Author: Kajoyan Gevork

SIX CONCERTS IN PARIS AND A NEW ALBUM: AZNAVOUR YOUNGER THAN EVER

14:29, 08 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

After four years of absence from the French capital, Charles Aznavour
will be back for six exceptional performances, Moonlight Productions
announced, L’Orient Le Jour reports.

The tireless artist will perform at the Palais des Sports in Paris
from 15 to 27 September 2015, after a world tour that took him from
last year in New York, Moscow, Montreal, London, Berlin, Los Angeles,
Rome Yerevan. He even celebrated her 90 years on stage, on 22 May,
in the German capital. His next original album, he has written,
composed and arranged, will be released on May 4 under the title
Encores, a word that evokes reminders of the public in English,
four years after the previous one and fifty others.

“This is the first time I write an album that talks about my past,”
he recently told fingering nostalgic topics in this sequel: “the war of
resistance, places that we frequented when we went to get drunk … ”

Dubbed the “French Sinatra” Charles Aznavour is the author of more
than 1,000 songs, actor in nearly 80 films and has performed in over 94
countries. “I have never, ever uttered the word goodbye,” he launched
in 2011, just before a series of 22 concerts at the Olympia for his
87 years.

DEATH OF ARMENIAN SOLDIER REPORTED ON THE DAY OF HIS FUNERAL

04.08.2015 10:59 epress.am

Resident of the village of Nigavan in the Aragatsotn Province of
Armenia, senior officer Hayk Keshishoghlyan died in a military unit
deployed in the northeastern direction of the republic on the night
of April 3, Artashes Galstyan, Village Head of Nigavan, said in an
interview with Armenian Hraparak daily. The RA Investigative Committee
reported of the incident on April 7, without mentioning the day of
the death. According to preliminary information, Keshishoghlyan, 43,
died of a gunshot wound as a result of a fire from the Azerbaijani
side, the authorities said.

When contacted by Epress.am for further clarifications about
the incident on Tuesday, April 7, the RA Investigative Committee
spokesperson Sona Truzyan asked the reporter to send a written
request. Epress.am has not received a response as of 10 AM, April 8.

Meanwhile, Artashes Galstyan revealed the details of the incident to
Hraparak: “It was foggy. When it cleared, the adversary opened fire,
[Keshishoghlyan] was hit by three bullets. While waiting for help to
arrive, he probably tried to crawl to the positions, was unable to,
and rolled down into a gorge. They tried for a day to recover his
body from the gorge, he had fallen right in front of the positions
of the enemy. They only managed to retrieve the body the next day.”

Keshishoghlyan’s funeral was held on April 7. His family, as stated by
the Village Head, lives in difficult social conditions. The officer
left behind three sons: one of them studies at a military institute
in Russia; the other serves in the Army in Stepanakert; the third
son is a school student.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS BAKU REJECTS PROPOSALS ON KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

YEREVAN, April 8. /ARKA/. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan,
said after talking to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that
settlement of Karabakh conflict will become possible only after
Azerbaijan’s stance on the matter will be brought to conformity with
the international mediators’ position.

“I don’t think that it is possible to speak about changes in positions
[OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’ positions], and Armenia’s position is
in tune with the co-chairs’ approach, and when that of Azerbaijan
will be in tune with the international community’s approaches,
and the co-chairs are entitled by the international community to
mediatory efforts for settling the conflict [in Nagorno Karabakh],
and then we indeed will get an opportunity to settle this conflict,”
Novosti-Armenia quoted Nalbandyan referring to RIA Novosti.

He said that unfortunately Azerbaijan, remaining stuck to its stance,
keeps rejecting the co-chairs’ proposals.

But the conflicting sides have no other option but to negotiate, and
Armenia will continue its efforts to solve the problem by peaceful
means, the minister added.

Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Karabakh, mainly populated
by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority
of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan.

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result,
Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions
adjacent to it.

Some 30,000 people were killed in this war and about one million
people fled their homes.

On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the
military operations.

