Confession by one of the leaders of the Armenian lobby on the Khojaly genocide during hearings on the 30th anniversary of the Sumgait events at the California State Senate, organized by the radical Armenian lobby in the US, is a serious signal for international community that a military tribunal should be set up for Armenia, said Azerbaijani MP Elman Nasirov.
Nasirov said that following the hearings, young members of the Azerbaijani community in California made harsh statements and exposed the false information they heard during the hearings.
"They left both the senators and representatives of the Armenian lobby in a difficult situation. They asked why at a time when Sumgait events are discussed, no one talks about the Khojaly tragedy, more than one million refugees and internally displaced persons who were exiled from their native lands as a result of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan, why nobody from the Azerbaijani community was invited to the hearings, and why were the issues viewed from a unilateral approach," he said.
The MP stressed that facing such serious arguments, pro-Armenian senators and representatives of the Armenian lobby fell into difficult situation.
"In such a desperate situation, Armenian Assembly's Western Region Director Mihran Toumajan confessed. So far, the Armenian leadership and their patrons have tried to show that Armenia was not involved in the Khojaly tragedy, Armenia did not participate in this tragedy and so on. However, this time one of the main figures of the Armenian lobby was forced to recognize that the Khojaly genocide was committed by Armenia. Saying "we have created a corridor for people to leave Khojaly, but some of them left and others stayed, and that is why such a tragedy happened", he confessed that the Armenian armed forces committed a genocide in Khojaly," said Nasirov.
"This confession is very important. If today the representatives of the Armenian lobby in the United States recognize that they committed this genocide, then the international community must show its position on this issue. I think it is a serious signal for international community and international organizations to set up a military tribunal over Armenia," he said.
Diyarbakir's signature dessert is multicultural tradition
Kadaif is a popular sweet for Turkish, Greek and Middle Eastern people. Posted Sept. 20, 2017.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — First you mix at least three different kinds of flour with water, making sure that you end up with a dense milky liquid. Let the liquid rest for six to eight hours, mixing it only at the end. Then you drop the mix on the special cast-iron stove that spins it. The mix becomes crisp, golden colored threads. You gather a heap in your hand and twist it into a circular shape that Turks call “burma.” Walnuts and pistachios are added to the center. Sweet sherbet is poured on top, and the kadaif, also known as shredded wheat dessert, is done.
Turks, Greeks and Middle Easterners claim kadaif (or kadayif or kataifi), a delicious dessert that can be made into different shapes. In the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, locals believe that the dessert was first baked in the Armenian houses of the cosmopolitan city in the 18th century. As the dessert became popular, the Armenians taught it to the Muslim population in the 19th century, mainly migrants from Bingol, a small city to the north, who had come to Diyarbakir looking for jobs.
“My grandfather Riza Ansin learned the art of making kadaif from an Armenian chef called Agop,” Ahmet Altunay, the third generation of a family of kadaif makers, told Al-Monitor. “After the Armenians left [Diyarbakir in the beginning of the 20th century], we took over the business. Nowadays, all the kadaif makers are from Bingol.”
He added, “When my grandfather died in 1990, he was 85 years old. Our family has been making and selling kadaif for more than 100 years now. My grandfather taught my father, and my father taught me and my four brothers. I am currently teaching my own children how to make kadaif. I take them to the shop the weekends and tell them to look and learn. They will end up running the business one day.”
Altunay said that his father taught many bakers, most of them from the Gurpinar neighborhood in Bingol, how to make kadaif. “There are quite a few kadaif makers in Ankara and Istanbul, and most of them learned the trade from my father. My brother is one of the best kadaif makers of Turkey. When a kadaif maker has a problem he cannot solve or has a large order he cannot handle alone, he comes to my brother for help,” he added.
Altunay said that kadaif is made with only a little butter, so it is not heavy on the stomach. “Even if you ate a whole kilo, you would not feel stuffed because it is not greasy,” he said. The six Altunay sweet shops produce about 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of kadaif a day. “Gaziantep is known for its baklava and Diyarbakir is known for its kadaif,” said Altunay. “If someone pays a visit to Diyarbakir, people expect him to return home with half a kilo of kadaif.”
Diyarbakir Municipality managed to trademark the round "burma kadaif" in November 2017 as a local specialty, just like city's other two best known products, watermelon and a special cheese. But the people who make Diyarbakir’s local dessert are all from Bingol, said Altunay. “Our whole neighborhood makes kadaif,” Altunay explained. “This is because our people, once they learn a trade, they teach others. When you look at the neighboring village, half are kadaif makers and the other half are bakers.”
