UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Middle East. Trade tensions. Iran’s nuclear program. Venezuela’s power struggle. Civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Familiar flash points such as these got plenty of airtime at the U.N. General Assembly’s big annual gathering this week.
But some leaders used their time on the world stage to highlight international conflicts and disputes that don’t usually command the same global attention.
A look at some of the less-discussed controversies trying to be heard:
___
NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan landed one of the coveted first few speaking slots, and he devoted a bit of his wide-ranging speech to a clash in the Caucasus: a standoff between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The mountainous, ethnic Armenian area of about 150,000 people is recognized as part of Azerbaijan in U.N. Security Council resolutions dating to the 1990s. But Nagorno-Karabakh and some neighboring districts have been under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces, backed by Armenia, since a six-year separatist war ended in 1994.
Both Azerbaijan and Turkey have closed their borders with Armenia because of the conflict, cutting trade and leaving Armenia with direct land access only to Georgia and Iran.
Russia, the U.S. and France have co-chaired the so-called Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, attempting to broker an end to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In speeches and rebuttals at the General Assembly, Armenia and Azerbaijan accused one another of misstating history, disrespecting human rights and standing in the way of a settlement.
___
NORTH MACEDONIA
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ “state of the world” address was largely a grim one , but he pointed to a few matters moving “in promising directions” — among them relations between Greece and the new Republic of North Macedonia.
Greece and what the U.N. cumbersomely used to call the “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” sparred for nearly three decades over the latter’s name. It was adopted when the nation, which has a current population of about 2.1 million, declared independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.
Greece said the use of “Macedonia” implied territorial claims on its own northern province of the same name and its ancient Greek heritage, not least as the birthplace of ancient warrior king Alexander the Great. Athens blocked its Balkan neighbor’s path to NATO and EU membership over the nomenclature clash.
It became “infamous as a difficult and irresolvable problem,” in the words of now-North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.
Repeated rounds of U.N.-mediated negotiations proved fruitless until June 2018, when the Skopje government agreed to change the country’s name to North Macedonia. The switch took effect this February.
European Council President Donald Tusk said this month that North Macedonia is now ready to start EU membership talks. It expects to become the 30th NATO member soon.
The deal has been contentious within both countries, though, with critics accusing their governments of giving up too much. Regardless, North Macedonia’s prime minister highlighted it with pride from the world’s premier diplomatic podium.
“We can see nothing but benefits from settling the difference,” Zaev said, calling it “an example for overcoming difficult deadlocks worldwide.”
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis didn’t dilate on the deal, saying only that his country supports EU bids by all the western Balkan countries if they respect their obligations to the EU and their neighbors.
___
WESTERN SAHARA
A mostly desert expanse along the northwest coast of Africa, Western Sahara has been a center of friction between Morocco and Algeria for almost half a century.
Morocco annexed the phosphate- and fishing-rich former Spanish colony in 1975, then fought the Algerian-backed Polisario Front independence movement until 1991, when the U.N. brokered a cease-fire and established a peacekeeping mission to monitor the truce and facilitate a referendum on the territory’s future.
The vote has never happened. Morocco has proposed wide-ranging autonomy for Western Sahara, while the Polisario Front insists that Western Sahara’s Sahrawi people — a population the independence movement estimates at 350,000 to 500,000 — have the right to a referendum.
Last year, the U.N. Security Council called for stepping up efforts to reach a solution to the dispute.
A U.N. envoy brought representatives of Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and neighboring Mauritania together last December for the first time in six years, followed by a second meeting in March. But the issue of how to provide for self-determination remains a key sticking point.
The envoy, former German President Horst Kohler, resigned in May for health reasons.
At the General Assembly, Moroccan Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani said his country’s autonomy proposal “is the solution,” while Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum reiterated hopes for Western Sahara residents “to be able to exercise their legitimate right to self-determination.”
____
CYPRUS
A U.N.-controlled buffer zone that cuts across the city of Nicosia evinces a fraught distinction: Cyprus is the last European country to have a divided capital.
After 45 years, could that finally change? There’s “a glimmer of hope,” Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades told to the assembly.
The eastern Mediterranean island has been split into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north since 1974, when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece. Turkey continues to maintain more than 35,000 troops in the northern third of the island, which only Turkey recognizes as an independent state. The U.N. also has a peacekeeping force in Cyprus.
Tensions have ticked up lately, particularly over natural gas exploration in waters in the internationally recognized state’s exclusive economic zone. Turkey is also drilling there, saying it’s defending Turkish Cypriots’ rights to energy reserves.
