Author: Chatinian Lara

SONGS OF SOLOMON is Armenia’s Official Submission for the 93rd Academy Awards

Chatinian Lara
Broadway World
Dec 15 2020


by TV News Desk


Amidst a time of war, Armenia has proudly announced that Arman Nshanian’s (in his feature film directorial debut) visually arresting and emotionally stirring historical drama SONGS OF SOLOMON as its official submission to the 93rd Academy Awards in the International Feature Film category.

Written by Audrey Gevorkian, based on the true story “The Past Unsung” by Sirvart Kavoukjian, a film that explores the life of iconic composer Komitas, who’s impact on ethnomusicology still prevails to this day while addressing the first genocide of the 20th century.

Released on November 26, 2020 in Armenia, SONGS OF SOLOMON resonates even louder today in light of the September 2020 invasion of Armenian inhabited Nagorno- Karabakh at the hands of Azerbaijan and Turkish forces. The filmmakers hope is that the picture will not only act as a cathartic experience to all Armenians, but also touch and educate us all to help eliminate such atrocities from ever occurring again anywhere in the world.

SONGS OF SOLOMON stars Samvel Tadevossian, Arevik Gevorgyan, Tatev Hovakimyan, Sos Janibekyan, Arman Nshanian, Artashes Aleksanyan and Jean-Pier Nshanian And introduces three wonderful child actors: Slava Seyranyan, Iren Ayvazyan, Mery Hovsepyan.

The feature is produced by two-time Oscar Winner (for Green Book) Nick Vallelonga of Vallelonga Productions and Hollywood based Producer Asko Akopyan of Oscar Gold Productions. Arman Nshanian Produced under his People of Ar Production Company in association with AnEva Productions in Armenia. Karo Kavoukjian serves as Executive Producer.

Inspired by true events, this is a film about a childhood friendship, torn apart by the horrific Hamidian massacres infiltrated by the Ottoman Empire. A brave Turkish woman at a time of dire prejudice risks her own life and the life of her family to save her best friend who is hunted down for her religious beliefs. This epic portrayal spans from 1881 to 1915, Constantinople, taking us on an emotional journey to the last concert given by Archbishop Komitas. A biographical film which takes place on the backdrop of the sacred and ancient music of Archbishop Solomon, also known as Komitas.

Armenia is proud to put SONGS OF SOLOMON into the Oscar race as its official entry for the 93rd Academy Awards – and thinks it could go the distance this year.



https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/SONGS-OF-SOLOMON-is-Armenias-Official-Submission-for-the-93rd-Academy-Awards-20201215


Dec. 15, 2020  

CivilNet: In renewed fighting, Azerbaijan grabs more territory in Karabakh’s south

Chatinian Lara
CIVILNET.AM

00:25

On Sunday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed that Azerbaijani forces managed to take control of the last two Armenian-held villages in Karabakh’s southern Hadrut district.

Azerbaijan says four of its soldiers have died in the fighting, while the Armenian side reports six injured.

Saturday’s fighting is the most serious ceasefire violation reported in the area since the signing of the November 9 “end of war” agreement.

At an emergency Security Council meeting chaired by the prime minister Sunday, Pashinyan said that the Russian peacekeepers had not yet arrived to the area when the attack occurred but that Armenian and Artsakh military units fought and resisted.

“Some time after the start of hostilities yesterday, a small Russian peacekeeping unit approached the combat zone, as a result of which the fighting stopped. Russian peacekeepers have entered the area with greater force since this morning,” reports the prime minister.

Per the trilateral agreement, each side would hold on to whatever positions they had at the time of the signing of the agreement. On November 9, the Khtsaberd-Hin Tagher areas were under Armenian control. The area is inside the borders of the USSR Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.

WHEN A CEASEFIRE IS NOT ENOUGH

Chatinian Lara
Sojourners
Dec 10 2020
 
 
 
A legacy of colonialism is at the crux of the Azerbaijan and Armenia conflict.
BY STEPHEN ZUNES
JANUARY 2021
 
 
THE WAR BETWEEN Armenia and Azerbaijan this past autumn was an avoidable tragedy.
 
The disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region has been populated since at least the second century B.C.E. by Armenians, one of the world’s oldest Christian civilizations. The Muslim Azeris and others have lived there and in neighboring areas for centuries as well, and the region was ethnically mixed (albeit majority Armenian) when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
 
Stalin’s divide-and-rule policy for drawing borders made Nagorno-Karabakh a theoretically “autonomous region” within the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic. As the Soviet Union was breaking up and Azerbaijani persecution of ethnic Armenians increased, the Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh governments, with widespread support of their respective populations, demanded the transfer of the region to Armenia.
 
