Author: Kalantarian Kevo

FRENCH ANIMATION DIRECTOR BASTIEN DUBOIS MAKES “A PORTRAIT” OF NAGORNO- KARABAKH

by Karina Manukyan

Monday, November 11, 18:34

French animation director Bastien Dubois has made a “portrait”
of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Being a guest of Reanimania International Animation Film Festival
in Yerevan, Dubois, together with animation director Marc Boreal and
Annecy Animation Festival Director Tiziana Loschi, visited Nagorno-
Karabakh, where he produced a short animation film as part of his
“Portraits de Voyages” series, including films about Mexico, Haiti,
Brazil, Greece, Syria, Iran and some other countries.

Director of ReAnimania Vrej Kassouny says in his Facebook page that
during the visit Dubois, Boreal and Loschi had their picture taken
near Nagorno-Karabakh’s symbol, “We and Our Mountains” Monument.

NIKOL PASHINYAN TO VOTE FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S INDEPENDENCE JUST TO EXPRESS HIS DISTRUST IN ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT’S POLICY

by Ashot Safaryan

ARMINFO
Wednesday, November 13, 00:36

MP from the opposition Armenian National Congress Nikol
Pashinyan is going to vote for the bill stipulating recognition of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence by Armenia just because he wants to
express his distrust in the Armenian Government’s policy,

“It was because of the Robert Kocharyan-Serzh Sarsyan tandem that
Nagorno-Karabakh lost its place at the negotiating table. As a result,
lots of international organizations mention the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict as a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But
this is not what the conflict is about, so, that was a big mistake
on the part of our authorities,” Pashinyan said, noting that instead
of correcting their mistakes, the authorities are rooting the concept
of Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence out of people’s minds.

PRESIDENT ALIYEV: TURKEY ALWAYS SUPPORTS AZERBAIJAN IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

Trend, Azerbaijan
Nov 12 2013

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 12

Trend: During the meeting of Azerbaijani and Turkish Presidents,
Ilham Aliyev and Abdullah Gul in Ankara on November 12, various
aspects of bilateral relations were discussed and the exchange of
views was held on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Turkish TV channel TRT Haber reported on Nov. 12.

“I once again expressed my gratitude to the Turkish government for
a fair position,” President Aliyev said at a press conference, held
jointly with President Gul.

According to Azerbaijani President, Turkey has always supported
justice and is always close to Azerbaijan in this respect.

“The territory, which is recognized by the international community as
Azerbaijan’s territories, has been for many years occupied by Armenia.

The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions that Armenia does
not fulfill, grossly violating international law. Azerbaijan continues
its efforts to settle this issue,” he underscored.

“But, unfortunately, the position of Armenia does not allow this issue
to be resolved, and restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

We suffer from this occupation,” the Head of Azerbaijani State said.

“More than one million of Azerbaijani citizens, for years, have been
refugees and internally displaced persons. There was a policy of
ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijan, and it is impossible to accept
this injustice, President Aliyev said.

He expressed hope that more serious steps will be taken in this regard
in the subsequent months and years and the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan will be restored.

“I want to once again note that this is dictated by historical justice
and international law. Naturally, Turkey’s support multiplies our
strength, and we are grateful for this support,” President Aliyev said.

According to him, the meeting also discussed the projects which bring
Azerbaijan and Turkey together and which have gone beyond regional
boundaries and have become global.

“Each of the projects – the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-
Erzurum and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars – is a great event, and a project
that has great success. We were able to achieve the realization of
these projects due to the Turkish-Azerbaijani friendship and unity,
and today we look even further,” the Head of Azerbaijani State said.

President Aliyev noted that Turkey, for the last several years,
has gone a great and successful way.

“The country has turned into a great center of power in the world
under your leadership,” Ilham Aliyev said, referring to Abdullah Gul.

“Turkey shows its principled position not only on regional issues, but
also on the current processes in the world. Much depends on Turkey’s
attitude and position. This encourages us. The stronger Turkey will
be, the stronger Azerbaijan will be,” the President noted.

