Author: Kanayan Tamar

Well-known French filmmaker Robert Gedikian shoots film about Armenian Genocide

by Karina Manukyan

ARMINFO
Saturday, April 19, 14:35

Well-known French filmmaker Robert Gedikian is in Armenia to shoot a
film about the Armenian Genocide.

A reliable source has told ArmInfo that Gedikian will stay in Armenia
for six days. Besides Armenia the film will be shot in France, Lebanon
and some other countries and will star among other actors Serge
Avedikian and Simon Abkarian.

In 2006 Gedikian appeared at Golden Apricot film festival in Yerevan
with Travel to Armenia and in 2009 he presented another film, L’Armee
du Crime, a story about hero of the French Resistance Misak
Manouchian.

PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-686-0710
Fax: 212–779-3558
Email: [email protected]
Web:

`He is risen, just as he said! Come, see the place where the Lord lay.’
(Mt 28:6)

On the Feast of the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we
convey our blessings to you and to your family.

May our risen Lord fill your hearts with hope on this Easter
Sunday. And may He guide and strengthen all our people throughout the
coming year.

Krisdos haryav ee merelotz! Orhnyal eh harootiunun Krisdosee!
Christ is risen from the dead! Blessed is the resurrection of Christ!

With prayers,

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian
Primate

The 17th-century Armenian church of Katarovank, perched on the summit
of Mount Dizapayt in Hadrut.
Photographed by Hrair Hawk Khatcherian.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT INTRODUCES BILL THREATENING ONLINE ANONYMITY

Friday, April 18th, 2014

The law, if passed, will penalize media outlets that publish defamatory
material from anonymous sources

YEREVAN (IWPR)–A bill going before Armenia’s parliament would
introduce restrictions on anonymity on the internet, reports the
Institute for War & Peace Reporting. Supporters say it should curb
defamatory language on the web, but free speech advocates warn that
it might also constrain legitimate expression of opinion.

The law will be debated on March 31. If passed, it will penalize
media outlets that publish defamatory material from anonymous or fake
sources. They will also be liable for online comments posted on their
websites unless they identify the author. In the latter case, they
will be able to avoid prosecution by removing the offending comment
within 12 hours.

The text of the law cites “dissemination of defamatory information
through false user accounts on social media” as an increasing
problem, and sets out to define who is legally liable when such
material appears.

“You can remain incognito as much as you like. Write your posts, but
if they end up in the media, then someone has to bear responsibility,”
Edmon Marukyan, one of those who drafted the bill, told IWPR.

Marukyan said the proposed law drew on a ruling at the European Court
of Human Rights which upheld an Estonian court’s decision that an
online news portal was legally liable for the user comments that
appeared on its pages.

“Everyone has found out that sites bear responsibility for publishing
defamatory comments,” he said, explaining that the purpose of the
bill was to clarify liability, not curb expression.

“What we are proposing is either to reveal the identity of these
anonymous users, or just removing the content so that the website
won’t have to be liable,” he said.

Those likely to be affected by the planned regulations are worried
nevertheless.

Blogger Samvel Martirosyan set out his concerns in a piece on his
website

“I am sure that the authors of this law did not have dark aims.

However, I think it could be a very good weapon in the hands of those
who wish to end freedom of speech on the internet,” he wrote.

Martirosyan pointed out a number of technical obstacles, such as
the fact that social media sites like Facebook are based outside
Armenian jurisdiction.

In addition, he said, the concept of “anonymous user” was meaningless
given that most social media sites did not insist that users register
with their real names.

Facebook and Linkedin were the exceptions, he wrote, but even in
those cases it did not amount to a legal requirement.

“On other social networks, it is not a requirement. On many sites,
the reverse principle applies,” he wrote.

What this means, according to Martirosyan, is that “under the terms
of this bill, we are all anonymous users”.

By contrast, lawyer Artur Grigoryan argues for some form of regulation.

“You shouldn’t confuse freedom of the media with anarchy in the media,”
he told IWPR.

In particular, Grigoryan said that media outlets should not repeat
information from social networks unless they could confirm it
themselves. “If something is being discussed on Facebook, let it stay
there,” he added.

Armenian media organizations are so concerned about the implications
of the bill that a group of them have written to the drafting team
asking for it to be withdrawn. They argue that Armenia’s current
legislation already addresses all the issues.

“These changes to the law would harm honest users of information
sources, and force Armenia internet users to emigrate from the virtual
space that comes under national jurisdiction,” their letter said.