When Azerbaijan refused, Armenia seized the territory by force in the 1990s—along with large swaths of western Azerbaijan, populated primarily by Azeris, that were never part of Nagorno-Karabakh. Hundreds of thousands of Azeris, and a smaller number of Armenians, were victims of ethnic cleansing by both sides.
 
 

Governor of Ararat Province resigns

Chatinian Lara

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 18:53, 9 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS.  Governor of Ararat Province of Armenia Garik Sargsyan has submitted a resignation letter, ARMENPRESS reports Sargsyan wrote on his Facebook page.

‘’Today I submitted my resignation to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. I worked as the governor of Ararat for 2.5 years. Immediately after starting work, I set about developing the region and making the lives of our residents more prosperous. Of course, there was not enough time to implement all our plans, but during this time a lot of work was done that had not been done for years before the revolution’’, Sargsyan wrote.

At the same time, Garik Sargsyan assured that the maximum was done with the resources available in the past 2.5 years. He promised to present a detailed report on the work done in the near future.

Armenpress: Melikset Poghosyan appointed Governor of Syunik Province

Chatinian Lara

Melikset Poghosyan appointed Governor of Syunik Province

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 20:48, 8 December, 2020

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Melikset Poghosyan, who had been reviled of the post of Vice Governor of Syunik Province of Armenia, has been appointed the Governor of the province, ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the Government.

Former Governor of the province Hunan Poghosyan had resigned on November 30.

‘Only Putin can help us’: Families of Armenian MIAs in Karabakh turn to Moscow for support

Chatinian Lara
TASS, Russia
Dec 1 2020
 
 
 
On Sunday, Armenian celebrities turned to the Russian Embassy with a similar plea
 
YEREVAN, December 1. /TASS/. Dozens of relatives of Armenian servicemen, who went missing in action during the recent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, have filed a letter with the Russian Embassy in Yerevan Tuesday, asking the Russian authorities for their assistance in finding them.
  
“Only Russia and President Putin can help us find our children. They fought in Zangilan. Maybe, they are still alive, hiding in the woods, or captured,” one of those relatives told TASS.
 
On Sunday, Armenian celebrities turned to the Russian Embassy with a similar plea.
 
Rallies demanding the return of Armenian POWs in Azerbaijani custody have continued for several days near Armenia’s central government offices.
 
On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint declaration on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the agreement, Azerbaijani and Armenian forces will maintain their current positions, with Russian peacekeeping forces deployed in the region.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Asbarez: Turkey ‘Undermining’ NATO, Says Pompeo

Chatinian Lara

December 1,  2020



Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday accused Turkey of undermining the cohesion of NATO and opposing the principles of the alliance, the Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported, citing diplomatic sources.

Pompeo’s made the remarks during a teleconference of NATO foreign ministers, during which the U.S. secretary of state spoke of what he called Turkey’s provocative activities in Libya, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh and the eastern Mediterranean.

Pompeo also referred to Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, saying it was a “gift’’ from Moscow, according to the sources cited by Kathimerini.

In recent months, Turkish armed forces have launched major cross-border offensives against Kurdish armed groups in Syria, intervened against the UAE-backed strongman Khalifa Haftar in Libya, backed Azerbaijan in its aggressive attacks on Karabakh and confronted Greece over disputed maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean.

During Tuesday’s teleconference, Pompeo also accused Ankara of the failure of the military “deconfliction mechanism” agreed upon between Turkey and Greece in October, Kathimerini said.

On Oct. 1, NATO confirmed that Ankara and Athens had agreed to “a bilateral military deconfliction mechanism” that would prevent a military confrontation over hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean.

Ahead of Tuesday’s foreign ministers’ conference, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Key Bailey Hutchinson singled out Turkey’s behavior in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the acquisition of the S-400 as problematic to the alliance.

“Some of the behaviour that has been mentioned is problematic to the unity of the alliance and the alliance is strong because we are unified. We are concerned most especially about the S-400,” she told the Abu-Dhabi-based The National.

“The idea that you can put a Russian-made missile defense system in the middle of our alliance is out of bounds. We have registered that with Turkey time and again,” Hutchison told The National on Monday.

“We hope before Turkey turns on that missile defense system that they will understand the consequences and how much it will hurt their alliance inter-operability with the rest of us,” added Hutchinson. “We hope that Turkey turns back the decision that they made in error to put a Russian missile defense system in Ankara. Many of us are trying to work with Turkey in a way that would cement our alliance unity and we are asking Turkey once again to be the great ally that they have been in the past.”