Altunay’s business is growing, with a new branch in Ankara and prospects for another in Istanbul. He's shipped kadaif all the way to the United States. “There was an Armenian who moved to New York from Diyarbakir. One day, he called and asked us to send to the United States 10 kilos [22 pounds] of kadaif. We told him it would be too expensive, but he asked us to send it anyway. So we sent him 10 kilos of kadaif — the shipping costs were twice as much as the cost of the sweet. We send the dessert to most of the European countries. We have a customer who works with Boeing and we ship him his kadaif wherever he is.”
The kadaif bakers are mostly men, but the municipality of Diyarbakir offered a training course for women in 2014. Some 50 women were trained, but very few ended up working in the business. Altunay said it's a difficult job and often physically too exhausting for women. “The revolving oven has to be 100 degrees Celsius [212 F] all the time. It is no easy job working with it the whole day,” he said.
Found in:CULTURAL HERITAGE
Mahmut Bozarslan is based in Diyarbakir, the central city of Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast. A journalist since 1996, he has worked for the mass-circulation daily Sabah, the NTV news channel, Al Jazeera Turk and Agence France-Presse (AFP), covering the many aspects of the Kurdish question, as well as the local economy and women’s and refugee issues. He has frequently reported also from Iraqi Kurdistan. On Twitter: @mahmutbozarslan
ext month sees the Caucasus-located country of Armenia selecting their representative for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, the final of which will take place on the 25 February.
AMPTV, the Armenian national broadcaster, has today announced the 3 dates of the country’s national selection in the search for the nation’s upcoming Eurovision act.
Depi Evratesil returns once again in Armenia in 2018, following its debut the previous year. However, the 2018 editions of the Armenian national selection sees some changes.
Last year, artists were invited to audition with cover versions of famous songs to the judging panel, hoping to earn the eventual right of representing Armenia at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Whilst the artist was determined through the national selection, the song was decided via an internal selection by both the broadcaster and the winning artist, namely Artsvik.
This year, each of the 20 participants will be competing in one of 2 semi-finals with their own songs, performing for a place in the final of Depi Evratesil on the 25 February.
During the semi-finals, 10 artists will compete in each show for a place in the final of the selection; 5 artists will advance from each semi-final, meaning that 10 artists will be competing for the right to fly the Armenian flag in Lisbon,
The Armenian representative for 2018 will be determined via a combined 50/50 public and jury vote.
This year’s Depi Evratesil will run throughout the course of one week, kicking off in mid-February. The dates are as follows:
26 years have passed since an operation was carried out by the Azerbaijani Army to regain the Dashalti village from Armenian armed units.
Despite going down in history as a heave defeat of the Azerbaijani Army in the First Karabakh War, the Dashalti operation is also remembered with our army’s valor and heroism.
The Dashalti operation was launched at 20:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) January 25, 1992, and came to an end with a failure on January 26.
The operation, aimed at liberating the Dashalti village of Asgaran District near Shusha from Armenian armed units, was led by former Defense Minister, Major-General Tajeddin Mehdiyev.
3 platoons of the newly created Azerbaijani Army comprised of volunteers as well as the defense battalion of Shusha were participating in the operation.
Having entered into Dashalti from the direction of the Nabilar village, Azerbaijani soldiers were trapped by the enemy and completely obliterated because of tactical mistakes, lack of communication between groups, leak of intelligence data as well as betrayal of guides.
The other platoons that entered the village suffered considerable casualties and managed to retreat.
According to official reports, the Azerbaijani Army gave more than 90 losses, most are still missing.
The Armenians also lost about 80 servicemen during the operation.
Belgian Member of European Parliament Louis Michel
BRUSSELS—Belgian member of the European Parliament Louis Michel has address two written questions to the European Commission and the High Representative Federica Mogherini, raising the issue of the extension of the Erasmus+ program to students from Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh, as well as the implementation of investigative mechanism on the Artsakh-Azerbaijan border, also known as the line of contact, reported the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD).
In his first written question, Michel raises the issue of the exclusion of Artsakh students from the Erasmus+ program, a student exchange program for students administered by the European Union. Michel pointed out that university students from all six Eastern Partnership nations have access to the program and are allowed to complete a part of their studies in Europe.
“The current status of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh should by no means be an excuse to increase the social isolation of the people of Artsakh, especially the students and the youth. The ultimate goal being peace in the region, young people of Nagorno-Karabagh should have the same rights as the youth in the other six Eastern Partnership countries. In this regard, the written question of Louis Michel is an important first step, to sensitize the public and raise this essential issue to the EU decision makers,” stated EAFJD President Kaspar Karampetian.
In his second question, the Belgian MEP appealed the High Representative of the EU Federica Mogherini to clarify how the Union intends to assist in enforcing the ceasefire and putting in place the OSCE investigative mechanism.
