1 – Russian Archbishop of Azerbaijan Makes
Anti-Armenian Remarks to Please Aliyev
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Armenian citizens living in Turkey drops by 30 percent in 2020
3- Armenia continues to fight COVID-19 pandemic
4- Moderna’s Noubar Afeyan Awarded Lebanon’s Order of Merit
5- Qasabian’s ‘Run’ Wins
2021 Sundance Institute/Amazon Studios Producers Award
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1 – Russian Archbishop of Azerbaijan Makes
Anti-Armenian Remarks to Please Aliyev
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Archbishop Vladyka Alexander, the head of the Diocese of the Russian
Orthodox Church in Azerbaijan, gave an interview last month to Jayson
Casper of Christianity Today, shamelessly spewing Azeri propaganda,
badmouthing Armenians and praising Azerbaijan. He spoke more like a
spokesman for the dictator Ilham Aliyev than a man of God. This is a
clergyman who would not hesitate to sell his soul to the devil for the
right price! It is not surprising that Azerbaijan’s Embassy in
Washington, D.C., immediately posted his interview on its Facebook
page.
Abp. Alexander started the interview by stating: “1,500 years of
separation between the Eastern Orthodox church and the Armenian
Apostolic church has complicated relations. We have holy books and
traditions in common, but we are not in fellowship.”
The Russian Archbishop knowingly lied by stating that “Azerbaijan has
a high level of multicultural acceptance and preserves its religious
monuments. The Armenian churches and libraries in Baku are kept safe.
In the case of a peace agreement, these can be used again, as they
should.” Abp. Alexander is wrong. There are no functioning Armenian
churches in Baku.
Strangely, the Russian Archbishop accused “Armenians of lying to
themselves.” He said that Armenians “are very sorry they had to leave”
Azerbaijan. The Archbishop must have forgotten about the massacres of
innocent Armenians by Azeris in Sumgait, Baku and other parts of
Azerbaijan.
When asked if he would be willing to make a phone call to Catholicos
Karekin II, the Russian Archbishop sarcastically replied: “I don’t
have his phone number [smiling].”
In response to the interviewer’s question about the Armenian Genocide,
the Russian Archbishop lied again by stating: “When the word genocide
is used, we should be very careful. We have very sad facts about the
actions of Armenian forces on the territory of Azerbaijan. We have
thousands of Azerbaijanis killed by the Armenian side, so to whom
should we address the word genocide?” He then added, “Azerbaijanis do
not have hate in their heart,” forgetting the beheadings of Armenians
by Azerbaijani soldiers during the recent war, not to mention the
earlier massacres in Sumgait and Baku.
Christianity Today mentioned that early in the recent Artsakh war, the
Russian Archbishop “signed an Azerbaijani interfaith letter
congratulating President Ilham Aliyev on his military victories.”
In response to these anti-Armenian remarks, the Primate of the Western
Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, Archbishop Hovnan
Derderian, sent a harshly-worded letter to the Russian Orthodox
Archbishop criticizing him for his false allegations:
“Responding to your interview with Christianity Today Magazine would
be considered a waste of time and effort, for it would be replying to
an individual who lacks humility, knowledge of history, attempts to
distort uncontestable historical facts, but above all, distorts the
TRUTH. Furthermore, your arrogance is quite astonishing for a shepherd
of Christ, the Lord.
“You speak of finding ways to live together. We certainly agree that
both parties should find ways to live together. Yet when a country,
that committed the Armenian Genocide a century ago by killing
1,500,000 innocent Armenians, rejects to accept the obvious facts, and
in addition to that openly supports Azerbaijan, it is hard to find
ways to live together. Moreover, when the same country leads the war
operations of Azerbaijan, sends its special forces, recruits thousands
of radical Islamists to kill Christian Armenians, it becomes difficult
to reconcile. When the leader of that country vows to ‘continue to
fulfill the mission that our grandfathers carried out for centuries in
the Caucasus again’ (Recep Tayyip Erdogan—July 24, 2020), attempts at
reconciliation are questioned, don’t you think?