Russian peacekeepers arrive in Nagorno-Karabakh via Azerbaijan

Chatinian Lara
TASS, Russia
Nov 29 2020
More than 2,400 refugees returned from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh during the past day

BAKU/MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Another team of Russian peacekeepers has arrived in Khankendi (Stepanakert) via the Russian-Azerbaijani border, the press service of the Azerbaijani defense ministry said on Sunday.

“Servicemen, car and special vehicles, as well as other logistics means arrived on November 28 by railway from Russia. Cargoes meant for the peacekeepers were delivered in Barda on November 29 by railway to be subsequently delivered to Khankendi escorted by Azerbaijan’s military police,” it said.

Nearly 1,700 refugees returned from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh during the past day. The convoy of buses with the refugees was escorted by Russian peacekeepers, the Russian defense ministry said.

“On , Russian peacekeepers escorted another convoy of buses with refugees from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. As many as 1,699 people were taken by buses from Yerevan to Stepanakert today,” the ministry said, adding that the convoy was escorted by patrols of the Russian peacekeeping contingent and military police.

The Russian defense ministry said earlier in the day that Russian peacekeepers had helped 2,431 people return to Nagorno-Karabakh. A total of 23,514 refugees have returned to their homes since November 14, 2020.

The Azerbaijani defense ministry stressed that the ceasefire is observed along the entire contact line. The Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross continue to help the sides exchange the bodies of those killed.

“Russian peacekeepers continue to clear Nagorno-Karabakh territories of mines. In all, 24.67 hectares, 8.2 kilometers of roads, 83 households and three social infrastructure facilities have been cleared of mines. As many as 766 explosive objects have been found and destroyed,” the ministry said.

Middle Eastern Churches want protection for Nagorno-Karabakh’s self-determination

Chatinian Lara
The Herald, Malaysia
Nov 27 2020
The Middle East Council of Churches issued a statement in defence of the Christian population of Artsakh, who must be protected from possible abuse and reprisals, whilst ensuring their freedom of worship. The agreement reached does not guarantee a true and lasting peace. Churches call for a “new regional order” to meet everyone’s aspirations.
By Fady Noun

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) issued a statement on Monday calling for the Nagorno-Karabakh region (Artsakh) to have the right to a lasting settlement and, ultimately, self-determination.

In the meantime, the Council demands that the population of this region be protected from abuses and reprisals, that their Christian heritage be protected, and that they enjoy freedom of belief and worship.

According to the statement, “six weeks of bloody armed conflict in Artsakh – the Armenian name for the Nagorno-Karabakh region – ended with a ceasefire, which took effect at midnight, on 9-10 November. In reality, this agreement leaves the region without a clear and lasting peace. The settlement remains fragile and allows at most the maintenance of a state of tense coexistence [. . .].

“As a religious and humanitarian organisation whose objectives are reconciliation and rapprochement between peoples and groups at war [. . .], the Middle East Council of Churches calls on the protagonists of the conflict and the international parties concerned to ensure the continuation of the cease-fire in Artsakh.

“This guarantee is likely to establish a state of calm at the regional level, which would benefit all parties to the conflict, and provide an opportunity to clarify Artsakh’s legal status whilst protecting the thousands of people who are still currently in danger.

“Armenian Churches were the cornerstone of the Middle East Council of Churches and are among its founding members. They are at the heart of Artsakh’s suffering and of the concern that its people feel for its fate.

“Therefore, the MECC feels deeply concerned about religious freedom and freedom of worship, as well as the plight of those who may be subject to various types of reprisals.

“We would also like to express our concern about the fate of the Christian heritage in this region, including churches, monasteries, monuments and museums, which are threatened with destruction or risk being wiped off the map altogether.

“We therefore call on all international organisations to participate in the protection of people and religious and heritage assets in Artsakh. Artsakh has the right to self-determination like any other nation or people in the world.

“We also stress the importance of establishing sincere dialogue between all parties concerned, out of compassion for the citizens of this region. This approach would pave the way for taking the necessary steps to establish a new regional order that meets the aspirations of all parties to the current conflict, with a view to achieving the desired peace.”––Asia News


Armenian PM’s spox denies media reports on dismissal of Defense Minister

Chatinian Lara

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 11:03,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. The media reports according to which Defense Minister of Armenia Davit Tonoyan has been dismissed have nothing to do with the reality, Armenian prime minister’s spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan told Armenpress.

“That reports do not correspond to the reality”, she said.

In her turn the defense minister’s spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan has stated that minister Tonoyan has not submitted a resignation letter.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan