ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia Friday Ashotyan: From the point of view of promotion of foreign policy interests, 2017 was successful for Armenia Yerevan December 22 Mariana Mkrtchyan. From the standpoint of promoting foreign policy interests, the year 2017 was successful for Armenia. On December 22, in Yerevan, summing up the results of the year, stated the head of the parliamentary commission on foreign affairs of the National Assembly of Armenia Armen Ashotyan. In his opinion, in 2017 Armenia significantly strengthened its positions in the sphere of security. "Moreover, after the signing of the comprehensive and expanded partnership agreement, Armenia-EU relations have entered a new stage, I believe that relations with the EU will be synchronized with the internal political agenda of Armenia next year." I believe that 2018 is not unique or imposed from the EU. will be the year of the parade of ratification of documents by the European Union member states, "Ashotyan said. And in this context, he added that the agreement contains transitional items, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which states that the conflict should be resolved exclusively within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and through peaceful negotiations, taking into account the right of peoples to self-determination. According to him, these important principles and the ratification by the parliaments of the European countries of this document will support these principles. In this context, the Armenian parliamentarian touched upon the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone and stressed that the first half of the year was not as favorable as the second one in terms of provocations, private violations of the ceasefire regime, incidents, and a periodic increase in the degree of tension. At the same time, he stressed that he had little optimism about maintaining stability in the conflict zone. "After the Geneva meeting, the situation in the conflict zone has stabilized more or less, but this is not due to the fact that there are mechanisms of trust in the conflict zone, which is due to the goodwill of the military and political leadership of Azerbaijan, but there are no guarantees that tomorrow this situation will not change.In this regard, I believe it is important to introduce mechanisms of trust on the contact line and increase the mandate of the office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office," Ashotyan said. At the same time, another achievement of 2017, the Armenian parliamentarian called the strengthening of relations with China, with neighboring Iran, the achievement of progress in relations with Israel. Speaking about the Armenian-Turkish relations, Ashotyan recalled that in 2018 the Armenian-Turkish protocols signed in 2009 in Zurich will be removed from the agenda. He added that it is no secret to anyone whose fault these protocols remained on paper. "Today Ankara is trying to save its own face, however these attempts are vain," he said. In general, he noted that the year 2017 was successful in terms of parliamentary diplomacy, and Armenia in the international arena defended both its own interests and promoted the interests of Artsakh.
Author: Torgomian Varazdat
Overall inflation is manageable – Serzh Sargsyan
Category
Society
The prices of some products have increased in Armenia in connection with the increase in prices of these products in international markets, but the overall inflation is manageable, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview to ARMENIA TV.
“Yes, the prices of some products have increased in connection with the increase in prices of these products in international markets, but the overall inflation is manageable. If we take into account the fact that although everyone says salaries are not increased and etc, the rate of wage increase is a bit higher than the inflation as of today. I think this is a very important factor, the same was in 2016”, the President said.
Serzh Sargsyan also commented on the proposal of some opposition forces to suspend Armenia’s members to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). He stated that he doesn’t see rationality here. Here he just sees a desire to serve some interests or a certain belief which comes from lacking complete information on the material.
“But if they are really convinced, they can present serious facts, I didn’t hear any serious fact”, he said.
Commenting on the reporter’s observation that prices of 900 goods may increase starting from January 1, 2018, the President said: “They cannot have a significant impact in terms of drastic inflations and undermining the economy. I do not suppose this, when we became a full member of the structure in 2015, the rates for several thousand product types changed, and so what? Did our country face a drastic inflation, of course, no, therefore, now as well the impact is not huge and this impact is also compensated via other products, at more affordable prices, and I think that we have a balanced approach here and this approach leads to the fact that for instance in 2016 there was a deflation in our country. This is a fact which cannot be denied and today as well we do not have a tangible inflation”.
Signing of new agreement with EU is a victory of healthy logic – President Sargsyan
Categories
Politics
World
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan says it’s not right to consider the signing of the new agreement with the European Union under the formulations of concession or mutual concession.
In an interview to ARMENIA TV, the President said Armenia has never considered the dialogue at eastern and western directions as a contradiction. “It’s not right to consider the signing of the new agreement with the EU under the formulations of concession, mutual concession. This is my belief. I think the healthy logic really won, and if any side signs an agreement this means that the sides reached at least the minimum they want in terms of that agreement. Thus, how we have reached the signing of the agreement, it’s just a negotiation process. We have never considered the dialogue at western and eastern directions as a contradiction. We were always convinced that it’s necessary to cooperate, hold dialogue both with the West, the East, although it’s difficult to call Russia as the East, concretely with Russia”, the President said.
He added that this is a good chance to brief on the history of talks because many people, who had different opinions before the signing of the agreement, just didn’t made effort to go back and start from the roots.
“If you remember, the EU announced the Eastern Partnership program in 2010 and starting from this period we were holding talks aimed at using the results of this program, as well as signing an agreement. And if you remember, during this period, maybe earlier, integration processes were taking place in the CIS space. If we were starting the first round of talks with the European Union, we honestly told our European partners that Russia is our ally, sincere friend of our people and our economy is first of all linked with the economies of Russia and the remaining CIS states. And we cannot hold talks on an agreement which can undermine our economic ties. Our European partners gladly listened to this, accepted it and we were negotiating for a long time. But there was a moment when the negotiator put conditions and stated that the provisions of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) contradict to the provisions of our agreement. In other words, we had to choose between the two, so-called, economic markets. We had to remind that in 2010 we have agreed in this way, and if you think that this is an obstacle, we cannot take a step which involves risks. If you remember, we made this transparently repeatedly stating that this Eastern Partnership program, the Association agreement do not contradict to participation in other integration processes”, the Armenian President said.
Commenting on the view that Europeans were stubborn at the beginning of talks, the Armenian President said they were stubborn not at the beginning, but during the talks before Armenia’s membership to the Eurasian Economic Union.
“I am saying the reason of the decision. When people say that I made a decision in a night, it’s just ridiculous for me since public speeches exist and there cannot be any other opinion”, the President clarified.
President Sargsyan reaffirmed that he informed the EU partners about joining the EAEU 4 months before it, but added that the talk is not only about that, but also about the public speeches.
“In any case the negotiations continued. They continued under new principles, and this mainly happened during the Riga summit in 2015. The Riga summit is a historical event in this sense and a decision was made there that there is a need to show a differentiated approaches to the Eastern Partnership countries since in all cases a common thing unites all of us, being as post-Soviet states, but Armenia significantly differs both from Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. The negotiations continued already with this spirit, and I am happy that it became really possible to sign the agreement. As I said, I consider it a victory of healthy logic demonstrated by both our EU partners and us. Here the problem is something else: if we think about contradictions that one day there can be a contradiction, we are obliged to think someway, and we link our actions only by this, we will not achieve many things. Finally, the EU has a big market, the Customs Union has a huge market and our goal should be boosting the export and it is so. In other words, we need to produce and export more products, and now it depends on us how our economy will grow, how many products we can export, and these products can be equally exported to the EAEU and the EU markets just as it is now. 28% share of our exports goes to the EU market, a bit less to the EAEU market. Of course, there is a difference in terms of structure, but in any case the volume is such”, President Sargsyan said.
He emphasized that Armenia should always act by combining the interests, rather than to try to play on contradictions. According to him, those who try to play on contractions, always have a lot of problems.
Azerbaijani Press: OSCE MG becomes active in Karabakh negotiations
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 14 2017
14:53 (UTC+04:00)
By Rashid Shirinov
The OSCE Minsk Group that is mediating the peace diplomacy over the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has recently demonstrated a noticeable intensification in the negotiation process.
Farhad Ibrahimov, expert of Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy & International Relations, hails such a positive trend observed in the activities of the mediators, who were subject of criticism for a long time due to lack of any tangible result in the conflict resolution.
Ibrahimov told Day.Az on December 13 international mediators began to declare increasingly that the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh indeed belongs to Azerbaijan, as well as the need to resolve the conflict in accordance with the UN Security Council’s resolutions.
“The reality is that during its existence, the OSCE Minsk Group has not made due efforts to achieve certain goals, and this is one of the reasons that today the problem remains unresolved and the situation on the line of fire is tense,” said Ibrahimov, adding that the increased activity of international mediators is now reduced to a mutual desire of the parties to resolve the issue so that there are no losers or winners.
