Author: Vanyan Gary

The Armenian Missionary Association of Australia (AMAA) and the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) have announced an event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, which will feature a keynote address by his widow, Rakel Dink, reports.

Hrant Dink, the former Editor-In-Chief of Agos, was murdered on 19th January, 2007 in front of the Istanbul office of his Armenian-language newspaper after being singled out as “insulting Turkishness” by authorities. While charges for the murder have been laid, investigations into involvement by police officials and public authorities remains ongoing, with honourable testimonies existing that the killing was “deliberately not prevented”.

Rakel Dink has dedicated her life to honouring her late husband’s memory and continuing his legacy. She is the President of the Hrant Dink Foundation, which “carries out various programs dedicated to protecting human rights in Turkey, to preserving the culture of minorities in the country, to researching hate speech and to normalising Armenian-Turkish relations”.

Rakel Dink will be the guest of the AMAA and ANC-AU in Sydney this March for a Commemoration Evening honouring Hrant Dink, 10 years after his assassination.

ANC-AU Managing Director, Vache Kahramanian said: “We all remember when the funeral of Hrant Dink saw many tens of thousands of Turkish people march in Istanbul, chanting ‘We are all Hrant! We are all Armenian!’. This heralded hope in a country that has trouble dealing with its Armenian past, and proved that Hrant did not die in vain.”

Kahramanian added: “Armenian-Australians will have the opportunity to share an audience in Sydney with Mrs. Rakel Dink, as we honour her husband’s life. We as Armenians are very lucky to have the likes of Mrs Rakel Dink, Garo Paylan and others continuing the foundations set by Hrant Dink.”

The event will take place on Sunday, 19th March 2017, 6pm at The Concourse Theatre in Chatswood.

The Academy Award nominations were announced in Los Angeles today. Armenian Genocide documentary “The Other Side of Home” didn’t get nominated. The Oscars air Sunday, February 26.

The film, which is under consideration for an Academy Award for short documentary, , including members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at New York’s Soho House on the eve.

The list of nominations for the 89th Academy Awards

Best picture
“La La Land”
“Moonlight”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Lion”
“Hidden Figures”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
Best director
Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Denis Villeneuve, “Arrival”
Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea”
Mel Gibson, “Hacksaw Ridge”

Best actress in a leading role
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
Emma Stone, “La La Land”
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”

Best actor in a leading role
Ryan Gosling, “La La Land”
Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
Denzel Washington, “Fences”
Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic”
Best supporting actress
Viola Davis, “Fences”
Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”
Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures”
Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman, “Lion”

Best supporting actor
Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”
Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel, “Lion”
Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals”

Best adapted screenplay
“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins
“Arrival,” Eric Heisserer
“Lion,” Luke Davies
“Fences,” August Wilson
“Hidden Figures,” Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi

Best original screenplay
“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle
“Hell or High Water,” Taylor Sheridan
“Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan
“The Lobster,”  Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou
“20th Century Women,” Mike Mills

Best animated feature film
“Zootopia”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“The Red Turtle”
“My Life as a Zucchini”

Best animated short film
“Piper”
“Pearl”
“Borrowed Time”
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes”
“Blind Vaysha”

Best foreign language film
“Toni Erdmann”
“The Salesman”
“Land of Mine”
“A Man Called Ove”
“Tanna”

Best documentary
“O.J.: Made in America”
“13th”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“Fire at Sea”
“Life Animate”

Best cinematography
“Moonlight,” James Laxton
“La La Land,” Linus Sandgren
“Arrival,” Bradford Young
“Silence,” Rodrigo Prieto
“Lion,” Greig Fraser

Best documentary short subject
“The White Helmets”
“Extremis”
“Watani: My Homeland”
“4.1 Miles”
“Joe’s Violin”

Best live action short film
“Timecode”
“Sing (Mindenki)
“Silent Nights”
“Ennemis Interieurs”
“La Femme et le TGV”

Best original song
“How Far I’ll Go,” “Moana”
“City of Stars,” “La La Land”
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” “La La Land”
“Can’t Stop the Feeling!” “Trolls”
“The Empty Chair,” “Jim: The James Foley Story”

