Armenian Oppositionist Says Authorities Prevented Dialogue By Keepin

ARMENIAN OPPOSITIONIST SAYS AUTHORITIES PREVENTED DIALOGUE BY KEEPING HIM IN JAIL

11:51 ~U 15.10.13

Tigran Arakelyan, the amnestied Armenian opposition activist declared a
political prisoner by the leading media, has attributed his conviction
to the authorities’ attempt to frustrate a possible dialogue with
the opposition Armenian National Congress.

“When I appeared in jail, the Armenian National Congress relieved
Armenia of the political prisoners’ problem. And very serious issues
were being discussed there,” he told the Armenian service of RFE/RL
(Azatutyun), without giving more details.

“I don’t say they provoked the incident, but they used that incident
to prevent the dialogue because a very concrete issue had been put
forward that day, and it was impossible to find an answer there.”

Asked why the prosecution was trying to prove persistently over this
period that Arakelyan was guilty of breaking a policeman’s nose in
the clash that led to his conviction, the activist answered. “No
attempt was even being made to prove anything. They had simply taken
advantage of the corresponding provision of the Criminal Code, which
had to do with a policeman. And because that article [violence against
a representative of the authorities – Sec 2, Art 316 of Criminal Code]
envisaged 5-10 years’ [in jail], they could keep me imprisoned.”

Armenian News – Tert.am

Zhoghovurd: Armenian Prosecutor General’s ‘Black List’

ZHOGHOVURD: ARMENIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S ‘BLACK LIST’

10:23 ~U 15.10.13

The newly appointed prosecutor general has reportedly drawn up a black
list of regional prosecutors he is going to sack from office soon.

Citing its “well-informed sources”, the paper says that Gevorg
Kostanyan is going to remove the Gegharkunik region’s prosecutor,
Varharm Margaryan, whom he reportedly does not wish to even meet
any more.

The paper says it later talked to Margaryan over his future plans,
but the latter appeared to be unaware of the reports. Asked about his
relations with the prosecutor general, Margaryan denied any tensions,
adding that he continues working as before.

Norayr Hakobyan, the Syunik region’s prosecutor who is said to be on
the black list, also denied the report about being sacked in later
comments to the paper. He told Zhoghovurd that he does not work at
the moment because he is on a leave. “Neither have I got any written
request. There’s nothing of the kind; ask public relations department;
they will answer your questions,” he was quoted as saying.

Armenian News – Tert.am

Turquie : Analyse Sur Le Paquet De Democratisation

TURQUIE : ANALYSE SUR LE PAQUET DE DEMOCRATISATION

Publié le : 15-10-2013

Info Collectif VAN – – Le 30 septembre dernier,
le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a dévoilé le paquet de
démocratisation tant attendu. A l’instar de Rober KoptaÅ~_, rédacteur
en chef du journal arménien de Turquie, AGOS, de nombreux journalistes
ont critiqué et analysé les articles de ce dispositif de réformes.

D’après KoptaÅ~_ : ” Les principales lacunes concernant le paquet
pourraient être rassemblées dans quelques chapitres. Nous pouvons
ainsi les définir en tant que problèmes concernant les Alévis, les
Kurdes, les non-musulmans et la structure de la gestion de la Turquie.

” Le Collectif VAN vous propose la traduction d’un article en turc,
paru dans le journal AGOS, le 3 octobre 2013.

AGOS

Le paquet, les Alévis, les Kurdes, les minorités, Gezi

Rober KoptaÅ~_

03 octobre 2013

Rober KoptaÅ~_, rédacteur en chef du journal AGOS, a écrit sur les
éventuelles améliorations apportées, dans le cadre du paquet de
démocratisation, aux problèmes fondamentaux de la Turquie. KoptaÅ~_
dit que le pouvoir et l’opposition politiques sont coincés dans un
champ étroit et que la solution sera la nouvelle opposition parue
avec Gezi.

Les jours ont passé, tout est dit sur le paquet de démocratisation
et tous ceux qui n’étaient pas coincés par un genre de fanatisme
ont abouti au même point. Les règlementations de ce paquet sont
évidemment positives mais il faut faire encore plus pour passer
le cap.

Si l’on regarde article par article, ce qui est dans le paquet
concerne des étapes qui doivent être soutenues d’une manière ou
d’une autre. Nous savons combien la transformation démocratique en
Turquie est difficile. C’est pourquoi, il faut prendre soin de tout ce
qui peut briser la cruauté, la rigidité, l’uniformité de l’Etat. Le
paquet est d’ailleurs surtout critiqué par ce qu’il ne contient
pas et ceci est vrai. Les principales lacunes concernant le paquet
pourraient être rassemblées dans quelques chapitres. Nous pouvons
ainsi les définir en tant que problèmes concernant les Alévis, les
Kurdes, les non-musulmans et la structure de la gestion de la Turquie.

La définition des Alévis par l’AKP : la violence

Le problème alévi est l’une des questions les plus tendues en Turquie
puisque l’AKP, le parti au pouvoir, représente les sunnites. Le
problème est devenu encore plus critique car après avoir établi un
environnement sans conflit pour le problème kurde, les effets sur
la Turquie de la guerre en Syrie les a rendus furieux. Les Alévis
se méfient énormément des actes et des intentions de l’AKP. Le
pouvoir fait en sorte de relier cette méfiance a sa politique suivie
en Syrie, sa défense des violences policières lors des évènements
de Gezi et son comportement aggravant la polarisation.

Les Alévis ont subi de grandes injustices depuis des décennies. A
ce stade, le sommet de ces problèmes, au moins dans leur perception
[Nota CVAN : la perception émanant des Alévis], a coïncidé avec
l’époque où le parti qui représente la politique de l’islam sunnite
est tout seul au pouvoir. Et l’AKP, au lieu de mettre fin a la tension
en éliminant les injustices existantes, a poursuivi une nouvelle
norme suspecte (sous le nom ”d’initiatives ”) qui interprétait
l’alévisme d’après la foi sunnite. Ceci a été, envers les Alévis,
une approche hiérarchique, hégémonique et ” violente ” comme
l’a souligné l’écrivain Yıldız Ramazanoglu. Ce qui aurait dÔ
être fait, était de respecter la manière dont les Alévis se
définissent entre eux, de donner toute sorte de constitutionnalisme
a ce pluralisme et de reconnaître leur statut. Si demain également,
le paquet concernant les Alévis ne porte pas sur ce point de vue
et si on va tenter de choisir un Alévisme parmi les Alévismes, ou
bien si on va s’efforcer d’en créer un nouveau, le problème alévi
s’enfoncera davantage vers sa non-résolution.

Sans fâcher les nationalistes, sans mettre l’arrêt au processus

LorsquÂ’on regarde le paquet, on voit qu’il y a des types de
règlementations concernant le problème kurde. Mais, ici aussi, ce
sont des étapes qui concernent plus la surface que le fond. Dans le
paquet, il n’y a pas d’étapes qui pourraient faire avancer l’état de
non-conflit actuel, ni des modifications concernant les arrestations du
KCK, le code pénal turc et le code civil turc, ni des renforcements
a propos de la décentralisation. Ce cas montre que le gouvernement a
adopté comme tactique d’initier la solution du problème kurde tout
en ne touchant pas la sensibilité des nationalistes. Dans ce cas-la,
le résultat du processus de résolution va continuer a progresser dans
le chemin indiqué par le dialogue entre Ocalan et l’Etat. Si c’est
le cas, nous espérons que de bonnes choses se tiendront sur l’île se
trouvant au milieu de la mer de Marmara [Nota CVAN : L’île de İmrali
où Ocalan est emprisonné], hormis le fait de se réjouir des buts
de Drogba, et que les lendemains seront remplis de bonnes nouvelles.