On-and-off talks about reunification have spanned decades.
Greek Cypriots have rejected Turkish Cypriots’ demands for a permanent Turkish troop presence and veto power in government decisions in a future federated Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots, meanwhile, want parity in federal decision-making, believing they would otherwise be relegated to junior partners to the majority Greek Cypriots.
A U.N. envoy made a shuttle-diplomacy effort in recent weeks in hopes of paving the way for formal talks, and Anastasiades suggested in his General Assembly speech there was some agreement on starting points for potential discussion. But he also complained that Turkey’s drilling and other activities “severely undermine” the prospect of negotiations.
Turkey’s Erdogan, meanwhile, complained about “the uncompromising position” of the Greek Cypriots.
___
BELIZE-GUATEMALA
It’s been a big year in a centuries-old argument between Belize and Guatemala.
Guatemala claims more than 4,000 square miles (10,350 square kilometers) of terrain administered by Belize — essentially the southern half of Belize. It’s an area of nature reserves, scattered farming villages and fishing towns, and some Caribbean beach tourism destinations.
The dispute’s roots stretch to the 19th century, when Britain controlled Belize and Spain ruled Guatemala.
Guatemala, which became independent in 1821, argues that it inherited a Spanish claim on the territory. Belize considers Guatemala’s claim unfounded and says the borders were defined by an 1859 agreement between Guatemala and Britain (Belize remained a British colony until 1981).
The land spat has strained diplomatic relations and at times even affected air travel between the two Central American countries.
Belize and Guatemala agreed in 2008 to ask the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, for a binding ruling. Guatemalans voters gave their assent to the plan in a referendum last year, and Belizeans gave their approval this May.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales celebrated the developments in his General Assembly speech.
“This is a milestone for Guatemala, for Central America and for the world,” he said, emphasizing the peaceful process toward resolving the disagreement. “Currently, bilateral relations between Guatemala and Belize are the best they’ve ever been.”
Belize hasn’t yet given its speech.
___
Jennifer Peltz is covering the U.N. General Assembly for The Associated Press. Follow her on Twitter at @jennpeltz.
‘Lights! Camera! Saroyan!’ film has Yerevan premiere at Cafesjian Centre
The Renaissance Cultural and Intellectual Foundation has presented the Yerevan premiere of “Lights! Camera! Saroyan!”, a new documentary on renowned American-Armenian writer William Saroyan on the sidelines of the William Saroyan House Museum project.
The film screening took place at the Special Events Auditorium of the Cafesjian Centre for the Arts at 6:30pm on Wednesday, September 25, the William Saroyan House Museum said.
Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian, the director of Armenian Studies Program at California State University in Fresno, delivered opening remarks at the event.
“Lights! Camera! Saroyan!” examines the career and personal life of Fresno native William Saroyan, a Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning author, playwright and artist. Through exclusive interviews with his family and friends, the documentary spans the artist’s years living in Fresno and abroad.
You will find small episodes of a whole story, the history of the museum creation, the answers to the interesting questions the project’s team had.
Film was presented in its original language with subtitles in Armenian.
Sports: World Men’s Boxing Championships: Duryodhan Singh Negi triumphs over Armenia’s Koryun Astoyan
Singh Negi triumphs over Armenia’s Koryun
Astoyan
Koryun Astoyan in his opening bout to enter the second round of the World Men’s Boxing Championships.
opening round.
however, not connecting as powerfully.
combination blows.
strategy was tiring for both but Negi endured it much better.
one judge favoured him over the Indian.
opening bouts to enter the second round.
The California Courier Online, September 12, 2019
1 – Armin Wegner Asked Franz Werfel
Not to Write his ‘40 Days of Musa Dagh’
Part II
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Dan Janjigian Running for Congress in Texas
3 – Pan-Armenian Games Carry Message of Peace, Not War
4- ‘I Am Not Alone’ to Have World Premiere at Toronto Film Festival
5- A Passionate Patriot: Armenia’s Brandy Maestro Markar Setrakyan
*****************************************
******************************************
1 – Armin Wegner Asked Franz Werfel
Not to Write his ‘40 Days of Musa Dagh’
Part II
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
The California Courier will publish in a four-part series the exchange
between the two historic figures Armin Wegner and Franz Werfel.
Already in 1915 I became friends with Johannes Lepsius. As I traveled
by train, from Constantinople through Asia Minor to Baghdad, I
witnessed the entire deportation. I repeatedly sent material to
Lepsius for his collection. I have lived in close relationship with
Armenians and Turks for several years, and have spoken their language,
albeit very imperfectly. Hiding under my stomach bandage, I smuggled
the pictures that I had taken of the horror scenes in the desert. I
transported them, at the risk of death, across the border along with
the refugees’ letters to the American embassies.
