Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Effort to abolish Armenian Genocide curriculum in Toronto failed

July 28, 2014 – 14:04 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – An effort by Canadian Turks to abolish curriculum on
the Armenian Genocide in Toronto schools has failed, with education
officials saying that the genocide will continue to be taught for
years to come, Rudaw reports.

Canadian Turks earlier this year submitted over 2,200 signatures from
an online petition calling for the Armenian genocide module to be
removed from the Toronto District School Board’s educational
curriculum.

The petition demanded that Canada’s largest school board remove any
references to the Armenian genocide on the basis that it
“unremittingly discredits one community’s narrative over the other”
and “adversely affects the students with Turkish and Turkic
heritages.”

The Armenian Genocide has been taught since 2008 in a secondary school
course called Genocide and Crimes again Humanity.

The district told Rudaw that the class “is offered in some of our high
schools where there is enough interest” and is “in line with not only
the Canadian government but scholars who have looked into this
specific issue.”

The Toronto District School Board “has no intention to have it removed
in the years ahead,” a district spokesperson said.

Toronto is the largest and one of the most diverse school districts in
Canada, serving approximately 232,000 students, including
international students, in almost 600 schools.

The online petition was the latest attempt by Turkish Canadians to
counter recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

The Federation of Turkish Canadian Associations, which championed the
online petition and tried to stop the Armenian genocide curriculum
from being introduced in 2008, also in April lobbied against a
monument recognizing the Armenian genocide in Toronto.

The petition garnered 2,255 signatures from around the world. The
Federation of Turkish Canadian Associations reports that there are
50,000 Canadians of Turkish origin.

Robert Kouyoumdjian, head of the political chapter at the Armenian
National Committee of Canada, lobbied for the Toronto district’s
Armenian genocide curriculum. Frank Chalk, director of the Montreal
Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, endorsed it,
according to Rudaw.

The online petition was launched by Turkish parents of students
attending Toronto schools who stated in the petition that they were
“deeply concerned about the negative impact of the current curriculum
module on ‘Armenian Genocide,'” claiming it “would often result in
ridiculing, intimidating, and bullying of our innocent children while
causing injury to them physically and psychologically.”

However, Jim Karygiannis, a former MP based in Toronto, told Rudaw
there is no evidence of Turkish children having been intimidated at
schools. He said teaching high school students about the Armenian and
other genocides could help prevent future atrocities.

Karygiannis also warned that removing references to the Armenian
genocide from textbooks could call into question curricula from other
genocides, such as the Holocaust, the Ukrainian famine and genocide
from 1932-1933, the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and the 1980s Anfal
genocidal campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan.

“You can’t change history, and history should not be altered. We
should learn from history and move forward so we don’t make the
mistakes again,” Karygiannis said.

A Kurdish attorney based in Toronto, Hadyat Nazami, wrote a letter to
Change.org officials, expressing serious concerns about the petition,
which he deemed hate speech. In his letter, Nazami described the
Turks’ petition as “essentially demanding that books and school
curriculum be censored, in line with the one century old official
ideology of the Turkish state to deny Armenian genocide ever took
place in that country.”

Nazami’s vocal opposition has led to discussions among scholars and
NGOs about adequate measures to protect freedom of speech while paying
respect to the sufferings of survivors.

From: Baghdasarian

Armenia is once again regional leader according to ”Global Innovation
Index 2014”

17:42 28/07/2014 >> SOCIETY

In the Global Innovation Index 2014, which ranks countries according
to the level of development of innovative technologies, Armenia is on
the 65th place while Azerbaijan hasn’t even been included among the
first 100 countries. The details of the ranking can be found
here.[]

It must be noted that Armenia, as it was in the previous year, is the
leader of the region.

This year among the top ten countries in the list are Switzerland,
Great Britain, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands. The last countries
on the list are Guinea, Myanmar, Yemen, Togo and Sudan.

Out of 143 countries included in the research Azerbaijan ranks the
101st, Georgia – 74th, Kazakhstan – 79th, Belarus – 58th, Kyrgyzstan –
112th, Uzbekistan – 128th, Tajikistan – 137th. Armenia’s regional
neighbors Turkey and Iran are ranked the 54th and 120th respectively.

The annual analytical report “Global Innovation Index” is co-published
by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO, an agency of the United Nations, UN). The research
has been carried out since 2007.

From: Baghdasarian

Armenia’s ex-premier calls for supporting Russian-Armenian businessman
Levon Hayrapetyan

15:24 * 28.07.14

Armenia’s ex-premier, Rector of the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic)
University Armen Darbinyan is calling for combining efforts to support
Russian-Armenian businessman Levon Hayrapetyan.