Les minorités sont peu nombreuses mais elles ne sont pas négligeables

Le paquet a propos des minorités a été discuté autour de la
non-évocation de l’Institut de théologie [Nota CVAN : Etablissement
d’enseignement supérieur de la théologie grecque orthodoxe qui
se trouve sur l’île de Heybeli, proche d’Istanbul] et la joie de
la restitution du terrain du monastère de Mor Gabriel [Nota CVAN :
le monastère syriaque orthodoxe situé dans la province de Mardin].

Cependant, il faut dire que traiter les droits des minorités sous la
forme de gestes singuliers et de grâces accordées est problématique.

Le principal problème des non-musulmans de Turquie est de se faire
accepter en tant que citoyens égaux. Par conséquence, il existe de
nombreux sujets qui attendent une résolution : les biens extorqués,
le statut du patriarcat, la manière de faire vivre la culture et la
langue d’une minorité, la perte de sa population, le fait de ne pas
pouvoir devenir un fonctionnaire d’Etat, les libertés de la religion
et encore d’autres pressions. Sans évoquer tout cela, insérer
dans le paquet une quelconque décision sans faire de modifications
administratives et juridiques, c’est au plus traiter les minorités
comme une ” marge ”. Tandis que même si les non-musulmans sont
numériquement peu nombreux, leur cas est une indication importante
en termes de démonstration de la démocratie en Turquie. Et nous ne
pouvons pas monter la barre de la démocratie avec ” la marge ”.

Le soin de la faiblesse de l’opposition

Lorsqu’on regarde dans l’optique de ces trois sujets, il n’est pas
difficile de remarquer que le paquet est la suite de la stratégie
habituelle de l’AKP. Cette attitude ressemble a celle d’un commercant
qui voudrait donner le minimum pour en recevoir le maximum. L’AKP
s’approche des domaines problématiques comme un patron qui travaille
avec une dépense minimum pour réaliser un bénéfice maximum. Ceci
perturbe évidemment le développement de la démocratie. Alors
que le manque de pouvoir de l’opposition démocrate laisse en fin de
compte la transformation a l’initiative de l’AKP. Le style d’opposition
libertaire, paru lors de la résistance de Gezi , prend de l’importance
exactement a ce stade-la. Si la politique institutionnelle est coincée
dans un champ étroit entre son pouvoir et son opposition, ce sont de
nouveaux souffles qui doivent ouvrir ce champ avec un nouvel esprit,
même si ce n’est pas organisé, mais s’ils sont capables de réclamer
des choses si nécessaire. Pour que les étapes a prendre vers la
démocratisation soient plus démocratiques, la démocratie d’une
telle opposition doit pouvoir monter la barre.

Ce paquet, contrairement aux anciens, a vu le jour grâce a la
pression de la dynamique interne de la Turquie et non grâce a
l’UE. Nous pouvons ainsi remarquer que ce succès est dÔ aux efforts
du mouvement kurde, mais aussi, au fait que la société turque,
avec ses différentes composantes, est de plus en plus ouverte au
changement et qu’elle est de plus en plus proche d’une vision du
monde plus pluraliste. Nous pouvons aussi dire que ceci indique que
la société a dépassé la politique.

Véritablement, mis a part quelques fanatiques, la société
avait résolu d’elle-même le problème du voile ; il n’y a pas de
différence importante pour l’alcool ; le fait que le kurde soit
étudié comme langue maternelle ne crée plus d’aussi grandes
réactions du côté turc.

Alors, c’est le moment pour que la politique soutienne mieux
l’impulsion de la société. Dans ce sens, Gezi a donné des astuces
importantes tant au pouvoir qu’a l’opposition. Bien sÔr, elles sont
destinées a ceux qui voudraient les comprendre.

Traduction du turc : NA.T. pour le Collectif VAN

Titre original: ” Paket, Aleviler, Kurtler, Azınlıklar, Gezi ”

Source originale:

Retour a la rubrique

Source/Lien : AGOS

http://www.collectifvan.org/article.php?r=0&id=76201
http://www.agos.com.tr/haber.php?seo=paket-aleviler-kurtler-azinliklar-gezi&haberid=5857
www.collectifvan.org

Liberation De Tigran Arakelyan Du Congress

LIBERATION DE TIGRAN ARAKELYAN DU CONGRESS

AMNISTIE

Un militant de l’opposition armenienne a ete libere lundi plus de
deux ans après avoir ete arrete sur des accusations que lui et ses
partisans considèrent politiquement motivees.

La Cour d’appel d’Armenie a libere Tigran Arakelian, chef de file
de l’aile jeune du Congrès National Armenien (HAK), après l’avoir
reconnu innocent de deux chefs d’accusation de voies de fait et reduit
de six a trois ans la peine de prison qui lui avait ete infligee par
un tribunal de première instance .

L’acquittement partiel d’Arakelian l’a rendu eligible a une amnistie
generale qui a ete declaree par les autorites armeniennes plus tôt
ce mois-ci. L’amnistie a egalement ete appliquee a Artak Karapetian,
l’un des trois autres militants du HAK qui s’etaient affronte, avec
Arakelian, a des policiers dans le centre de Erevan en août 2011 dans
des circonstances controversees .

Karapetian avait ete condamne a une peine d’emprisonnement de trois
ans l’annee dernière, une peine confirmee par la Cour d’appel. Cette
dernière a inflige des peines plus courtes aux deux autres jeunes du
HAK qui s’etaient fait plus discrets.

Les quatre hommes avaient fermement dementi toute attaque contre les
policiers lors de la procedure penale et judiciaire. Ils affirmaient
aux contraire avoir eux-meme ete battus et arretes par les policiers.

Arakelian, que le HAK et des groupes locaux de defense des droits
de l’homme ont considere comme un prisonnier politique, est sorti
libre dans la salle d’audience malgre qu’il avait rejete publiquement
l’amnistie a une audience la semaine dernière.

” Ils m’ont attrape illegalement et ils m’ont libere illegalement
, ” a-t-il declare aux journalistes après avoir ete accueilli
triomphalement par de nombreux partisans venu a cette audience. Il
revendique un acquittement totale et entend se pourvoir en cassation.

mardi 15 octobre 2013, Ara ©armenews.com

http://www.armenews.com/article.php3?id_article=93947

How a Brother and Sister Took LA’s Russian Immigrant Community on a

LA Weekly, CA
Oct 10 2013

How a Brother and Sister Took L.A.’s Russian Immigrant Community on a Wild Ride

By Joseph Tsidulko Thursday, Oct 10 2013

On a quiet, sycamore-lined street in Reseda in the sprawling San
Fernando Valley, Shura Rafaelov, a 65-year-old immigrant from the
former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, runs a small day care in her
home. Rafaelov’s house bustles with the pleasant clamor of a dozen
children of Russian heritage, from infants rocking in cribs to
5-year-olds jumping on play sets under the shade of a towering fig.

Rafaelov, slight of build and olive-skinned, is warm, soft-spoken and
exceedingly gentle. She beams as she describes how she cares for and
educates those kids.

But her cheery tone evaporates when she recounts certain events of the
past five years. In December 2004, Rafaelov placed ads in some
Russian-language newspapers promoting her services or, as she says,
“looking for children.” Soon after, she got a call from a
desperate-sounding woman seeking work.