In 1919, in a public event in Urania [a scientific society in Berlin],
with the help of Johannes Lepsius, I showed the pictures in a
sensational lecture. As a result, almost a pogrom broke out between
the immigrant Armenians and Turks. Soon afterwards I published my
book, “The Road of No Return” (“Der Weg Ohne Heimkehr”), revealing
personal experiences from that time. I related most of the experiences
from the days of the deportation, for my Armenian novel.
At short intervals, two more books were published – “In the House of
Happiness,” (“Im Hause der Glückselligkeit”) and my “Turkish Novels,”
(“Türkische Novellen”) which also include two stories from the
persecution of Armenians. At about the same time, in 1921, my novella
“The Storm on the Women’s Bath” (“Der Sturm auf das Frauenbad”) – the
description of an Armenian massacre – appeared in the Berliner
Tageblatt. In the same year I published the stenographic report “The
Court Case of Talaat Pasha” (“Der Prozess Talaat Pascha”), to which I
was invited, along with Johannes Lepsius and others, as a witness.
In 1925, I began to write my Armenian novel, which I had already
planned during the war. The first announcements of the work can be
found around the same time in the Kirschner, and in Albert Sörgel’s
history of literature, where the book had been announced with the
title “The Expulsion” (“Die Austreibung”). But, as I set out to
portray the vast epic of deportation and extermination of an entire
race of people, I soon realized that my work would be piecemeal if I
confined myself to describing only the end of this tragedy.
So the work grew under my hand, more and more, beyond what I
originally had planned. The entire fate of the people, and the
struggles of the peoples of the Middle East, should be presented in
it. The antagonism of races, religions and classes were laid bare. It
was not my will, but the inner nature of that work, which became a
four-volume novel. I’ll give you a short outline of the blueprint that
I shared with the academy two years ago.
The first volume deals with the prehistory of the novel – the youth of
the main hero, who was born in a small Asian town in 1890. In 1896,
during the massacres of Abdul Hamid, he loses his parents and grows up
an orphan in the Syrian orphanage in Jerusalem. The actual content of
the first volume, then, describes life in a small Asian city, the
contrast of the Turks and Armenians, their conflicting as well as
common revolutionary activities, and it finally leads to
Constantinople in the court of Abdul Hamid. This volume will be titled
“In the Shadow of God.”
The second volume, titled “Eternal Hatred,” leads first into the
mountains of an Armenian village. It shows the differences between
Kurds and Armenians, and finally depicts the outbreak of the
revolution of 1908 in Asia Minor and Constantinople, the removal of
Abdul Hamid and the victory of the Young Turks, and ends in a general
fraternization and reconciliation of Turks and Armenians in the age of
the Constitution.
The third volume, which will probably carry the title “The Scream of
Ararat,” begins with the outbreak of the World War. This volume will
also contain the conversation between Lepsius and Enver Pasha, which
Lepsius himself has so impressively recorded. The novel always shifts
between the ruling classes, the leading authorities, and the people.
The Young Turkish leaders, and the whole diplomacy of Europe, play
their part. The book ends with the actual beginning of the
deportation.
The fourth volume, titled “The Desert,” then brings the extermination
of the Armenian people in the steppes of Mesopotamia. This part also
contains the scenes of those two thousand refugees who had rescued
themselves on a mountain and were then brought to Egypt by a ship of
the Entente – scenes that I suppose to be the inspiration for the
title of your planned book, “The Forty Days Musa Dagh.” An epilogue to
the last volume describes the murder of Talaat Pasha in the streets of
Berlin.
The entire work is expected to retain the repeatedly announced title
“The Expulsion.”
Although I began writing the Novel as early as 1924, it was
interrupted by my other poetic and journalistic works. In the years
1925 to 1927, the project matured to its full extent, and from the
beginning of 1930, I had to start the whole work once again. In 1928
my novel “Moni” (the novel of a two-year-old child) was published in
the “Berliner Tageblatt.” At the same time, I offered the book to the
publishing house Zsolnay in Vienna (in March 1928), and declared my
readiness for a contractual bond for my planned work in progress, the
Armenian novel, as a great portrayal of people. But Zsolnay refused. I
then signed a contract with the Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt in Stuttgart
(in the spring of 1928), for my multi-volume novel on the Armenian
deportation, and at that time I received a considerable advance.