“A very significant event has occurred in my life today. The highest
award of the fraternal country – State Award was assigned to me. I
consider this award as an estimate of my activity. I tried, and I
will continue to try for Turkish-Azerbaijani relations to develop,”
Ilham Aliyev said.

“My dear brother President Gul and myself, during the recent several
years, were able to do much for strengthening this unity,” the
President said. “Today our relations are at the level of alliance. I
think Turkey and Azerbaijan are the world countries which are closely
related to each other. Our mutual understanding and mutual support
are unique.”

“The issues of mutual investments are being successfully solved,”
Ilham Aliyev said.

The President went on to say that Azerbaijan’s largest investments
abroad are of course made in Turkey.

“This process is underway. Azerbaijani investments in the amount of
$15-17 billion will be made in Turkish economy for the next five
years. At the same time, we welcome investments made by Turkish
companies in Azerbaijan and maintain the relations between businessmen
of the two countries. Today, as always, the issues related to the
cooperation in other spheres have been discussed in an atmosphere of
friendship and brotherhood,” Ilham Aliyev noted.

“As my dear brother stressed, I paid my first visit to Turkey after
the presidential election. This is natural and this is a tradition,
which I am sure will continue in the future. Our strength is in unity,
and our unity is built on history,” he said. “Today, two independent
countries – Turkey and Azerbaijan support and strengthen each other. I
am confident that our cooperation will continue to develop. Dear
brother, thank you again for the hospitality.”

SELAMET HAN RENTED FOR BOUTIQUE HOTEL

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Nov 12 2013

ISTANBUL – Hurriyet Daily News
Vercihan Ziflioglu

After being returned to the Armenian community, a historic building
in Istanbul was rented out to be used as a hotel.

Yedikule Surp Pırgic Armenian Hospital-Foundation, which regained
the historical Selamet Han in Istanbul’s Sirkeci district in February
2011, decided to rent the building.

Yedikule Surp Pırgic Armenian Hospital-Foundation Chairman Bedros
Å~^irinoglu declared the historical han has been rented and added,
“The han will serve as a boutique hotel and restaurant. We will use
our income for the hospital and nursing home.”

Å~^irinoglu thanked to the government for the return of the foundation.

The Selamet Han, located in the Eminönu district of Istanbul,
was built by architect Hovsep Aznavur and donated in 1954 to the
Surp Pırgic Armenian Hospital by businessman Calouste Gulbenkyan,
the founder of the Gulbenkyan Museum in Lisbon. The property was
confiscated in 1974.

A historic decree of revisions signed by the Turkish government in
2011 paved the way for the return of assets and property previously
seized by the state from non-Muslim foundations.

Minority foundations have thus far applied for the return of 410
assets, of which 96 have been given back.

November/12/2013

EX-JAYHAWK MAKES BIG SOUND IN SMALLER WAY

The Washington Post
November 10, 2013 Sunday

by Walter Tunis

Talking with Mark Olson is like jumping on a plane and following him
around the globe. Figuratively speaking, the frequent flier miles
pile up quickly.

Phoning him for an interview requires calling a Minneapolis number.

That’s where he spent his youth and where the Americana band that
launched his career, the Jayhawks, got its first record deal. But
he answers from Joshua Tree, Calif., his home away from home for the
past 17 years.

And in describing his newest musical project, talk turns to
collaborations with his Norwegian wife, Ingunn Ringvold, the country
where they wrote much of their newest music (Armenia) and the locale
of the record company that will issue those songs (Germany).

It’s enough to give you jet lag.

But with work as a Jayhawk behind him, seemingly for good despite a
well-received 2011 reunion album, “Mockingbird Lane” (“We’re defunct,”
he said), Olson is focused and openly enthusiastic about the songs he
is creating with Ringvold, the instrumentation they have discovered
to color them and their tour.

“It’s just going to be the two of us,” Olson said. “That’s the
challenge. We try to get as big of a sound as possible with just
two people. I think that’s the future of music in a lot of ways,
especially for young people. I don’t see how they can afford to have
a full rock-and-roll band anymore. I’ve been looking at this for a
long time before putting it into practice.”