He left the following message on his Facebook page:

“Levon Hayrapetyan’s arrest is a serious test for the Armenian people.
Irrespective of the offences he has allegedly committed (because press
reports arouse numerous doubts about it), the Republic of Armenia and
the Armenian Diaspora must combine their efforts to lend him as strong
support as possible at this crucial moment. Yes, he is sometimes ‘out
of favor’ because of his incompatibility with the present situation
and reckless freedom. But let us remember how many excellent
opportunities his recklessness has afforded us. And let us act
accordingly.”

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: Baghdasarian

U.S. Interests Relating To Armenia

Igor Muradyan, Political Analyst
Comments – 28 July 2014, 16:33

The attitude of the current U.S. administration to Armenia and the
Armenian people has formed in a different way. Apparently, the Obama
administration was personally offended by the position of the Armenian
Diaspora, first of all the Armenian community of the United States on
his hypocritical behavior and frustration of the hopes of the
community for the recognition of the genocide of 1915. The
ex-secretary H. Clinton also experiences analogical motives whose
policy on Turkey and the Near East looks controversial, inconsistent
and bewildered.

Currently the administration is ready to demonstrate to Armenia and
the Armenian community of the United States its unfriendly attitude,
as well as shed responsibility for the failure of Armenian-Turkish
normalization on Armenia. In any case, accusations against the
Armenian community from the side of the U.S. administration remain
actual, which indicates Barack Obama’s complexes.

Little has changed in the U.S. foreign policy with the arrival of John
Kennedy in the State Department. Only the developments in Ukraine made
the United States understand systemic changes in its foreign policy,
which gives Armenia hope for restoring its sovereignty. Nevertheless,
it is hard for the United States to combine its attitude to the
Armenian community with its attitude to the political government of
Armenia which has fulfilled all the commitments over the
Turkish-Armenian normalization and transformation in Armenia.

The United States has appeared in a rather complicated situation over
Armenia due to the controversy of the existing situation. The United
States does not have any reason to blame Armenia for the failure of
negotiations and normalization with Turkey. Armenia is going through a
massive “personnel cleansing”, fight with corrupt circles. Armenia is
strengthening cooperation with NATO and the United States over defense
and security.

In fact, the Armenian government fulfils the terms and conditions of
relations with the United States over preparations for “honest”
elections and is removing from political life the oligarchic groups
which are related to Russian interests in one way or another.
Armenia’s policy has already been reflected in the political
literature and named “a new course” (Russian politicians and experts
are so wary about this process that they prefer not to cover it
properly and not to use such wording as “a new course”).

At the same time, the Americans are following Armenia as it continues
to develop its relations with Russia, including in CSTO, which appears
to them as “unfair play” under extremely high pressure in
international political relations.

The United States continues the policy of waiting over Karabakh which
is related to the lack of any prospects for settlement beyond the
methods of “use of force”. The United States has failed to achieve any
success over the Turkish-Armenian normalization. Furthermore, the
relations in the region over the triangle Turkey-Armenia-Azerbaijan
have become tenser and more threatening. Therefore, the United States
would not like to pedal and accelerate this topic in the nearest
future.

Not one high-ranking representative of the U.S. administration has
indicated the growing risk of military actions between Azerbaijan and
Armenia but apparently the United States is doing some work with
Turkey and Russia to contain these risks. Azerbaijan has also received
signals from the United States regarding impossibility of resumption
of war.

At the same time, the United States, as well as Russia have done
nothing to prevent Azerbaijan’s “sluggish” aggression on the line of
contact in the province of Karabakh. Most probably, the Americans and
Russians see the “war of snipers” as a vent for Azerbaijan to let
excess pressure out.

At the same time, this situation has become a means of pressure on
Armenia which, ready for cooperation with Russia and the West, must be
under certain external pressure. There is logic that the “war of
snipers” is an argument for pressure on Azerbaijan as well because it
is clear to everyone who the initiator of such resistance is.

The U.S. administration is constantly using such clichés as
unacceptability of the status quo of the Karabakh issue but such
statements are just wording while the United States remains interested
in maintaining the status quo in the South Caucasus.

The United States is increasingly interested in containment of Russian
influence in the South Caucasus and they are irritated by Russia’s
activity over Karabakh. Failures of the Russian policy over the
Karabakh issue are welcome by the United States, and they do not see
reasons for real activity over the settlement of the Karabakh issue.
Besides, one should not cross out the circumstance that the Karabakh
issue is a factor of containment of Turkish influence in the region.