The great economic hardship, the pressure to feed a family and the not
quite satisfactory sales of my other books, slowed down my work.
Driven by financial obligations, I had to accept extensive
journalistic work, again and again, which required long trips to
foreign countries. In 1930, Thomas Mann applied on my behalf to the
Prussian Academy of the Arts (Section of Poetry), referring to my
work. At his instigation, I submitted to the Academy a more detailed
plan of my great Armenian novel. I enumerated the various stations of
the above listed individual volumes. Fortunately, the academy gave me
considerable support for this work. But unfortunately, all of these
sums were not enough to allow me to labor on the huge work with peace
of mind.
Article to be continued in the next issue…
************************************************************************************************************************************************
2- Dan Janjigian Running for Congress in Texas
On Thursday, September 5, Dan Janjigian announced he was launching a
bid for the Democratic nod against veteran GOP Rep. John Carter in
Texas’ 31st Congressional District, a 54-41 Trump seat in Austin’s
northern suburbs. Carter won an unexpectedly expensive contest just
51-48 last year against MJ Hegar, who is now running for the Senate.
“Now is the time. Time for me to stand up and give back to a nation
and a community that has given me so much throughout my entire life,”
said Janjigian. “For the last 15 years, I’ve counseled families on
some of the toughest decisions they’ve ever had to make when it comes
to ensuring they have the health care coverage their family needs.
I’ve sat with them as they have agonized over how to make choices like
paying for rent or groceries and paying for medicine. The American
people deserve more. They deserve representatives who understand what
they’re going through, and that is the voice I will bring to
Washington.”
Janjigian was born on April 30, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois. His
ancestors, Armenians from Trabzon in modern-day Turkey, survived the
Armenian Genocide and emigrated to the United States thereafter. He
was raised in Saratoga, California and graduated from Saratoga High
School in 1991. He graduated with a degree in business administration
from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo in
1996. After graduating, he worked at Microsoft for a number of years.
Janjigian is a founder of Gridiron Financial, a reseller of the Globe
Life company of products that helps protect families in case of
catastrophic injury or illness. These products supplement traditional
health insurance programs, relieving some of the financial burden of
individuals and families struggling with health issues.
Janjigian also pledged to make climate change a centerpiece of his
campaign. “Now is the time for new leadership that can join
representatives from across the aisle in discussing pragmatic ways we
can combat climate change,” he said. “There are opportunities to
revolutionize our economy and spur on job growth with clean energy if
we’re just willing to do the work up front, and that’s exactly what I
intend to do in Congress.”
Janjigian currently lives in Leander, Texas with his wife Rebeca,
their three children, and his dogs, Casey and Cat. He is also the
owner of a number of restaurants in Austin and Hollywood. He speaks
fluent Armenian and holds dual citizenship in Armenia and the United
States.
“My parents taught me two very important lessons as a child. The first
was the importance of hard work. The second was that nothing can be
accomplished alone,” said Janjigian. “Those two lessons helped me
become an Olympic bobsledder, a successful businessman, and a cult
classic film actor. And those two lessons will not be lost on me
during this campaign. To win, it will take hard work and a whole lot
of teammates.”
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/danjanforcongress
************************************************************************************************************************************************
3 – Pan-Armenian Games Carry Message of Peace, Not War
By Robert Avetisyan
Sports competitions are normally perceived to carry the message of
peace and unity. Olympics, Jeux de la Francophonie, Maccabiah Games,
other similar tournaments—the entire civilized humankind has always
supported events that connect people, eliminate barriers, and foster
mutual understanding.
Those ideas and values are at the core of the Pan-Armenian games,
which brings together Armenians around the globe to compete in
basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball and so on. The opening ceremony
of the 2019 Pan-Armenian games took place this August in the Republic
of Artsakh (also referred to as Nagorno Karabakh Republic)—a small
country that has defended on a battlefield its right for freedom, and
currently moves towards universal recognition of its rights and
liberties.
Artsakh is an integral part of historic Armenia. As such Artsakh is
mentioned in the works of Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Claudius Ptolemy,
Plutarch, Dio Cassius, and other ancient authors. It was severed from
Armenia when the Red Army entered the South Caucasus, and the
Bolshevik dictator Stalin decided in 1921 to place Artsakh as Armenian
autonomy into newly-created Soviet Azerbaijan, as part of the Soviet
Union.
Seventy years later, the autonomy’s legislature legally abolished this
illegitimate voluntaristic decision. In fact, the freedom movement in
Artsakh became the first truly democratic movement in then-Soviet
area, which sparked similar processes across the USSR.