The four resolutions (822, 853, 874, 884), adopted in 1993, condemned the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, stressed the unacceptability of forcible appropriation of territory, confirmed the inviolability of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and borders of Azerbaijan and demanded the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian occupation forces from Azerbaijani lands. However, these demands are still on paper, as Armenia refuses to comply with the decision of the UN Security Council.
The expert expects progress in resolving the conflict, given a certain activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, as evidenced by the past meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Geneva, where the parties agreed to take measures to intensify the decisions on the conflict.
“The military solution to the conflict is undesirable, as it can lead to unpredictable consequences, added Ibrahimov. “This is why the OSCE Minsk Group will intensify its activities so that the next hotbed of tension does not erupt.”
He also noted that the threat of renewed hostilities is real, and the Armenian side, which is still demonstrating a stubborn and aggressive policy against Azerbaijan, must understand and realize this truth.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. For more than 20 years, Russia, the U.S. and France, who are co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, have been trying to broker a peace to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
RFE/RL Armenian Report – 12/08/2017
Friday, December 8, 2017 Armenian Parliament Passes Bill Against Domestic Violence . Ruzanna Stepanian . Karlen Aslanian Armenia - A protest against domestic violence in Yerevan, 25Nov2017. Following a heated debate, the Armenian parliament passed on Friday a government bill which is meant to combat domestic violence in the country. The government pushed the bill through the National Assembly despite continuing resistance from some deputies representing the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). But it won over other, more senior HHK figures who openly criticized the initial version of the legislation circulated in September. The latter joined conservative fringe groups in claiming that some of the proposed legal provisions would undermine traditional "Armenian family values." The Armenian Justice Ministry responded by amending the bill drafted by it. In particular, the ministry expanded the title of the bill to emphasize that it is aimed at not only preventing domestic violence and protecting its victims but also "restoring solidarity within families." Women's groups have criticized this phrase, saying that "solidarity" is not a legal term and could be open to different interpretations by relevant authorities. Armenia - A session of the National Assembly in Yerevan, 30May2017. The final version of the bill retained other significant provisions. The Armenian police will now be required to stop violence within families threatening the lives or health of their members. What is more, the police could force a violent husband to leave his victim's home and stay away from it for up to 20 days. Armenian courts will be allowed to extend such bans to between 6 and 18 months. The law stipulates that domestic violence can be not only physical but also sexual, psychological and even economic. It makes clear that a "substantiated presumption" of such instances of violence will be sufficient grounds for police intervention. Deputy Justice Minister Vigen Kocharian stressed that this would be done by a special police unit trained to deal with such cases. Hayk Babukhanian, a controversial lawmaker from the ruling HHK, attacked this provision during Thursday's parliament debate on the bill. "Can you imagine what it could lead to?" he said, warning of police mistakes. Armenia - Gevorg Petrosian of the Tsarukian Bloc, 30Nov2017. Gevorg Petrosian of the Tsarukian Bloc, the second largest parliamentary force, echoed this concern. Petrosian claimed that the law would revive what he called a Soviet-era practice of police prosecuting men at the best of their "malicious, freedom-loving wives." "I regard it as a law on destroying peace and harmony in families," he said. Babukhanian, who publishes a newspaper known for its anti-Western commentaries, also denounced another clause that provides for non-governmental organizations' involvement in the protection of domestic violence victims. Samvel Farmanian, a more mainstream HHK parliamentarian, also spoke out against the bill. "Unfortunately, this law will not help to reduce cases of violence in families. It may actually have opposite effects," he claimed. Nevertheless, the HHK-controlled National Assembly backed the landmark law by 73 votes to 12, with 6 abstentions. All of those 12 deputies represent the Tsarukian Bloc, which claims to be in opposition to the government. None of the HHK deputies voted against the bill. Babukhanian and several other Republicans chose to boycott the vote instead. Gagik Melikian, the number two figure in the ruling party's parliamentary faction, defended the legislation, saying that it poses no threat to "traditional families." Deputies from the opposition Yelk bloc also voted for the measure. One of them, Mane Tandilian insisted