Since 1992, talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over
peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA,
Russia and France. —0—

RUSSIA TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO ARMENIA FOR EXTENDING NUKE STATION SERVICE LIFE – LAVROV

YEREVAN, April 8. /ARKA/. Russia will provide financial assistance
to Armenia for extending the service life of the Armenian Nuclear
Power Plant, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said, as cited
by RIA Novosti.

Russia and Armenia are expect to cooperate on the matter, particularly
financial assistance will be provided on the service life extension
project, Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Armenia’s
foreign minister Edward Nalbandyan after the talks.

Earlier Russia and Armenia signed an intergovernmental agreement
to extend the service life of the current second power unit at the
Armenian NPP for another 10 years (till 2026). The sides agreed that
the extension works will be funded from a Russian loan. At the end
of 2014, Russia’s government approved $270 million loan for 15 years
for the extension. The start of the works is scheduled for 2017.

The Armenian NPP located some 30 kilometers west of Yerevan, was
built in the 1970s but was closed following a devastating earthquake
in 1988 that killed some 25,000 people and devastated much of northern
Armenia. One of the plant’s two VVER 440-V230 light-water reactors was
reactivated in November 1995 due to an acute energy crisis. According
to experts, the nuke station can operate safely, yet the EU has been
insisting on shutdown for the last years. -0–

AZERBAIJANI POLICE CONFISCATE ARMENIAN COMMANDER ANDRANIK’S PHOTO FROM BAKU PUB SIGNBOARD DISCOVERING IT AFTER TWO YEARS

11:11 08/04/2015 >> SOCIETY

The famous Armenian commander – one of the key figures of the Armenian
national liberation movement of the late 19th- early 20th centuries –
Andranik Ozanian’s photos were emblazoned on the signboard at the
entrance of the restaurant Montinburg in Baku, as well as in the
pub Starapraga at the same address. The manager and the employees of
the food outlets unanimously claim they had no idea that the photo
depicted the Armenian commander as they had confused him with Petr
Montin, the founder of the first distillery in Azerbaijan. Soon the
police arrived at the site and confiscated all the photos depicting
Andranik Ozanian, Azerbaijani media report.

Azerbaijani media outlet 1news.az writes that the Azerbaijani
journalist Vugar Seidov had just the other day posted a photo of a
Baku pub on his Facebook profile. The Armenian commander Andranik
Ozanian’s photo was emblazoned on the lantern at the entrance of the
pub. As it turned out, the photo was depicted not only on the lanterns
at the entrance of the pub but also inside the restaurant itself.

According to the article, the restaurant manager, introducing himself
as Ramin, said the photo was already in the restaurant when they
bought it from the previous owners. The manager added that it was
written under the photo that it was Petr Montin hence the reason they
did not change it.

The Azerbaijani media outlet Vesti.az adds that in response to their
correspondent’s astonished question “Well, whom have you hanged at
your entrance?” the waiter of the Azerbaijani restaurant answered
also astonished that he saw nothing strange as it was not Andranik’s
photo but Montin’s.

Soon the Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan’s officials arrived at
the site and demanded that the food outlet urgently changed the
signboards. As a result, the employees immediately removed Andranik
Ozanian’s photo from the restaurant signboard that had been hanging
there for almost two years.

Related:

Yeni Musavat: Armenophobia becomes nation-wide activity in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has launched campaign against Polish candies “Raffaello”
as they had markings in Armenian language on packages

TURKEY’S MAIN OPPOSITION NAMES ARMENIAN CANDIDATE FOR FIRST PLACE

16:39, 07 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has named
an Armenian candidate in the first place on their final candidate
list for the upcoming elections on June 7 in a move to prioritize
candidates with different backgrounds, according to the media reports.

Lawyer Selina Ozuzun Dogan has been named by the CHP in the first
place for Istanbul’s second region in the June 7 elections, the
Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Born in 1977, Ozuzun is a graduate of Notre Dame De Sion French High
School and studied law at Galatasaray University. She also has a
master’s degree from Istanbul’s Bilgi University. She speaks Armenian,
French and English.

CHP head Kemal Kılıcdaroglu had previously declared he would reserve
the first places of important cities like Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir
for female candidates.