The Republic of Artsakh has been proclaimed in 1991 in accordance with
the same Soviet legislation that provided sovereignty to all Soviet
republics, and has since been developing as a sovereign democracy with
open society, effective governance, a strong military and fledgling
market-oriented economy. The republic has its own President,
Parliament, Cabinet of ministers, capable defense forces and a vibrant
civil society. All rounds of presidential, parliamentary and municipal
elections were assessed by international observers as free and
transparent.
Unfortunately, leadership of the neighboring Azerbaijan – a country
that continues to be ranked among the most corrupt and cruel
dictatorships on the globe – still refuses to accept Artsakh’s right
for freedom, and continues military and political attacks against our
young republic. In 1991, and in 2016, Baku launched full-scale
military offensives against Artsakh, both times unsuccessfully
attempting to ‘solve the problem’ by conquering the republic, and
exterminating its entire population.
Long-term anti-Armenian policy by Azerbaijani leaders has led to
aggressive public hatred towards everything Armenian. Azeri President
Aliyev’s calling Armenians of the world enemy number one; proclaiming
Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov, who axed to death sleeping Armenian
officer Gurgen Margaryan during NATO-sponsored training program in
Hungary, a national hero and an example for younger generations;
ordering police to stop the UK’s Arsenal soccer club fans merely for
wearing shirts with the name of Henrik Mkhitaryan, who is of Armenian
descent; threats to knowingly shoot down any civilian plane flying in
or our Artsakh—these are just a few in a long row of the displays of
Baku’s continued policy of intolerance and ‘armenophobia’.
And these are just a few among many other reasons why the recent
article in Foreign Policy Journal by Mr. Giovanne Vincent Romero
titled ‘The 2019 Pan-Armenian Games Have Dimmed Prospects for
Peace’—in which he argues that by holding sport competitions in
Artsakh, Armenians undermined prospects for reconciliation between
Armenians and Azerbaijanis—rather raises questions than provides
answers.
It is such policy by Azerbaijan, and not a sporting event in Artsakh,
that leaves no hope for a comprehensive peaceful solution of the
Artsakh-Azerbaijan conflict anytime soon. Nonetheless, Artsakh will
continue its constructive involvement with the international community
towards security and stability in the South Caucasus. The republic
will also continue to strengthen as a free and democratic home for
every Armenian.
The attention of Mr. Romero and others, who assume the responsibility
to write about this complicated matter, is duly appreciated. We in
Artsakh are interested in having international awareness about the
true essence of our cause. At the same time, the article by Mr. Romero
unfortunately missed important points regarding the conflict, some of
which are mentioned above.
Offering opinion with vividly incomplete expertise in the
Azerbaijan-Artsakh conflict can become additional tool for the corrupt
regime in Baku for manipulation with facts, justification of numerous
domestic political and economic shortcomings, and renewed aggression
against neighbors.
Instead, every effort should be directed toward stopping anti-Armenian
propaganda in Azerbaijan and joining Artsakh in promoting mutual
understanding and tolerance between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Trust,
not hatred, is a necessary prerequisite for any lasting peace.
Robert Avetisyan currently serves as Permanent Representative of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) to the United States. He holds a
Bachelor’s degree in philology from the Artsakh State University, and
Master’s degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of
Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
This article appeared in Foreign Policy Journal on August 29, 2019.
************************************************************************************************************************************************
4- ‘I Am Not Alone’ to Have World Premiere at Toronto Film Festival
TORONTO—The feature documentary “I Am Not Alone” will have its world
premiere as an official selection at the Toronto International Film
Festival, the annual event known as the launching pad for the Oscars.
The screenings will take place on September 7, 9 and 15.
“This galvanizing chronicle of the 2018 Armenian revolution combines
gripping front-line reportage with new interviews that describe
incidents the cameras could not capture,” said Thom Powers, Head
Programmer of TIFF Docs. “Hugely informative, briskly paced, and
offering a laudable balance of perspectives, ‘I Am Not Alone’ is a
feat of nonfiction storytelling and a must-see for anyone eager to
make sense of recent history.”
Directed and produced by Garin Hovannisian, with an original score by
Serj Tankian (“Intent to Destroy”), the 93-minute film tells the
miraculous story of Armenia’s Velvet Revolution, which began on Easter
2018, when one man set out on a march from Gyumri to Yerevan to topple
the all-powerful regime that ruled his post-soviet country. This
total-access documentary includes exclusive interviews with both
sides, including the revolutionary Nikol Pashinyan and Armenia’s
two-term president Serzh Sargsyan.
