to public health.
These false narratives also come from people seen as having expertise on the subject.
Marina Khachatryan, a neurosurgeon and former member of the Yerevan Council of Elders who now heads the Healthy Society NGO, initially claimed that the coronavirus was a part of a conspiracy led by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and later linked it to the 5G system.
In May, Khachatryan organised a Yerevan march to identify 5G stations that had apparently been secretly installed during quarantine. All three Armenian telecoms operators subsequently issued a statement claiming that there was no 5G network in Armenia.
In June, she initiated an online petition against compulsory vaccination.
“The vaccine will be deadly,” Khachatryan said. “Soon, according to my information, the minister of health will present a draft law on compulsory vaccination.”
The head of local NGO the Paracelius Medical Center Nune Nersisyan also openly questions the danger of the virus.
“I don’t wear a mask, I only advise infected people to wear it,” she said. “Masks cause allergies, cardiovascular problems, eczema, rashes, the cases of fungal diseases have increased. I want to understand whether they are trying to protect people with these masks or increase the rate of incidence?”
Nune Bakunts, deputy director of the ministry of health’s National Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, urged the public to listen to official sources of information rather than these supposedly alternative theories.
“The means to fight the disease have already been proven,” he said. “Just because someone does not believe it, doesn’t mean that the virus will just disappear.”
Bakunts said it was hard to believe that some doctors were spreading doubts about key regulations meant to contain the virus.
“Those people took the Hippocratic Oath and I feel sorry for the doctors who allow themselves to question whether to wear a mask or not,” he said. “They are not only campaigning against the measures taken by the health ministry, but are also confusing others.”
The Armenian media.am website publishes weekly digests on Covid-19, debunking fake news and disinformation. According to its fact-checker Arshaluys Barseghyan, fake news could usually be traced back to a Russian source.
He added that narratives had evolved as the crisis continued. Those who disseminated fake news about Covid-19 at first used to say that it was a lie; now they say that the virus exists but is not dangerous.
“Then they came after masks and now started a campaign against vaccination,” Barseghyan continued. “When the ministry of health said that they were negotiating with different companies, they were spreading rumours about its threats. For example, that the vaccine developed by Moderna was untested and lethal. When the minister Arsen Torosyan recently called for restricting lockdown measures, they explicitly called for the opposite.”
Information security expert Samvel Martirosyan argued that it was essential to regularly supply the public with official information.
“The information about the dangers of Covid-19 provided daily by the ministry of health is inconsistent,” he continued. “The same with the WHO, sometimes it changes its position on conceptual issues twice a day. This creates a fertile ground for all kinds of conspiracy theories, doubts and alternative opinions. The only solution to this is a media-literate society.”
He said that manipulative information around Covid-19 was being used as a political tool and created additional layers of danger.
“Fake news is spread by people who do it deliberately in pursuit of specific political goals,” he concluded.
Barseghyan agreed that the phenomenon was fuelled by ake news was spread by people who had their own agenda and intend to target a specific audience.
“They refer to unsubstantiated sources and spread conspiracy theories, which seed fear and controversy. Fake news is a lie that always hides something,” he said.
While this process had begun on social networks, it had gradually spread to television, for example in stories featured on ArmNews, Kentron and TV5 channels.
News anchor Abraham Gasparyan, who has his own show at ArmNews TV and also heads its news and analytical programmes department, said the broadcaster had the duty to provide an alternative source of information.
“We allow for free speech in its primary form, but we also pursue our own policy, which supposedly cannot be even a little opposed to official information,” he said. “The whole country is talking about the decisions of the commandant’s [deputy prime minister Tigran Avinyan] office, which we also broadcast. But does the country really have no right to hear a different opinion that would challenge the official position? Of course it does.
“Our guests have the right to freely express their opinions, the media should not suppress freedom of speech, and ArmNews is a platform for differing opinions.”
He said that he had invited guests on his show who talked about their belief that 5G and coronavirus were connected, for instance.
“In my TV programme, I am trying to show that there is another opinion, which we analyse and present to the public. It means that we discuss everything at the analytical level,” he continued.
However, others believe that almost every media outlet in Armenia plays a political role.
Lawmaker Gayane Abrahamyan said that fake news was being spread for purely political purposes in an attempt to discredit the current government. The situation had deteriorated since the Velvet Revolution, she continued, since the majority of the media was still controlled or owned by former officials or oligarchs.
“The messages about Covid-19 are intended to influence public behaviour and mainly come from the opposition space,” she said. “Their goal is to… blame the government for its failure.”
On June 16, the Armenian parliament adopted a draft audiovisual media law, largely in response to Covid-19, designed to regulate the activities of television and radio companies.
Its co-author, lawmaker Vahagn Tevosyan, stated during the debates that this was an attempt to introduce a model in which freedom of speech will not be affected.
Legislation was vital, he said, “because you can’t just say to the public that Covid-19 is a lie and you should not wear masks.”
Ashot Melikyan, a chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of _expression_, said that more oversight was needed.
“Everything is so politicised, the media is so polarised and Armenia is so small that everyone knows from which camp this or that media outlet is nourished,” he said. “The person expressing the opinion must support it with facts. If a person makes judgments with reference to facts, then, yes, it is his right and no one should suppress his freedom of _expression_.
“But it is necessary to oblige the media to involve the official or opposite opinion in such TV shows. When the law comes into force, the regulatory agency will have the right to intervene.”
Asbarez: Western Prelacy Announcement on Beirut Tragedy
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America logo
“He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
(Psalm 91:2)
Our hearts are filled with sorrow following the explosion which rocked Beirut on the evening of Tuesday, August 4, 2020, resulting in hundreds of fatalities, thousands wounded, dozens still missing, and catastrophic destruction. The blast affected the Armenian community as well, which suffered loss of life, injuries, and damage to community institutions including the Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia, Churches, schools, community centers, homes, and businesses. Lebanese authorities have declared Beirut a “disaster zone.”
Immediately following the blast, Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian issued a statement through the Western Prelacy Facebook page, praying for the souls of those who perished and healing to the wounded, as well as for peace, stability, and brighter days for the nation.
The Prelate also contacted His Holiness Catholicos Aram I to express solidarity and support on behalf of Prelacy Clergy, Religious and Executive Councils, and faithful to collectively overcome this tragedy. “We await direction from His Holiness to facilitate relief efforts,” stated the Prelate, advising our community to follow future announcements.
On Sunday, August 9, during Divine Liturgy in all Prelacy Churches, “Der Voghormya” prayers will be offered for the full recovery of the wounded and for the peace and wellbeing for Lebanon and its people, and requiem prayers will be offered for the souls of the deceased.
WESTERN PRELACY EXECUTIVE
Armenia’s political authorities, current NSS director have issues with understanding the law: Artur Vanetsyan
Former director of the National Security Service, leader of Homeland party Artur Vanetsyan said outside the NSS building today where he was summoned for interrogation in the sidelines of a criminal case that the accusations voiced in his address were not confirmed.
Speaking about the essence of the case, Vanetsyan said that in 2018 one of the ex-employees was restored in his position which, according to the NSS’ interpretation he had no right to.
“But I guess they have some issues with the interpretation and understanding of the law, I mean not the NSS officials and investigators but Armenia’s political leadership and today’s director of the NSS. Because if they had read it till the end, they would have understood that there was no violation of the law,” he said.
Armenpress: Philanthropist George Pagoumian to provide 250,000 USD to My Step Foundation for Armenian soldiers
Philanthropist George Pagoumian to provide 250,000 USD to My Step Foundation for Armenian soldiers
16:09, 30 July, 2020
YEREVAN, JULY 30, ARMENPRESS. Armenian prime minister’s spouse Anna Hakobyan had a telephone conversation with American-Armenian entrepreneur, PMA Venture Capital Group’s founder, philanthropist George K. Pagoumian.
The phone conversation took place in the evening of July 15 during which Mr. Pagoumian told the PM’s spouse that he is going to provide 250,000 USD for the Armenian soldiers.
“I thanked Mr. Pagoumian for the support, although I am sure that I could not express what I felt exactly after he said that. I proposed him that we will think about various programs, will present them to him and he will choose in what way to deliver that money to our soldiers”, Anna Hakobyan said on Facebook, adding that Mr. Pagoumian in response stated that there is no need to present him anything as he trusts here.
The money will be transferred to the My Step Foundation soon.
Anna Hakobyan said that currently the My Step Foundation discusses what direction to choose concretely for providing that sums to the soldiers and officers.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Donation of Japanese-made Avigan to Armenia
12:06,
YEREVAN, JULY 23, ARMENPRESS. Since the ultimate medication to cure COVID-19 is yet to be developed, many countries in the world have been applying already existing ones to prevent lethal aggravation by way of suppressing the replication of the virus. As of now, Avigan (Favipiravir) is one such example which has been attracting active interest.
Upon the request from Armenia, Japan has made a donation of Japanese made Avigan to be used for about 100 patients on July 22.
It is sincerely hoped that they will be put into the most effective use by Armenian medical specialists and contribute to further advancement of COVID-19’s clinical research, thus assisting the recovery of more patients through that process
Media expert: Azerbaijani hackers leaking more data of Armenians for three days
Azerbaijani hackers have been leaking more data of Armenians to the Internet for three days already, information security and media expert Samvel Martirosyan said on Facebook.
“Azerbaijanis seem to be making fun of us for three days, leaking all sorts of data of Armenians on the internet, including a huge amount of passport data and bank documents. When is this internal mess going to end?” Martirosyan wrote.
Earlier in June Azerbaijani hackers twice leaked data of thousands of Armenian coronavirus patients. The leaked data included the citizen’s names and surnames, addresses, mobile phone numbers, as well as the names of those medical facilities where they had been registered or had undergone treatment.
Complaints of torture on rise in Turkey’s Kurdish southeast
AL-Monitor The Turkish government no longer sees the need to conceal torture, especially of Kurdish women in the southeast of the country. By Pinar Tremblay July 8, 2020 Picture this: A woman is home alone in Diyarbakir province in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast. At 5 a.m., 100 policemen from counterterrorism and special forces units storm the apartment, instructing the neighbors to stay inside and not communicate with anyone. Then they sledgehammer the door and unleash two police dogs to attack Sevil Rojbin Cetin. But that is only the beginning. Cetin is an activist in women’s movements and a former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) mayor, elected in 2014 and replaced by a government appointee in 2016. Cetin was interrogated for 3½ hours in her apartment while her legs were bleeding from multiple dog bites. The apartment was turned upside down, while she was blindfolded and beaten. She was stripped half naked with her hands tied, while photos were taken of her. The physical and sexual torture was coupled with verbal abuses; a gun was held to her head. “At one point she was taken to the balcony and the officer told her, ‘If your apartment was on the 5th floor, you would have jumped by now and we would not have to deal with you,” said Meral Danis Bestas, a pro-Kurdish HDP lawmaker. Cetin’s Attorney Gulistan Ates, who took photos of her injuries after the ordeal and shared them with the press, was called to the police station and an investigation has been launched against him. The 2019 US State Department human rights report emphasized that violations affect Turkey's Kurdish citizens disproportionally. Kurdish women or women who refuse to be model citizens in the eyes of the Turkish state are increasingly becoming targets of arbitrary arrests, strip searches, sexual violence in detention, insults and threats of rape. Remziye Tosun, HDP lawmaker who has been targeted for wearing white scarves in the parliament, told Al-Monitor, “During the siege of Sur [in 2016], I stayed at home with my young children. Then they [security forces] took us outside; I had my two daughters with me — one was 18 months and the other nine years old. The security forces were determined to send my children to social services despite my pleas to call my family. But they sent my 9-year-old to an orphanage; my nursing child was allowed to stay