later on Thursday that domestic violence is a more serious problem in Armenia than it may seem. Armenia - Mane Tandilian of the opposition Yelk bloc, 7Nov2017. "People don't talk about it because it happens in their families," Tandilian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). "And for us, the family is taboo, a sacred environment about which we don't like saying negative things in public." The female lawmaker also said that the new powers given to the police will discourage violent conduct. A senior representative of the Armenian police advocated the passage of the bill when she spoke at parliamentary hearings in October. The police recorded 3,571 cases of domestic violence from 2012-2016. According to the Yerevan-based Women's Resource Center, more than 50 Armenian women have been beaten to death and murdered otherwise by their husbands or other relatives in the last five years. Government Reaffirms Poverty Reduction Target . Marine Khachatrian Armenia - Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielian attends a parliament session in Yerevan, 20May2015. The government has reaffirmed its pledges to significantly reduce poverty in Armenia in the next five years. The government's policy program approved by parliament in June says that sustained and faster economic growth will cut poverty from 29.4 percent in 2016 to 18 percent by 2022. It also says that export promotion and better conditions for doing business will allow the Armenian economy to grow by around 5 percent annually in this five-year period. Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielian called these targets realistic when he spoke to RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) this week. Gabrielian stressed the importance of faster growth anticipated by Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet. He said it will benefit rural regions of the country where poverty has traditionally been higher than in Yerevan. "If you look at our [2018] budget you will see that agriculture is one of the few sectors where there will be an increase in [government] spending," said Gabrielian. "It means that we are planning measures especially in that sector, which could have the greatest impact on poverty reduction." But Vahagn Khachatrian, an economist affiliated with the opposition Armenian National Congress (HHK) dismissed the government plan as "extremely unrealistic." "These are just pieces of paper which they write up for the sake of writing and which are not put into practice," he said. Khachatrian argued that the government's 2018 budget does not call for any increases in public sector salaries, pensions and poverty benefits which were most recently raised in 2015. That, he said, means that real incomes of hundreds of thousands of Armenians will fall next year because of consumer price inflation. Under the government program, the minimum national wage, which currently stands at 55,000 drams ($114) per month, will rise by 25 percent by 2022. According to Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Tadevos Avetisian, the government will start raising it after 2018. Using a different methodology, the World Bank has recorded lower poverty rates in Armenia. According to it, just under 25 percent of Armenians lived in poverty in 2016. In a report released in May, the bank forecast that the poverty rate will fall to 22.2 percent in 2019. Armenian Budget For 2018 Approved By Parliament . Astghik Bedevian Armenia - The Prime Minister's Office and Finance Ministry buildings in Yerevan, 30Sep2017. The National Assembly approved on Friday Armenia's state budget for next year which will increase government spending by more than 7 percent but keep public sector salaries, pensions and other social benefits unchanged. The budget drafted by the Finance Ministry in late September calls for over 1.46 trillion drams ($3 billion) in total expenditure, up by around 100 billion drams from the government's 2017 spending target. It commits the government to ensuring a sharper rise in tax revenue that would reduce the budget, projected at 158 billion drams, to 2.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Most of the extra spending planned by the government will be channeled into various infrastructure projects. The remainder will mainly be spent on national defense. Armenia's defense spending is to rise by 18 percent to 248 billion drams ($514 million). The spending bill was backed 64 members of the 105-seat parliament representing the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and its junior coalition partner, Dashnaktsutyun. Thirty-five other deputies affiliated with the opposition Tsarukian Bloc and Yelk alliance voted against it. The opposition minority strongly criticized the caps on social spending during parliamentary debates that preceded the vote. They said that will only increase poverty in the country in 2018. "The groundwork is not laid not only for economic growth but also economic development," said the Tsarukian Bloc's Mikael Melkumian. "Furthermore, spending on social programs, education and science is juxtaposed against capital spending." Government ministers and HHK lawmakers insisted, however, that increased spending on capital projects is a more efficient way to ease socioeconomic hardship as it would stimulate economic activity