Alec Mouhibian (1915), Eric Esrailian (“The Promise,” “Intent to
Destroy”), and Tatevik Manoukyan are producers of the film alongside
executive producers Serj Tankian, Joe Berlinger (“Intent to Destroy,”
“Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes”), Dan Braun (“Wild
Wild Country”), Raffi K. Hovannisian, Suren Ambarchyan, and Alen
Petrosyan.
************************************************************************************************************************************************
5- A Passionate Patriot: Armenia’s Brandy Maestro Markar Setrakyan
By Roupen Bedrosyan
(Translated and adapted by Jirair Tutunjian)
Stalin was fuming. The dictator had been stung by a letter from
Winston Churchill. The ex-prime minister of Britain had complained the
recent batch of Tvin brandies Stalin had sent to him was not up to
scratch.
At the Yalta Conference, Stalin had served Tvin, the Armenian brandy,
to the Allied leaders. Churchill, a brandy aficionado, had loved the
liquid gold. Since then, Stalin had periodically shipped a case of the
brandy to his wartime ally.
Now Stalin’s pride, not to mention Soviet Union’s reputation, was
being challenged. Stalin knew just the man to end the embarrassment:
Anastas Mikoyan. The Armenian politician swiftly found the reason for
Tvin’s decline: Markar Setrakyan, engineering technician at the
Yerevan Brandy Company and the inventor of Tvin was no longer at his
job: He had been exiled to Ukraine. During his absence, Tvin’s quality
had fallen by the wayside. Mikoyan ordered the immediate return of
Setrakyan to his old job.
Why was the brandy maestro exiled? The authorities had learned
Setrakyan kept in his office books by Yeghishe Charents and other
banned Armenian writers. Setrakyan had typically kept busy in Odessa
creating two cognac brands.
Back in Yerevan, Setrakyan restored Tvin’s bouquet. Churchill was
happy. Presumably so was Stalin.
During his long career, Setrakyan was honored by numerous Armenian,
Soviet and international medals for his creation of fourteen brandies.
It’s telling that he won these honors despite ignoring Stalin’s
directive to send the aged and precious Armenian brandies to the army
during WWII. As a result of Setrakyan’s daring, Armenia retained the
monopoly of exception brandies.
Next to brandy making, Setrakyan’s passion was to see Vaspouragan’s
return to Armenia. Born in 1907 in Vaspouragan, he was orphaned during
the Genocide and was rescued by Cossacks who had found him next to his
parents’ corpses and had taken him to an orphanage in Ashdarag.
After graduating from the oenophile department of the Yerevan Agronomy
Institute (1930), Setrakyan joined the Yerevan Brandy Factory where
his supervisor was the famed Kiril Silchenko. Setrakyan eventually
became the factory’s technology engineer.
Setrakyan’s main achievement was the invention of new technologies for
brandy production. As a result, Armenian brandy became internationally
famous.
According to legend, Setrakyan used disinfected water to obtain the
distinctive bouquet of the Armenian brandy. The fact is he used spring
water which rendered a unique taste to the liquor. Whenever Setrakyan
was asked for the secret of his brandies, he said there was no secret:
It was Armenia’s water, soil and sun.
Next to brandy making, Setrakyan’s passion was to link brandy names to
Armenia and to the history of Armenians. In 1937 he wanted to call his
creation Armenia but his friend, poet Avedik Isahakian, advised him to
consider the anti-nationalist atmosphere. Setrakyan named the brandy
Hopelyanagan. He named another of his concoctions Donagan upon
Mikoyan’s suggestion.
To persuade the Communist Party’s central committee to allow him to
name his most recent brandy Vasbouragan, Setrakyan sang to them: Ah
Vasbouragan, Priceless Armenia; How many heroes died for you.
Neither his singing nor the rest of his pitch changed the obdurate
committee’s mind. But after Setrakyan’s death (1973), Mikael Khanoyan,
the factory’s director, named a new brandy Vasbouragan, dedicating it
to Setrakyan.
Khanoyan was also a Van native. Upon the centenary of Setrakyan’s
birth (2007), Armenia issued a stamp commemorating the Maestro who had
helped put Armenia on the international brandy map.
Roupen Bedrosyan is the son-in-law of Markar Setrakyan. The Armenian
version of this article appeared in Yerevan’s Pokr Mheri Toor magazine
(Issue No. 1, 1914).