“The investigative mechanism on the line of contact is a confidence building measure proposed by the OSCE, years ago. It would enable to find out which side violates the ceasefire. The Azerbaijani government keeps refusing its implementation, while Armenia has agreed from the beginning. The European Union should be concerned about the systematic refusal from the Azerbaijani side, which leads to deadly losses. We are glad to see European Parliament members speaking out about this issue,” said Karampetian.
In order to facilitate the peace process in Nagorno-Karabakh the EAFJD encourages more European Parliament members to raise these issues, and will follow carefully the response of the European Commission and the European External Action Service, within 6 weeks at the latest.
Pastor, Armenian Church of the Holy Martyrs, Bayside, NY
BAYSIDE, N. Y. — Three years ago, in January 2015, as the Holy Martyrs Genocide Centennial Committee began plans for their year of celebratory events, the idea to symbolically co-name 210th Street from Horace Harding Expressway to 58th Avenue as “Armenia Way,” was born. With the help of Garo Sekdorian, former member of Community Board 11 (CB 11) that serves Bayside and the surrounding communities, Dr. Lynn Cetin (Chair of the Centennial Committee) and I embarked on a mission to make this dream a reality. While Dr. Cetin drafted a letter to the Community Board describing the connection of Armenians to Bayside, I personally went door-to-door to all the neighbors on 210th Street to secure their support of symbolically renaming the street. It was important that they understood that the co-naming would not change their actual address, but just be a symbolic gesture to our community. Navigating the world of community politics was new to me and no easy task. With the tremendous help of Garo Sekdorian, I sent letters to community leaders and politicians seeking support for this project. Despite our efforts and the many connections I made with many prominent community members, the project fizzled and the dream of seeing “Armenia Way” on 210th Street dwindled over the next two years.
Last fall, with a new political climate in the community, I revitalized the street co-naming project and resubmitted an updated letter to Community Board 11. With the support of State Senator Tony Avella and City Council Member Barry Grodenchik, the project regained new life. On December 11, 2017, after almost three years of waiting, I was invited to the Transportation Committee board meeting of CB 11 to present the co-naming project. Dr. Lynn Cetin and I attended the meeting and were excited to hear the committee unanimously vote in approval of the co-naming of 210th Street. Now, one more step was needed – the approval of the entire community board. On January 8, 2018, Dr. Lynn Cetin, Bruce Ashbahian (Holy Martyrs’ 60th Anniversary Co-Chairs) and I attended the CB 11 meeting in Bayside. In my public remarks I thanked the local community for their support of Holy Martyrs and the Armenian community for the past six decades. This co-naming is our way of remembering those who established our community years ago and thanking them. Dr. Cetin told the attendees that Holy Martyrs’ annual Street Festival is a way our community has given back to our neighborhood. “Our community has discussed many times about relocating our church, but we have always said that we love Queens and are grateful to the community here. We hope Queens loves us back!” said Dr. Cetin. Community Board Chair Christine Haider told her own story about her connection to Holy Martyrs. A non-Armenian living in the area, Holy Martyrs was the only available kindergarten for her son 49 years ago. She spoke highly of the school and the education her son received. Eileen Miller, another Community Board member, stated that she has lived down the block from Holy Martyrs for 12 years and complimented our church community for being welcoming to the neighbors of all religious backgrounds.
After three years of waiting and some setbacks, on the evening of January 8 our perseverance prevailed as Community Board 11 voted unanimously to co-name 210th Street from Horace Harding Expressway to 58th Avenue as “Armenia Way.”After the vote, which brought applause and congratulations from all, we immediately texted Garo Sekdorian, who now lives in Florida. “What a beautiful gift to Holy Martyrs on its 60th anniversary!” wrote Garo Sekdorian upon receiving the exciting news.
I am humbled and grateful to all who supported this project from day one. I am especially thankful to our wonderful neighbors on 210th Street and the members of CB 11. I am excited to see “Armenia Way” on the corner of 210th Street and will notify all of you about the official street sign unveiling once I am made aware of the details. Nothing is impossible! We must always believe!
VP Ebtekar visits St. Mary Church, Armenians anthropology museum
TEHRAN — Masoumeh Ebtekar, vice president for women's and family affairs, paid a visit to Saint Mary Church as well as Arch Bishop Ardak Manoukian museum in Tehran on Thursday.
Saint Mary Church is an Armenian Apostolic church in Tehran, Iran completed in 1945.
From 1945 to 1960, the church was the main office and residence of the Archbishop of the Armenians, which was later transferred to the new Saint Sarkis Cathedral completed in 1970. On February 13, 2002, the church was registered by the Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran as a national monument.
