Author: Felekian Ara

TIGRAN KHZMALIAN’S "SARDARAPAT" DOCUMENTARY TAKEN OFF LIST OF FILMS SHOWN IN MOSCOW CINEMA

Noyan Tapan

Se p 23, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The documentary "Sardarapat" of
film director Tigran Khzmalian has been taken off the list of films
shown in the Moscow Cinema. The film was made by an order of the RA
ministry of culture.

It was ready in early May but has not been demonstrated so far. By a
preliminary agreement, the documentary was to be shown in the Moscow
Cinema on September 27, but four days before its screeining the film
director was informed that his documentary had been taken off the
list of that cinema’s films.

T. Khzmalian said during a talk with NT correspondent that he does not
understand what is going on in Armenia. "I don’t even have the right
to show my work to the public. I can’t imagine in what times we live."

A 68-minute version of the film was shown at the Narekatsi Center on
September 16, but the "May" version is a 38-minute one and has another
accentuation. As T. Khzmalian had said at the Narekatsi Center, during
the film’s shooting he as the scriptwriter discovered some interesting
facts and video materials unknown to many. "I was sent sensational
facts and video materials from various countries, and all of them
occurred and were filmed in 1916-1920. I became acquainted with the
documents which were not published due to the political situation
in this region. I made an attempt to sum up what happened 90 years
ago – now, at the beginning of the 21st century. All that happened
at that time was because of feebleness of dull political figures,
parties and improvident leaders," T. Khzmalian underlined.

OTTAWA TEEN’S SHEEP SHORT WINS INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION PRIZE

CBC.ca
September 22, 2008 | 4:04 PM ET
Canada

Will Inrig produced the film for a class project at Canterbury
High School last spring. (CBC)A hometown boy beat out filmmakers
from around the world to take a prize at the Ottawa International
Animation Festival with a five-minute short about a man and his flock
of malevolent sheep.

The Depose of Bolskivoi Hovhannes, a narrative film about an Armenian
shepherd whose livestock turn against him, was judged best high school
film by a jury at the five-day festival that wrapped up Sunday.

The black-and-white, stop-motion animated short was created by Will
Inrig for a class project last spring at Canterbury High School.

Inrig said he didn’t expect to win, especially since his film was
up against an entry from a South Korean high school that specializes
in animation.

"I thought, ‘Certainly, they’re so polished — they’ve got to win,’"
he said. "So when they said my name I didn’t quite know … if I
should go up."

Inrig’s film was the only entry in the festival from Ottawa.

He said he can’t believe the film has received so much attention.

"Everybody starts talking about the symbolism of this little tiny
animation movie," he said. "People always assume it’s some sort of
political coup…. And it’s not."

Inrig, who has graduated since making the film, is now working at
the National Film Board on a documentary about autism

HOVHANNES MANUKYAN: "NO OTHER REASON FOR RESIGNATION"

Panorama.am
20:11 19/09/2008

Recently the Chairman of Cassation Court Hovhannes Manukyan has
resigned from his position. This has become a point for various
comments. Panorama.am managed to get some short interpretations from
Mr. Manukyan.

Panorama.am: Mr. Manukyan after Your resignation mass media has started
to spread various rumors. Your resignation has been put together with
even "March 1 events", etc.

H. Manukyan: In my resignation I have presented the reason to it,
which says that I would like to change my sphere of activities. There
is no other reason to my resignation. All other information spread
by the mass media is only interpretations and rumors.

Panorama.am: Anyway, Your recent decision is to be closely connected
with March 1 events and post electoral criminal actions.

H. Manukyan: The head of Cassation Court has the liability to express
his attitude on any case if it is under its procedure. The cases
you’ve named have nothing to do with me. Hence, the resignation could
not be connected with it.

Panorama.am: It was told that insufficient developments of court
legal reforms have caused to Your decision.

H. Manukyan: The reforms made in the previous year had some gaps
and shortcomings but they also have other positive sides. Of course,
I accept that we made some shortcomings too. But those reforms are
continuous.

Panorama.am: What are You going to do in these one-two months?

H. Manukyan: I am going to pay much attention on my family and to
develop my knowledge of foreign languages.

96 ARMENIAN NGOs CONDEMN POLICY OF AUTHORITIES REGARDING ENVIRONMENT

Noyan Tapan

Se p 17, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. 96 Armenian NGOs, on September 13,
made a joint statement expressing concern with the decisions regarding
the environment.