************************************************************************************************************************************************
California Courier Online provides viewers of the Armenian News News Service
with a few of the articles in this week’s issue of The California
Courier. Letters to the editor are encouraged through our e-mail
address, However, authors are
requested to provide their names, addresses, and/or telephone numbers
to verify identity, if any question arises. California Courier
subscribers are requested not to use this service to change, or modify
mailing addresses. Those changes can be made through our e-mail,
, or by phone, (818) 409-0949.
Investigative Committee denies reports on firing Amulsar detective
The Investigative Committee has denied media reports claiming that top investigator in the Amulsar case Yura Ivanyan has been fired.
Investigative Committee spokesperson Naira Harutyunyan told ARMENPRESS Ivanyan has netiher resigned nor has he been dismissed.
“An internal investigation is underway and a decision will be made proceeding from its results,” she said.
Commenting on another report which said that Investigative Committee Vice President Samvel Avetisyan has been dismissed, Harutyunyan neither confirmed nor denied it since the Investigative Committee Vice Presidents are appointed or dismissed by the Prime Minister personally.
Asbarez: Armenia’s High Court Finds Jailing Kocharian to be ‘Unconstitutional’
Former president Robert Kocharian addresses the court during the fourth day of his trial on May 16 (Photo by Armenpress)
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Armenia Constitutional Court on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a legal provision that has been used by law-enforcement authorities for arresting and prosecuting former President Robert Kocharian.
Kocharian’s lawyers had challenged the legality of two articles of the Armenian Code of Procedural Justice invoked by investigators accusing him of taking bribes and overthrowing the constitutional order shortly before the end of his decade-long rule in 2008.
The court ruled that one of those articles is unconstitutional because it does not take account of current and former senior Armenian officials’ immunity from prosecution guaranteed by the Armenian constitution. But it dismissed the defense lawyers’ objections to the other clause that spells out legal grounds for arresting criminal suspects.
The ruling was signed by six of the nine Constitutional Court judges, including the court chairman, Hrayr Tovmasyan. Two other judges wrote dissenting opinions that were not immediately made public.
The ninth judge, Vahe Grigoryan, was excluded from the consideration of Kocharian’s appeal because of having previously represented relatives of the eight protesters killed in the March 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan. Kocharian and three retired Armenian generals stand accused of illegally using the armed forces against opposition supporters who demanded the rerun of a disputed presidential election. They all deny the accusation.
Speaking to reporters, one of Kocharian’s lawyers, Aram Vartevanyan, seemed satisfied with the Constitutional Court verdict read out by Tovmasyan. Vartevanyan said the ruling means that Kocharian’s arrest constituted a “violation of his constitutional rights” and that the ex-president should therefore be released from jail.
Asked whether he believes his client must also be cleared of the coup charges, Vartevanyan said: “We will be able to answer this question only after familiarizing ourselves with the full text of the court’s decision.”
Armenian prosecutors and the Special Investigative Service (SIS), which indicted Kocharian in July 2018, did not immediately react to the court ruling.
In July, Pashinian accused Tovmasyan of cutting political deals with Kocharian’s successor, Serzh Sarkisian, to “privatize” Armenia’s highest court. Tovmasyan responded by warning the government against attempting to force him and his colleagues to resign.
Kocharian was set free five days after the start of his trial in May. A district court judge presiding over it, Davit Grigoryan, further angered government supporters with his decision to suspend the trial and ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the legality of the charges brought against the ex-president.
Kocharian was arrested again after Armenia’s Court of Appeals overturned Grigoryan’s decisions in late June. Law-enforcement authorities charged Grigoryan with forgery in the following weeks. The judge was suspended as a result.
The case was then assigned to another judge, Anna Danibekyan. She is due to resume Kocharian’s trial on September 12.
Protest march against ratification of Istanbul convention to take place in Ararat
A protest march against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention will take place on August 31 in Artashat. As the organizers of the initiative announced on Facebook, the march will start from St Hovhannes Church in Artashat at 11:30 and head to the square next to Ararat Governor’s Office, aiming to voice the threats of the Convention and oppose its ratification.
To note, the Istanbul Convention which is subject to ratification by Armenia protects women against all forms of violence against them and obliges states to prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence.
The document has triggered a debate among the public and expert circles in Armenia over what they say some of controversial concepts that do not serve the purpose of preventing violence, but rather jeopardize the national identity.
Asbarez: Western Australian Labor Conference Unanimously Recognizes Armenian Genocide
A scene from the 2019 Western Australian Labor Conference
PERTH, Australia—The 2019 State Conference of the Western Australian Labor Party has unanimously recognized the Armenian Genocide, calling on the state of Western Australia and the Australian Federal Parliament to do the same, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia.
