Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

For the first time, a big budget, wide-release feature film-complete with a-list, Hollywood celebrities and a renowned, Academy Award-winning director-will depict the Armenian Genocide. This monumental film, The Promise, will be released in mainstream theaters across the United States and Canada on April 21, marking a major triumph for the Armenian community.

Produced by the legendary Kirk Kerkorian’s Survival Pictures and directed by Academy Award winner Terry George (Hotel Rwanda), The Promise features an outstanding international cast, including Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon, Christian Bale, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Angela Sarafyan, and many more. All proceeds from the film will be donated to non-profit organizations, the first time for a film of this scale.

In the film, it is 1914. As the Great War looms, the vast Ottoman Empire is crumbling. Constantinople (Istanbul)-its once vibrant, multicultural capital-is about to be consumed by chaos. Michael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac) arrives in the cosmopolitan hub as a medical student determined to bring modern medicine to Siroun, his ancestral village in southern Turkey where Turkish Muslims and Armenian Christians have lived side by side for centuries. Photo-journalist Chris Meyers (Christian Bale) has come only partly to cover geo-political news. He is mesmerized by his love for Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), an Armenian artist he has accompanied from Paris after the sudden death of her father. When Michael meets Ana, their shared Armenian heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between the two men, even as Michael hangs on to a promise from his past. After the Turks join the war on the German side, the Empire turns violently against its own ethnic minorities. Despite their conflicts, everyone must find a way to survive-even as monumental events envelope their lives.

In addition to the all-star cast, acclaimed musician and activist Serj Tankian served as the film’s executive music consultant and contributed a modern rendition of the Armenian folk song, “Sari Siroun Yar,” to the soundtrack. “It’s been an honor to be an impartial ear and eye to the film,” said Tankian. “The best way to counter high budget disinformation campaigns by the Turkish government is to move people with the truth via the arts. I’ve been doing it for years with music and wanted to help do it through film somehow.” The original title song for the film was written and performed by Chris Cornell of the band Soundgarden and the original score was composed by Academy Award winner Gabriel Yared (The English Patient).

In addition to the release in the United States and Canada on April 21, The Promise will also be released in the Middle East (Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, UAE, Yemen) on April 20; in Armenia and Russia on April 27; in the United Kingdom on April 28; in Poland on May 5; in Australia on May 25; in Thailand on June 1; in Spain on June 2; in Belgium on June 14; in the Netherlands on June 15; in Singapore on June 22; in South Africa on June 23 and in Italy on August 24.

The grassroots campaign to ensure the box-office success of The Promise has been a worldwide effort supported by a joint coalition of Armenian organizations in North America, including: All-Armenian Student Association (All-ASA), Armenia Fund, Armenia Tree Project, Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance, Armenian Catholic Eparchy in the United States & Canada, Armenian Film Foundation, Armenian Gay and Lesbian Association of New York (AGLA NY), Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA), Armenian Missionary Association of America, Armenian Missionary Association of Canada, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC), Armenian National Institute (ANI), Armenian Network of America, Armenian Prelacy of Canada, the Armenian Relief Society (ARS) of the United States, Armenian Students’ Association of America, Arpa Foundation for Film, Music and Art (AFFMA), Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), Constantinople Armenian Relief Society (CARS), Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), Diocese of the Armenian Church of Canada, Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, Embassy of the Republic of Armenia to Canada, Embassy of the Republic of Armenia to the United States, Gay and Lesbian Armenian Society (GALAS), Hamazkayin Educational & Cultural Society of the United States, Hayastan Foundation Canada, Knights and Daughters of Vartan, National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), Office of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in the United States, ONEArmenia, Organization of Istanbul Armenians (OIA), Tekeyan Cultural Association of the United States and Canada, Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (SOAR), Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and Zoryan Institute.

Armenian Weekly – The Supreme Court of Appeals in Turkey has annulled the decision to expropriate Surp Giragos of Diyarbakir, reported Istanbul-based Agos.

The decision to expropriate the largest Armenian church in the Middle East was adopted in March 2016. In addition to Surp Giragos, the Surp Sarkis Chaldean Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the St. Mary Syriac Church, and the Protestant Church were among some of the other sites in the city that were subjected to expropriation by the Turkish cabinet.

The Surp Giragos Armenian Church Foundation had previously appealed to the State Council for the annulment of the expropriation.

The Turkish court had then sent an inquiry to the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urban planning, questioning the expropriation of the church. After the lack of answers regarding the expropriation of the church, the court decided to suspend the decision.

The court ruled that Surp Giragos Church is registered in the list of immovable properties and that it is protected by the Law on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Property. The ruling also stated that an expropriation of the church opposes agreements made during the Treaty of Lausanne.

According to that document, minorities are given equal rights for founding, administrating and controlling religious, charitable, and social institutions, while the Turkish government guaranteed that it will protect the churches and religious institutions belonging to minorities.

With votes tallied from 99.8 percent of precincts, Armenian Central Electoral Commission said four political forces will make it to the National Assembly.

The preliminary results are as follows:

Yelk bloc – 7.78 %
Free Democrats Party – 0.94 %
Armenian Renaissance – 3.72 %
Tsarukyan alliance – 27.36%
Congress-People’s Party – 1.66 %
Republican Party of Armenia -49.19%
Communist Party of Armenia – 0.75%
Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanian alliance – 2.07%
Armenian Revolutionary Federation – 6.58%

The voter turnout was 60.86%. The final results will be announced in seven days.

Results of exit polls suggest four political forces will make it to the National Assembly – Republican Party of Armenia (46%), Tsarukyan Alliance (25%), Yelk bloc (10%) and Armenian Revolutionary Federation (5%). Other forces are expected to collect between 2-4% of the votes.