Olson and Ringvold have clocked some serious miles in implementing
that practice, as well. That’s where Armenia comes in.

“We’ve been working basically for five or six years on building a
repertoire but have had a number of visa troubles over the past few
years that are now solved,” Olson said. “Because of that, I had to
spend time outside of Europe and Ingunn had to spend time outside of
America. So for us to spend time together, we had to go into these
other countries. So we contacted a charity foundation that put us
in touch with a music school in Armenia, this area that was part of
the 1988 earthquake. We made a contribution there, and they helped
us with learning some new instruments.

“Ingunn learned how to play the qanun, which is a very difficult
instrument with, like, 76 strings. We added that to our set and were
able to get a record deal in Germany, of all places. It’s unbelievable,
I know.

“This visa trouble was . . . well, that’s what it was. It was trouble.

But the amazing thing about it was that it landed us in a position
where we spent a lot of time alone together where we played music. Now
that’s turning out to be in our favor because we developed all these
different styles and songs.”

The qanun figures in roughly three or four songs in their shows. But
the repertoire from which Olson will draw will cover all corners
of his career, from early Jayhawks tunes to ’90s music cut with the
ultra-homey folk troupe the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers to
more recent solo projects.

While Olson places priority on the songs he has written with Ringvold,
he still draws satisfaction when an older tune resonates with an
audience, as well as with himself, in a performance.

“What you’re talking about there is probably the best feeling of all,”
he said. “You go out and play a song you may have written 20 years ago,
and something just connects. Now there are songs I wrote many, many
years ago that never even made it onto a record until much later in my
career. But there is still that feeling. It gives you this sense of,
‘Wow, I did accomplish something.’

“Some of these songs have really lasted for me. That’s the main point.

I suppose. Songs can be good and they can last. But it takes a special
song to last for years and years and years so that you still want to
perform it. That speaks to something other than just the melody or the
lyrics or the tempo. That means the song is feeding into something
else. I liken it to floating. If you have a real nice song that you
really enjoy playing, it’s almost like floating when you play it.

That’s what we try to achieve, anyway.”

– Lexington Herald-Leader

Mark Olson

Performing at Jammin’ Java on Sunday, Nov. 10.

CHASNALA HERO’S DAUGHTER BANNED BY ARMENIAN COMMUNITY

Hindustan Times
November 11, 2013 Monday

KOLKATA

KOLKATA, Nov. 11 — It is said one man’s revolutionary is another
man’s terrorist. When Charles Sarkies rescued scores of coalminers
trapped in Chasnala near Dhanbad in 1975, a tragedy that took almost
400 lives and influenced the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Kala Patthar,
he had become a hero in the little Armenian community, a handful of
which is left in the city at present.

But little did Sarkies know that years later his daughter Margaret
would be banned by the Armenian community, the very people he nurtured
over decades. So much so that the 66-year-old lady has even been
barred from entering the premises of the Armenian Church of the Holy
Nazareth at Brabourne Road by a court order on the pretext that she
would create trouble in the church.

“I was born and brought up in Bengal. I did my schooling from Asansol
and completed my graduation from Kolkata. I was baptised in the church
and my father served as the superintendent of the church property
for 30 years. But now, the present church committee claims that I do
not belong to the community. I would approach court against them on
Tuesday,” Margaret Sarkies, now settled in Australia, told HT.

The clash of interests between the church and Sarkies crept up two
years ago after her father died due to prolonged illness. Sarkies,
however, blames the church for neglecting her father during his old
age. Church authorities said Sarkies stayed in Australia for too
long and hence, does not qualify to enjoy rights similar to other
community members affiliated to the church.

Sarkies has been residing at a hotel in central Kolkata since the
last six months after being apparently given the impression that the
church authorities might reconsider their decision if she stays in
the city for the period. She also threatens to expose corruption by
the committee members and feels this is the very reason the church
has decided to ban her from its activities.

“They have neither allowed me to vote nor participate in the church
affairs. It is my constitutional right. On Sunday, the church had
elections for a new committee. But to my surprise, I found a huge posse
of policemen and hoodlums guarding the church. While the committee
could allow outsiders inside the church premises, they refuse to
allow a pure Armenian due to vested interests,” Sarkies said.