Arch Bishop Ardak Manoukian museum also known as Armenians anthropology museum houses collection of ritual objects used in rituals, ceremonies, and practices in the conduct of Christianity.
The museum also features pictures and paintings as well as information about ancient Armenian churches, Armenian women costumes in various historical periods, etc.
(Yerevan) – The lives and well-being of women and children in Armenia who have survived domestic violence are in jeopardy because of the Armenian government’s failure to ensure their protection, Human Rights Watch said today. In December 2017, Armenia’s parliament passed a law on violence in the family, but women and children remain at risk until the government comprehensively changes how police respond to complaints of violence and provides accessible, quality services for survivors.
Human Rights Watch spoke with 12 survivors of severe domestic abuse in Armenia. The women said their husbands or male partners punched and kicked them, raped them, struck them with furniture and other objects, confined them in their homes, stalked them, and threatened or attempted to kill them with knives or other sharp objects. Five women said the attacks against them continued during pregnancy; three said they had miscarriages after their husbands beat them.
“Armenian authorities have failed to protect women and others from domestic violence, putting women’s and children’s health and lives in jeopardy,” said Jane Buchanan, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The new law is one important step, but until authorities take reports of domestic violence seriously and ensure that women and children get the legal, medical, and social help they need, the danger remains.”
Those interviewed said that when they reported abuse to police or other authorities, the authorities did nothing to prevent further violence, investigate cases, or hold the attackers accountable. In some cases, the authorities encouraged women to drop complaints and reconcile with their abusers. The authorities did not refer the women for services or assistance.
Armenia’s Coalition to Stop Violence against Women, an alliance of nongovernmental women’s rights organizations, reported that at least four women were killed by their partners or other family members in the first half of 2017, and at least 50 were killed between 2010 and 2017. The Coalition received 5,299 calls about incidents of domestic violence from January through September 2017.
In one case Human Rights Watch documented, Gayane (not her real name), 45, said that her former husband had repeatedly beat her during their eight-year marriage, stalked her after she divorced him, and frequently broke into her house to rob and attack her, most recently in November. “He grabbed me by the hair and threw me on to the sofa,” Gayane said. “He jumped on top of me and put his elbows on my throat, trying to strangle me. I bit him in the arm and he let go, but he dragged me off the sofa, threw me down on the floor, and started to kick me all over, shouting, ‘Die!’”
When Gayane ran to the police in her nightclothes, they said, “Oh, so you came and want to do something about your husband? He beat you? And so? Why did you let him in?” After receiving treatment at the hospital for a sprained wrist and numerous bruises, Gayane returned home to find her former husband asleep in her house with her two sons. Police refused to intervene.
Children witnessed abuse against their mothers, often for many years, and several women said their husbands committed violence against their children. Human Rights Watch also documented other family members, such as in-laws, abused women.
The new law requires police to urgently intervene “when there is a reasonable assumption of an immediate threat of repetition or the continuation of violence” in the family. Urgent measures include police removing the alleged attacker from the home and prohibiting them from approaching or communicating with the victim. Courts can issue six-month protection orders, with two possible three-month extensions.
Many women said they lived with their abusers for years because they had no means of escape. The country has only two domestic violence shelters, both in the capital, Yerevan, run by nongovernmental organizations, each with a capacity for five women and their children. Council of Europe standards call for at least one specialized shelter in every region, and one shelter space per 10,000 people. With a population of approximately 2.9 million, Armenia should have approximately 290 shelter spaces. The new law mandates creating government-run shelters, but does not specify the number of shelters or their capacity.
The law defines domestic violence as “a physical, sexual, psychological, or economic act of violence” between family members, including spouses in unregistered marriages. It is not clear if the law applies to couples who are not in registered or unregistered marriages.
Just before submitting the law to parliament in mid-November, the government revised the law to include “strengthening of traditional values in the family” as a key principle. Authorities also changed the title to add the concept of “restoring harmony in the family.”
The Coalition to Stop Violence against Women expressed concerns that the new law’s principle of “traditional values” could be used to reinforce obsolete and problematic gender roles and stereotypes. Activists also fear an emphasis on “restoring harmony” could be used to pressure women to remain in abusive relationships.
During a December 6 meeting, Armenia’s minister of justice, David Harutyunyan, told Human Rights Watch that the concept of “restoring harmony in the family” recognizes the government’s obligation to not only protect victims, but to provide services to the alleged abuser, such as alcohol or drug treatment. He said that these initiatives would not take priority over protection.
The new law requires authorities to investigate alleged crimes in the family even if the victim withdraws a complaint to the police. It also mandates training for police, prosecutors, judges and others in the criminal justice system on how to respond to complaints and investigate and prosecute cases.