in the country. "We have promised one thing in our program: we have said that if we have economic growth we will adequately solve economic problems of our people," said Finance Minister Vartan Aramian. He indicated that the government may well raise pensions and salaries in 2019. The budgetary targets are based on government projections that economic growth in Armenia will reach 4.5 percent in 2018. The government has forecast a 4.3 percent growth rate for this year. "The growth forecast is too optimistic," said Mane Tandilian, a deputy from Yelk. "I think it will not materialize." In its latest World Economic Outlook released in October, the International Monetary Fund forecast more modest growth rates for Armenia: 3.5 percent in 2017 and 2.9 percent in 2018. The IMF had anticipated slower growth earlier. Judge Extends Jail Time For Armenian Opposition Activist . Karlen Aslanian Armenia - Opposition activist Gevorg Safarian goes on trial in Yerevan, 20May2016. An Armenian opposition activist will remain behind bars even after completing his two-year prison sentence on January 1, a court in Yerevan ruled on Friday. The activist, Gevorg Safarian, was among members of the Founding Parliament radical opposition movement who scuffled with riot police as they tried to celebrate the New Year in Yerevan's Liberty Square early on January 1, 2016. Safarian was arrested and accused of assaulting one of the officers, a charge which he and Founding Parliament rejected as politically motivated. A Yerevan court sentenced the outspoken activist to two years in prison in January this year. Safarian, Founding Parliament's arrested leader, Zhirayr Sefilian, and several other men went on a separate trial in May, accused of plotting an armed revolt and "mass disturbances." They strongly deny these charges as well. A prosecutor in that trial said on Friday that despite having spent almost two years in jail Safarian must remain under arrest pending a verdict on the Sefilian case. Safarian reacted angrily to the move, saying that President Serzh Sarkisian's administration has decided to prolong his imprisonment. "It's already clear that the judge has received an order and will keep me under arrest," he declared before leaving the courtroom. One of the defense lawyers, Tigran Yegorian, also walked out in protest. Two other attorneys, Tigran Hayrapetian and Arayik Papikian, tried unsuccessfully to have the presiding judge, Tatevik Grigorian, delay consideration of the prosecutor's petition. They said they need time to come up with their counterarguments. Grigorian ruled 20 minutes later that Safarian will not be set free on January 1. "It's clear that Gevorg Safarian is a victim of political persecution," Papikian charged afterwards. Safarian's mother present in the courtroom also condemned the judge's decision. "By punishing Gevorg they want to keep the people in fear so that they don't revolt against the authorities," she said. In a January 2016 statement, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced Safarian's arrest as "wholly unjustified." The New York-based watchdog said he is prosecuted for his political views and should be released from custody. Press Review "Hraparak" joins other newspapers in lamenting the government's failure to fully rebuild parts of Armenia that were devastated by the December 1988 earthquake. The paper claims that foreign assistance provided to the country in the last 29 years was enough for the complete reconstruction of at least the cities of Gyumri and Vanadzor. "Haykakan Zhamanak" hits out at a parliament deputy from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Hakob Hakobian, who said on Thursday that the latest hikes in the prices of some key foodstuffs in the country will not affect the poor because the latter could not afford those products anyway. Hakobian is also the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on social affairs and health. Another HHK parliamentarian, Khosrov Harutiunian, similarly said on Thursday that low-income people have not been affected by the increased prices of meat because they have been reliant on potatoes. "We will probably surprise Khosrov Harutiunian a lot if we assert that the poor in Armenia have become so poor that they have even started consuming less potatoes," comments the paper. "This is a fact recorded by Armenia's National Statistical Service (NSS), not taken out of thin air." Meanwhile, the HHK's parliamentary leader, Vahram Baghdasarian, tells "Hayots Ashkhar" that poverty in Armenia is slowly but steadily decreasing. "That small decrease obviously doesn't satisfy us," he says. "More serious steps are needed to improve the situation. The government is now pursuing a new policy. Instead of using budgetary funds for raising salaries and pensions, it attaches greater importance to ensuring economic stability and laying the foundations for economic growth." (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Culture: Martin Luther and the Armenians
The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
Nov 30 2017
5.1-magnitude earthquake shakes Azerbaijan
Panorama, Armenia
Nov 16 2017
A 5.1-magnitude quake has jolted central Azerbaijan some 92 kilometers east of the city of Barda at a depth of 10 kilometers, The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported.