This circumstance may not have been taken into account or was seen as
tertiary but the importance of the factor of containment of Turkey to
the U.S. policy on the South Caucasus will tend to grow.

According to Turkish experts working in Carnegie Centers, the U.S.
influence on Turkey may be defined as a sequence of containment and
initiative actions but it is impossible to mark it as “manual
control”. In regard to such interpretation of U.S.-Turkish relations
it is impossible to see the U.S. policy on the South Caucasus as a
more or less established, adjusted and smooth process.

The United States has to maneuver among the interests of different
states in and outside the region, proposing different variants of
coexistence and act as a containing force at critical times only or as
an initiative force in terms of controllable conflicts. The game
situation in the region is escalating but the United States is not
interested in increasing the number of players, and Russia is on their
side which does not hurry to let Turkey into the South Caucasus as an
equal player and partner.

Recent failures of the Russian-Turkish relations were not related to
the problems of Armenia and Azerbaijan. These states may ignore the
interests of their partners, developing bilateral relations.

According to information relating to the activities and focus of the
United States over Samtskhe-Javakheti, considering the visits of
American diplomats to the region, operation of local NGOs, findings of
interactions of Armenian NGOs with State Department and Congress
officials in Washington, one may draw the conclusion that the United
States is trying to use the “Javakhk-Armenian factor” to cope with
Turkish expansion in Georgia and the South Caucasus.

The Americans and the British paid too much attention to the Armenian
population of Javakhk to not affect Russia’s interests and, according
to some experts, a serious political provocation is being prepared in
this province which will be not only the result of the Russian policy
but the unjustified policy of Armenia over this area populated by
Armenians.

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

Haut-Karabagh
Serge Sarkissian contre tout armement civil des villages frontaliers

Serge Sarkissian a rejeté l’idée d’offrir aux résidents des villages
situés près de la frontière avec l’Azerbaïdjan des armes à des fins de
défense.

La mesure a été précédemment proposée par le Conseil public, un corps
comprenant des personnalités publiques bien connues et conseiller les
autorités sur les questions de politique. L’idée est venue en réponse
aux préoccupations croissantes de la société sur la sécurité des
régions frontalières en particulier à la suite de récents rapports
concernant les présumés infiltrations de groupes armés azerbaïdjanais
dans les territoires sous contrôle arménien.

La semaine dernière, les autorités du Haut-Karabagh ont déclaré qu’un
groupe d’Azerbaïdjanais a été arrêté dans la région sur des soupçons
d’espionnage et d’activités subversives. La police du Haut-Karabagh a
déclaré que les membres du groupe avaient tué un militaire militaire
et grièvement blessé un civil. Un autre adolescent local aurait été
enlevé puis assassiné brutalement par des prétendus “saboteurs”
azerbaïdjanais.

S’exprimant lors de la réunion du conseil le 24 juillet, le président
Sarkissian a souligné qu’il ne voyait aucun intérêt à armer les
habitants des villages arméniens situés près de la frontière avec
l’Azerbaïdjan.

” Nous invitons tous les habitants des villages frontaliers qui
peuvent utiliser des armes à servir dans nos forces armées où les
bonnes conditions sont créées et où ils peuvent recevoir un salaire
mensuel net de 150 000 drams (environ 370 $), plus des avantages. Ils
peuvent servir uniquement la moitié du mois, et passer le reste du
temps à travailler leurs terres “, a t-il dit dans un discours
télévisé.

Pendant ce temps, de nombreuses personnes vivant dans les communautés
non loin de la frontière avec l’Azerbaïdjan croient encore qu’être
armé est une nécessité pour eux.

“Si quelque chose se passe, comment pouvons-nous nous protéger ?”, a
déclaré une femme gée. “S’ils nous donnent des armes, ce serait
mieux”, a dit un autre homme dans le village de Nerkin Karmiraghbyur.

lundi 28 juillet 2014,
Claire (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

Sun News Network
July 27 2014

I hate the hatred

MICHAEL COREN

Israel and Gaza. I hate the deaths on both sides. I hate the outsiders
on both sides claiming to care. I hate the lack of empathy on both
sides. I hate the hatred.

I hate the way the Marxists and their friends who supported Israel in
the 50s and 60s now call Israelis Nazis. I hate the way Islamic
fanatics pretend to care about the Palestinians when at the same time
they slaughter their own people and use those same Palestinians as
metaphorical and literal shields. I hate the hatred.