The European Union insisted the government of Armenia pass a domestic violence law as a condition for certain budgetary support. The European Commission also called on Armenia to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention. In late December, the government approved the possible signature of the convention, but has not yet done so.
“Women in Armenia need the government to provide meaningful protection from abusive husbands and partners, not to reinforce gender stereotypes about men’s dominance or family roles that can contribute to violence in the first place,” Buchanan said.
Accounts from Domestic Violence Survivors
Human Rights Watch conducted in-depth interviews with 12 survivors of domestic violence in Armenia: 11 in December 2017 and one in May 2016. Human Rights Watch also interviewed women’s rights activists and representatives of organizations providing services to survivors of domestic violence, who described similar accounts of abuse, authorities’ response to domestic violence, and obstacles to accessing services for survivors. Everyone interviewed was informed of the purpose of the interview, its voluntary nature, and the ways the information would be used. All provided verbal informed consent. The interviews highlighted survivors’ experiences and the legal and other protection gaps that the government should address, including through the new law on family violence. Where necessary, pseudonyms have been used to protect interviewees’ identities.
“Armine”
From the first weeks of her marriage in 2004, at age 19, Armine’s husband abused her:
After we were married just one or two weeks, he hit me in the face. When he stayed out late, and I asked him where he was, this would set off beatings. When I was seven months pregnant with our first child he beat me, including in my belly. According to the doctor, this injured the baby and he was born with a problem in his spine.
Then my husband started to drink, and it was as if I just made mistake after mistake. He would humiliate me. He would take all the sheets and blankets off the bed and demand that I remake it. He would refuse to eat what I prepared and demand I go out and get something else. I can’t even pronounce the words he would say to me to insult me. They were all the worst words.
Later, he started to use sharp objects. Sometimes he would come home late at night and I would be asleep in my bed with my sons on either side of me. He would jump on top of me and put the knife to my neck and say, “I’ll kill you!”
Armine said her husband broke her rib during one beating, and broke her arm during another:
I was sitting at the table across from him with my youngest son in my arms. My husband got angry and picked up the table and turned it over. I tried to stop the table from crashing onto me, but it broke my right arm. I went to the hospital and got a cast. When they asked at the hospital what had happened, I lied and said I fell.
Armine also said that if she tried to protect herself, her husband would break furniture, throw household objects and smash windows. On one occasion, neighbors called an ambulance, hoping the medics could remove Armine’s husband. Medical workers refused to intervene saying, “He’s not a patient for us, take him to the psychiatric hospital.” They left without calling the police or telling Armine how she could get help.
One night in 2014 after her husband threatened to kill her with a knife and hit her younger son, Armine fled the house with her two children. Her former husband stalked her relentlessly for two years:
He would come to my aunt’s house. He would appear on the street as I took the kids to school. He would swear at me, demand that we get back together. Other times he would stand in front of me on the sidewalk and not let me pass. Or he would grab me by the arm or by my purse, trying to make me go with him.
In 2015, Armine lost her job in a medical center after her then-former husband twice came to her workplace:
I worked a 24-hour shift. He came one night and was drunk. He said ‘I came to see if you are actually working or if you are doing something with some lover. I won’t let you work anywhere. I will slit your throat!’ After that the director came and told me I shouldn’t come to work anymore. He said, ‘It’s not ok for your husband to come here and sort out your family problems.’
The medical center director did not offer Armine any assistance.
She said the police failed to protect her:
After we were divorced, I called the police four or five times when my [former]husband showed up at my aunt’s house. They would come, take him away, then let him go after five minutes. One time I wrote a complaint to the police. The officer said, ‘We can’t do anything. We can’t detain him. There is no law.’ The investigator who received a complaint said that the only possibility was a court process with the outcome being a monetary fine for him. I decided it wasn’t worth it. He didn’t have the money to pay for a fine.
Armine described her ongoing anxiety and fears after more than a decade of abuse. She said, “I haven’t heard from him, and I believe he is not living in Armenia anymore, but I am still scared. I go to work early in the morning, when it is still dark out. I am extremely anxious from the time I leave home until I get to work. If I hear footsteps behind me, I am afraid it’s him.”
Taguhi
Taguhi, 38, and her husband married in February 2014. She described frequent beatings for more than two years, including when she was pregnant in 2014. In another incident, her husband beat her and threatened her with a knife while she was holding their infant son. Taguhi frequently sought refuge at a friend’s home or with her parents, during which time her husband would threaten, stalk, and attack her. Taguhi’s husband also attacked her father and broke the window of her father’s car in 2015, she said. Although her father complained to police, they closed their investigation, saying there was a lack of evidence of a crime.