Representatives of the media organizations that signed the statement
met parliamentarians on March 17. Ashot Melikyan from the Committee
for Protection of Freedom of Speech, said the discussions failed to
produce an agreement, but that the bill’s authors did agree to look
at some of the wording again.

MINVAL.AZ: HEAD OF NAKHIJEVAN HAS TIES WITH FOLLOWERS OF GULEN AND SECRETLY COOPERATES WITH PKK AND ISRAEL

21:07 18/04/2014 ” REGION

The Minister of Internal Affairs of Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic
Ahmed Ahmedov has for a long time collected a dossier on the head of
the republic Vasif Talibov. As it is reported by the Azerbaijani news
portal Minval.az the dossier has disclosed Talibov’s connection with
the sect of Fethullah Gulen and secret cooperation with Israel.

The article reads that the relations between Talibov and Ahmedov
are tense and Talibov during his visits to Baku for several times
privately complained about the head of MIA and asked for help from
certain structures and cycles.

According to the article Ahmedov is a protégé of one of the
minister-oligarchs, who is as well a native of Nakhijevan, to whom
exactly he gave the collected dossier. It later appeared on the table
of the president of Azerbaijan and the leadership of Turkey.

“Note that all of these seem quite plausible and reasonable
as Nakhijevan has borders with Iran and Turkey. The attitude
of the Turkish elite towards Talibov has never been as warm as
with the leadership of Azerbaijan. Perhaps the reason of this is
that the head of Nakhijevan created relations with Gulen “Jamaat”
before the relations between Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
“hizmets”(members of Gulen movement) were spoiled. Currently Erdogan
opposes any activity of hizmets in Azerbaijan as he called them his
enemies and demanded open support of Baku in the elimination of their
activities,” Minval.az reports.

What comes to Talibov’s cooperation with Israel, according to the
author, there is no need to explain the importance of Nakhijevan which
borders Iran for the Jewish state. Israel longs to have its “guards”
along the border of Iran. From this point of view the existence of
Talibov’s ties with Telaviv seems real. According to the available
data the PM of Turkey is well aware of this.

“Even during the meeting with the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev,
Erdogan though cautiously and in an offended tone touched upon the
issue. Turkish PM said, “The closest person of yours cooperates
with two of my enemies” (referring to Israel and Gulen ed.),”” the
article reads.

The author believes that among the dossiers brought by Erdogan to Baku
there is information about Talibov’s ties with PKK (Kurdish Worker’s
Party), which has been discussed for a long time.

“It is possible that the coincidence in time of Ilham Aliyev’s visit to
Nakhijevan right after Erdogan’s visit to Baku and the dissemination
of this information is an accident. However, the emergence of reports
about Talibov’s ties with “hizmets” simultaneously with the start up
of the operations against this movement in Baku and other regions of
Azerbaijan and even an official ban on movement’s operation is not
likely to be a coincidence.

Apparently the dossiers brought by Erdogan are being used,” the
author states.

Source: Panorama.am

ENCORE SCREENING SET FOR FORUM FILM

Gloucester Daily Times, MA
April 18 2014

By Times Staff Gloucester Daily Times The Gloucester Daily Times Fri
Apr 18, 2014, 12:00 AM EDT

When the Cape Ann Forum hosted a free February screening of a
documentary work-in-progress about a long-disputed early 20th-century
case of genocide in Armenia, the event drew so many people to Cape Ann
Community Cinema that some had to be turned away, Forum representative
Martha Kurz said.

Now, those who didn’t get to see the presentation — and those who
did, and would like to view it again — will have the chance to do
so through what amounts to an encore effort.

The sample screening and discussion of the documentary work-in-progress
by Gloucester resident Nubar Alexanian, 63. and his daughter Abby,
25, will be repeated Saturday, April 26, at 5 p.m., again at Cape
Ann Community Cinema. The program is being co-sponsored by the Cape
Ann Forum, Walker Creek Media and the Gloucester Writers’ Center.

The showing of the 15-minute sample will note that the film, initially
called “Journey to Armenia,” now has a new title, “Scars of Silence.”

Yet the screening and the eventual full-length documentary maintains
its original focus on the Alexanians’ research into a 1915 Armenian
genocide that many say left 1.5 million dead in eastern Turkey —
an incident that the current Turkish government and the U.S. decline
to acknowledge to this day.

“The trip was life-changing for sure,” said Abby. “It was really
amazing to see where our family had walked every day — but then so
sad to know that they are no longer walking there today.”

The screening is free and open to the public.

Anyone seeking further information may contact the filmmakers at
[email protected], or capeannforum.org.