The statement read:

"We, the undersigned civil society representatives of the Republic
of Armenia (RA) express our deep concern and indignation regarding
the de-national nature of recent developments and illegal processes
related to the environment in Armenia, in particular the decision
on increasing water release from Lake Sevan up to the mark of 360
million cubic meters (which is twice as much as it was in previous
years), adopted by the RA National Assembly on August 14 2008 upon
the initiative of the RA Government.

We remind that Lake Sevan is the strategic freshwater reservoir of
the Republic of Armenia as well as the region, and the actual use of
the lake shall pursue the aim of restoration and preservation of this
source of drinking water, taking into consideration drinking water
scarcity in the whole world. Impeding the increase of the level of
Lake Sevan for any purpose may be hazardous for the lake ecosystem.

We are convinced that the increase of water release from Lake Sevan
and the consequent decrease of the lake’s level are in the interest
of a group of individuals. The decision adopted in August 2008 is
a precedent to raise t he same issue in the following years and to
impede the rise of lake’s level on various pretexts. The slow-down of
the cleanup of the lake shores, delays in operation of Vorotan-Arpa
tunnel, holdup of reconstruction of highways, speculation of emergency
weather conditions, proposals on introducing amendments to the RA Law
"On Lake Sevan", and others serve the mentioned aim.

We are skeptical about the "expert conclusion" drawn by the Expert
Commission on Lake Sevan and we cast doubts on the independence and
incorruptibility of "experts" who concurred with the release of water,
which would bring down the lake’s level and lead to its negative
water balance.

We record that the enrollment of representatives of society into
various councils and commissions founded by different institutions in
RA, is, in fact, an imitation of democracy and transparency. The fatal
for the most important strategic resource in the country decision has
not been presented and discussed even in structures like the National
Sustainable Development Council, which operates adjunct to the RA Prime
Minister, founded with the aim of ensuring sustainable development of
the country and balancing economic, social and environmental issues,
or the Board of Experts of the Aarhus Center founded by the joint
initiative of RA Ministry of Nature Protection and OSCE Office in
Yerevan, aimed at fostering public participation in decision-making
on environmental matters.

=0 AWe state that the decision on doubling the water intake from
Lake Sevan has been adopted by the RA Government and the RA National
Assembly without a comprehensive study and scientific justification
for the demand of water, without assessing possible damages to the
environment as a result of such a measure as well as without adequate
notification and engagement of stakeholders, including residents of
coastal communities. This decision violates RA Constitution Article
10, RA Water Code Article 5, RA Law on Lake Sevan Article 11, RA
Law on Environmental Impact Assessment Article 15 and UN Economic
Commission for Europe Aarhus Convention on Access to Information,
Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in
Environmental Matters Articles 4, 7, 8.

We condemn the environment-related policies run by RA authorities and
believe that they do not comply with their obligations prescribed by
the RA Constitution on ensuring environmental protection, recovery
as well as rational use of natural resources.

We demand

to immediately restore in the RA Law on "Approval of Annual and
Complex Measures on Conservation, Restoration, Reproduction, and Use
of the Ecosystem of Lake Sevan" the maximal 170 million cubic meters
water intake threshold, which has been established based on perennial
research of scientific-research institutes rather than suspicious
reasons given by a couple of institutions;

to reveal and publicize the causes of20water scarcity in Ararat Valley
and the ways how the water of Azat and Aparan reservoirs has been
spent in 2008, to undertake immediate actions on demolishing illegal
constructions on the lakeside, organizing thorough cleanup of the
shores and preparing those for the rise of the level of the lake;

to reveal the violations of RA legislation and to call to account
those guilty, in particular the officials and others involved in
corrupt transactions.

We inform that for us, the undersigned organizations, which represent
the active stratum of the civil society, it would be possible to
collaborate on environmental issues with relevant state bodies of
the Republic of Armenia if:

we do receive an appropriate response to our aforementioned demands;

we get convinced that in environment-related decision-making the RA
Government demonstrates political will and acts in compliance with
the RA legislation and international commitments;

we become confident that state bodies, indeed, take proper account of
the NGOs’ opinions and comments rather than making their participation
a futile imitation."

96 civil society organizations have signed the statement.

PRESS RELEASE
AGBU Hye Geen Young Women’s Circle
Media Contact: Nellie Yacoubian
(818) 292 – 3470
[email protected]

AGBU HYE GEEN IS ACCEPTING A "CALL FOR PAPERS" FOR THE 2009 CONFERENCE:
THE STATUS OF ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES

AGBU Hye Geen Young Women’s Circle is Seeking Research and Presenters for
the 2009 Conference "An Armenian Woman’s Journey"

Pasadena, Calif., September 17, 2008 – AGBU Hye Geen, an organization
focusing on the issues facing Armenian women today, while preserving and
honoring their achievements, has reactivated the Young Women’s Circle as a
means of staying relevant about the challenges facing the current generation
of Armenian women now living in the United States.

The Conference was launched in 2005 to address topics such as
assimilation, language,
identity, philosophy, and religious practice in a contemporary context. This
year’s conference continues to focus on the status of Armenian communities
living in the U.S., with a particular focus on the Armenian Woman’s Journey.
The goal of the conference is to explore the issues faced today by the
Armenian woman in the various stages of her development from childhood to
maturity. The Young Women’s Circle has issued a call for papers. The
deadline for submission is November 30, 2008; the submission must be an
outline for the topic, a brief description of the research, its date of
completion and a biography along with a photo of the researcher or
presenter.

The selected papers will be presented at the conference and published in the
2009 AGBU "Hye Geen" periodical formerly known as Ganayk Hayots (Armenian
Women).

About AGBU Hye Geen 2009 Conference: The Status of Armenian Communities
Living in the United States: An Armenian Woman’s Journey

The conference will take place at the California State University of Los
Angeles (CSULA) on Saturday, April 18, 2009 in cooperation with CSULA’s
School of Social Work and the Alpha Epsilon Omega Fraternity.

Submissions may be sent via postal mail or e-mail to:

AGBU Hye Geen Young Women’s Circle
Att: Nellie Yacoubian
835 Saint Katherine Drive
La Canada, CA 91011
[email protected]

Subjects for the 2009 Conference: An Armenian Woman’s Journey

v In the Beginning (0-20yrs)

§ The inherent differences in social and cultural norms in raising sons
and
daughters and what they are.

· At what ages the condition begins.

· Social norms and customs unique to the Armenian culture.

§ The educational expectations of Armenians versus the culture in which
we
live.

· Are parents reluctant to choose the best education option if it
requires the student to move away from home?

v Getting There (20-40yrs)

§ The importance of allowing the time and space for the development of
independent identity at the cusp of adulthood.

§ The difficulty of developing and the necessity of preserving individual
identity amidst the many roles assumed by women.

§ A Single Woman. What is her needs and role?

v Are We There Yet? (40-60yrs)

§ A Single Mom: What is her experience like?

§ Women and Politics. Can women reach the top?

§ The necessity and importance of a social network on a woman’s mental and
physical health.

v Reaping the Rewards (60+ yrs)

§ How does our society perceive the needs of a woman who is 50+.

Attention colleagues in the disciplines of psychology, social work,
sociology and related fields who have conducted research about

Armenians living in the United States.

This is the fourth annual Interdisciplinary Conference "The Status of
Armenian Communities Living in the United States." The Conference will bring
together researchers, educators and community groups to explore social,
cultural and psychological areas related to Armenians living in the United
States.

¨ The Conference will be on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at California
State University, Los Angeles.

¨ The Call for Participation seeks the sharing of studies conducted
by
educators, researchers, social service providers and students to further
increase our understanding of the present Armenian community — in
psychology, social work and related fields. Participants may present
papers, literature reviews or hold symposia and roundtable discussions.

¨ Email [email protected] to obtain the Submission
Guidelines section for abstract and proposal guidelines. Indicate preferred
method of presentation: oral paper, symposia, poster or roundtable.

¨ The deadline for submission is November 30, 2008.

¨ Coming Soon! Further information about the conference can be found
at

The conference is sponsored by the Armenian General Benevolent Union
(AGBU), Hye Geen and Forum for Armenian Cultural and Social Studies (FACSS)
in partnership with California State University, Los Angeles, School of
Social Work and Alpha Epsilon Omega Fraternity. We encourage your
participation in this critical opportunity to enrich our understanding of
Armenians living in the United States.

# # #

Regnum, Russia
Sept 12 2008

Slowing down of Genocide recognition will be result of
Armenian-Turkish talks

The Heritage Party (Armenia) has always welcomed development of
economic relations of Armenia with its neighbors, including energy
supply to Turkey, declared Vardan Khachatryan, member of the Heritage
opposition party faction at a briefing in the Armenian parliament on
September 12. `But, on the other side, expectations of Armenian
society, including a long-term purpose of opening the Armenian-Turkish
border is not a matter of the near-term prospect. Heritage considers
that until a serious anticorruption program is carried out and
corruption risks minimized in Armenia, it is not preferable to begin
such process, which is the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border,’
stressed he.