The exit poll was conducted by the Armenian Sociological Association/The Gallup Organization and was financed by Yerkir Media TV.

Polls close in Armenian parliamentary elections.

The Central Electoral Commission informs that 1,317,936 citizens or 50.93 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the elections as of 5 p.m. The final voter turnout will be announced at 9 p.m.

The total number of eligible voters is 2,587,706. The voting took place at 2009 polling stations in 13 electoral districts across the republic.

Nine forces including five parties and four blocks are running for 101 seats in the Parliament: Republican Party of Armenia, Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Free Democrats Party, Communist Party of Armenia, Armenian National Congress-People’s Party bloc, Tsarukyan alliance, Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanian bloc, and Yelk alliance. To make it to the Parliament, the parties and blocs have to cross the threshold of 5 and 7 percent respectively.

Forty-nine local organizations with over 28 thousand observers  monitored the elections. The elections was also followed by 650 observers from international organizations including OSCE/ODIHR, OSCE PA, PACE, IS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and European Parliament.

Comparisons with Nazi Germany are “lines that should not be crossed”, the German foreign minister has warned his Turkish counterpart as they met to try to defuse a bitter row, the BBC reports.

But Sigmar Gabriel also emphasised his wish to return to “friendly relations”.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Germany of “Nazi practices” because of the cancellation of rallies involving Turkish ministers.

He is seeking new constitutional powers in a 16 April referendum.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu repeated the Nazi comparison on a visit to Hamburg aimed at drumming up support among some of the 1.4m Turkish voters who live in Germany.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned the Nazi jibe as “unacceptable” and Mr Gabriel echoed her sentiment after a breakfast meeting in Berlin with Mr Cavusoglu.

“The Turkish side said it wanted to be treated equally with respect but I believe both sides have a responsibility and there are lines that must not be crossed and any comparison with Nazi Germany is one of them,” Mr Gabriel said.

But Mr Gabriel was also keen to stress the “success” of the two nations’ ties, and stressed his intention to avoid lasting damage to them.

Azerbaijan is trying to undermine and fail the agreements on Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg, Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan has said. “Speaking about the resumption of talks or about negotiations being frozen by Armenia is at least hypocrisy,” Balayan told .

The comments come after Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov accused the Armenian side of having stopped the negotiations on the Karabakh conflict settlement.

“Negotiations with Armenia on Nagorno-Karabakh are currently stopped,” Mammadyarov said, speaking at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

He then accused Armenia of refusing from negotiations. “We proposed to continue substantive negotiations, but the Armenian side does not go for it. On April 2, parliamentary elections will be held in Armenia. We proposed to hold talks after this date,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister said.

“This fully meets the logic of Azerbaijan’s non-constructive provocative policy,” Tigran Balayan said.

“It’s well known that after the aggression of April 2, 2016 the international community was insisting on the need to create conditions conducive to the continuation of negotiations,” the Spokesman said. He reminded that two summits were organized in Vienna and St. Petersburg, where concrete agreements were reached on creation of those conditions.

He added, however, that Azerbaijan refuses to implement the agreements and keeps preventing their implementation. “Therefore, speaking about the resumption of negotiations or about talks being frozen because of the Armenian side is at least hypocrisy,” Tigran Balayan stated.

An Istanbul court ordered life sentences for three of 12 suspects accused of murdering an elderly Armenian-origin Turkish citizen in the city on Feb. 9, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.
Three arrested suspects – Aram Hovhannisyan, Artur Ayvazyan and Serge Mikaelyan – were given life in jail for “voluntary manslaughter” and were sentenced to at least 25 years for both “attempted murder” and “looting and damage to property.”

The court ordered the acquittal of nine other suspects who were related to the incident.

Ayvazyan pleaded not guilty, saying they did not mean to kill and just intended to commit robbery.

One of the other suspects, Hovhanisyan, also said they do not intend to kill anyone, saying “if we wanted to kill we would have just done so.”

“We just went there for robbery. We did not have any masks. I tied [the victim] but I didn’t hurt him,” he added.

The incident occurred on Feb. 6, 2016 in the Şişli district of Istanbul.

Hagop Yakup Demirci, 85, was found dead in his apartment on Feb. 6. Burglars had left him and his wife Seta Ayda Demirci, 79, hogtied inside their apartment and stole some 100,000 Turkish Liras.

An Istanbul prosecutor demanded the arrest of 15 suspects on 13 different criminal charges including homicide and looting in relation to the incident.

The court ruled for the arrest of three suspects on charges of “homicide,” “looting,” “seizure,” and “violation of dwelling immunity.” Twelve women were released from detention upon a judicial control decision.

A special team formed of officers from the homicide bureau of the Istanbul Police Department Public Order Unit captured three of the 15 initial suspects in the Black Sea province of Trabzon late on Feb. 9, while five other suspects who are reported to have helped commit the burglary were captured in Istanbul on the same day.

The Azerbaijani side used firearms of different calibers, including sniper rifles, as it violated the ceasefire about 30 times at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night.

The rival fired more than 400 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The Azerbaijani forces used Instiglal sniper rifles in the southeastern direction, the Ministry said.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army refrained from response actions and confidently continued with their military duty all along the line of contact.

No one has suffered in a road accident in Syunik province, Spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan has said.

Speaking to Public Radio of Armenia, the Spokesman refuted the reports on a major crash involving a military vehicle.

“The vehicle has not crashed, it has just run off the road,” Hovhannisyan said. He added that none of the soldiers in the car has been injured, no one has been hospitalized.