Rafaelov didn’t need anyone, and besides, the state strictly regulates
day care employees. But there was something about the timbre of the
woman’s voice, the urgency of her plea for work ‘ any kind of work ‘
that invoked Rafaelov’s sympathy.

An educated woman who was a pharmacist in Uzbekistan, Rafaelov knows
the struggles of a new immigrant with poor language skills and an
underappreciated professional background. She told the woman, Zina,
she could come over and help clean her house.

Just before Christmas, a tall and unkempt woman in her late 40s
arrived at the gate of Rafaelov Day Care. For seven hours, Rafaelov
and Zina dusted, mopped floors, did laundry and put away toys, books,
musical instruments and booster seats. While Rafaelov prepared lunch,
Zina mostly sipped tea and spoke of living with her brother in squalid
conditions, sleeping on the floor because they could not afford a
mattress.

She had to ride the bus everywhere. Her legs hurt.

“I felt sorry for her,” Rafaelov says. “How was I supposed to know who
or what she was?”

Rafaelov paid the woman $60. She felt good that she’d helped a fellow immigrant.

That seemingly innocuous interaction, nearly a decade ago, launched a
legal saga that has consumed Rafaelov, caused her untold grief and
strained the financial resources of her modest business. When she
recalls the details now, her breathing grows labored.

Almost four years after that December day, Rafaelov was home alone
when her doorbell rang. A man and a woman were at her gate, each
carrying a suitcase. The woman asked Rafaelov if she remembered her.
At first, she did not. It was Zina. Zina told Rafaelov they wanted to
move into her house.

Rafaelov was taken aback but thought that it might be some dire
emergency. She asked how long they might need to stay; Zina answered
along the lines of, “It will be as long as it will be.”

But Rafaelov did not know the tall man, and beyond that, everyone who
lives in her home must be fingerprinted by authorities, because of the
day care business. Rafaelov told Zina she didn’t have the room; Zina
coolly replied she knew the house was plenty big. Rafaelov started to
shut the gate, but the stranger put his foot against the jamb, a
menacing action.

“If you are going to be a hooligan, then I am going to call the
police,” Rafaelov says she warned them. At this, Zina launched a
barrage of threats and anti-Semitic slurs, Rafaelov tells L.A. Weekly.
Zina finished her rant by calling the kindly grandmother of six a
“prostitutka.”

When they left, Zina promised Rafaelov she wouldn’t forget her a second time.

But Rafaelov largely did forget. Some two years later, when she
received a short letter in August 2010 from a “Zina Dolenko”
requesting “a copy of the records pertaining to my work in the
Rafaelov’s Day Care,” she ignored it ‘ as far as she knew, she says,
she’d had no such employee. A few months later, Rafaelov received a
complaint filed by Zina Dolenko with the California Labor
Commissioner.

It accused her of serious wage violations against her one-day cleaning lady.

When Rafaelov visited the California Department of Industrial
Relations’ drab Division of Labor Standards Enforcement office on Van
Nuys Boulevard, an official advised her to talk to Zina Dolenko ‘ the
“plaintiff” ‘ and attempt to informally resolve things to avoid a
hearing. Sitting with Zina in a conference room, she says the woman
recounted her work for Rafaelov ‘ with curious discrepancies.

Dolenko, she says, claimed she’d spent two days cleaning, and each day
worked nine and a half hours ‘ above the legal limit at which overtime
kicks in. Rafaelov says Dolenko also alleged she’d worked for her in
December of 2008, not 2004, freshening her claim by four years,
putting it within California’s statute of limitations.

Watching this unscrupulous woman at work, Rafaelov thought she
probably shouldn’t be surprised if Zina Dolenko demanded a couple
hundred dollars.

Dolenko claimed $8 in regular wages, $36 in overtime, a stiff
statutory $750 penalty against Rafaelov for ignoring the request to
provide records to an “employee,” costly waiting-time penalties for
deficiencies in Zina’s “final paycheck” ‘ and two years of interest on
all of that.

Zina wanted $3,500 to drop her case.

“I couldn’t believe it!” Rafaelov says today, defiantly. “I said, ‘I
won’t give you 3 ½ cents!’?”

A few weeks later, Rafaelov got a call from Igor Zadov, owner of Dvin
Market, a small Russian deli on Sherman Way. Zadov asked his longtime
customer an unexpected question: “What’s your last name?”

She told him it was Rafaelov, and he asked: “Are you also having a
problem with Zina?” Zadov had seen the name “Shura Rafaelov” on a
docket at the Van Nuys Boulevard state labor office and thought it
might be his customer.

Back in 2007, Zadov tells L.A. Weekly, he had hired Zina through an ad
in the L.A.-based Russian newspaper Kurier; she’d mostly sold salads
and deli meats behind his counter. She was a terrible employee, Zadov
says, often late or a no-show, usually rude to customers, and lasted
only two months.

Three years later, Zadov got a letter from Zina Dolenko requesting her
employment records. He says he only vaguely remembered employing her,
and like Rafaelov, he ignored the letter ‘ it didn’t seem official, he
says, and admits his bookkeeping was shoddy then. He, too, soon
received a complaint filed by Zina Dolenko with the Labor
Commissioner. It accused him of a slew of violations, including unpaid
overtime and failure to pay minimum wage.

So Zadov dug from his files a copy of a California driver’s license
identifying his former employee as Zina “Doljenko.” Whether Doljenko
or Dolenko, he tells the Weekly, she was skewing the dates, saying she
worked at Dvin in 2009 ‘ but it had been 2007.

Rafaelov and Zadov shared their troubles with many in the
Russian-speaking network in the Valley and Los Angeles. They learned
they had a lot of company.

Rafaelov heard from the owner of Barin, a Tarzana Russian-cuisine
restaurant that features a dance show, who’d paid Zina rather than
fight a costly and unpleasant battle. So had a West Hollywood tailor
specializing in bridal alterations, Luba’s Tailoring. But the owner of
popular Stolichnaya Bakery in West Hollywood and Bazaar Market in
Tarzana, they learned, had decided to fight Zina ‘ who used her third,
and most common, last-name variant, “Dolzhenko,” to accuse them of
wage violations, according to documents obtained by the Weekly.

In time, these hardworking immigrants would learn more about Zina
Dolenko/Doljenko/Dolzhenko and the tall man who accompanied her to
hearings at the labor office and frightened Shura Rafaelov by sticking
his foot in her doorjamb years earlier. He turned out to be Zina’s
explosive younger brother, Gennady. And his own penchant for suing
mom-and-pop businesses founded by Russian immigrants eclipsed that of
his sister.

The Dolzhenkos are shrouded in mystery. Former employers and opposing
counsel offer hard-to-believe anecdotes about them, and bits of
biographical data are scattered through case files shelved in clerks’
offices where they have sued people in Burbank, Glendale, downtown,
Van Nuys, Chatsworth, West Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

Those bits reveal that Gennady was born, educated and worked in
Kyrgyzstan before arriving here in June 2004 ‘ a lucky winner of the
limited U.S. “diversity immigrant visa,” or green card lottery,
randomly awarded each year. Only about 200 were chosen from Kyrgyzstan
the year Gennady got a spot.

Gennady Dolzhenko appears to have filed his first American lawsuit in
2005, when as a renter in Van Nuys he claimed housing code violations
against Bluebird Investments, which managed the property from which he
was evicted. Gennady sued and Bluebird settled; thus an American
career was born. (Gennady and Zina Dolzhenko did not respond to
several email requests for comment from L.A. Weekly, sent to addresses
they gave the courts.)