I hate the way sound-bite radicals with no sense of history or context
refuse to grasp that Israel is not a product of design but of
desperation, and that the Jews of Europe and the Arab world didn’t
just decide to take a holiday but fled to anywhere they could be safe.
I hate the way liberal Christians obsess about criticizing Israel when
if European Christians had genuinely followed Jesus when it came to
their Jewish minorities and not slaughtered them, expelled them,
persecuted them, gassed them, Israel would not have come into
existence. I hate the hatred.

I hate the way some on the right and in Zionist circles refuse to
listen to the Palestinian experience and believe Israel can do no
wrong. I hate the way some evangelical Christians think the ghastly
battle over Israel and Palestine is some sort of Biblical combat and
modern Armageddon to be fought vicariously by Jews and Arabs. I hate
the hatred.

I hate it when North African thugs in Paris attack synagogues in the
name of Palestine, beat up Jews in the street and then scream about
human rights. I hate it that kids from Pakistan will say not a word
about their home country’s blasphemy laws and murder of Christians but
roar their hatred of Israel when they probably couldn’t even find it
on a map. I hate the hatred.

I hate the singling out of Israel for condemnation but the ignoring of
the murderous regimes that surround it. I hate the fact that Iran can
hang young gay men, Syria can murder tens of thousands and Turkey can
occupy two countries and deny the Armenian genocide but there are no
demonstrations. I hate the hatred.

I hate it that when supporters of Israel, like myself, argue that
there has to be another way, that Palestine has to exist and that the
settlements are wrong, we are mocked as compromisers – I actually wear
that badge with pride. I hate it when the same people who welcomed
Soviet diplomats, sportsmen and artists and now welcome diplomats,
sportsmen and artists from repugnant Arab dictatorships, boycott
Israeli kids who can kick a ball or play an instrument. I hate the
hatred.

I don’t have a solution, I don’t even have much hope — and for
someone who has spent so long in the Middle East, read so much, met so
many people, listened to so many stories, I am I suppose a terrible
disappointment. I’m obviously not as clever as those on both sides who
know exactly how all of this can be settled. But I do know that I hate
the damned hatred.

From: Baghdasarian

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
July 26 2014

Two Turkish directors vie for Golden Lion in Venice film fest

Fatih Akın’s `The Cut’ and Kaan Müjdeci’s `Sivas’ are two of the films
by Turkish directors which will be in the running at the main
competition of this year’s Venice Film Festival, which will provide
ample exposure for Turkish cinema this year.

Organizers on Thursday announced a 20-strong competition lineup that
also includes Iranian-American director Ramin Bahrani’s
subprime-mortgage drama `99 Homes,’ with Andrew Garfield and Laura
Dern, and New Zealand-born filmmaker Andrew Niccol’s `Good Kill,’
starring Ethan Hawke as a dissatisfied drone operator.

The Hamburg-based Akın’s drama, starring Tahar Rahim, will have its
world premiere at the festival. The film, the last part of the
director’s trilogy `Love, Death and Devil,’ was withdrawn from the
2014 Cannes Film Festival, where Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan
was awarded with the Palme d’Or for his `Winter Sleep.’ Akın joined
forces with Mardik Martin, an American screenwriter of Armenian
descent, in writing the film.

`Sivas,’ on the other hand, is Müjdeci’s debut feature, following the
story of an 11-year-old boy and his dog on the steppes. Both `The Cut’
and `Sivas’ will have their world premieres at the festival.

The last time a Turkish film vied for the Golden Lion was in 2008 when
Semih Kaplan’s `Süt’ (Milk), the second film of the `Trilogy of Yusuf’
series, was included in the festival’s main competition lineup. But
this year, Turkish cinema will be one of the focuses of the festival,
as a Turkish pavilion will be featured in the cinematic gathering as
part of the centennial celebrations of Turkish cinema. A restored
version of late Turkish director Ã-. Lütfi Akad’s 1973 movie `Gelin’
(The Bride), the first installment of his `Gelin-DüÄ?ün-Diyet’ (Bride-
Wedding- Sacrifice) trilogy, will be shown as part of the festival’s
Venice Classics section.

The 71st Venice Film Festival will tackle topics from the financial
crisis to drone warfare, featuring performances from Willem Dafoe, Al
Pacino, Jennifer Aniston and Ethan Hawke.

There is a strong American presence, both behind the camera and
onscreen, among the films in the running for the Golden Lion. They
include David Gordon Green’s Texas drama `Manglehorn’ starring Pacino
and Holly Hunter; Abel Ferrara’s `Pasolini,’ featuring Dafoe as
taboo-breaking Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini; and Italian
director Saverio Costanzo’s `Hungry Hearts,’ a suspenseful drama set
in New York starring Adam Driver.
The festival, which mixes big-name directors and arty auteurs with the
work of exciting newcomers, also will include Swedish director Roy
Andersson’s `A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence’ and
`The Postman’s White Knights’ by Russian Andrei Konchalovsky.
Documentary filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer will also be competing with
`The Look of Silence,’ a sequel to his powerful investigation of
Indonesian political violence, `The Act of Killing.’