Taghuhi filed complaints with the police following many of the beatings, although several investigations were closed due to lack of evidence. In January 2016, however, a court convicted her husband of battery and torture based on a number of Taguhi’s complaints about beatings from February to April 2015. The court sentenced him to six months in prison but immediately released him on a conditional sentence. He served no prison time.
Despite his conviction, he continued to stalk her, especially at her parents’ apartment, forcing his way in, or attacking her near the building’s entrance. From February through July 2016, Taguhi filed at least eight complaints with the police. After an attack near her parents’ apartment in July 2016, Taguhi fled to the police with her mother. The police accepted her written complaint and then drove the women back to the apartment building, but refused to escort them to the door, although Taguhi told them she feared her former husband might be waiting for them.
As she and her mother approached the apartment door, Taguhi’s former husband, who had been hiding nearby, attacked the two women with an axe, killing Taguhi’s mother. Taguhi was hospitalized for six weeks, with numerous injuries, including a nearly severed shoulder, a partially severed ear, and axe wounds to her scalp, hand, arm, neck, chest, abdomen, and back. Her father, who came out of the apartment and tried to intervene, lost two fingers on his left hand. Her son, who was at home with the grandfather, watched the attack from the doorway. Taguhi’s former husband is in pretrial detention facing murder and attempted murder charges.
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Taguhi shows scars on her neck and shoulder. In 2016, her former husband attacked her and her mother with an axe, killing her mother.
Taguhi herself, however, is also facing trial on battery charges for scratching her former husband’s arms and neck with her fingernails in June and early July 2016. She said that she was acting in self-defense and that her artificial fingernails could not have caused injury consistent with battery.
“Zaruhi”
“As soon as I got married, when I was 18, the nightmares started,” said Zaruhi, now 30. “He drank heavily, and so did his parents. All of them would hit me sometimes.” Zaruhi’s husband controlled her, threatening to kill her. He refused to let me go out of the house or even have coffee and socialize with the neighbors, she said. “He threatened me that if I tell anyone about the beatings he would kill me, or if I tried to leave him, he would find me and kill me. I felt like I had no choice but to stay.”
Her husband also raped her and controlled her sexually. “One night he came home drunk and wanted to have sex. I said, ‘I don’t want to, don’t touch me.’ He got very angry and yelled, ‘When I want to, you will sleep with me. Even if you don’t want to, I don’t care! If I want to, you will give it to me.’” Zaruhi said he punched her in the head, knocked her down, and kicked her in the abdomen, and then raped her. “After that, even if I didn’t want to be with him, I agreed. I stayed calm, just so that he wouldn’t beat me,” she said.
Zaruhi said that one day in 2009, her husband beat her when she was about five months pregnant with her third child. She started having vaginal bleeding and went to the hospital, where doctors told her that the fetus had died in the womb.
Despite regular abuse, Zaruhi was afraid to go to the police because of her husband’s death threats and those of her mother-in-law, who said: “If you ever think of going to the police, know that we have friends in the police, and it won’t do you any good.”
After a severe beating in August 2017, Zaruhi divorced her husband and moved in with her parents. He repeatedly came to their house, beat her and threatened to take their four children. She eventually moved and went into hiding. “I just want him to leave me alone,” she said. With the support of a local women’s rights organization, Zaruhi went to the police. She has filed a complaint regarding the beating that caused the death of her baby and has sued for alimony and child support. The investigation is ongoing.
“Astghik”
Astghik, 38, has three children. Her husband has abused her since shortly after they married in 2010. She said:
He grabs me and shakes me. He spits on me. Every day he wounds my soul. He threatens me, often with a knife, and tells my children, ‘I will kill your mother and you will end up in the orphanage.’ He forces me to have sex with him. I don’t want to. I do it with loathing. I do it just so there wouldn’t be another fight.
One time, earlier this year, he shoved a kitchen knife at me, threatening to kill me. I called the police, but when they came, they said, ‘Unless he actually hurts you, we can’t do anything.’
With the help of a lawyer at a nongovernmental organization, she filed an official complaint regarding the death threats. The investigation is ongoing. Although the two are officially divorced and Astghik is entitled to court-ordered child support, she continues to live with her abusive former husband, because he does not, and is not forced to, pay support, without which she has no income and is not able to provide shelter for herself and the children.
Hasmik
Hasmik said that her husband beat her for the first time soon after they married in 2004, and continued to do so regularly throughout their nine-year marriage, including during her pregnancies in 2006 and 2007. He punched her in the head when she was three months pregnant with their first child, who was born with a hearing disability. Hasmik believes her pregnancy was harmed by the abuse she suffered.