About two weeks after suing Bluebird, and a year after he failed his
driving test at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Winnetka, Gennady
boldly sued the DMV.

Letters he and Zina wrote to high-ranking DMV officials blamed the
agency for causing Gennady to “lead a miserable life without a car”
and preventing him from getting a job.

The DMV drolly advised Dolzhenko to simply retake the test. He argued
that the examiner who tested him “was not emotionally steady.” Gennady
wrote: “The score sheet looks disgusting because of an examiner’s
dirty and sloppy marks.”

Gennady failed to shake an eye-popping $25,000 in damages from the state.

Four years later he sued Fry’s Electronics in Burbank for failing to
stock a television converter box the store advertised online, causing
him, he claimed in court documents, to be “deprived of television
entertainment for almost two years.”

But mostly, the Weekly has found, in hundreds of pages of court and
state Labor Commissioner documents, Gennady sues small
electronic-repair shops whose Russian and Armenian owners hire him as
an act of kindness toward a Russian-speaker desperate for work. Using
the L.A. County Superior Court as his unwitting abettor and hamstrung
state officials as witnesses, he taps a fear harbored by those who
once lived in the Communist bloc ‘ that of being falsely accused
before government authorities ‘ to try to squeeze money from them.

Court records and witness interviews reveal that Zina finds her
brother jobs, drafts and serves his legal documents, and advocates as
his court-approved Russian interpreter.

With Zina’s aid, Gennady Dolzhenko has filed nearly 30 legal actions,
including appeals and petitions for writs. She has pursued at least
nine claims of her own.

“They picked a great state in which to do it,” says Kimberly Stone,
president of the Civil Justice Association of California, a Sacramento
group that lobbies for judicial reform. The Dolzhenkos’ lawsuits,
Stone says, are a case study illustrating why California is ranked the
nation’s No. 1 “Judicial Hellhole” ‘ an ignominious designation by the
American Tort Reform Association, which compares the fairness of the
50 states’ civil justice systems.

Business owners like Rafaelov and Zadov, who refuse to pay to settle
the siblings’ allegations of employment wrongdoing, must fight two
savvy litigants who can disrupt their businesses and lives for years.

The Dolzhenkos incur no serious costs. They always appear pro per ‘
acting as their own attorneys ‘ and claim financial hardship to get
their filing fees waived by judges who are unaware of their history.

Stone, whose group successfully backed AB 2274 to strengthen
California’s vexatious-litigant law, explains that because L.A.
Superior Court judges, according to records, waived the $435 court
filing fee in all of Gennady Dolzhenko’s cases, taxpayers effectively
subsidized his abuse of the system. The system “basically encourages
litigation and makes it difficult for defendants who are in the right
to extricate themselves,” Stone says.

Zina’s prolific legal writing is characterized by jargon, gibberish
and repetitive citations of case law and statutes, infused with
personal attacks: “Defendant Rafaelov demonstrates her despicable
nature providing fraudulent statements with the purpose to defame
plaintiff and to ruin plaintiff’s reputation,” one declaration reads.

According to several of their Russian-speaking targets interviewed by
the Weekly, they are masters at creating acrimonious, hostile ordeals.
Their eight-year litigation history is marked by repeated outbursts in
court, troubling threats against business owners and their lawyers ‘
even courtroom tirades against judges and court personnel, which are
repeatedly forgiven by Los Angeles judges.

At the Van Nuys courthouse, bailiffs have walked Gennady Dolzhenko out
of a courtroom about half a dozen times because of his standout
belligerence toward court clerks and court staff, according to
Sheriff’s Lt. Ken Talianko, who runs security there.

The pair might have continued this way indefinitely if Gennady hadn’t
sued the Armenian owner of a well-established audio, video and medical
devices repair shop in Montebello.

Eric Boyajian, founder of Digitron Electronics, got a call in 2010
from a friend who said a Russian-speaking brother and sister were in
his office ‘ desperate for work. In a cross-complaint Boyajian filed
much later against Dolzhenko, which was obtained by the Weekly,
Boyajian noted that he didn’t need another worker but felt a kinship
and decided to hire Gennady.

Boyajian stated, “He was going through a rough time in his life and
claimed that he was about to be evicted from the hotel he was staying
in if he didn’t earn some money.”

Boyajian was sad to see an engineer “in an apparently desperate
situation,” having faced something similar when he arrived here in the
1980s with an engineering degree.

But Dolzhenko immediately proved “surprisingly incompetent,” damaging
expensive electronic-testing equipment he claimed he knew how to use,
Boyajian wrote.

Yet the Montebello shop owner afforded him second and third chances.
Gennady boasted an engineering degree from a respected Soviet
technical university in Kyrgyzstan but never produced a diploma. When
he was repeatedly late due to “bus delays,” Boyajian arranged a
carpool for him. When Dolzhenko said “he and his sister were homeless
and sleeping in the airport,” Boyajian loaned him $500 rent money.

The documents show that Boyajian finally accepted that Dolzhenko was
trouble and fired him. In 2011, Dolzhenko sued, accusing Boyajian of
inflicting severe emotional distress by firing him to avoid paying
$146 in wages. Dolzhenko’s demand: $170,896 in damages.

The hefty lawsuit would become a turning point.

Repair-store owner Eric Boyajian knew a lawyer he could really trust:
his son, James. (Both Boyajians have refused to comment on their
case.)

James Boyajian, fresh out of Indiana University Law School, went all
out for his dad. The newly minted attorney exhaustively researched
Dolzhenko’s voluminous legal history and alerted the judge hearing the
suit to other cases Gennady had filed under various aliases.

“For seven years and counting, he has attacked generous people, job
creators, lawyers and judges with endless lawsuits, labor actions,
writs of mandate and appeals,” James Boyajian wrote to L.A. Superior
Court Judge James Dunn in asking Dunn to place an unusual restriction
‘ that of “vexatious litigant” ‘ on Dolzhenko’s ability to sue, thus
“putting an end to this madness.”

It’s hard to count the lawsuits the brother and sister have filed, or
the money they have reaped, because of their tactic of misspelling
their foreign names and the number of complaints that their targets
agreed to settle before being sued. But through documents and
interviews, the Weekly found that Zina followed a parallel track to
her brother’s, targeting mostly delis, bakeries and tailor shops.

In April 2006, Zina tried for a seamstress job advertised in Panorama,
an indispensable weekly for many in L.A.’s Russian community. Luba
Levina, owner of Luba’s Tailoring, stated later in a declaration to
the Labor Commissioner’s office, written in support of Shura
Rafaelov’s upcoming hearing and obtained by the Weekly, that she
administered a sewing test and then, as a favor, drove Zina home. She
did not, however, hire Zina.

Levina, who couldn’t be reached for this story, wrote in her
declaration, “She went thru [sic] the roof and started cursing me with
profanities, used anti-Semitic slurs and threatened to destroy my
business by calling my clients.”

Zina later appeared with a large man at Luba’s Tailoring, demanding
money and threatening reprisals, Levina wrote. Then, “My main client
called and informed me that somebody called Zina called him and put a
lot of dirt on me and my business.”

When she received a complaint filed by Zina with the Labor
Commissioner, “I paid [her] requested amount because I did not want to
lose my business,” Levina said.

Golden Key, a Russian deli in Van Nuys, hired Zina in January 2007 as
a clerk, firing her a week later. In May of that year, Zina worked six
days in Bazaar Market in Tarzana and was soon fired. International
Market and Deli in Encino brought her aboard in November 2009; she
lasted only a few days.