But Sarkies is not alone. A number of Armenians from the city has
been banned by the church from entering the premises and voting for
the church committee.

As Anthranick Khatchaturian, associated with the NGO Garbage-Free
India, puts it, “Armenians in the city are already diminishing
in numbers. We believe there is a deliberate attempt to wipe out
Armenians. Our institutions are being closed down, pure Armenians
excluded from church affairs and outsiders gradually taking control
over the church finances.”

Agrees veteran community member and former chairperson of the church
committee Sonia John. “Out of roughly 100 Armenians in the city,
only 11 are allowed to vote,” she sighs.

“SARKIS DKHROUNI” STUDENT AND YOUTH UNION CALLS FOR RELEASE OF VARDAN PETROSYAN FROM PRE-TRIAL DETENTION

By MassisPost
Updated: November 12, 2013

YEREVAN – The S.D. Hunchakian “Sarkis Dkhrouni” Student and Youth
Union issued a statement appealing to the judicial authorities of
Armenia to reconsider their decision placing famous Armenian actor
Vardan Petrosyan into pre-trial detention.

It is an indisputable fact that there has been a great tragedy with
Vardan Petrosyan’s involvement in the car accident, which resulted
in the death of two teenagers, an unforgivable and irreversible
situation under any circumstance. However, in our opinion, it is
immoral to keep an injured and ailing Vardan Petrosyan in prison,
especially while getting full medical treatment outside of prison
will not obstruct the investigation. In addition, the actor himself
has stated he has no intention of leaving Armenia.

We urge an amendment to the decision placing Petrosyan in custody,
enabling the great artist to wait for a verdict or at the very
least, his freedom be deliberated at end of the investigation. At
the same time, we consider this case to remain beyond any political
consideration and exploitation to stay impartial in the legal and
moral domain.

TURKEY WILL HAVE TO ABANDON FREE TRADE AREA IN ORDER TO JOIN CUSTOMS UNION – GLAZYEV

November 12, 2013 | 17:05

Turkey will have to abandon free trade area with EU if it wants to
join Customs Union, Russian presidential advisor said.

“I do not exclude that it may be more beneficial for Turkey to
integrate with us, just as for Greece, Cyprus and other states that
are not finding their place in Europe,” Sergey Glazyev said, UNIAN
agency reported.

He noted that “Armenia did not start waiting for the common border”
and has submitted application to join the Customs Union.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

ARMENIA’S POLISHED DIAMOND PRODUCTION UP IN 2013

Israel Diamond Portal
Nov 11 2013

11.11.13, 10:35 / World

Armenia produced 66,965 carats of polished diamonds in the
January-September period of this year compared with 42,427 carats
in the same period of last year. The country’s National Statistical
Service also reported that Armenia produced 818.6 kilograms of jewelry
in the first nine months of this year compared with 740.6 kilograms
in the year-earlier period.

Meanwhile, the Armenian Economy Ministry reported that Russian diamond
mining giant Alrosa sold 40,233 carats of diamonds worth $4.85 million
to Armenia in the January-September period of this year. In the same
period of 2012, Alrosa sold Armenia 34,769 carats of rough stones
with a value of $7.59 million.

From: Katia Peltekian
Subject: Fresno State Professors To Speak At Armenian Lecture Series

FRESNO STATE PROFESSORS TO SPEAK AT ARMENIAN LECTURE SERIES

Fresno Bee, CA
Nov 11 2013

By Brianna Vaccari

The Fresno BeeNovember 10, 2013

Fresno State professors will speak on Armenian Karabagh Nov. 15 as
part of an Armenian Studies lecture series.

The lectures by Dr. Arsen Saparov and Dr. Ara Sanjian will address
borders in the Caucasus in the early 1920s and the Armenian Diasporan
Press on mountainous Karabagh.

The lecture is free and open to the public. It will be in the Alice
Peters Auditorium in the University Business Center. The event begins
at 7:30 p.m. Parking in Lots A and J will be free after 7 p.m. For
more information, contact the Armenian Studies Program at 599-278-2669.