Talking about a Turkish initiative of establishing a Security Platform
in Caucasus, the member of the opposition underscored that Turkey is
concerned over the unstable situation in the region. It is facing a
threat of formation of Kurdistan. `Different forces serve to this
idea, and there is no confidence today, that the borders are
infrangible, and proportion of existing ethnic groups will not change,
¦ it follows that activation of Turkey and the Security Platform
explicitly mean the isolation of Iran,’ said he, at the same time
underlining the regional significance of Iran.

Khachatryan believes the exclusion of Iran from the project of
security in the Caucasus implies, that Turkey is serving to a `certain
vector of development, which is to be studied in order to imagine what
kind of benefits stand for it.’ At the same time, the member of the
parliament stresses that there is still a lack of actual material for
estimations.

In its turn, Artashes Shakhbazyan, member of the Armenian Revolution
Faction Dashnaktsutyun touching upon the attempts to change the OSCE
Minsk Group negotiations format on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement, underscored that Turkey and Azerbaijan had always operated
hand in hand. `When a question is put by Turkey, it obviously becomes
weightier. Changing the format, when the sides already have achieved
something ‘ means to fail negotiations,’ said the MP stressing that
`Armenia must strongly support existing achievements’.

Commenting on a statement of Abdullah Gul published by Azerbaijani
media that during the meeting with Armenian President Sargsyan in
Yerevan an agreement concerning the return of the Azerbaijani
territories was achieved, Shakhbazyan said that a phrase looked as
pulled out from the context, it is necessary to wait for more
information in order to understand what they were talking about. `On
the whole bearing in mind that mass media of Azerbaijan and Turkey
often lie, we must more carefully follow it and to specify heard,’
said he, underlining that if the statement is true, than it is already
cause for concern.

Speaking on energy supply to Turkey, he underlined that `one should
not take episodic steps without getting an answer for basic
questions.’ Stressing acceptability of economic contacts between
Armenia and Turkey in the future, he underlined that Armenia must be
careful in the dialog with Turkey `The only thing that can be stated
today that the result of the negotiations with Turkey will be the
slowdown of the process of the Armenian Genocide recognition. As
Babadzhan said, Turkey will say to the whole world, that is having a
dialog with Armenia `and one should not interfere’. Turkey with
Azerbaijan will speak from the position of force, and show to everyone
that they are communicating with us,’ said he.

html

ANKARA KEEN ON FACILITATING GARABAGH SETTLEMENT

Assa-Irada
Sept 10 2008
Azerbaijan

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan intends to discuss the Upper
(Nagorno) Garabagh conflict with his Armenian and Azerbaijanian
counterpart in late September. The Garabagh conflict is also Turkeys
problem, Babacan said, stressing that while in Yerevan, he had
forwarded to the Armenian foreign minister a proposal on a meeting
of the three countries foreign ministers and informed him that the
initiative has been accepted. After meeting with my Azerbaijani
counterpart and enquiring about his view, we will be able to hold
such a meeting on the sidelines of the UN [General Assembly] session
in New York, told a local TV channel.

Babacan said that peace talks are to intensify after Azerbaijans
October 15 presidential election. In reference to the Turkish-Armenian
relations, Babacan said outstanding differences cannot be ironed
out unilaterally. Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian has
told CNN Turk TV channel that if efforts are being made to normalize
ties between Ankara and Yerevan, no pre-conditions should be laid
out. If we seriously and sincerely want to make amends, we should not
talk about any conditions, as restoring relations between Turkey and
Armenia would benefit both countries. Peace should not be expected in
the region until the Ankara-Yerevan relations are rectified, because
a full integration of the region is impossible with the border being
closed. Armenia and Turkey have been at odds and the border between
the two countries has been closed since 1993 on Ankaras insistence
due to Armenias policy of occupation against Azerbaijan and its
claims that Ottoman Turks committed mass killings in the early
20th century. Nalbandian pledged that if Turkish-Armenian relations
normalize, Armenia will not put forth its genocide claims and all
unresolved issues will be solved through negotiations. Yury Merzlyakov,
Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group (MG), a team of diplomats from
the United States, Russia and France brokering Garabagh peace talks,
has confirmed that Turkish, Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers
are due to meet. He said, however, that the date of the meeting has
not been scheduled yet. Merzlyakov said the possibility of such a
ministerial was discussed by the Azerbaijani and Armenian ministers
during their meeting in Moscow on August 1. The three ministers meeting
is a good idea and the co-chairs would only welcome that, the diplomat
said. He emphasized that it was wrong to cite possible changes in the
format of peace talks. But Turkish President Abdullah Guls mediation
[of talks] between the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders could be
beneficial for the resolution of the Garabagh conflict. Merzlyakov
added that the MG co-chairs are expected to visit the region.