They all eventually heard from Zina in the form of a complaint from
the California Labor Commissioner’s office ‘ as did the owner of
Stolichnaya Bakery, Anatoly Rekechenetsky, who opened his bustling,
widely known bakery 17 years ago in the heart of West Hollywood.

Tucked beside Whole Foods in a strip mall at the corner of Santa
Monica Boulevard and Fairfax, Stolichnaya is a go-to spot for
traditional Eastern European pastries or a warm loaf of Russian rye.
Zina, who worked there briefly, targeted him using the name Zina
Dolzhenko in April 2007, first with the Labor Commissioner, then in
Superior Court. Rekechenetsky told the Weekly he decided to fight
back.

He explained the vulnerability of L.A.’s Russian-speaking business
owners simply: “We don’t speak very good English and we don’t know how
this system works. But they know very well how it works,” he says of
the Dolzhenkos.

The vast California Department of Industrial Relations, it seems,
could do nothing more than present a forum for the abuse to continue,
legally and technically unequipped to avert what Dolzhenko was doing.
The department has no process in place to flag or prevent suspicious,
or repetitive, labor actions by a person who continually files
complaints with the Labor Commissioner’s office. There is no such
mandate under California law.

Instead, “Each case is evaluated on a case-by-case basis,” says Greg
Siggins, a spokesman for the Department of Industrial Relations. An
extraordinary number of filings doesn’t prompt an investigation.
“There is no policy in place regarding the filing of frivolous wage
claims,” he says.

With the state of California lacking the tools to notice or prevent
abuse, Russian immigrant Mark Volper started to figure it out on his
own. A Moscow native who runs California Worker Advocates, he
represented Rafaelov and Zadov at hearings and was the first to
compile Zina’s history of claims against mom-and-pop businesses.

Volper also was the first to realize that Zina continually altered her
last name, which he calls “the scam Zina and Gennady perfected and
then spread to the Superior Court.”

At one point, Volper felt he had to petition for a restraining order
against Zina’s brother. Judge Leland B. Harris denied the request.

Volper believes Zina is the brains and Gennady is the engine, capable
of bouncing back after each acrimonious case. Their combined court
winnings and settlements have not been large ‘ the Weekly calculates
perhaps no more than $20,000 between them, but it is hard to know ‘
yet the fear and grief they have spread is extensive, Volper says.

Their teamwork and aggression was on display in 2006, when Gennady
Dolzhenko tangled with Valley Temps after he scored poorly on tests
for a position as a factory assembler. Valley Temps closed his file
after he sent “rude, condescending and threatening” communications,
according to court documents.

Gennady then sued Valley Temps for “national origin discrimination.”
As the case heated up, Zina Dolzhenko suddenly appeared at the
downtown offices of Squire Sanders, one of the world’s largest law
firms. Thomas T. Liu, an attorney handling the Valley Temps case, says
Zina snuck past building security, made it to the firm’s 31st-floor
offices, and demanded to see him. “She refused to leave and created a
ruckus,” Liu says. Security escorted Zina out.

Attorney Martin Trupiano, who later represented the temp agency, tells
the Weekly, “They never argue substantive issues ‘ it’s just always
procedural or just ad hominem attacks. They know some companies will
pay a nuisance amount to make them go away.”

He’s still fighting to collect attorney fees awarded by Judge Richard
Adler in Van Nuys.

Five years after that case, in June 2011, Gennady sued Studio Lodge
Hotel on Vanowen Street in North Hollywood, where he lived during the
summer of 2010. For that case, he transposed an “l” and an “h” to come
up with the name “Dolhzenko.” His 88-page complaint accused the hotel
proprietors of wrongful eviction and not refunding a key deposit,
among other things.

Stephen Flaherty, who represented Studio Lodge, tells the Weekly: “He
was told at the outset that it’s not an apartment, he had to move out
at the end of 28 days. When it came time to leave, he refused.”

Dolzhenko was forcibly evicted but returned the next day and reclaimed
the same room, which he vandalized.

Flaherty became the target of the siblings’ wrath. “Defendant’s
75-year-old attorney Flaherty demonstrates his despicable nature,”
reads one motion challenging Studio Lodge’s account. Flaherty “does
not remember what he had for breakfast a couple of hours ago.”

No attorney has ever managed to depose the evasive Dolzhenko under
oath, but Flaherty thought he might be the first. Cornered by a legal
order, Gennady reported to a deposition room but “immediately started
a fight with the translator,” Flaherty says. Then, claiming that the
stenographer’s recording device violated his rights, Gennady angrily
stormed out, Flaherty says.

Vagan Arutyunyan, an Armenian who owns Stone Electronics, a small
repair shop sitting on a busy corner of Beverly Boulevard on the edge
of the Fairfax District, knew none of this when he met Gennady in
2010. Zina had called Arutyunyan’s shop, saying her brother was a
skilled electronics repairman in need of a job.

Arutyunyan wasn’t hiring but gave Gennady, a fellow immigrant, a
chance. After Gennady broke several expensive pieces of equipment, the
repair shop owner gave him $300 and sent him on his way.

A week later, Arutyunyan returned from vacation to find Gennady
outside his shop, and they argued. “He told me, ‘You’ll see what I can
do to you,’?” Arutyunyan tells the Weekly.

Gennady filed a $40,000 lawsuit against him, which Arutyunyan’s
attorney, Rosie Barmakszian, got dismissed ‘ but under harrowing
conditions.

During court appearances, Barmakszian tells the Weekly, she asked
security officers for an escort to her car because Zina attempted to
stage physical confrontations with her. Among other things, Zina would
stand behind the courtroom doors, then claim she was struck when the
lawyer went through, Barmakszian says.

Arutyunyan, who fought the siblings for more than a year, says he
thinks about Zina and Gennady every time he lights up.

“I had finally quit smoking. This guy made me start again,” he says, a
pack of American Spirits in hand. “Shouldn’t this be illegal?”

Some Russian-speaking business owners who fled the injustices of
Eastern Europe agree they are easy targets ‘ they struggle with
English, don’t understand their legal protections and sometimes ignore
mail they don’t understand.

“They try to screw us because we don’t take these things seriously.
Our mentality is different,” Rekechenetsky, of Stolichnaya Bakery,
says of himself and his peers.

In exploiting this attitude, Zina and Gennady follow a pattern:
repeated attempts to re-litigate already rendered decisions, motions
intended to delay proceedings and multiple, meritless lawsuits ‘
elements of what California calls a “vexatious litigant.” A person can
be designated a vexatious litigant, though this is rare, to stop
malicious lawsuits and spare innocent, often little-guy, victims.

James Boyajian argued before Judge Dunn last year, on his father’s
behalf, that those were the hallmarks of Gennady
Dol – zhenko/Dolshenko/Dolhzenko’s many cases.

In documents obtained by the Weekly, Gennady fought back by calling
James Boyajian a “despicable, lying and indecent specimen” and a
“loathsome and nasty person.” Zina accused him of striking her with a
stack of papers. The siblings threatened to report Boyajian to the Bar
Association, the DA and even the police.

In a six-page letter, Gennady called the attorney “shockingly
incompetent, unknowledgeable and absolutely illiterate in law.”
Beneath red capital letters that read: “THIS IS A WARNING,” Gennady
continued: “The games you play over phone demonstrate that you still
did not get out of childhood.”

But in October 2012, Dunn declared Gennady Dolzhenko a vexatious
litigant, warning Gennady that a Sheriff’s deputy would escort him out
of court if he didn’t stop arguing. Soon after, Judge Donna Goldstein,
hearing the Studio Lodge case in Burbank, made the same declaration.

The California Vexatious Litigant List has 1,600 names on it ‘ a
rogue’s gallery of outrageous, often predatory people. As a new
member, if Gennady wants to sue, he first must post a $15,000 bond.
Many of his victims say he won’t risk the cash, if he has it.

It remains to be seen if this blow to her brother’s activities will slow Zina’s.

After losing to Rafaelov Day Care in the Labor Commissioner’s office,
she sued Shura Rafaelov anew in Superior Court. During a raucous
hearing last year, Judge Elizabeth Lippitt stopped the proceedings
several times because the histrionic Zina was “extremely disruptive.”

“Plaintiff refused to follow basic rules of courtesy and courtroom
procedure by consistently interrupting the court and her witness with
leading questions,” Lippitt wrote, noting that she reprimanded Zina
for disobeying her order to stop speaking Russian to witnesses. The
Weekly has found no judge in the records who has punished Zina beyond
a simple reprimand.

Zina didn’t return after a lunch break, then appealed Lippitt’s
adverse ruling, stating, “Judge Lippitt’s face expressed hatred and
malice.” An appellate panel rejected her effort.

After three years of angst ‘ stemming from a day she did a good turn
for an immigrant like herself ‘ Rafaelov is no longer a defendant but
hasn’t found peace. Her friend, deli owner Igor Zadov, recently sold
Dvin Market. For him, Zina is still very much a part of his life, not
unlike an illness that cannot be cured. He’s due in court in January ‘
to again prove that he didn’t shirk California wage laws.

“Four years have gone by and I’m still paying lawyers for this,” Zadov
says, almost lightly, as if he’s the butt of a bad joke. “She won’t
stop. She’s made it very clear to me, she’ll never stop.”

http://www.laweekly.com/2013-10-10/news/russian-lawsuits-gennady-zina-dolzhenko/full/

New Chapter, Old Story

The New York Times
October 13, 2013 Sunday
Late Edition – Final

New Chapter, Old Story

By JEFFREY GOLDBERG.
Jeffrey Goldberg is a columnist for Bloomberg View, a national
correspondent for The Atlantic and the author of ”Prisoners: A Story
of Friendship and Terror.”

THE DEVIL THAT NEVER DIES The Rise and Threat of Global Antisemitism

By Daniel Jonah GoldhagenIllustrated. 485 pp. Little, Brown & Company.
Enhanced Coverage LinkingLittle, Brown & Company. -Search
using:Company ProfileNews, Most Recent 60 DaysCompany Dossier$30.

In ”The Devil That Never Dies,” Daniel Jonah Goldhagen reports that
there has been a worldwide rise in lethal anti- – Semitism. If he had to
pick a role model for the new generation of Jew-haters, he might
settle on an elderly Sunni cleric named Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

Qaradawi, who is based in Qatar, is an important spiritual adviser to
the Muslim Brotherhood, but his fame and influence derive in large
part from his popular show on Al Jazeera, the satellite television
channel owned by the ruling family of Qatar. Al Jazeera has global
reach: bureaus in many world capitals and an American cable news
network. Qaradawi, the host of ”Islamic Law and Life,” has been the
network’s most famous on-air personality.

He is anti-American, sometimes bitterly so, but his anti-Israelism
takes on extreme coloration. In 2009, in a sermon broadcast by Al
Jazeera, he expressed an opinion of breathtaking vituperation.
”Throughout history,” he said, ”Allah has imposed upon the Jews
people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment
was carried out by Hitler. By means of all the things he did to them
— even though they exaggerated this issue — he managed to put them
in their place. This was divine punishment for them. Allah willing,
the next time will be at the hand of the believers,” which is to say,
Muslims.

For the past several years, we have been witness to the antics of the
recently retired Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who made
himself into the world’s most famous Holocaust revisionist.
Ahmadinejad denied the historical truth of the Holocaust while
creating conditions for another, an egregious thing to do. But one
thing he did not do was praise Hitler.

Qaradawi, in his sermon, pays lip service to the ideology of denial,
but his pathological hatred of Jews moves into territory well past the
borders of – Ahmadinejad-style anti-Semitism. Endorsing the Holocaust
puts a person in a whole different moral category.

Three aspects of Qaradawi’s pro-Hitler commentary are noteworthy. The
first is that he is Muslim, and from the Middle East. Christian
Europe, and not the Middle East, has been the historic breeding ground
for what Goldhagen, in his earlier, landmark book, ”Hitler’s Willing
Executioners,” labeled ”eliminationist anti-Semitism.” The second
is that Qaradawi — whose vile opinions would have been heard, in the
pre-Internet, pre-satellite-television age, by pockets of extremist
followers in marginal places — now has a worldwide audience.

The third troubling aspect of Qaradawi’s comment is that it did not
result in his removal from Al Jazeera. Nor did it seem to diminish his
influence. The most effective and disturbing argument Goldhagen
musters in this new book is that the resurgence of rhetorically and
sometimes physically violent anti- – Semitism over the past dozen years
or so is shocking in part because it does not seem to shock. Horrific
accusations leveled against Jews across the Middle East and in Europe
fail to excite the anger or disbelief of the non- – Jewish masses and
non-Jewish elites alike.

This is a fine point to make. Unfortunately, Goldhagen undermines
himself by, among other things, allowing his anger to get the best of
him. ”The Devil That Never Dies” is written in a hyperventilating
style, starting with its title. ”The devil, after a period of
relative quiescence, has reappeared, flexes his muscles again, and
stalks the world, with ever more confidence, power and followers,”
Goldhagen writes. ”The devil is not a he but an it. The devil is
anti-Semitism.”

Yes, we got that. As a general rule, heavy breathing is unnecessary,
and even counterproductive, when a writer’s subject is atrocity, and
much of Goldhagen’s book is a compilation of atrociousness: seemingly
endless passages recount the awful things said about Jews over the
past several years. Most of these statements are easily found on the
Internet, where Goldhagen appears to have done much of his research,
but there is real utility to his efforts — comprehensive catalogs of
hate possess a kind of depressing power. I did not recall, for
instance, that the Hamas leader Khaled Mashal said: ”Before Israel
dies, it must be humiliated and degraded. Allah willing, . . . we will
make them lose their eyesight, we will make them lose their brains.”

Goldhagen does other useful things. He makes a strong case that
anti-Semitism is a unique prejudice, in its staying power, in its
ability to shape-shift, in the unlikely coalitions that spring up to
advance its message (left-leaning Western gay activists aligning with
gay-persecuting Muslim fundamentalists, say). Anti-Semitism is also
rare in its ability to make otherwise smart people believe fantastical
and idiotic things. No other religious or ethnic group has ever been
blamed for both capitalism and Communism simultaneously, for example.

”The calumnies against Jews have been the most damaging kind,”
Gold – hagen writes. ”Jews have killed God’s son. All Jews, and their
descendants for all time, . . . are guilty. . . . Jews desecrate God’s
body, the host. Jews parented the Antichrist. . . . Jews sought to
slay God’s prophet Muhammad. Jews are the enemies of Allah. Jews kill
Christian children and use their blood for their rituals. Jews kill
Muslim children. Jews wreak financial havoc in the countries in which
they live. Jews have started all wars.” And so on.

That last item is aimed not only at Mel Gibson, but at Stephen Walt
and John J. Mearsheimer, authors of ”The Israel Lobby,” which
Goldhagen describes as the ”best cloaked major anti-Semitic tract in
English of the last several decades.”

One of Goldhagen’s strongest arguments has to do with selective
outrage as a leading indicator of anti-Semitism. He does not try to
argue that criticism of Israeli government policies is necessarily
anti-Semitic. But he has appropriate contempt for those who argue that
Israel is a reincarnation of Nazi Germany, and he is appalled by the
hypocrisy of the inter – national community, which judges Israel by a
separate, and higher, standard than it does other countries.

He cites Turkey as a telling example: ”In a rational world, the
Turks’ systemic and large-scale violence against and suppression of
Kurds’ legitimate rights and national aspirations, not to mention the
Turks’ genocide of the Armenians, and mass killings of Greeks and
others, not to mention their invasion, dismembering and occupation of
half a sovereign country, Cyprus, in 1974, . . . might have brought
upon Turkey the world’s condemnation and generated in international
organizations, including the United Nations, a preoccupation with its
predations and the production of intensively negative beliefs and
passions, including prejudice . . . similar to and perhaps far
exceeding that against Jews. But it has not — not even 1 percent as
much.”

Goldhagen’s strengths and weaknesses are on display in this previous
(typically dense and over-intricate) paragraph. He makes a valid
point, but the hectoring tone and the hyperbole — how did he reach
the conclusion that Turkey is criticized 1 percent, and not 2 percent,
as much as Israel? — undermine the message. Hyperbole also leads to
inaccuracy, which is particularly unfortunate in a book whose subject,
at its essence, is lying. He writes at one point, ”Consider the mass
murder in 1999 at a Los Angeles Jewish Community Center, where a
vicious anti-Semite opened fire with an automatic weapon, injuring
five people.” It was not, of course, ”mass murder” at that Los
Angeles J.C.C., because no one at the site was murdered.

But the shooting attack in Los Angeles was bad enough. So too is the
excoriation of Israel by countries with terrible human rights records.
And so too are efforts, by Muslim fundamentalists and far-right
politicians, to make Europe uninhabitable for its last Jew, and to
blame certain American Jews for bringing war upon their country.
Goldhagen’s book has its uses, but today we need something decidedly
better: a book on anti-Semitism that combines original reporting,
accessible writing and a sense of restraint.

URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/books/review/daniel-jonah-goldhagens-devil-that-never-dies.html

FIFA World Cup Qualifying Preview: Italy v Armenia

Soccerway
Oct 13 2013

FIFA World Cup Qualifying Preview: Italy v Armenia
13 October 2013

Armenia play their final FIFA World Cup qualifier with a chance of
making the play-offs, but face a tough trip to Group B winners Italy.

Vardan Minasyan’s side are fifth in the pool but trail second-placed
Bulgaria by just one point, meaning they could still finish
immediately behind Cesare Prandelli’s men.

The scenario is unlikely as it would require Bulgaria and the Czech
Republic to draw – with Denmark also failing to beat bottom-placed
Malta – while they win in Naples to secure one of the eight best
runners-up spots.

Armenia have been inconsistent throughout their qualifying campaign,
winning four but losing five of their nine fixtures, but a 2-1 home
victory over Bulgaria on Friday ensured they kept their hopes of
reaching Brazil 2014 alive.

Spartak Moscow forward Yura Movsisyan is likely to lead the line for Armenia.

The 26-year-old has three goals in qualifying so far, and will look to
provide the attacking threat in Tuesday’s fixture, while Borussia
Dortmund playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan is also likely to start.

Italy, who won the 2006 World Cup, have enjoyed a comfortable campaign
in Group B, winning six and drawing three of their nine games to
secure automatic qualification.

Milan striker Mario Balotelli – who missed the 2-2 draw with Denmark
on Friday – has remained with the squad despite suffering from
gastroenteritis.

Meanwhile, Southampton forward Pablo Daniel Osvaldo is likely to once
again start up front and will look to add to the goal he scored
against Morten Olsen’s outfit.

Italy are looking for a second qualification win over Armenia, after
triumphing 3-1 in the away encounter in October 2012.

Goals from Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi and Osvaldo were enough for
them to claim maximum points in Yerevan.

http://www.soccerway.com/news/2013/October/13/fifa-world-cup-qualifying-preview-italy-v-armenia/n242106/

Nora Armani about her festival and Armenian roots

Nora Armani about her festival and Armenian roots – Exclusive interview

OCTOBER 13, 22:16

French-Armenian actress Nora Armani is a founder of the only festival
of socially relevant films in New York. She told about her festival
and her roles in an exclusive interview with NEWS.am Style.

Nora, please tell a little about the new project you are working at.
What the Rated SR Socially Relevant Film Festival New York is about?
How did you come up with the idea and what are the goals of the
festival?

Rated SR – Socially Relevant Film Festival New York is the project I
am currently working on. I am the Founding Artistic Director of this
festival.

RATED SR is a festival and film lab that aims to satisfy a market need
concentrating on everyday positive human stories while offering a
financially viable alternative to the proliferation of violence &
crime in today’s movie industry.The downstate-upstate New York event
provides filmmakers & festival attendees with the best of both worlds:
the buzz of Manhattan (New York City)& the rural setting of upstate
New York.

The Grand Prize of the festival is a Free week-long all-encompassing
release in New York of the winning film at the Quad Cinema. This would
give the film a first step towards an eventual Oscar qualification.

Our mission is to support filmmakers who deal with socially relevant
content by creating a platform that encourages them to produce SR
films overshadowed in the marketplace.

The goal of the Festival is to make SR films a reliable and marketable
brand of motion pictures. Rated SR Films are entertaining,
enlightening, uplifting but most of all artistically appealing.The
idea has been with me for a while, and it became manifested when I
found the right time and the right elements with which to launch it.
The proliferation of violence in our society is appalling, and I
personally lost two very dear people to me, namely my uncle Hagop and
my cousin Vania Exerjian a number of years ago in Egypt as a result of
a violent hate crime. This festival is homage to their memory in
addition to all the socially relevant human stories that need to be
told.

Are you playing in movie at the moment? If yes, what is it about?

Yes, In fact I just finished shooting a new film last week called: The
Last Show. I play the character of Eve, a modern woman, whose daughter
is torn between an artist she loves and a rich banker she feels she
must marry for security. My character is advising her to make the
right choice, based on her own experiences but also shocked to find
out that the artist she her daughter loves is none other than the
cousin. This is the 6th film I am doing since I started shooting my
own film Moving Stories last February that premiered at the Cannes
Film Festival in May 2012. It was seen at the Golden Apricot Film
Festival in July 2013.

Can we see `On The Couch With Nora Armani’ performance at any stage?
Did you stage it in Armenia?

I am not doing On the Couch with Nora Armani at this time, as I am
busy doing films and also my new show with Cellist David Bakamjian,
Evocations of Armenia, that we recently performed in Washington, D.C.
The show is part of 100 concerts in commemoration of the Armenian
Genocide and will be seen in a number of cities during 2014.

This does not mean that I will not pickup On the Couch with Nora
Armani again some time later. I performed in in the Armenian version
in Kapan, Armenia, at the new Theatre there, (unique event since the
show is written in English and I also do it in French for primarily a
non-Armenian audience) But in Kapan, I did it in Armenian in my own
translation.

You have a lot of international awards. What is for you significance
of the Yerevan Theatre Festival award?

It is very important to be appreciated by one’s own family, friends,
and in this case compatriots and country. For that reason, it means a
lot to me, alongside all the International awards. Usually it is very
difficult to impress the people that are the closest to us, our
family, our close friends, as they always look at us as the person
they have known a long time ago, and find it hard to accept the
achievements and developments and the journey we often chart with a
lot of hard work and perseverance. And sometimes, they want to
minimize all that out of sheer insecurity on their own part. But when
close people acknowledge and accept our successes and appreciate what
we do, it not only reflects on their genuineness, it created a really
special feeling. That is why I cherish that award very dearly.

Nora, you are one of few celebrities who, despite not being raised in
Armenia, are still followers of the Armenian spirit and have Armenian
soul. Isn’t it hard to be live outside Armenia but still be a part of
it?

It comes from my family, my upbringing, and my early schooling in
Egypt. We grew up in an Armenian environment in our schools, our
churches, and our cultural clubs. That is something that stays with
you throughout your life. Plus I was lucky enough to visit Armenia as
a child, when I was 12 years old, and attend Summer Campin
Hangavanduring the then Soviet era. This experience had a strong
imprint on my mind and soul as a child and of course the result was
that I have always been very aware and sensitive to things Armenian.

Where are your ancestors coming from? You wanted to write a book about
your ancestors who survived the genocide. Did you fulfill the idea? I
read that your last name `Armani’ came from your mother’s name-
Armine. Is this true? Why have not you keep your last name?

My ancestors come for Kaiseri (Kessaria) and from Istanbul. I have not
written the book yet, though I am working on it. The venture is a long
one and I am not sure when it can be finished. Yes, indeed, when I had
the misfortune of losing my mother young, I wanted to do homage to her
and take on her name to continue the journey for us both as she
herself was an artist. Her name was Armineh and she played the violin.
So I changed my stage name to Nora Armani. My family name is
Ekserjian.

Your husband is Armenian. Is your family maintaining any Armenian traditions?

Yes. We do speak Armenian at home, and I like cooking Armenian
traditional dishes, only these days I do not have much time. But
fortunately there are shops that sell these foods, and we can buy them
ready made. We also like to listen to Armenian music, Opera, read
poetry, and history. My husband likes to read history books and he
knows Armenian history (as well as other histories, Roman, Egyptian,
very well).

When you come to Armenia (you are an Armenian, but you still do not
live in this country) you are probably looking at the country through
the eyes of a foreigner. What are advantages and disadvantages of
modern Armenia?

Modern Armenia is a child compared to many countries of the world and
it is still learning to walk, talk and behave like an adult in
society. We have to be patient with our child… I have witnessed the
birth of this child, as I was there in January 1991, and then again in
September of 1991, in 1992, 1993. Then there was a big gap, as I was
running around the world taking care of my own work and career. I came
back in 2007 after 14 years of absence, and noticed a youthful
Armenia, with many new changes, but that still needed to mature and
develop to become a full-fledged adult. Then I came back regularly in
2008 to direct my adaptation of Saroyan’s `Papa You’re Crazy’ for the
stage on the occasion of Saroyan’s centenary, then again at the end of
2008 to discuss theatre projects with the Ministry of Culture, and
Hakob Ghazanchyan, then again in 2010 to perform, in 2011 to do a
workshop with the National Theatre and Cinema Institute in Yerevan and
in Shushi. I have been observing Armenia all this time, and trying to
understand it.

Right now Armenia is passing through a difficult youth where a lot of
identity definition and social issues are being tackled. There is also
much corruption and nepotism going on, and this is a hard blow to the
natural development of the country, because proportionately it is much
higher than in any of the other `mature’ country. Our leadership needs
to consider thinking in terms of what is good for future generations
and what would be a good legacy to leave behind increasingly. And to
be less concerned about their own personal and immediate needs. There
is a certain prevailing irresponsible and selfish approach where more
emphasis is put on the immediate instead of working towards building a
lasting infrastructure laying the foundations of our country that
could possibly outlive several generations.

This is my own humble observer’s opinion. The mentality that prevailed
during the Soviet times of grabbing what you can, seems to not have
left many of the people in power. My only hope liesin the youth and
the younger generations, provided they do not despair and leave.

The hope lies in that there is at present a healthy atmosphere of
protests and opposition in Armenia that was not present before. I wish
these concerned individuals and groups much courage and most of all
patience and perseverance. Rome was not built in one day (but it was
destroyed in a relatively short period of time…) It will take time to
build a strong nation and homeland and we should be careful of the
destructive elements that are often ready to destroy everything for
personal gain. Building something everlasting and solid takes time,
energy, effort, patience, and most of all FAITH! I wish everyone
courage, faith and self-confidence. Armenians are a talented people.
There is no reason why Armenia should not become again the great
nation it once was.

Do you have any plans related to Armenia?

Always, but not right now. On the other hand, who knows what might
happen in the near future? I am open to all propositions and would
definitely respond if invited for an interesting project.

I just want to add a word about Rated SR Film Festival. It is a great
platform for all filmmakers who are keen on penetrating the US market.
I urge all young and not so young Armenian filmmakers to submit their
films either through our website: or through
Without a Box the International Festival portal as well as Festhome.
We have short and feature (documentary and fiction) categories.

http://style.news.am/eng/news/8250/nora-armani-about-her-festival-and-armenian-roots—exclusive-interview.html
www.ratedsrfilms.org

Le Danemark va acheter des drones arméniens

ARMENIE
Le Danemark va acheter des drones arméniens

Le Danemark va acheter des drones arméniens, a déclaré Karen
Vardanyan, Directeur exécutif de l’Union des entreprises des
technologies de l’information. Il a précisé que l’Arménie va produire
environ 10 drones par mois pour le Danemark. Ils seront utilisés pour
la recherche agricole et des photographies aériennes.

dimanche 13 octobre 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Henrikh Mkhitaryan « que les Bulgares regardent les Arméniens et app

APRES ARMENIE-BULGARIE (2-1)
Henrikh Mkhitaryan « que les Bulgares regardent les Arméniens et
apprennent un peu de culture ! »

Après la victoire de l’Arménie sur la Bulgarie (2-1) vendredi soir à
Erévan, l’international arménien et milieu du Borussia Dortmund,
Henrikh Mkhitaryan a déclaré « que tout le monde voit que nous n’avons
pas truqué, nous avons joué un jeu propre. Certains pouvaient croire
que c’était un match facile, mais ce ne fut pas le cas, la victoire
fut acquise difficilement. Mais le plus important est que les joueurs
Arméniens ont lutté jusqu’au bout pour réaliser leur pari de victoire
». Et Henrikh Mkhitaryan d’ajouter « que les Bulgare voient où ils
sont venus et comprennent que nous sommes des hommes et non des hommes
dénués des caractéristiques humaines. Qu’ils regardent les Arméniens
et qu’ils apprennent un peu de culture ! Même à 1-1 j’étais convaincu
que nous devions gagner. J’étais certain car je voyais dans les yeux
de nos garçons cette envie de victoire, le feu. Ils désiraient prouver
au peuple qu’après une année où ils n’avaient pas gagné sur leur
terrain en Arménie, ils pouvaient gagner. Je remercie tous nos
supporters qui étaient au stade mais aussi ceux qui étaient devant
leurs écrans de télévision. Cette victoire est celle de notre nation.
Nous partons en Italie avec une très bon moral ».

Rappelons qu’au match-aller en Bulgarie où l’Arménie avait perdu 0-1
dans un match très difficile, les Bulgares avaient provoqué les
Arméniens par des mots très offensifs dirigés contre le peuple
arménien. La victoire de l’Arménie n’est que justice.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 13 octobre 2013,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com