Author: Dabaghian Diana

Massis Post – The 34th annual Holocaust and Genocide Lecture Series at Sonoma State University presents the Bay Area premiere of the 2016 Regional Emmy Award-winning documentary “Women of 1915,” which chronicles the plight of Armenian women during the Genocide and the non-Armenian women who came to their rescue, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 4 p.m., in Warren Auditorium at Ives Hall, Sonoma State University. The screening includes a presentation by filmmaker Bared Maronian. This lecture is underwritten by the SSU Armenian Genocide Memorial Fund. Admission is free, parking is $5-$8 on campus.

The lecture series continues through May 9, with highlights including talks by Rabbi Michael Berenbaum, professor of Jewish studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and Dr. James Waller, the Cohen Endowed Chair of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College.

On March 28, Rabbi Michael Berenbaum speaks on the topic “Between History and Memory.” Berenbaum is the Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust, and a professor of Jewish Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He is the author of over 20 books, and executive editor of the second edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica. Berenbaum was also project director for the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the first director of its research institute. His work in film has won Emmy Awards and Academy Awards. Dr. Berenbaum’s lecture is the annual Robert L. Harris Memorial Lecture and is underwritten by the Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, an SSU Academic Foundation Organization.

On April 4, professor James Waller, Ph.D., the Cohen Endowed Chair of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College and director of academic programs with the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, speaks on the topic “Becoming Evil.” Waller’s books include “Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing,” and “Confront Evil: Engaging out Responsibility to Prevent Genocide.”

This year marks the first time the archive of the Holocaust and Genocide Lecture Series is available on YouTube. Videos of lectures are currently available from as far back at 1987.

Iraqi security forces have launched an attack on Mosul airport in their bid to retake the city from so-called Islamic State (IS) militants, the BBC reports.

They also stormed a nearby military camp, according to state TV.

The airport and the al-Ghazlani base are on Mosul’s southern outskirts on the western side of the Tigris river.

Iraqi forces have already pushed IS out of the eastern part of the city. More than 160,000 people have fled their homes in and around the city.

“The referendum held on February 20 is yet another evidence of the determination of the people of Artsakh to organise their public life by democratic processes,”Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandia said in a statement.

“The current Constitutional Referendum is aimed at choosing the system of governance that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh consider more relevant to their needs,” he added.

“It is commendable that more than hundred international observers representing three dozen countries assessed the Referendum as well organized, transparent and in line with international standards,” Minister Nalbandian said.

“The exercise of fundamental freedoms is a universal right that cannot be subject to limitations. For quarter of a century Nagorno-Karabakh has been conducting processes inherent to democratic societies and there is no doubt that the people of Artsakh have certainly gained the right to live according to the same universal values that the free democratic world enjoys,” the Foreign Minister added.

“Once again the people of Artsakh demonstrated that their will to build democratic society is irreversible notwithstanding all odds of continuous use of force and threat of force, economic blockade and other hostile actions perpetrated by Azerbaijan. It does not come as a surprise that the ongoing democratic processes in Artsakh are met with such an extreme discontent in Azerbaijan – a country notorious with its human rights violations,” Minister Nalbandian concluded.

On February 20, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Karen Mirzoyan received deputies of the European Parliament, President of the Friendship group with Artsakh in the European Parliament Frank Engel (Luxembourg) and member of the Group Jaromir Stetina (Czech Republic), who are in Artsakh with an observation mission.

At the meeting, the mutual ties with the European Parliament were touched upon. The sides in particular, discussed a range of issues related to the activities of the Friendship group aimed at further strengthening and deepening of bilateral ties.

This year marks the 25^th anniversary of the Khojalu events. In the course of the 25 years Azerbaijan has been distorting the events of February 26-28, 1992, using them for its propaganda purposes.

A new video uploaded on YouTube on February 12 comes to shed light on and disperse the Azeri lies.

It is noted in the video that Commission of the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan completed the investigation into the events in Khojalu, but  failed to reveal anything. It says all witnesses died under different circumstances, “but the accusations of military journalist Chingiz Mustafayev are still there.”

“As we know, Mustafayev has blamed and will continue to blame certain people for the tragedy,” the narrator says in the film.

Chingiz Mustafayev also features in the video. “I have one goal – to do my best to have this program reach the public. I have to tell the truth about Khojalu,” he says.

The reporter recalls the shootings at the site of the tragedy. Mustafayev was banned from the site under the excuse that the territory was under Armenian fire. However, he managed to reach there in a helicopter meant to transport the bodies.

Mustafayev filmed the scene twice. When he arrived at the place for the first time, he saw corpses on the ground, with armed people freely walking between the bodies and lugging them. They escaped, when they saw the camera.

“Definitely, they were not Armenian. Where were they taking the corpses?” the reporter asks.