ABDULLAH GUL: "NEW STAGE HAS BEGUN IN THE CAUCASUS FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FROZEN CONFLICTS"

Azeri Press Agency
Sept 11 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku – APA. "New stage has begun in the Caucasus for the settlement
of the frozen conflicts. Either all will pass over the opportunity
without doing anything, or we will improve this opportunity," Turkish
President Abdullah Gul told journalists on board the plane from Ankara,
APA reports.

Gul underlined that tense diplomatic activity was observed in
connection with the Caucasus Development and Cooperation Platform
initiated by Turkey and the whole world was following the diplomatic
processes in the region.

The president expressed his hope that Russia would have positive
approach to the platform and said he had discussed bilateral and
regional issues with Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev
in Antalya.

Abdullah Gul said Foreign Minister of Turkey Ali Babacan might meet
with Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers within the framework
of UN session in New York and mentioned that such a meeting was held
when he was Foreign Minister.

Noting that the visit to Armenia put an end to the freezing relations
between the two countries Gul underlined the necessity of finding
ways of settlement.

"We should be realists. We do not trivialize the issues, but we should
not dream, either," he said.

Asked whether Turkish, Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents would have
trilateral summit, Gul "One should make effort for the solution of
the problems. I think it is high time for this. Minsk Group has been
working on it for 17 years, but no results have been produced yet. We
should know what happens after 17 years. We wish the problem to be
solved," said.

FIVE ARMENIAN SPORTSMEN TO PARTAKE IN THE EUROPEAN YOUTH JUDO CHAMPIONSHIP

armradio.am
10.09.2008 12:42

The European Youth Judo Championship will be held in Warsaw, the
capital of Poland, on September 11-15.

Five Armenian sportsmen – Grigor Ivanyan (55 kg, Yerevan), Tigran
Varosyan (60 kg, Gyumri), Hovhannes Dermishyan (66 kg, Yerevan),
Artyom Baghdasaryan (70 kg, Gyumri) and Garik Gevorgyan (81 kg,
Gyumri) – will participate in the tournament.

The head coach of the Armenian team is Tigran Babayan.

Two Cats Productions
New York, NY.
Tel: 212.929.2085
Fax: 212.929.0210
Email: [email protected]

WLIW 21 in New York will be presenting THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
on Wednesday, September 17 at 8:00pm, followed by
THE ARMENIAN AMERICANS at 9:30pm.

For this special occasion, the Director of the Films,
Andrew Goldberg, will be in the studio to be interviewed.

ABOUT THE FILMS

The Armenian Genocide
[ de/] is the complete
story of the first genocide of the 20th century — when over a
million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Turks during
World War I. This unprecedented and powerful one-hour
documentary was written, directed, and produced by Emmy Award
-winning producer Andrew Goldberg of Two Cats Productions.
Featuring interviews with leading experts in the field such as
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Samantha Power and New York Times
best-selling author Peter Balakian, this film features never
-before-seen historical footage of the events and key players of
one of the greatest untold stories of the 20th century. The
Armenian Genocide is narrated by Julianna Margulies and includes
historical narrations by Ed Harris, Natalie Portman, Laura
Linney, and Orlando Bloom.

The Armenian Americans
[ cans/] captures the
spirit of this amazing culture and its legacy of inspiration,
achievement, perseverance, and survival. Personal recollections
from three generations of proud Armenians — including tennis
champion Andre Agassi, author Peter Balakian, actor Mike Connors
, actor/writer Eric Bogosian, actress/writer Andrea Martin, NCAA
basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, historians, musicians,
politicians, religious leaders, and corporate executives — pay
warm tribute and celebrate why there has never been a better
time to be an Armenian American.

©2008 Two Cats Productions, New York, NY.
sl4tid1d/