Pacino appears again at the festival, as an aging actor in Barry
Levinson’s `The Humbling,’ adapted from a Philip Roth novel. It is
among the `out of competition’ entries which are not contestants for
the Golden Lion.

The eclectic out-of-competition roster also includes Peter
Bogdanovich’s Broadway comedy `She’s Funny That Way,’ starring Imogen
Poots, Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson; Lisa Cholodenko’s drama set
in Maine, `Olive Kitteridge,’ with Frances McDormand and Bill Murray;
actor-turned-director James Franco’s adaptation of William Faulkner’s
`The Sound and the Fury’; and Danish provocateur Lars Von Trier’s
`Nymphomaniac Volume II.’

The 71st Venice Film Festival opens on Aug. 27 with the world premiere
of Alejandro Inarritu’s `Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of
Ignorance,’ starring former `Batman’ Michael Keaton as an actor
struggling to get beyond a famous superhero role.

The festival runs until Sept. 6, when a jury led by composer Alexandre
Desplat awards the Golden Lion for best film and seven other prizes.

From: Baghdasarian

Film News, UK
July 26 2014

The Infidel – The Musical fully cast

27 Jul 2014 // by: Film-News.co.uk Newsdesk

Theatre Royal Stratford East and producer Arvind Ethan David have
announced casting details for The Infidel – The Musical. Based on the
hit comedy film, The Infidel, the show will feature book and lyrics by
David Baddiel and music by Erran Baron Cohen.

The show will be co- directed by David Baddiel and Theatre Royal
Stratford East’s Artistic Director, Kerry Michael and run from Friday
3 October – Sunday 2 November 2014.

The Infidel – The Musical is an original stage musical-comedy that
follows in the tradition of such subversive musicals as The Book of
Mormon, Avenue Q and Spamalot. The show tells the story of an ordinary
British Muslim man, Mahmoud, to be played by Armenian comedian Kev
Orkian who discovers that not only is he adopted, but that his birth
parents were Jewish. The resulting cultural and religious chaos leads
to an uproarious and insightful comedy of identity, race, prejudice
and confusion.

David Baddiel commented: “Despite being released in 43 countries, The
Infidel movie, with its message of tolerance through comedy, seems not
completely to have fixed Muslim-Jewish relations. Luckily The Infidel
– The Musical, with its terrific cast, is set to have another go: this
time in song.”

Kerry Michael, Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Stratford East said:
“We are all really excited to be working with David and Erran on this
very funny and warm hearted show. It’s another new British musical, a
genre we have been passionate in developing for many years. This show
has an exciting original new voice and some great tunes I guarantee
you’d be humming on the way out.”

From: Baghdasarian

DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
July 25, 2014 Friday

RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE IN ARMENIA RECEIVES NEW HARDWARE

Rearming of the Russian military base in Armenia with modern models of
aircraft, military and special wheeled and tracked armored vehicles is
currently underway. This year, the share of new armament in the units
of the Yerevan and Gyumri military garrisons grew to 40%. By the
beginning of August of 2013, servicemen of the material and technical
procurement units will transit to new two, three and four-axle KamAZ
automobiles of Mustang family. The Russian military base will also
receive repair and retriever automobiles, mobile command posts and
special transport vehicles that have an identical platform. These
automobiles are made on the basis of rally trucks.

From: Baghdasarian

Poladyan: Levon Hayrapetyan’s measure of restraint to be changed soon

Saturday, July 26, 2014

In all likelihood, businessman Levon Hayrapetyan who is currently
being held in custody will be taken to a city hospital in the next few
days or his measure of restraint will be commuted to house arrest,
Matsak Poladyan, Hayrapetyan’s authorized person, told Aysor.am.

According to Poladyan, the arrest of Levon Hayrapetyan is a step taken
by Azerbaijan, but a big army of supporters stands by the Armenian
businessman.

“I want to express a special gratitude to Artsakh President Bako
Sahakyan who assists Levon Hayrapetyan in every possible way,”
Poladyan said noting that L. Hayrapetyan is now in satisfactory
condition.

Levon Hayrapetyan was arrested in Moscow on suspicion of embezzlement
and money laundering.

TODAY, 17:18
Aysor.am

From: Baghdasarian