As RT reported, the epicenter of the quake, which struck at about 23:48 local time [2:48 a.m. GMT] lies some 212 kilometers (131 miles) from the country’s capital, Baku, which has a population estimated at 2 million people. There have been no reports of damages or casualties. Some 10 million people might have felt the tremors, according to EMSC estimates.
To note, Armenia’s National Service for Seismic Protection at Ministry of Emergency Situations reported the earthquake was felt in the whole territory of Armenia and Artsakh.
Azerbaijani press: Pakistan says Armenia’s destroying monuments in occupied Azerbaijani lands unacceptable (PHOTO)
1 November 2017 22:03 (UTC+04:00)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 1
Trend:
Armenia’s destroying ancient religious and cultural monuments, belonging to the Islamic world, in the occupied Azerbaijani lands is unacceptable, said Deputy Chairman of Pakistani Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.
He was addressing a meeting with Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Alizade, Azerbaijani Embassy in Pakistan told Trend.
At the meeting, it was noted that the support of Pakistani Senate’s Committee for Foreign Affairs for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, its recognition of the Khojaly genocide and acceptance of resolutions demanding immediate withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories are highly appreciated by Azerbaijan.
Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said that Pakistan considers Azerbaijan a fraternal country, and noted the importance of strengthening unity and cooperation among Islamic countries, adding a perfect example of this is the Pakistani-Azerbaijani relations.
The sides also exchanged views on the organization of high-level mutual visits, as well as expansion of cooperation in economic and humanitarian spheres.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
David Harutyunyan to disappoint Eduard SHarmazanov (video)
Justice Minister David Harutyunyan should disappoint the Republicans, the bill on Domestic Violence will be passed without significant changes, and the social importance is evident. “Very often violence is applied because the victim is defenseless, he does not have any means, he does not have any place to go. The provisions of the law will give opportunity of, even though not big, state assistance.”
David Harutyunyan is glad that there is no unanimous opinion in the Republican Party, but he does not remember the threat of voting against the law. “The considerable part of the faction had concerns, which should be dissolved. The fact that they cannot be left out of the law is evident, because the law would be meaningless if it did not contain the main type of violence.”
David Harutyunyan knows that his party is a traditional family, but domestic violence indicators are worrying.
Eduard Sharmazanov’s opinion and concerns here
Film: After initial ad rejection, Americana hosts private screening of genocide documentary
Los Angeles Times, CA
Oct 27 2017
After initial ad rejection, Americana hosts private screening of genocide documentary
Jeff LandaContact Reporter
Despite controversy over mall officials initially refusing to display an advertisement for the genocide documentary “Architects of Denial,” local officials and others joined one of the film’s producers Tuesday night for a private screening at the Americana at Brand.
The documentary uses expert testimony and survivor experiences to explore genocides throughout history and how continued denial of the Armenian Genocide contributes to future atrocities.
President Donald Trump and past U.S. presidents have failed to recognize the massacre — where roughly 1.5 million Armenians were killed more than a century ago by Ottoman Turks — as a genocide.
The screening was organized by the Glendale chapter of the Armenian National Committee of America, which in August, had a proposed billboard ad for the film rejected by Caruso management for being “too political,” based on subject matter.
After a backlash, Americana officials reversed their decision.
The film is produced by actor Dean Cain and television host Montel Williams, the latter of whom spoke before the film started to the more than 200 audience members packed into a screening room at Pacific Theatres.
Williams said he was “embarrassed” to admit that when he was asked to participate in the project, he had not heard of the Armenian Genocide, and the film should be used as an education tool in schools.
“The Armenian Genocide and its denial for over 100 years is, I think, solely the reason why the world ignores the other genocides that have continued to take place, [and] those that are taking place right now that we hear about and read about and we hear whispers of because the world’s not talking,” he said.
Williams said all the money generated from movie sales will be donated to “Armenian causes” such as the Armenian National Committee of America.
Also in attendance were members of the Glendale City Council, state Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) and state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge).
Portantino, who joined the effort early to get the Americana to reverse its original rejection of the film’s advertisement, spoke briefly after the screening.
“It is tragic that we don’t have recognition when it’s appropriate,” Portantino said, according to a statement. “The role of the activist is to make government officials do better … so let’s continue to fight for recognition [of the Armenian Genocide] and to do the right thing.”