One day in 2013, Hasmik’s husband punched her in the face, broke a glass of water on her head, and beat her with a chair. “He had beaten me so badly that I lost consciousness,” she said. “I could not open my eyes, and when I did, I saw blood everywhere and on the wall.”
Her husband’s family refused to help her go to the hospital. Hasmik was bed-ridden for several weeks. Soon after she recovered, her husband resumed beating her.
After another beating later in 2013 that caused a severe injury to the side of her head, Hasmik ran away and spent the night outside in fear. She was two months pregnant. She went to her parents’ house and soon decided to have an abortion, not wanting to have another baby in her troubled family. While recovering at home, she fainted, and her family called an ambulance. When the medics saw her head injury, they insisted that she notify the police.
Police arrived from the town where Hasmik and her husband lived, but instead of assisting her, they urged her to go back to her husband. Hasmik refused, and with the support of a women’s rights group, moved to a shelter, filed a complaint against her husband for abuse, and petitioned for custody of her children. Hasmik’s former husband threatened her, saying he would never let her see their children again, unless she withdrew her police complaint.
Police failed to respond appropriately or prevent further threats and abuse during the investigation. During one witness confrontation, a procedural step in criminal investigations when the two parties must meet together with the investigator, Hasmik ’s husband shouted at her saying, “I will smash this table on your head!” When the investigator did not respond, Hasmik fled, and filed a complaint. At the next interrogation the investigator said to her, mockingly, “He didn’t actually hit you with the table. Why did you run out of here?”
Her former husband was later charged with torture, including causing physical and psychological suffering, of a person financially dependent on him (Criminal Code article 119). In December 2014, a court convicted him and sentenced him to 18 months in prison, but he was released from the courtroom under a national amnesty for certain crimes, and served no prison time. He did not further harm Hasmik, but in 2015 attacked his parents and police who responded. A trial on charges of using violence against police is ongoing.
Though a court awarded Hasmik custody of her then-6-year-old son in 2013, her husband’s family refused to give the child to her, and the regional division of the Justice Ministry’s enforcement service did not carry out the judgment. Her son finally moved in with her in November 2016 after national authorities intervened. Hasmik’s daughter had lived with her since late 2013 since her husband did not want the child because of her disability.
“Karine”
Karine. 44, filed a complaint against her husband in 2016, after he beat and raped her for many years, but the authorities’ response led her to abandon the process. She said:
I had to forgive my husband and go back to him. Police and municipality officials insisted that I do so, and also withdraw my complaint. They said that it’s a family matter, that my husband was [psychologically] sick, and that it was my duty to help him. Police told me that even if I pursued the complaint, it would not lead to anything, just some fine.
Recommendations
The Armenian government should:
Ensure the prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation of all domestic violence cases, using methods that mitigate risks for survivors, and prosecute and punish the attackers;
Systematically train police, judges, and other relevant authorities in domestic violence response, including filing and investigating complaints, in line with international standards;
Ensure immediate access to protection for survivors of domestic abuse through availability of shelter spaces, including in rural areas, and short- and long-term protection orders;
Ensure that survivors and their children have access to quality, comprehensive and inclusive medical, psychological, legal, and other services;
Conduct campaigns to educate the public about the new law, how to file complaints, and the availability of services;
Ensure that enforcement of the law includes victims in non-marital intimate relationships;
Swiftly adopt relevant changes to the criminal code to ensure appropriate punishments commensurate with the gravity of the abuse;
Revise the criminal code to include an aggravating circumstance covering crimes committed within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the abuser shares or has shared the same residence with the victim, in line with the Istanbul Convention; this approach allows for the use of the generic provisions in the criminal law while imposing a higher sentence in cases of domestic violence;
Consider addressing domestic violence as a dedicated criminal offense. This can provide an optimal response particularly in cases of abusive patterns of behavior in which isolated acts of violence do not reach the criminal threshold; and
Manchester Evening News
January 8, 2018 Monday
Henrikh can still save his United career
by ciaran kelly
JOSE Mourinho has not made a habit of saying sorry down the years, but
he reserved an apology for Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the bowels of Old
Trafford at around 8.49pm on Friday night - in front of all of his
players in the home dressing room.
The Portuguese knew his side needed something, a spark, a focal point,
to find the breakthrough against a stubborn Derby defence in the FA
Cup third round tie and turned to £75m man Romelu Lukaku.
Mkhitaryan was the fall guy. Mourinho felt having the pace of Marcus
Rashford on the left wing gave United more of a threat despite the
20-year-old's own struggles up front in the first half.
