Author: Bedik Zaminian

On Tuesday evening His Holiness Aram I presided over a special event on the Armenian Genocide organized by the communication department of the Catholicosate of Cilicia. Professor Taner Akçam, Professor of History and the Robert Aram, Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University, spoke on the topic, “The Armenian Genocide research, findings and current challenges.“ A large number of clergy, academics, students and members of the community attended the lecture given by the Turkish scholar at the Cilicia Museum Hall in Antelias, Press Service of the Catholicosate of Cilicia reports.

Very Rev. Sipan Kechedjian introduced Professor Akçam as a Turkish intellectual who teaches, publishes and openly discusses the Armenian Genocide. In his lecture, Professor Akçam spoke of the contribution that Armenian and non-Armenian scholars have made to the historical study of the Armenian Genocide and discussed his extensive research on the Ottoman archives. He stated that the Armenian Genocide was premeditated and well planned by the Turkish authorities of the time and that the First World War had provided the appropriate context and the time to the Turkish Authorities to execute their plan. He concluded his lecture by stating that there is a crying need for new historical research on the Armenian Genocide, and he encouraged Armenian youth to become actively involved in this research.

Following a question/answer period, His Holiness Aram I concluded the evening by thanking Taner Akçam for his courage and commitment to the Armenian Genocide and also for accepting to join the team of experts who filed the lawsuit with the Constitutional Court of Turkey on 27 April 2015, demanding the return of the property of the See of Cilicia in Sis. Stating that he shares Professor Akçam’s concern to have more youth interested in the history of and research on the Armenian Genocide, His Holiness Aram I announced his determination to assist interested candidates.

Armenian American billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, who founded MGM Resorts International, has died in Los Angeles at age 98, the gaming company said Tuesday.

The legendary business icon passed away Monday night after suffering from a brief illness, the Las Vegas Review-Journal first reported.

“MGM Resorts and our family of 62,000 employees are honoring the memory of a great man, a great business leader, a great community leader, an innovator, and one of our country’s greatest generation,” MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren said in a statement.

“Mr. Kerkorian combined brilliant business insight with steadfast integrity to become one of the most reputable and influential financiers of our time,” Murren added.

Kerkorian is credited as being the major force behind evolving the Las Vegas Strip into one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations.

The powerhouse founded MGM Resorts International in the early 1990s. He also owned Tracinda Corporation, a private investment firm based in Beverly Hills.

Kerkorian was born in Fresno, Calif., in 1917 to Armenian-born parents. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1922 and at age 9, Kerkorian sold newspapers on street corners. He dropped out of school in the eighth grade and became an amateur boxer.

From his humble beginnings, Kerkorian became one of the world’s richest men. At the time of his death, Forbes Magazine ranked Kerkorian No. 393 among the world’s billionaires and No. 130 in the U.S. with a net worth of $4 billion.

Kerkorian became a national hero in Armenia both for his success and for his donations for roads, schools and other infrastructure there through his charitable arm, the Lincy Foundation.

Reality star Kim Kardashian is featured as cover girl for the June issue of Vogue Brasil that was taken during Kim’s 21-day blonde hair phase, the reports.

‘Bombshell effect: better representative of the curvaceous silhouette rising in the red carpets,’ the caption read in Portuguese.

‘This is the second cover of the June edition, which celebrates the body, Vogue Brasil starring Kim Kardashian – symbol of the new silhouette for high in the red carpets,’ the publication captioned another photo.

The objective of the cover shoot was to show Kim like a Marilyn Monroe in the 2015 updated version and, by coincidence, the reality star was already blond at the time.

Kim famously underwent a hair transformation from March 5 through the 26th, dying her hair bleach blonde with peroxide chemicals for over three times within the short three weeks, but returned to her black hair before the visit to Armenia.

Vogue Brasil is the second publication in which she immortalized her blonde hairstyle.