When shooting the scene a day later, Mustafayev saw the corpses were mutilated. “Who has done all this in one day? I shot the scene yesterday, there was nothing of a kind here,” the journalist is heard saying in the film.

“As you see the corpses were initially not mutilated, but the second shooting was organized for the “international community.” Look what has happened to the bodies,” one can hear in a voiceover commentary. The narrator comments on the pictures of the corpses, where the same people are pictured twice; the corpses are seen mutilated in the second ones).

“Question: who did this in one day? There are many questions, but the time is short,” the narrator concludes.

Commenting on the video, Spokesman for the NKR President David Babayan said “Chingiz Mustafayev was one of the first to visit the site.

“He actually proved that the massacre had been organized by representatives of the Azerbaijani authorities, the so-called Popular Front, representatives of the Azerbaijani army who supported the Popular Front against the then President Araz Mutalibov,” David Babayan told Public Radio of Armenia.

Military journalist Chingiz Mustafayev died under unknown circumstances on June 15, 1992. According to the official Azerbaijani version, he was felled by mortar fire while filming an exchange of fire between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces near the village of Nakhichevanik.

It’s clear, however, that the new authorities of Azerbaijan silenced this source of true information about the crimes against their own people. “Naturally, the Azerbaijani authorities had their plans concerning such people. Mustafayev exclusively filmed the scene a few hours after the tragedy and a few days later. The differences between the two shootings are obvious,” he said.

David Babayan reminds that Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov also confessed that the massacre had been organized by Azerbaijan within the framework of domestic political struggle. According to the Spokesman, the video should supplement the large package of documentary materials on Khojalu events “in order to reveal the Azeri lies and prevent similar inhumane crimes in the future.”

President Serzh Sargsyan has sent a letter of condolences to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on the crash of the aircraft in the Black Sea that killed dozens.

“I express my deep condolences, support and sympathy to you, friends and families of the victims and the brotherly people of Russia. I wish tenacity and courage to overcome this tragedy,” reads the letter of condolences of the President of Armenia.

At least 33 people have died in Russia after drinking bath essence, authorities said on Monday, the BBC reports.

The hawthorn-scented liquid was consumed as if it were alcohol, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee.

More than 50 people sought medical attention after drinking the product in the Siberian city of Irkutsk over the weekend.

Investigators said a label saying it should not be swallowed was ignored.

The product was found to contain methanol, a toxin found in antifreeze.

Two people have been detained over the deaths and police are removing bottles from shops.

Photo: AP

An undersea earthquake off Indonesia’s northern Aceh province has killed at least 52 people, the BBC reports.

The magnitude 6.5 quake struck just off the north-east coast of Sumatra island, where dozens of buildings have collapsed and many people are feared trapped under rubble.

Indonesia’s meteorological agency said there was no risk of a tsunami.

In 2004, Aceh was devastated by a tsunami that killed more than 160,000 people in Indonesia alone.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck just offshore at 05:03 local time (22:03 GMT Tuesday) at a depth of 17.2km.

At least 70 people have been seriously injured, officials said, and hundreds of minor injuries have been reported.

A spokesman for the national disaster agency said more than 200 shops and homes had been destroyed, along with 14 mosques. A hospital and school were also badly damaged.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has issued a message for the International Day to end Violence against Women and Girls:

At long last, there is growing global recognition that violence against women and girls is a human rights violation, public health pandemic and serious obstacle to sustainable development.  Yet there is still much more we can and must do to turn this awareness into meaningful prevention and response.

Violence against women and girls imposes large-scale costs on families, communities and economies.  When women cannot work as a result of violence, their employment may be put at risk, jeopardizing much-needed income, autonomy and their ability to leave abusive relationships.  Violence against women also results in lost productivity for businesses, and drains resources from social services, the justice system and health-care agencies. Domestic and intimate partner violence remains widespread, compounded by impunity for those crimes.  The net result is enormous suffering as well as the exclusion of women from playing their full and rightful roles in society.

The world cannot afford to pay this price. Women and girls cannot afford it – and should not have to.  Yet such violence persists every day, around the world.  And efforts to address this challenge, although rich in political commitment, are chronically under-funded.

Since 2008, I have led the UNiTE campaign to End Violence against Women, which calls for global action to increase resources and promote solutions.  I call on governments to show their commitment by dramatically increasing national spending in all relevant areas, including in support of women’s movements and civil society organizations.  I also encourage world leaders to contribute to UN Women and to the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.  We look as well to the private sector, philanthropies and concerned citizens to do their part.

Today, we are seeing the world lit up in orange, symbolizing a bright future for women and girls. With dedicated investment, we can keep these lights shining, uphold human rights and eliminate violence against women and girls for good.