“You state that Armenians have hatred toward Azerbaijan. When an
Azerbaijani army officer axes a sleeping Armenian army officer to
death and is later pardoned by the President of Azerbaijan, freed from
his sentence, and is granted the status of ‘Hero’ of Azerbaijan by the
same president, I ask you the definition of hatred. On May 26, 2020,
the European Court of Human Rights said it ‘found that there had been
no justification for the Azerbaijani authorities’ failure to enforce
the punishment of Ramil Safarov and in effect grant him impunity for a
serious hate crime.’ Isn’t hate in its purest form the deliberate
circulation of videos on social media of Azeri soldiers assassinating,
skinning and beheading Armenian prisoners of war amidst celebration?
“Your contention is that ‘Azerbaijan has a high level of multicultural
acceptance and preserves its religious monuments. The Armenian
churches and libraries in Baku are kept safe.’ How can you state such
a thoughtless claim when there is video evidence of purposeful
destruction of Armenian cross stones in Nakhichevan, carried out
systematically to permanently erase all traces of Armenian heritage
from the region?
“You speak about the Catholicos of All Armenians not doing enough to
make peace. Let me remind you that in 2010, His Holiness Karekin I
travelled to Azerbaijan, met with Allahshukur Pashazade [Grand Mufti
of Azerbaijan] and President Ilham Aliyev for peace talks in Baku.
“Replying to your interview responses is futile indeed, for the lack
of respect for history and the truth is quite evident.”
These are strong words from one clergyman to another. I suggest that
other Armenian clergymen and Catholicos Karekin II write letters to
Patriarch Kirill, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church in All of
Russia in Moscow, who has exclusive jurisdiction over Russian Orthodox
Christians in Azerbaijan, complaining about Archbishop Alexander’s
shameful statements.
Amazingly, on June 25, 2017, Archbishop Alexander was awarded a medal
of honor from the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in
Moscow for his significant contribution to the promotion and
strengthening of interreligious dialogue. Patriarch Kirill, in his
congratulatory message, commended Archbishop Alexander for carrying
out his task with “special tact and diplomatic skills … in the land
[Azerbaijan] where representatives of different religions and
nationalities live side by side.”
Obviously, after making such false statements about Armenians,
Archbishop Alexander has failed in his ‘interreligious’ duties.
Patriarch Kirill should be urged to take away the medal that he was
awarded.
It is understandable that Archbishop Alexander is trying to please the
dictator of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. However, a man of God should not
tell lies for any reason, under any circumstance. Patriarch Kirill
should tell Archbishop Alexander to apologize for his lies, and if
not, he should strip him of his religious rank.
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2- Armenian citizens living in Turkey drops by 30 percent in 2020
(Panorama)—Recent figures released by Turkish Statistical Institute
(TurkStat) show that the number of foreigners who immigrated to
Turkey in 2020 shrank by 13%.
As of January 2021, the foreign population who immigrated to Turkey
stood at 1,333 million, 197,770 fewer than in the previous year,
Ermenihaber reported on February 5.
The data found that the total number of Armenian citizens living in
Turkey stood at 1,257 people in 2020, dropping by some 30 percent to
compare with the data of 2019.
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3 – Armenia continues to fight COVID-19 pandemic
(Combined Sources) Armenia in January announced plans to purchase
thousands of doses directly from its main ally, Russia. Yerevan got a
taste of the Moscow-manufactured candidate, Sputnik V, early in
December, when Russia donated about a dozen doses. Armenia’s top
health officials received the first jabs, essentially joining clinical
trials of Sputnik V.
“The Russian vaccine is available for us very quickly,” Health
Minister Arsen Torosyan said just ahead of the new year. “We plan to
procure doses for 1,000 people, most likely after the holidays, and we
will try to vaccinate frontline health workers.”
Armenian health authorities reported on January 11 that they had
observed no adverse effects of Sputnik V. Armenia plans to purchase an
additional 10,000 doses of Sputnik V at a later stage, depending on
its availability, Torosyan said. At the same time, Armenia made
advance payments to COVAX to procure vaccines for 300,000 people,
amounting to about 10 percent of its population. In the meantime,
Armenia continues to lean on its containment effort to slow spread of
the coronavirus. The nation extended on January 11 its lockdown
measures for another six months, until July 11.
