Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

The Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe joins the calls for PACE President Pedro Argument to step down.

Addressing the Assembly, member of the Armenian delegation Samvel Farmanyan said it is the only “wise” way out of the current political crisis.

“It’s clear to us that you have lost your trust not only in the EPP Group, but also within all political forces represented in this Assembly,” Farmanyan said.

He described it a crisis, noting that there should be wise and politically correct way out.

“It’s quite evident for all of us that you should step down,” Samvel Farmanyan stated.

Pedro Agramunt’s recent visit to Syria has stirred outrage among legislators at PACE. The reaction has been ambiguous first of all because Agramunt’s visit to Syria had not been sanctioned by the Assembly or any of its structures.

“This visit was a mistake,” Pedro Agramunt said in his opening remarks. He expressed apology for the mistake and assured his visit does not indicate his support for “Assad’s regime.”

PHOTO: ERIC CHARBONNEAU/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

 

‘The Promise’ Star James Cromwell says the Armenian Genocide may get recognition under Trump, reports.

Attending the Los Angeles prmiere of the Armenian Genocide epic The Promise, James  Cromwell said “Hollywood has been hesitant to tackle the politically fraught subject for more than 100 years.”

“There was an extraordinary man, Kirk Kerkorian, who knew this industry and who knew that a film about the Armenian Genocide would never be made,” he said. “Finally at the end of his life, he said, ‘I will pony up $100 million, we will make this film.’ And even with Terry George as director, $100 million, and a script, they still could not sell this picture to Hollywood. Mike Medavoy stepped up, but for the rest of Hollywood, ‘no,’ because they didn’t want to be associated with something they thought was going to go in the toilet or cause a lot of ire with any other project they had that might go Turkey, might be denied the Turkish market,” he said.

The veteran actor also said the United States’ refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide reflects a systematic problem.

“For whatever reason, this community flinched. This country flinches in its responsibility for the devastation of Syria and Yemen and Libya and Iraq and Afghanistan and Somalia and the Sudan and everywhere,” he added. “If we do not acknowledge our responsibility for events like this, our history, then we are doomed to repeat them, which is what we’re doing.”

President Barack Obama reneged on his 2008 campaign pledge that said, “As President, I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, “The Promise’s” executive music consultant, who has long advocated for genocide recognition, said Obama’s broken promise was “extremely disappointing.”

“It was very disappointing that he would cow to political capital like that having to do with Turkey’s pressure being a NATO ally,” he said. “As we can see, [Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan is a madman and Turkey needs the U.S. more than the U.S. needs Turkey.”

Cromwell said there’s a higher chance of recognition under President Donald Trump “because he’s insane.”

“We have elected an insane man as president of the United States and he has appointed people who are, in my mind, spiritually dead to run the country, so now the American people can look at their government and say it does not work,” he said. “We must take it back. It’s called we the people, it’s not called we the 1%. It’s not we industrialists. It’s we the people.”

According to Cromwell, Americans will be moved to take to the streets to demand justice and picket the Turkish embassy until the genocide is recognized and restitutions are paid.

“The Promise” has already been forced to surmount several obstacles. When the film world-premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last September, its IMDb page received a flood of negative ratings.

“When we were at the Toronto International Film Festival at its original premiere, this is the L.A. premiere, but that was the first time it was seen and only a theater full of people saw it,” Tankian said. “We had tens of thousands of 0 votes stemming from Turkey on IMDb so there was a campaign to try to discredit the film. I thought ‘that’s really ridiculous.’ This is a film — it’s media, it’s cultural. To use it as a political weapon in that sense is unfair. But that’s good, that means the denialists are afraid and we want them to be afraid.”

“The Promise” centers on a love triangle between an Armenian medical student (Isaac), a renowned American journalist (Bale), and an Armenian woman (Charlotte Le Bon).

Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, who wrote a song for the film, said being swept away by the drama will help audiences grasp the powerful message.

“I went to school in the U.S. and I wasn’t taught about the Armenian or Greek genocide in history class,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s due in part to the denial of it or what it is. It’s one of those things where it’s a story that needs to be told. And I think it needs to be told and retold. … We need to at some point as human beings preempt this from happening. Genocide is occurring right now on this planet. It’s not something of the past, it’s something unfortunately of now, and unfortunately probably will be of the future.”

The late businessman Kirk Kerkorianwho died in 2015, invested $100 million to bring the Armenian Genocide epic to the big screen after other productions weren’t able to escape what’s been dubbed the “denialist lobby.”

Open Road’s “The Promise” hits theaters on April 2.

Georgia’s Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial today accompanied by Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan.

Minister  Janelidze laid a wreath at the Memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims and paid tribute to their memory with a minute of silence.

An agreement on the elections of the Patriarch of Istanbul has been reached after two days of discussions at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

Bishop Sahak Masalyan, General Vicar of the Patriarch of Istanbul Aram Atesyan and Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Germany Karekin Bekdjian came together in Yerevan for a meeting chaired by His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

Thus, the Locum Tenens will be elected by the Clerical Assembly by March 15. The elections will terminate the powers of the General Vicar of the Patriarch Aram Atesyan. The Bishops will have equal rights to participate in the elections of the Locum Tenens.

After the elections, the Clerical Assembly will form a commission comprising clergymen and secular figures to organize the transfer of power from the General Vicar to the Locum Tenens.

The elections of the initiative group will be organized within 10 days after the election of the Locum Tenens. The group will, in turn, organize the elections of the Patriarch of Istanbul within a six-month period.

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France and Richard Hoagland of the United States of America) met yesterday with the Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian and the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, separately and then jointly. The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, also participated in the meetings.

The Co-Chairs discussed with the Ministers the current situation along the Line of Contact and the Armenia–Azerbaijan border. The Co-Chairs reiterated that there is no alternative to a peaceful solution to the conflict and that war is not an option, and called upon the sides to exercise restraint on the terrain as well as in their public communications and to prepare their population for peace and not for war. The Co-Chairs also urged the Sides to adhere strictly to the 1994/95 ceasefire agreements that constitute the foundation of the cessation of hostilities. The Co-Chairs recalled the May 2011 joint statements of their Presidents in Deauville emphasizing that the use of force would only bring more suffering and devastation and would be condemned by the international community. The Co-Chairs shared their views with the Sides on the steps which should be taken toward implementing decisions from the 2016 Summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg aimed at stabilizing the situation in the conflict zone.

The Co-Chairs stressed to the Ministers the need to demonstrate greater flexibility and to resume comprehensive negotiations on reaching a lasting settlement as soon as possible.

The Co-Chairs recognized that the Armenian authorities’ recent decision to return the body of an Azerbaijani serviceman was a helpful humanitarian gesture. The two Ministers reiterated their commitment to strictly observe their international humanitarian obligations including those of the Astrakhan Declaration of October 2010 issued by the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Russian Federation.

The Co-Chairs are aware that a so-called constitutional referendum is scheduled to take place in Nagorno-Karabakh on February 20, 2017. Although the Co-Chairs note that the de-facto Nagorno-Karabakh authorities view the use of such a procedure as an effort to organize the public life of their population, they underscore again that no countries, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent and sovereign state. Accordingly, the Co-Chairs do not accept the results of the referendum on February 20 as affecting the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Co-Chairs also stress that the results in no way prejudge the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh or the outcome of the ongoing negotiations to bring a lasting and peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Co-Chairs plan to travel to the region in March.

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes believes that new signings Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan have significantly improved the Red Devils squad, the reports.

While United many not be challenging for the Premier League title this season, they have certainly made a lot of improvements and Scholes believes that the likes of Ibrahimovic, Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan have been crucial to his former side’s turnaround in fortunes.

Asked if ‘Ibrahimovic and Pogba brought some star quality back’ to Old Trafford, Scholes told the Daily Mail: “Definitely. They’re big signings.

“Henrikh Mkhitaryan as well.

“The signings in previous years weren’t good enough.

“(Louis) van Gaal signed players who didn’t have enough character or presence to play at this club.

“We knew what stars Pogba, Ibrahimovic and Mkhitaryan were.

“They’ve all played at massive clubs and were ready-made special players. It was what was needed.

“It’s no surprise how well Zlatan has done, although he would have struggled in a van Gaal team.”

Premier League champions Leicester are just one point above the relegation zone after defeat at home by Manchester United left them still searching for a first league win in 2017.

A dour opening half came to life just before the break when the visitors scored twice in two minutes.

First, Henrikh Mkhitaryan latched onto Chris Smalling’s flick-on and raced through on goal before beating Kasper Schmeichel with a clinical finish, the BBC reports.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic then took advantage of terrible Leicester marking to side-foot home his 15th Premier League goal of the season.

Juan Mata ensured there was no way back for the hosts when he finished off a one-two with Mkhitaryan early in the second half.

Leicester never looked like scoring, with their only shot on target a tame Wilfred Ndidi strike just before half-time.

Manchester United remain in the hunt for a top-four finish. They are sixth, one point behind Liverpool and two behind fourth-placed Arsenal.

Gita Elibekyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Tbilisi

The Georgian authorities assure that by agreeing to transit Russian gas to Armenia Georgia emphasizes the importance of economic and political rapprochement with the neighboring country. The issue, however, remains a hot topic in Georgia.

Under the pressure of the opposition, the authorities have revealed some details of the deal with Gazprom. Deputy Minister of Energy Mariam Valiashvili has said that “had Tbilisi not agreed to the terms offered by Moscow, the transit of gas through Georgia would be terminated and Armenia would get gas from Iran.”

“The existence of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline is no secret to anyone. The capacity of the pipeline is 2.3 billion cubic meters, which is much more than Armenia’s demand. In case the demands increase, it will be possible to quickly reshape the infrastructure, just as Russia did in case of Ukraine, where such infrastructure did not exist at all,” Valiashvili said.

This statement raised even greater wave of criticism on the part of the opposition. Opposition MP David Darchiashvili says that “Georgia should first think about its interests rather than those of the neighboring country.”

“Negotiations on the deal were held behind closed doors, and the society does not have enough information about the content of the agreement. We have to be cautious with Russia on such important issues, as it is a matter of our national security,” Darchiashvili says.

Besides, the opposition insists that Gazpom has no alternative route for delivering gas to Armenia, otherwise it would have used it over the past ten years.

Although the opposition is confident that the deal is not fully acceptable, it helps solve a very important issue.

“To refuse from preconditions of Grzprom, as the opposition insists, would mean creating energy problems for a friendly country (Armenia), refusing from the function of being a transit country and breaking all ties with Gazprom,” says MP Gia Volski, a key member of the Georgian Dream.

“The Georgian authorities do not want to create additional problems for the neighboring country,” Volski said in an interview with .

“By accepting the preconditions of the Russian side, Georgia keeps transporting gas to Armenia, thus emphasizing the importance of economic and political rapprochement with the country,” he added.

Expert on energy issues Liana Zarvelidze considers that the concessions of the Georgian side are justified by the country’s position of maintaining its reputation as a transit country.

“All conditions exist for the delivery of Iranian gas to Armenia, the pipeline is there. Armenia could possibly get more gas from Iran, which Georgia would also use. However, Georgia is unwilling to endanger its reputation of a transit country by opposing the Russian side,” she said.

The King of Spain Alfonso XIII tried to save the outstanding Armenian intellectuals detained in April 1915. Archives reveal the King sent a letter to the Ottoman Government at the time, reports.

In a response letter to the King, the Ottoman leadership falsely said the Armenian intellectuals had been launching a revolutionary activity and said outstanding figures like Aknuni, Daniel Varuzhan and Siamanto had escaped to Russia.

However, as it is known, they all were brutally killed in the Ottoman Empire shortly after the letter dated July 1915.

The documents have been found from the Ottoman archives and translated by US-based researcher Gevorg B. Hakobyan.

Armenia’s Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan had a meeting with EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström.

During the meeting Minister Karayan attached importance to the Armenia-EU negotiations on a new framework agreement, which is developing in three directions – politics, trade and investments and cooperation in different spheres.

“The fifth round of talks held in Brussels allows to report considerable progress in the negotiation process and inspires hopes for completion of the negotiation process in the near future,” he said.

Commissioner Malmström noted, in turn, that the negotiations on trade and investments are developing in a constructive atmosphere. The parties reached a number of agreements that will be implemented by the end of the negotiations.

The framework agreement will raise the Armenia-EU cooperation to a qualitatively new level, will reflect the volume and depth of the relations and will outline new landmarks for mutually beneficial cooperation.

Minister Suren Karayan invited the EU Commissioner to Armenia.