in prison with me.” Tosun said that since 2015 state forces have increased gradually the intensity of torture and abuse of women. “We have gone back in time — back to the days of Esat Oktay Yildiran. That is the mentality of the AKP [Justice and Development Party] right now; torture has come back with a vengeance.” (Yildiran was a military officer who was notorious for his gruesome torture techniques at the Diyarbakir prison in the 1980s.) Tosun’s house in Sur was demolished, and she was imprisoned for 15 months with her youngest child. Despite all that has happened, she keeps her kind and compassionate spirit. “The thing that hurt the most was not the physical hardship but the humiliation. One day we were cleaning the newly built prison in Elazig, but we had little access to cleaning products. We saw a group of female guards staring at us, so one of the inmates asked why the guards laughed nervously among themselves. One replied, 'Look they speak, they are human.' This I cannot forget, but I understand.” Tosun said that she has forgiven those guards, adding, “The prejudice against the Kurds, the sayings about the Kurds having tails and not being civilized is still happening because of the official education system. And that mindset helps justify cruel treatment and discrimination.” The Kurds in Turkey are perceived as pseudo-citizens, and therefore as potential terrorists. The Kurds are accepted to some degree, and as long as they assimilate diligently they are viewed as prospective Turks. Ayse Acar Basaran, HDP lawmaker and spokeswoman for the HDP’s Women’s Council, told Al Monitor, “Since July 2015, we have had over 16,000 members of our party detained by the security forces. About 4,000 are in prison.” Basaran noted that all women’s organizations have been shut down since the July 15, 2016, coup attempt. Violence against women has spiked even further as men are given a blank check and women are left more vulnerable in their homes and on the streets. “When the government ended the peace process and intensified its aggressive security policies women became the biggest victims. Now they are arresting members of the two remaining women’s associations — Rosa Women's Association and TJA-Free Women’s Movement. The charges against the members include attending International Women's Day on March 8, promoting peace, searching for missing women and seeking justice for female victims of domestic violence. Women — particularly those in the Kurdish women’s movement — pose a direct challenge to the AKP’s wish to monopolize power, because they are so organized,” she added. Eren Keskin, vice-president of Turkey’s Human Rights Association and a prominent attorney, told Al-Monitor that torture of women both “in detention and while being taken into detention is becoming routine. Torture is clearly defined as illegal in both the Turkish Constitution and several international treaties that Turkey has signed.” In the 1980s, torture was hidden and frequently denied by government officials. Today, senior bureaucrats welcome and even encourage it. For example, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said in April, “I told [the security forces] when you catch them [terrorists] tear them apart.” Soylu also said that photos of the bodies would be made public. Some of those commenting on these images on social media suggest further gruesome acts on the alleged terrorists. In what seems to have become the normalization of torture and violence, the display of the mutated body parts of Kurdish women have become an event to celebrate. Sebnem Korur Fincanci, president of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, announced that according to the foundation's records one in every 500 people in Turkey has been tortured. HDP lawmakers are now asking who is responsible for torturing Cetin for 3½ hours, and who gave the order for this torture. The images of the torture did not cause an uproar among social media users. So far, no police investigation has been launched about any torture claims. The problem of impunity of government officials in Turkey has reached levels never seen before. Instead, we can expect more investigations for human rights lawyers, HDP lawmakers and journalists who dare to report cases of torture or abuse. There are several loopholes in the law to protect torturers. Although torture is to receive severe punishment, the prosecution can easily turn the case into “an act of brutality,” which would not even cost the officer his job. These acts are becoming routine because they are condoned by the government and justified under the argument of “combatting terrorism” — with little to no room left to ask how torturing these women helps combat terror. Turkey is regressing fast to the days when police officers marched chanting, “Damn human rights” — starting in 1992 at a funeral of four officers.