Author: Liana Toganian

American singer, actress, director and producer Barbara Streisand has joined The Promise film to #KeepThePromise to never forget.

“We are all children of immigrants. I’m Barbara Streisand I vow to keep the promise to never forget,” she says in a video shared on Facebook.

Set in 1914 right before the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the film follows Michael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac), a hopeful medical student who arrives in Constantinople to bring modern medicine to his ancestral village of Siroun in Southern Turkey. In the bustling capital, he soon meets Chris Myers (Christian Bale), an American photo-journalist, and Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), an Armenian artist. Both Michael and Chris soon fall in love with Ana and a love triangle ensues just as the Turks join the war on the German side, turning against the Armenians. Everyone must find a way to settle their differences in order to survive the coming chaos.

Artsakh Human Rights Ombudsman Ruben Melikyan outlined the work of his office and presented the findings of its latest report on Azerbaijani war crimes and atrocities committed during the four-day April 2016 war to public policy leaders at a forum sponsored by the Center for Transatlantic Relations (CTR) at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), reported the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights (ALC).

CTR’s Benedikt Harzl, an Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation Fellow in Central European Studies at Johns Hopkins University SAIS and assistant professor of international law at the University of Graz, hosted the March 15th discussion.  In his introductory remarks, Prof. Harzl noted the lack of a harmonized and unified approach to conflict resolution involving de facto states as one of the reasons these situations continue to fester and the importance of hearing the voices from these entities.

Prof. Harzl explained that a crucial question revolves around “what role should be afforded de facto states in the course of conflict resolution” and believed “international law is indeed in a position to provide accommodation with de facto states.”

Mr. Melikyan offered an overview of the responsibilities of the Human Rights Ombudsman, an independent position established in 2008, to address the human rights concerns of the citizens of Artsakh, including social, political, education, and religious rights.  The Ombudsman has the right to investigate human rights complaints, can demand information from state and local government officials, and has unrestricted access to prisons.  Mr. Melikyan, who was elected to a six year term by the Artsakh Parliament in May 2016, reported that he handles about 130 complaints a year.  He is not an “Armenian rights defender,” but a “human rights defender,” stressed Mr. Melikyan, who recounted his visit to an Azerbaijani soldier currently in custody in Artsakh during which he shared a copy of the European Convention on Human Rights and emphasized his right to an attorney of his choice.

The number one human rights concern in Artsakh was the right to security and life, explained Mr. Melikyan, citing Azerbaijan’s constant threats of war and repeated attacks.  His investigation into the four-day April 2016 War found widespread and systematic war crimes abuses by Azerbaijani soldiers, including three cases of beheadings.  The report, which has been , found that of the 28 combatants and 3 civilians, who fell under the control of Azerbaijan, 90% of them were either tortured, executed, or mutilated.

Mr. Melikyan decried the lack of widespread condemnation of these atrocities, warning that “impunity encourages new atrocities.”

Presidents of Armenia and Russia paid special attention to the Karabakh issue as they held a meeting in Moscow today.

“Russia continues to support the parties in seeking mutually acceptable ways for the conflict both within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and during direct contacts with Yerevan and Baku,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said following talks with visiting President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.

“We discussed issues of security in our region, paying special attention to the Karabakh conflict settlement, creation of conditions conducive to the furthering of the negotiation process,” President Sargsyan said, in turn.

“We value the contribution of Russia and other Minsk Group co-chairing countries to the process of exceptionally peaceful settlement of the conflict,” Serzh Sargsyan said.

“We stressed the importance of observing the trilateral ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995. Wes stressed the need to implement the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg. We are united in the opinion that the use of force or the threat of force are absolutely unacceptable and strike a blow to the negotiation process,” Serzh Sargsyan stated.

– The primal confluence of food, flames and family simmers in high definition in “Barbecue,” a globe-trotting new documentary and cinematic love letter to cooking meat over an open fire.

The feature-length movie filmed in 12 countries had its global premiere at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, not far from some of the barbecue joints that inspired Australian filmmaker Matthew Salleh and his partner Rose Tucker to explore the globe’s shared barbecue culture.

“Barbecue is this perfect combination of tradition, community and culture,” Salleh said in a weekend interview shortly after the film’s debut.

“We just started talking to people and everyone was passionate about their country’s version of barbecue,” Salleh said over a plate of barbecued brisket, beef rib and sausage in Austin.

“In the six or seven months that we researched it, we were pitched by people who said ‘you have got to come to my country,’” he said, adding they are shopping for a distributor for the film.

He and Tucker went on a 200-day shoot that took them from Sweden to Uruguay, with stops including Armenia, Mongolia, Japan and a refugee camp on the Syria-Jordan border.

While the barbecue craft varied from the hot stones used to cook marmot in Mongolia to the pit used to grill goat in Mexico, the message in each trip was the same. Communities and families came together around the food.

“We have vegetarians who have seen the film and you cannot deny the cultural significance in the world of eating meat over the fire,” Salleh said.