Caleb Gardner moved the resolution at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday, August 24, which was seconded by Rebecca Doyle and voted for by all delegates in attendance, ensuring WA Labor becomes the first senior state branch of any major political party to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The motion reads: “WA Labor recognizes that between 1909 – 1923, the government of the Ottoman Empire and its successors embarked on a program of mass deportation, murder, cultural cleansing and genocide of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Christian communities within the Ottoman Empire.”
“We can give justice to those murdered by genocide, by saying their names, sharing their stories and acknowledging the circumstances of their deaths. For too long, the wider international community has empowered the denial of these Genocides by not acknowledging them.”
Caleb Gardner, who moved the motion before a packed audience of high-profile delegates, said that it was time the denial stopped.
“What happened to the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians under the cover of World War I was genocide, and it is time all political parties and governments in Australia follow the examples set by New South Wales and South Australia by recognizing these crimes against humanity for what they were. Denial is no longer excusable,” commented Gardner.
ANC-AU Perth Branch Chair, Zaven Boyadjian and the Executive Director of the peak public affairs body of the Armenian-Australian community, Haig Kayserian welcomed this resolution.
Boyadjian said: “On behalf of the Armenian community of Western Australia, I thank Mr. Gardner and Ms. Doyle for their principled standing on such an important human rights issue. The unanimous resolution by the WA Labor conference gives our cause important momentum, for which we are grateful as a community made up largely of descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide.”
Kayserian added: “We need to thank those in our community who spread the Armenian story—the bright and the dark—with principled leaders in the greater Australian community. This leads to motions such as this significant one by WA Labor, which makes complicity to deny the Armenian Genocide untenable.”
This resolution ensured WA Labor became the first senior major political party to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The state parliaments of New South Wales and South Australia have also recognized the Armenian Genocide, as has the City of Ryde and City of Willoughby local councils.
The Australian Greens and the Centre Alliance (and the since inactive Australian Conservatives) are among prominent cross-bench political parties to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The youth branches of WA Labor, NSW Liberals, SA Labor and Victorian Labor have also recognized the Armenian Genocide, as has the Labor Women’s Network.
The Australian Christian Lobby and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies have also formally called on the Australian government to recognize the Armenian Genocide, which is a cause that took a significant step forward in June 2018, when a Federal House of Representatives motion was debated unopposed, recognizing the Armenian Genocide through the prism of Australia’s first major international humanitarian relief effort –which was to aid survivors of the Armenian Genocide.
A second motion was debated in the Federal House of Representatives in December 2018, honoring the 70th Anniversary of the UN Genocide Convention, during which six of seven speakers from both major parties called on Australia to formally recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Sports: World Championship: Armenian canoeists qualify for final
Hayk Tadevosyan/Artur Akishin pair has qualified for the final B of the K2 200m event of the Canoe Sprint World Championship underway in Szeget, Hungary.
As Armenia’s National Olympic Committee reported, in the semi-final they showed a 39.72 sec. result.
The final of the 200m will take place on August 25. Also, on the same day Ara Virabyan will perform in the final of the C1 5000m event and Vladimir Alaverdyan – in the final A of the K1 5000m event.
Verelq: Major car accident in Tavush region. GAZ 66 overturned near the N military unit of the RA Ministry of Defense
- 23.08.2019
- Armenia:
- arm
- rus
Today, on August 23, a major car accident took place in Tavush marz. At around 03:30, under still unknown circumstances, a GAZ 66 car with license plate number 6710 Sh was overturned near the military unit of the RA Defense Ministry located near the village of Baghanis.
As shamshyan.com reports, 25-year-old Khoren G., 26-year-old Tsovak A., 26-year-old Samson H., 27-year-old Arthur P., 29-year-old Frontik S., 25-year-old Frunzik P., 29-year-old Andranik H., 25-year-old Arsen were killed in the accident. E., 25-year-old Vahe H., 27-year-old Edgar H. and 32-year-old Hayk Sh. were taken to the Noyemberyan Medical Center with minor injuries. Some of the wounded were taken out of the car by the servicemen, and some by the rescuers of Noyemberyan fire-rescue squad No. 63 of the rescue service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, who promptly arrived at the scene.
The officers of the 2nd platoon of the 5th platoon of the 2nd officer battalion of the traffic police and the operative group of the Noyemberyan police department also arrived promptly. Employees of the Noyemberyan Military Police Department of the Military Police Department of the RA Ministry of Defense also arrived. Police and military police are identifying the driver.
All the wounded are contract servicemen, their lives and health are not threatened.