All political parties are to submit their candidate lists to the
Supreme Election Board (YSK) on April 7.

REGIME CHANGE IN ARMENIA TO START ON GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE DAY DESPITE ARRESTS: CIVIL INITIATIVE

04.07.2015 15:12 epress.am

The Armenian law enforcement is conducting searches in the headquarters
of the “Founding Parliament” civil initiative and the houses of
its members in Armenia’s provinces, a statement by the initiative
said. Earlier on April 7 “Founding Parliament” reported about searches
in Yerevan; a number of members of the initiative have been detained.

The RA Investigative Committee said later on Tuesday that “Founding
Parliament” coordinator Jirayr Sefilian, members of the initiative
Pavel Manukyan, Varujhan Avetisyan, and Gevorg Safaryan were
arrested on charges pursuant to Article 225 of the RA Criminal Code
(organization of mass disorder, accompanied with violence, pogroms,
arson, destruction or damage to property, using fire-arms, explosives
or explosive devices, or by armed resistance to the representative
of the authorities).

In Vanadzor, Hovhannes Ghazaryan has been detained after a search at
his house. According to the statement, searches are being conducted
at the initiative’s headquarters in Vanadzor and Kapan. Aram Hakobyan,
the Head of the initiative’s office in Gyumri, has also been detained;
the police have allegedly found a “freshly packaged grenade” on the
roof of his house.

According to an earlier statement issued by the RA Investigative
Committee, “the RA National Security Service and Special Investigative
Committee have joined forces to prevent mass disorders at the public
event locations on April 24, 2015.”

“As a result of measures undertaken, it has become clear that a group
of individuals, taking into consideration the real likelihood of
large gatherings at the locations of public events organized on the
territory of the Republic of Armenia on April 24, 2015 on the occasion
of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, has been calling on
the people to not obey that day the requirements of the authorities,
and, if necessary, to use violence, to resort to power struggle,”
the official statement said.

Note, that the “Founding Parliament” civil initiative is pursuing
regime change in Armenia. However, the initiative’s coordinator,
war veteran Jirayr Sefilian stated earlier that they were not going
to organize upheavals on April 24.

Meanwhile, in Yerevan “Founding Parliament” member, Nagorno-Karabakh
war veteran Gagik Sarukhanyan (pictured) said to the journalist today
that the time and place of “The Centennial without this regime”
sanctioned rally organized by the initiative remain unchanged –
7 PM on April 24, in front of the Erebuni Museum in Yerevan.

The arrests and searches conducted on Tuesday, as stated by
Sarukhanyan, can not interfere with the implementation of their plans.

“The rally will take place, and we will begin the process of ending
this despicable situation, we will pursue regime change. We are
prepared for any scenario. If you’d asked Jirayr Sefilian during the
[Artsakh Liberation War] if he knew he could be killed, he’d have
said ‘of course, I know.’ Now our liberation movement has entered a
new phase; we are going to liberate both Artsakh and Armenia, and,
of course, we are aware of and are prepared for the dangers. Even if
the rally were set on top of Mount Ararat, the regime change would
still take place,” Sarukhanyan said.

ARMENIAN, RUSSIAN SERVICEMEN PREPARE TO CELEBRATE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY IN GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

17:08 * 07.04.15

The Russian military base in Armenia is preparing for a military
parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great
Patriotic War.

“Over 1,200 servicemen of the Gyumri garrison will take part in
the military parade – the servicemen of the Russian military base,
Frontier Department of the RF Federal Security Service in Armenia,
air force and air defense forces of Armenia’s Armed Forces – will
take part in the military parade,” reports the press service of the
Southern Military Region.

Commander of the Russian military base in Armenia, Major-General
Vladimir Ustinov will command the parade.

FILM SERIES EXPLORES THE LEGACY OF GENOCIDE

18:38, 07 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Three films will be showing throughout the month of April, looking at
past recognized and unrecognized genocides in the world. The films
will screen at Portland State and in the surrounding area, Portland
State Vanduard reports.

The films’ focus will be on mass atrocities committed against Armenians
100 years ago, which are not legally recognized by the current Turkish
government as genocide.