For the April issue of Elle France magazine, Mrs Kanye West made sure her platinum locks would forever remembered.

Kim’s first solo Vogue cover was for the Australian version back in January. And perhaps one of Kim and husband Kanye’s most memorable moments was landing the April 2014 issue of Vogue US together ahead of their May nuptials.

Rafael Benitez is expected to be installed as the new Real Madrid manager after his season with Italian club Napoli finishes on Sunday, accotding to

The former Liverpool manager, 55, has not yet signed a contract with the 10-time European champions but negotiations are at an advanced stage.

on Monday after two seasons in charge at the Bernabeu.

Italian Ancelotti, 55, secured Real’s 10th European Cup last season.

But this year they were knocked out by Juventus in the Champions League semi-finals, while Barcelona won La Liga.

Spaniard Benitez has managed in his home country before, winning two La Liga titles and the Uefa Cup with Valencia.

He has been at Napoli since 2013 leading the Serie A side to the Coppa Italia last season.

The Spaniard had also been linked with the vacant job at West Ham, following the departure of Sam Allardyce.

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić, received in Belgrade today the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America and Pierre Andrieu of France, as well as the Representatives of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, his Personal Representative on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, and his Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Ambassador Angelo Gnädinger.

Dačić pledged the support of Serbia’s OSCE Chairmanship to his Representatives and the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group, expressing his appreciation for their work.

A scuplture commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide was supposed to have been unveiled in Copenhagen this coming weekend but resistance to the project has delayed its debut by months,  reports.

The busy Copenhagen square Kultorvet was scheduled to see the installation of a nine-metre high sculpture entitled ‘The Draem’ (Danish Remembrance Armenian Empathy Messenger) on May 23 but the fear of vandalism and even violence has delayed the sculpture’s debut until September, Politiken reported on Monday.

The sculpture was supposed to be placed in Kultorvet for ten days to mark 100 years since upwards of 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman regime. The announcement of the project last month was met by an official protest from the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen, which called the sculpture “morally indefensible”.

Since then, resistance to the sculpture has grown within Denmark’s Turkish community, Denmark’s largest immigrant group.

Turkey officially rejects the notion that the 1915 mass killings constitute a genocide.

More than 100 complaints have been filed with the City of Copenhagen over the plans to instal the sculpture, in an apparent effort from the Turkish community to kill the project.

Politiken reported that many of the complaints share the same language including the line that “Copenhagen should not play host to a sculpture that incites hatred.”

Fears that the sculpture could lead to violent resistance have led Armenia’s ambassador to Denmark to push its debut back to September.

“As you know, ‘The Draem’ has, despite being designed as a marking of peace promotion, unleashed an anger that could possibly give rise to violence,” Ambassador Hrachya Aghajanyan wrote to Copenhagen Deputy Mayor Carl Christian Ebbesen, according to Politiken.

Aghajanyan told the newspaper that from an insurance standpoint, the project is now considered ‘high risk’ and meeting the requirements to properly insure the work have become more complicated than originally anticipated.

Levent Ökten, the deputy chairman of the national organization of Turkish associations, said that around 2,000 members of the Turkish community plan to protest against the unveiling of the sculpture.

“It is not fair that Turks living here are taken hostage in a 100-year-old conflict. Therefore we want to express our strong dissatisfaction with both the sculpture and the city’s decision on something that they should let historians decide,” Ökten told Politiken.

Ökten added that protests against the sculpture would be peaceful.

“We are not out for trouble. We are adults and one naturally should not fear us. Just as they [the people behind The Draem, ed.] are using their democratic rights, we will also show that we are here,” he added.

Ebbesen said he was disappointed by the delay.

“I am deeply offended as a politician and a member of the Danish People’s Party by the fact that one cannot express their opinions in Denmark. I think we should take that very seriously. We must not bow down,” he told Politiken.

Ebbesen added however that it is not the city’s responsibility to insure the sculpture.