The film starts in South Africa, where racial divides of apartheid still scar the country, and shows the separate and similar barbecue tradition among blacks and whites. It includes Philippines family gatherings around roast pig and exiled Syrians trying to recapture a bit of home at a shawarma shop in a refugee camp.

After their trek, Salleh and Tucker says they have received gentle ribbing from people asking why their country’s barbecue did not make the cut and a persistent question of what barbecue was best.

“At this point we begin the politically correct process of saying how we loved them all,” Salleh said. Tucker added the answer can be more about the experience, then the taste.

“We had some of the best experiences in Armenia where you drink vodka with the first bite of meat,” she said.

Photo: AP

 

Iraqi government forces have captured Mosul’s al-Hurriya (Freedom) Bridge over the River Tigris, Iraqi military and Kurdish sources say, the BBC reports.

It is the second of five bridges to be recaptured since the operation to retake the city from so-called Islamic State began in October.

The news comes a day after Iraqi forces launched a new push against the western part of Mosul.

The eastern part was recaptured in January after heavy fighting.

All five bridges were damaged in coalition air strikes but the capture of the second bridge, also known as the al-Jamhuriya bridge, will provide a foothold for government forces.

The bridges were put out of action with the aim of limiting ability of IS to resupply or reinforce their positions in the east.

Mosul is the last stronghold for IS in Iraq.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has summoned German Ambassador to Ankara Martin Erdmann, over the cancellation of a meeting between Turkey’s justice minister and Turkish citizens in Germany on March 2, according to a ministry source, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said Erdmann was called to the ministry in relation with the developments which led the municipality of the southern German town of Gaggenau to revoke permission for a hall meeting between Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ and members of the Turkish community scheduled for earlier March 2.

Erdmann was called upon the order of Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the source said, adding that Deputy Undersecretary Mehmet Kemal Bozay expressed Turkey’s discomfort over the incident.

The municipality of Gaggenau revoked its permission for the meeting citing concerns of overcrowding, which prompted Bozdağ to cancel his planned visit to Germany. The incident has drawn strong criticism from the Turkish government.

Bozdağ had called the cancelation unacceptable, stressing that the right of assembly was one of the irreplaceable features of democracy.

He said the decision also did not fit the rule of law, criticizing Berlin for permitting outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) meetings in the country.

The move came after Germany’s Left Party demanded the cancelation of Bozdağ’s speech. The municipality initially stated that the meeting was about the foundation of the Rastatt branch of a Turkish union but later said it officially cancelled the meeting.

Photo: AFP    

The Paris home of France’s conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon has been raided by investigators, French media report, the BBC reports.

The search was part of an investigation into an allegedly fake job given to his wife. He denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Fillon has vowed to continue his presidential campaign, despite growing pressure for him to step down.

He was once seen as the favourite to win the election but his poll ratings have dropped since the scandal emerged.

The allegations circling around the Fillon family focus mainly on his Welsh-born wife Penelope, who is also reported to be facing an investigation.

The Le Canard Enchaine newspaper alleges she was paid €831,400 over several years for working as a parliamentary assistant for Mr Fillon and his successor, but had no parliamentary pass – raising questions over whether she did the work she was paid for.

 

 

 

Zangi represents Armenia at 2017 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. Attended by a number of telecommunications companies of the world, MWC is the world’s biggest and best mobile industry event.

It provides IT companies worldwide with an opportunity to showcase their innovations, establish business ties, promote their production and follow global trends.

Established in 2013, Zangi began its life by developing cutting-edge communications technology. The Company officially released its Zangi application in early 2015.

The Messenger available on iOS and Android, offers users anywhere an extremely useful communication tool.

“The Armenian application Zangi challenges Skype, Viber and WhatsApp,” Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said in a Facebook post.

Zangi CEO & Founder Vahram Martirosyan says they will return to Armenia with new agreements and a large cooperation packages that will open new perspective for the country and will make it better known in the IT world. New contracts will help create new jobs, as well.

Speaking to , Vahram Martirosyan assured that communicating through Zangi is ‘completely safe.’ The application does not store any data about users anywhere. “Therefore, even if the system is hacked, none of the users will be affected,” he said.

“The Armenian pavilion has been popular among visitors. Many have downloaded and tested the app over four days,” Vahram Martirosyan said, speaking through Zangi.

The European Parliament has lifted French far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s immunity from prosecution after she tweeted pictures of so-called Islamic State (IS) violence, the BBC reports.

Ms Le Pen is under investigation in France for posting three graphic images of IS killings in 2015, including the beheading of US journalist James Foley.

Her position as an MEP has so far meant she could not be prosecuted.

Ms Le Pen is currently running to be French president.

Armenia’s Ambassador to Iran Artashes Toumanian and the Head of Trade, Industries, and Mines Chamber of Tehran Khansari met on Tuesday to exchange views on the best results from upcoming visit of Armenian PM to Tehran, reports.