“These movies bring up really important questions that we want to
ask the PSU community,” said Tavi Gupta, director of the Holocaust
and Genocide Studies Project at PSU. “The Armenian Genocide is a
hinge-point for all three movies we are playing this year.”

After each film there will be a discussion with the audience about
the issues brought up. The first movie, Screamers, will play on April
9 in Smith Memorial Student Union.

Screamers is a 2007 documentary that follows the band System of a
Down while they spread information about modern genocides and how
the Armenian genocide, begun in 1915, has influenced the way current
genocide can be defined or ignored.

The second movie, and most acclaimed of the three, Watchers of the Sky,
won two 2014 Sundance Film Festival awards, a Monadnock International
Film Festival award and Best Documentary at the Jerusalem Film
Festival.

It will show April 14 at the NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium.

Watchers of the Sky follows the life of Raphael Lemkin–a Polish Jew
who lost many friends and family in the Holocaust–on his journey to
find legal recognition of those crimes and others like them. Lemkin
eventually coined the word genocide.

“Raphael Lemkin created the word genocide in part because of the
Armenian genocide, which of course wasn’t called that then,” said
Amelia Green-Dove, producer of Watchers of the Sky.

By giving these mass atrocities a name, Lemkin, in effect, gave a
way to recognize them.

“How does the word genocide impact the way we look at mass atrocity?”

Gupta said. “And how has language shifted the way we legally and
socially address these events?”

These are issues the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project would
like to address with these screenings.

The third film, AGHET: Ein Volkermord, will be showing on April 23
in SMSU.

AGHET: Ein Volkermord is a 2010 documentary specifically about the
Armenian genocide with never-before-seen footage and documents on the
historic telling of the mass atrocity, and of the current Turkish
government’s refusal, since World War I to classify the events as
genocide.

“Currently, 22 countries and 43 states within the USA recognize the
Armenian genocide,” Gupta said.

The Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project is a PSU program started
in 2012 and is funded through private donations to the Portland Center
for Public Humanities.

The program seeks to engage students, faculty and the Portland
community members in the study of the Holocaust and other genocides.

It works with survivors, local organizations and the community
to educate about both the local and global effects of genocide,
according to the group’s MYPSU profile.

“Students and community members are welcome to email and connect
with ideas and thoughts at our email, Facebook page…or Twitter,”
Gupta said. “We welcome anyone who wants to be involved.”

Years ago Raphael Lemkin asked: “Why is the killing of a million
people a lesser crime than the killing of a single individual?”

“Lemkin would spend his entire life trying to address this,”
Green-Dove said.

ARMENIA MAY PROVIDE MOROCCAN BUSINESSES WITH OPPORTUNITIES TO ENTER EEU MARKETS, ARMENIAN MINISTER SAYS

YEREVAN, April 7. / ARKA /. Armenia may provide Moroccan business
people with opportunities to enter the markets of former Soviet
republics, including the recently established Eurasian Economic Union
(EEU), Armenian economy minister Karen Chshmariyian said today when
speaking at the first Armenian-Moroccan business forum in Yerevan.

He said the Armenian government has adopted the policy of open
doors for foreign investments, which are protected by the country’s
Constitution. According to him, Armenian businessmen in their turn
may use Morocco as a bridge to win markets in the African continent.

‘The Kingdom of Morocco may be the country for Armenian business people
to win markets in Africa. On the other hand, Moroccan businessmen may
use Armenia as a country to win new markets in former Soviet republics,
including the Eurasian Economic Union,” he said.

He said opening of business offices in the two countries will help
develop trade and other links.

Moroccan ambassador to Armenia, Ms. Mina Tunsi said Armenia and Morocco
have great economic potential and can use it for the development of
bilateral development.

“This two-day forum testifies to the determination of the two countries
to develop their relations”, she said.

The Armenian-Moroccan business forum organized by the Armenian Chamber
of Commerce and Industry in cooperation with the Honorary Consulate
of Morocco in Armenia will run form April 6 to 9.

The Armenian and Moroccan business people will get acquainted with
the economic situation in both two countries, as well as discuss
opportunities for bilateral cooperation. 0-