While the European Parliament, a UN sub-committee and more than 20 countries worldwide recognize the killings as a genocide, Denmark does not.

“The Danish government does not keep silent about the tragic events of 1915 but has not officially acknowledged the events as genocide. Our opinion is that that distinction is better left to historians,” Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard said last month when the sculpture was announced.

They stand at 8 to 15 feet tall, surrounding people with their knowing faces. Imposing photographic sculptures of  survivors from the 1915 Armenian genocide come to life in California State University, Northridge photography professor Levon Parian’s exhibition “iwitness,” according to the

Showcased at Los Angeles Grand Central Park, Parian’s 24 mammoth photo sculptures stand out at the epicenter of a maze-like installation. Each of the structures is supported by 2,000 lbs. of cement at the base and 500 lbs. of steel for the frame to be able to withstand 125-mph wind, Parian said.

“The whole point was to make a public art statement in an environment that is huge,” Parian said. “It needed to be something that people would notice. This way people have to actually walk through and around the images.”

With this year being the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Parian and his photography partner, Ara Oshagan, and architect Vahagn Thomasian used “iwitness” as a testament to the survivors in their show. The photo structures are  part of a much larger project.

Parian began photographing Armenian Genocide survivors in 1989. In 1996 he started to work with Oshagan on what is now called the “Genocide Project,” a series of more than 80 portraits and oral histories from eye witness survivors designed to bring attention to the genocide.

“The reason we pursue this work is to preserve history and to counter the Turkish government’s denial of the genocide,” Parian said. “The word ‘genocide’ was coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1944 to describe the events of what happened to the Armenians in 1915, so how can you deny it?”

As both sides of his family have survivors, his work is also a testament to them.

“My mother’s parents fled to Jerusalem and stayed in an Armenian convent, and my father’s father was an Ottoman cavalry soldier who escaped to the desert and brought thousands of fellow survivors to safety,” he said.

The show will be at Los Angeles Grand Central Park through May 31, but Parian said he hopes the park is just the first stop.

“We’ve had offers from Fresno, Sacramento, New York and even Paris,” he said. “There are still a lot of possibilities for the show to travel.”

Parian noted that the “Genocide Project” is ever developing. A book will soon be published with stories and images of survivors.

“It’s a work in progress; it has been since its inception,” he said.

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Luxembourg to Ankara for consultations after the Luxembourg parliament deemed the 1915 killings of Ottoman Armenians during the final days of the Ottoman Empire “genocide,” joining the other countries that use the word,  reports.

In a written statement over the Luxembourg parliament’s vote on the 1915 killings on Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Turkey condemns and strongly rejects the decision by the Luxembourg parliament, which it says was taken by distorting historical facts and law. The ministry said it summoned Luxembourg’s ambassador in Ankara to its offices and conveyed Ankara’s opinion to the ambassador over the vote. Turkey’s Ambassador to Luxembourg Levent Şahinkaya has been recalled back to Ankara for consultations, the statement said.

In the latest in a number of acts by parliaments of different countries, the members of the Luxembourg parliament said in a joint declaration that the 1915 killings of Armenians amount to genocide.

The declaration, parliament members say, is intended to encourage Turkish authorities to face the past.

Luxembourg is the 22nd country to officially recognize the 1915 killings of Armenians as genocide.

The two were married in Venice last year and have continued to seem blissfully happy whenever they’ve been pictured together since. Following on from the view that Clooney “upgraded” by marrying the impressively clever and successful lawyer, the actor has now explained why he fell for her originally.

“She’s an amazing human being,” he told ‘s Nancy O’Dell. “And she’s caring. And she also happens to be one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. And she’s got a great sense of humour. There’s a number of reasons why.”

Clooney said that her high-powered, influential job makes him feel “proud”. Amal is currently helping Greece win back the Elgin Marbles, which are currently held in London’s British Museum. The lawyer has also recently travelled to Strasbourg representing Armenia in their case against Doğu Perinçek, the leader of the Turkish Workers’ Party, who was convicted of denying the 1915 Armenian genocide in 2007.