The Armenian could only watch on as Jesse Lingard stepped up in his
place in the No.10 role to break the deadlock with a trademark
thunderbolt before his replacement, Lukaku, sealed United's place in
the fourth round of the FA Cup at the death.
Mourinho's decision had been vindicated, but that did not make it any easier.
Ironically, following a worrying start, Mkhitaryan had grown into the
half by simply relying on his instincts. There was even one marvellous
cross which landed perfectly on Rashford's head, without even looking
up to see if he was there.
Had Rashford found the back of the net, rather than Scott Carson's
near post, Mkhitaryan would have done what he has done for much of his
United career - pulled a moment of magic out of the hat when he was
seemingly destined for another anonymous display. But that fivemonth
wait for an assist goes on.
Just a few minutes later, a scooped through ball found Luke Shaw in
space Understandably, 28-year-worryingly confidence, not the Ciaran as
he romped down the flank, but the left-back's cross did not beat the
first man.
Those highlights came after a forgotten name reared its head on social
media feeds again. Bebé, the infamous Portuguese street footballer who
Sir Alex Ferguson admitted he never saw play before splurging £7.4m on
him in 2010.
Mkhitaryan - Armenia's greatest ever sportsman, the £27.3m bargain,
United's Europa League hero - had just hit a wild cross in Bebé's
unmistakable style. And bad memories came flooding back as he began
trending for all the wrong reasons.
Understandably, the 28-year-old looks worryingly short of confidence,
but it is not the end.
After two months out last season, following a poor display on his
first start in the derby, Mkhitaryan bounced back and seized his
chance, when it eventually was given to him.
the looks short of but it is end Kelly Mkhitaryan still has that
trademark resilience - making just his second start since November 5
against Derby - and is clearly impressing Mourinho with his work-rate
in training.
You could see that first-hand at an open session ahead of United's
Champions League clash against CSKA Moscow last month. "Go Micki! Go!"
his team-mates roared as he raced through the sprints in the intense
warm-ups at Carrington.
Mourinho does not scapegoat, either, and tellingly made a point of
giving a rare insight into the dressing room in his post-match press
conference.
There was no assessment of his high pressing or whether he recovered
the ball high up the pitch or whether he played in others enough in
that crucial No.10 role.
Just a simple apology.
"I apologised to him in front of the people because he didn't deserve
it," he sighed.
Mesut Ozil may be waiting in the wings, but do not write-off Henrikh
Mkhitaryan. Not just yet, anyway.
the hat when destined for anonymous fivemonth an back's beat the
following a his first Mkhitaryan and when was and with training.
Understandably, the 28-year-old looks worryingly short of confidence,
but it is not the end Ciaran Kelly
Israeli advocate Eitay Mack and genocide scholar Yair Auron, who recognized the Armenian Genocide, sent a request to the Israeli foreign ministry in accordance with the Freedom of Information Law for information on agreements and commitments undertaken by the State of Israel vis-a-vis Turkey and Azerbaijan as to not recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
In the request, sent to Aryeh Zini – Official in charge of implementing the Freedom of Information Law Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the advocate and scholar reminded that Turkey resolutely denies the Armenian Genocide that took place in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Similarly, and in view of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan has become Turkey’s partner in leading the denial of the Armenian Genocide.
“Unfortunately, in spite of the existence of an Armenian community in Israel and in spite of a continuous public, academic and political campaign, the Armenian genocide has not been recognized by the State of Israel. It seems that the official Israeli denial of the Armenian Genocide is tied to its diplomatic and military relations with Turkey, and in recent years to the relations with Azerbaijan”, stated in the request.
They recalled that in 2011, at the time of a hearing at the Knesset’s Education Committee, on the Armenian Genocide, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Danny Ayalon, former Chairman of the Knesset Education Committee, MK Alex Miller, as well as additional MK’s from ‘Israel Beitenu’ party clarified unequivocally to the Azerbaijani media that the State of Israel would not recognize the Armenian Genocide so as not to harm relations with Azerbaijan.
Moreover, Eitay Mack and Yair Auron stated that in the recent years official Israel has become a direct and indirect supporter of the purported “Khojaly genocide” claim. They noted that one thing is not disputed among the international community – No genocide by its common definition took place there.
Given the abovementioned, Eitay Mack and Yair Auron requested the foreign ministry to disclose to them the following information:
-Any documentation of agreements, understandings, commitments vis-a-vis Azerbaijan and Turkey as to the question of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
-Any correspondence with Turkish or Azerbaijani representatives on the question of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
-Any documentation of meetings or communications between representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Turkish or Azerbaijani representatives on the question of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
-Decisions and position papers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as to the question of recognizing the Armenian Genocide, in view of Turkey and Azerbaijan’s objection.