Best original score
“La La Land,” Justin Hurwitz
“Moonlight,” Nicholas Britell
“Lion,” Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
“Jackie,” Mica Levi
“Passengers,” Thomas Newman

Best film editing
“La La Land”
“Moonlight”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Arrival”
“Hell or High Water”

Best visual effects
“The Jungle Book”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“Doctor Strange”
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Kubo and the Two Strings

Best sound editing
“La La Land”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Arrival”
“Sully”
“Deepwater Horizon”

Best sound mixing
“La La Land”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“Arrival”
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”

Best costume design
“La La Land”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“Jackie”
“Allied”

Best makeup and hair styling
“Star Trek Beyond”
“Suicide Squad”
“A Man Called Ove”

Best production design
“La La Land,” David Wasco
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Stuart Craig and James Hambidge
“Arrival,” Patrice Vermette
“Hail Caesar”
“Passengers”

The Azerbaijani side used firearms of different calibers as it violated the ceasefire at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces 45 times last night.

The rival fired about 490 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions. It also used a grenade launcher in the northern direction of the frontline.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep full control of the situation at the line of contact and confidently continue with the reliable protection of the military positions.

Iran Khodro Automaker company (IKCO) has opened a branch in Armenia aiming to introduce the Iranian brand to the neighboring country, reports. 

On 14 December, the European Friends of Armenia organised a briefing to assess the current state of the play in the EU-Armenia framework agreement negotiations, one year into the process.

Garegin Melkonyan, First Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments of the Republic of Armenia, Dirk Schuebel, (EEAS) and Petros Sourmelis (DG TRADE) were the speakers at the Briefing, which was moderated by Dr Hrant Kostanyan, Researcher at CEPS – Centre for European Political Studies, and attended by more than 40 participants.

Mr Schuebel, Head of Division “Eastern partnership bilateral”, kicked-off the discussion, speaking about the political aspects of the negotiations: “I am very happy to see that Armenia is very ambitious in these negotiations, and positively surprised to see how much of the previously negotiated Association Agreement we will be able to keep”, he said. Mr Schuebel warned, however, “it is up to Armenia to decide how much of the EU acquits it is prepared to adopt”.

Mr Sourmelis, Head of Unit “Russia, CIS, Ukraine, Western Balkans, EFTA, EEA and Turkey”, spoke next. He confirmed that a positive atmosphere and quick progresses can also be observed in the “trade and investment” track of the negotiations and stated: “The new agreement will be closer to the defunct DCFTA (Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement) than to the existing PCA (Partnership and Cooperation Agreement); but the toughest issues are the ones left to the end”.

Mr Melkonyan was the last of the three speakers to take the floor. He explained that since this is not a Free Trade Agreement, total trade liberalization is not to be expected, but added that the new agreement will likely contemplate some tariff reductions. As for the timeline of the negotiations, Mr Melkonyan said: “We are more concerned about the substance, rather than the timeline. For us, the most important is to reach a good final outcome, and position Armenia as an ideal investment destination, with a strong and stable political, economic and administrative environment, and an easy access to markets such as the EU’s, the EEU’s and Iran’s”.

Answering questions from the audience, Mr Schuebel stated that, given the first signs of a successful implementation of the visa facilitation and the readmission agreements, the EEAS stands ready to start a dialogue with Armenia towards a Visa Liberalisation Action Plan. However, he also stressed that the Council must authorize such a mandate, and some Member States seem reluctant to do so at this stage, for reasons not directly related to Armenia.

While stressing that this is a bilateral agreement with Armenia, and therefore specific to Armenia, Mr Sourmelis added that it could somehow become a kind of a “blueprint” for future agreements with other EEU members, such as, for instance, Belarus. The panelists reminded, however, that the situation of Human Rights in Belarus does not allow the EU to envisage starting negotiations any time soon.

Mr Melkonyan closed the debate affirming that although Armenia has commitments and responsibilities stemming from other integration processes as well, “these negotiations showcase Armenia’s devotion to the EU, which has been, is, and will probably remain our main trading partner”.