DRIVER PLEADS GUILTY TO CAUSING CRASH THAT KILLED 18

Moscow Times
April 18 2014

The Moscow Times
Apr. 18 2014 11:26

Sergei Karpukhin / ReutersA police officer inspecting items left over
from the collision. Monday has been declared a day of mourning.

A truck driver who crashed into a bus on the outskirts of Moscow,
killing 18 people and injuring dozens of others, has pleaded guilty
to causing the accident.

Speaking through a translator, Grachya Arutyunyan, an Armenian citizen,
testified Thursday in a Moscow city court that he understood the
charges against him and pleaded guilty to having been at fault for
accident, which took place last July.

Arutyunyan, 46, who at the time was driving a Kamaz truck loaded with
rubble, ran an intersection near the village of Oznobishino in Moscow
and slammed into the side of a passenger bus, slicing the bus in two.

However, Arutyunyan, who racked up seven traffic violations in 2012,
pleaded not guilty to the charge of having knowingly used fake
documents to work in Russia.

The charge of vehicular manslaughter resulting in the deaths of two
or more people carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison.

The prosecution argued that Arutyunyan had been aware that his truck’s
braking system was malfunctioning but failed to make repairs, had
overloaded the truck with gravel, and violated several traffic rules
when running the intersection.

Eighteen bus passengers died at the scene or in hospital later,
and about 30 others were hospitalized with injuries, including 15 in
critical condition.

Acting Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov called for a tightening
of the punishment for traffic violations, reviving previous such
calls by Moscow officials following previous accidents.

But the head of the Movement of Russian Motorists, Viktor Pokhmelkin,
said that the intersection where the crash occurred was known for
frequent collisions, and the president of the Moscow-based Board
for Legal Defense, Viktor Travin, said that more should be done to
prevent violations from occurring in the first place.

EVERYONE PREPARING TO SHIFT STATUS QUO

Naira Hayrumyan, Political Commentator
Comments – Thursday, 17 April 2014, 17:27

On April 29 Serzh Sargsyan may sign the agreement on membership to
Customs Union and announce intention to be a co-founder of the Eurasian
Union. It will change the situation in Karabakh fundamentally, and
it will automatically pass to the “area of Eurasian responsibility”.

According to Russian officials, the Eurasian Union is an attempt to
unite CSTO and the Customs Union. In other words, it is an attempt at
defense of the economic and political area by common troops. After the
accession of Armenia to the Eurasian Union the CSTO may be responsible
for security in the area of the Karabakh conflict.

Yerevan states that preparations for membership to the Customs Union
are almost complete. It is not specified whether the Karabakh issue has
been agreed. If not, what is the vision of Armenia after membership to
an organization that may draw a line between Karabakh and Armenia? If
yes, what have Armenia and the Customs Union agreed and why do they
prefer not to talk about it?

The developments in Ukraine illustrated the need for hard work to
avoid similar issues in Karabakh, the chairman of the OSCE PA Ranko
Krivokapic said in Baku.

The United States is trying to organize a meeting of the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan before Armenia signs the agreement on membership
to the Customs Union. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chair James Warlick is
constantly talking about it. Moscow does not need that meeting, and
it will do everything to thwart the meeting. Several weeks are left,
and the Minsk Group that has been preventing Moscow from freedom of
actions for 20 years may become obsolete because the conflict will
become Russia’s area of responsibility.

Hence, a peculiar situation may occur in Karabakh. What will the
United States and France do in case Moscow announces to leave the
OSCE Minsk Group and launch independent actions in Karabakh? Will
those two countries deploy their troops in Karabakh?

In Russia’s previous conflicts NATO member states did not have a
political lever for influence. In case of Karabakh they have. It is
the Minsk group. But will the United States and France use it?

International analysts ask questions, including what the west will do
in case Russia tries to lay out a road to its Gyumri military base via
Javakheti. Svante Cornell does not rule out this option. Deployment
of Russian troops in Karabakh is also a realistic option.

The countries of the region are actively preparing for change of
status quo in Karabakh. Iran is trying to agree with Azerbaijan and
has received further assurances that Baku will not allow an Israeli
military base in its territory. Azerbaijan is preparing Nakhidjevan for
defense, perhaps expecting that Armenia will try to take Nakhidjevan.

Georgia is preparing to face Russia’s aggression and separatism in
Javakheti, as if hinting something.

While Armenia has been engaged in petty intrigues to divide whatever
is left in the country, Karabakh is trying to understand whether it
was correct to celebrate annexation of Crimea by Russia.