Medical and social workers, seniors and people suffering from chronic
diseases will be the first to get vaccine shots free of charge, and
according to Gayane Sahakian, the deputy director of the National
Center for Disease Control and Prevention,
The first COVAX-distributed vaccine is the one produced by
AstraZeneca, which will deliver it to COVAX in February or March.
According to the Ministry of Health, there were 5,178 active
coronavirus cases in Armenia as of February 8. Armenia has recorded
168,177 coronavirus cases and 3,123 deaths; 159,876 have recovered.
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4- Moderna’s Noubar Afeyan Awarded Lebanon’s Order of Merit
WASHINGTON (Combined Sources)—Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and chairman
of Moderna, was honored with Lebanon’s National Order of Merit, along
with seven of his colleagues, all executives and scientists of
Lebanese origin on February 2. Ambassador of Lebanon to the United
States of America Gabriel Issa presented the awards on behalf of the
President of the Republic of Lebanon General Michel Aoun. The ceremony
was streamed live on Facebook, with some award recipients present in
person and others participating virtually.
The ambassador declared that the Moderna executives raised the flag of
Lebanon very high. They helped promote the name of Lebanon while
solving a basic problem of survival for humanity. Lebanon of course
will also benefit from the vaccine like any other country, he
continued.
Issa remarked that when he met President Donald Trump during a
ceremony to present his ambassadorial credentials, and thanked the
United States for all its help to Lebanon, the latter surprised him by
asking what Lebanon did for the United States. He did not have the
opportunity to respond then. The February 2 ceremony, he said,
provided the opportunity to give a partial delayed answer: Lebanese
helped the United States with its people and talent.
Afeyan could not participate in person but delivered his remarks of
thanks virtually. He first praised the other members of Moderna who
received the award and provided a brief background about the birth and
development of Moderna. He paid tribute to his country of birth and
expressed gratitude to Lebanon for accepting so many Armenian refugees
and orphans who survived the Armenian Genocide.
Afeyan spoke fondly about his memories of his childhood in Lebanon. He
noted that the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative was able to provide aid
after the August 2020 explosion, which reminded him of the burning
port he saw when fleeing with his family in 1975. He said that he saw
special kinship between Armenians and Lebanese today, with both
countries facing difficult conditions but also having successful
diasporas and the possibility of making positive changes through
entrepreneurship.
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5- Qasabian’s ‘Run’ Wins
2021 Sundance Institute/Amazon Studios Producers Award
(Combined Sources)—At a virtual ceremony, Natalie Qasabian was awarded
the 2021 Sundance Institute / Amazon Studios Producers Award for
Fiction Filmmaking for her film, Run, reports Deadline.
The awards honor bold vision and a commitment to continuing work as a
creative producer in the independent space.
Qasabian’s husband/partner Sev Ohanian won the award two years ago for
his work on Searching, which they produced together. Qasabian was
presented by the award with her frequent collaborator, director Aneesh
Chaganty (Searching, Run).
“As producers, we may doubt whether or not we can do something: but we
can’t ever doubt if it’s worth doing,” Qasabian said in accepting the
award. “If we don’t cast the people that haven’t been cast before, if
we don’t hire the crew member that hasn’t been hired before, tell the
story that hasn’t been told before, or work with that first-time
director who’s never been produced before…we’ll never know what could
be on the other side. So, thank you again to the Sundance Institute
and Amazon Studios for recognizing a job that we ourselves doubt
sometimes. It helps us see what can be on the other side if we can
just push through.”
Qasabian produced Run with Ohanian from a script co-written by Ohanian
and director Chaganty. The film starred Sarah Paulson and Kiera Allen
for Lionsgate, which premiered on Hulu in Fall 2020 and became the
most-watched film on the platform. Previously, Qasabian produced
Searching (Sundance 2018), directed by Chaganty, which was released by
Sony. Searching was made on a sub-one-million-dollar budget and
grossed $75M+ at the box office.
Currently, she’s working on a sequel to Searching for Sony and a
streaming series called The Future for HBO Max.
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