Diogo Pinto, Director of the European Friends of Armenia, speaking after the Briefing, said: “This was a successful event, and I am happy to see that it attracted the interest of so many people. Even more importantly, this evening we heard many very positive things about the progresses already made in the negotiations between Armenia and the EU. I am confident that the ambition and the constructive approach shown by the two sides will allow for a very positive conclusion of the negotiations, and that the new EU-Armenia framework agreement will soon be signed. This is great news for EuFoA and all the European friends of Armenia, but also for Armenia and the EU too”.

Jose Mourinho is taking 21 players with him to Istanbul for Manchester United’s Europa League meeting with Fenerbahce on Thursday, accoridng to Manchester United’s official website. 

Phil Jones, who has yet to make an appearance this season, is included after injury but fellow defender Chris Smalling has not made the trip. Tim Fosu-Mensah, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Anthony Martial have also been named in the squad but Michael Carrick, Memphis Depay and Antonio Valencia will remain in Manchester.

Bastian Schweinsteiger, who trained with the players this week, has not travelled as he is ineligible for the group stages of the Europa League.

The Reds are currently level on points with first-placed Feyenoord on six points. Both sides have won two and lost one, but the Dutch side are top of Group A by virtue of the head-to-head record following Feyenoord’s 1-0 win over the Reds in September. Fenerbahce, who the Reds overcame 4-1 at Old Traffordtwo weeks ago, lie third on four points, with Zorya Luhansk bottom of the group on just one point.

United squad: De Gea, Romero, Johnstone; Blind, Jones, Darmian, Fosu-Mensah, Rojo, Shaw; Fellaini, Herrera, Mkhitaryan, Lingard, Mata, Pogba, Schneiderlin, Young; Ibrahimovic, Martial, Rashford, Rooney.

Manchester United duo Anthony Martial and Morgan Schneiderlin have returned to training ahead of the Europa League tie against Fenerbahce, according to reports.

Martial and Schneiderlin suffered injuries on Saturday and did not travel to Liverpool for the Premier League draw on Monday but could be available against the Turkish side tomorrow night.

The injured Phil Jones and Sam Johnstone were the only absentees during training. Johnstone started for United U23s in their Monday night draw against Liverpool at Leigh Sports Village so his absence was understandable. Those who started at Liverpool did a warm down away from the rest of the squad.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan trained again and could return to the side for the first time in over a month. Mkhitaryan has not played since the derby defeat to City on September 10 but returned to training three weeks ago on the eve of United’s Europa League tie against Zorya Luhansk.

The Armenian has been recovering from a thigh injury and was available for the Premier League match at Liverpool on Monday but did not travel to Merseyside.

The 26 citizens injured in the crash involving a bus en route from Moscow to Yerevan and the bodies of the two victims (Arevik Lunonyan and Yuri Poghosyan) will be transported to Armenia today, the Ministry of Transport, Communication, Information Technologies informs. The three other victims of the accident are citizens of the Russian Federation.

Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Transport, Communication, Information Technologies Aram Arsenyan and representatives of the Ministry of Healthcare visited the site of the accident this morning to coordinate the work on the ground.

The Ministry had already arranged the return of the passengers in a bus, but the Russian authorities have offered to transport them in a plane.

A French-American man who helped stop a heavily armed gunman on a train in France in 2015 has received the country’s highest honour, the BBC reports.

Mark Moogalian and five other passengers overpowered the suspect, Moroccan national Ayoub El-Khazzani.

Mr Moogalian was shot in the neck during the struggle on the high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris.

The Legion d’honneur was given by President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace.

When a French passenger tried to enter a toilet on the train, he encountered the gunman and tried to overpower him.

Seeing the struggle, Mr Moogalian tried to intervene but was hit by a bullet.

Three other Americans – off-duty military servicemen Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos, and Anthony Sadler – then overpowered the attacker.

They also had the help of UK businessman Chris Norman.

The Americans and the Briton received the honour in August 2015.

Sorbonne professor Mark Moogalian, has lived in France for more than two decades,  but is originally from Midlothian and is of Armenian descent.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire 20 times at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The rival used weapons of different calibers as it fired over 225 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army remained committed to the ceasefire regime and confidently continued with their military duty.