– See more at:

“CREATIVE APPROACHES” REQUIRED FOR EU-ARMENIA RELATIONS, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MP SAYS

Friday 18 April 2014 13:09
Photo:

Frank Engel

Yerevan /Mediamax/. European Parliament MP Frank Engel said In Yerevan
today that more “creative approaches” should be devised to strengthen
EU-Armenia relations.

“The European Parliament would apparently be delighted if Armenia did
not join the Customs Union, but even if it does, we have no plans
to cancel relations with Armenia. On the contrary, more creative
approaches are required. We are ready to cooperate with Armenia to
the extent it is compatible with Armenia’s Customs Union membership”,
said the EP MP who is in Armenia to take part in “The Future of
EU-Armenia Relations: What’s next?” event.

According to him, “Armenia has a great number of friends in the
European Parliament”, who will make every effort to strengthen the
cooperation.

NKR PRESIDENT VISITS CONSTRUCTION SITE FOR NEW SECONDARY SCHOOL

16:37 â~@¢ 18.04.14

President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) President Bako
Sahakyan together with philanthropist Nikolai Sarkisov visited
construction site of secondary school’s new building being built in
capital Stepanakert.

The Head of the State expressed gratitude to Nikolai Sarkisov for
financing such an important project. The President noted that the
sphere of education and science was among the key directions of the
republic’s development and within this context considered important the
existence of educational institutions corresponding to international
standards.

The President was accompanied by minister of education and science
Slava Asryan, minister of municipal engineering Karen Shahramanyan
and other officials.

Armenian News – Tert.am

JANET PHILIBOSIAN RECEIVES TEACHING AWARD FROM SOUTHWESTERN LAW

Wednesday, April 16th, 2014

Southwestern Law School Professor Janet Philibosian

LOS ANGELES–Southwestern Law School announced that Janet Philibosian,
of the Class of 2004, has been selected to receive a 2014 Excellence
in Teaching Award.

“These awards provide a wonderful opportunity for our students to
recognize and celebrate their professors’ dedication to outstanding
teaching,” Southwestern Dean Susan Prager said. “It is truly gratifying
to learn from students about the many ways faculty have enriched their
law school experience – both in the classroom and on an individual
basis.”

Professor Janet Philibosian, a Southwestern alumna who began teaching
at the law school in 2010, has been selected to receive the award for
the Adjunct Professor category. Professor Philibosian, an attorney at
Byrne and Associates PC, teaches Defenses in the Law and Selected
Topics in American Law. Fourth-year student Golak Nadery said,
“Professor Philibosian goes above and beyond to help her students. She
is always available and really cares about our success. Her command
of the material combined with practical experience really helps
students learn.”

Professor Philibosian expressed gratitude for the honor. “Being
selected for the Adjunct Professor Excellence in Teaching Award is
truly a special honor because it comes directly from our students,”
she said. “I enjoy witnessing the ‘aha’ moments as my students grasp a
new concept, as well as watching their confidence grow as they learn
skills that will help them not only pass the Bar exam, but succeed
as attorneys. It is both humbling and gratifying to know that my
students appreciate the effort I put forth.”

Southwestern Law School has maintained strong ties to the
Armenian-American community for many years. The law school’s diverse
community includes more than 150 current students and a large and
involved contingent of graduates who are of Armenian heritage. The
Armenian Law Students Association is one of the most active groups
on campus, and the law school established the Southwestern Armenia
Fellowship in Yerevan, Armenia, in partnership with Armenia’s Ministry
of Justice in 2012.

Established in 1997, the Excellence in Teaching Awards are designed
to reinforce the belief that the day-to-day teaching of students is of
primary importance. The recipients are recognized by the student body
through a unique nomination and selection process, in which members
of the Southwestern Community submit names for the First-Year, Upper
Division and Adjunct categories. The top nominees are chosen by the
Student Bar Association Board, and winners are determined by a vote
of the student body.

With a long-standing emphasis on diversity, public service and
innovative programs, and a mid-city campus featuring a world-renowned
Art Deco landmark, Southwestern Law School reflects the vibrancy of
Los Angeles and provides an ideal setting for law study. Founded
in 1911 as an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian institution,
Southwestern is fully approved by the American Bar Association and
is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

With a reputation for graduating lawyers who are well-rounded,
entrepreneurial and prepared for practice, Southwestern’s 12,000
alumni include prominent public officials – from members of Congress
to mayors, and over 200 judges — as well as founders of major law
firms and general counsels of multinational corporations.