“I’m always very proud of her when I see her speaking at the International Court of Appeals in Strasbourg, you know, with her robe on,” he said. “It’s very impressive.”

“It’s a nice looking robe,” he also joked. “They could spice that robe up a little bit.”

Clooney also showed his appreciation for his wife’s incredible sense of style. Apparently, she has a “another bedroom” to store her wardrobe.

“It’s amazing, because she’s always – since the day I met her – she’s always had this insanely… it’s eccentric but it’s fun, sense of fashion,” he told ET. “How she does it while she’s got 11 cases she’s working on, and she was teaching at Columbia, and she’s still like, ‘I want to wear that dress.’ It’s crazy. It has been sort of fascinating to watch, because she has such great taste.”

HOW SPORT HELPS THE ARMENIAN RED CROSS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST HIV
By Guest

RedCross.org.uk
k/health/2010/05/sport-hiv-aids-armenia/
May 12 2010

Karen Young, from Scotland, is spending a year in Armenia as part of
a volunteer exchange programme, the international youth volunteering
programme.

Well, yet again I am starting my blog entry by saying that we are
very busy here in the Armenian Red Cross Youth Department! We have
been finishing off our campaign to promote awareness about lonely
elderly people in Armenia as well as doing school sessions on HIV/AIDS
and setting up a new branch of our Smiley Club for kids in a second
dormitory. I love the fact that we are always busy here – it can be
very tiring, but it is good fun and we know that what we are doing
is really making a difference to people’s lives.

The HIV/AIDS programme is fully up and running at the moment – we have
been going to schools all across Armenia to give sessions on HIV/AIDS
and also to organise a basketball tournament. The tournament is part
of the "We play against HIV and AIDS" programme – which uses sport as
a way to involve school pupils in publicising the fight against AIDS.

Schools play against each other to generate interest in the cause;
afterwards we conduct the peer education session and leave posters
and information leaflets in the school gym for the kids to read over
the next few weeks.

I have helped out with a few of the matches and sessions now, including
going with other members of the team to a school in Gyumri (Armenia’s
second city). It was really interesting to see the difference in the
response between Yerevan and Gyumri, which is a very small city and,
as a result, somewhere where young people are significantly less well
informed about sexual health issues than their peers in Yerevan. This
is something that the Armenian Red Cross are working to combat,
and the response from both staff and pupils was very positive.

Las week we had a charity dinner as part of our campaign to raise
awareness about lonely elderly people, and the results were very
positive; especially when you take into consideration the fact that
this was the first ever event of its kind for the ARCS, and also not
a very common type of event in Armenia. It was a massive achievement
for us – we raised over £800 and, more importantly, passed on our
message to some very influential people.

We have also been out collecting money again in the streets of Yerevan,
again in support of our grannies and grandpas, and the response
has been very encouraging. Again we received a lot of thanks and
encouragement for the good work we do as volunteers, as well as of
course raising a bit of cash!

All in all it has been a very active and productive period for us,
and it is very nice to have a "quiet" week or so where we are mainly
writing reports! What with all the extra hours we have been putting
in for the campaign, and the fact that I spend the best part of my
spare time climbing mountains and hiking across the countryside with my
fellow volunteers, I am exhausted! But exhausted in the best possible
way – and at the moment I wouldn’t swap my volunteering experience
for anything – even a well paid job!

Being a volunteer in Armenia, especially when jobs are so few and
far between and financial matters still dominate the headlines, is
a welcome reminder that there is so much more to life than money and
security, and that we volunteers are "paid" in rich experiences and
the satisfaction of a job well done.

Photo: Trygve Utstumo via Flickr

Karen’s time in Armenia is funded through the Youth In Action
programme from European Voluntary Service. To find out more, email
[email protected]