Like the recent “Architects of Denial,” the documentary “Intent to Destroy” is another strong look at how an estimated 1.5 million Christian Armenians were murdered between 1915 and 1918 by the Ottoman Empire (which became the modern Republic of Turkey), and why, a century later, the Turkish government still does not formally accept the facts of this heinous massacre nor the use of the word “genocide.”
Director Joe Berlinger uniquely explores this complex, disturbing issue by embedding with the production of “The Promise,” Terry George’s sweeping romantic drama set against the events of the Armenian genocide. Berlinger then uses scenes, off-camera bits and on-set chats (with director George, producer Mike Medavoy and crew members) from that late-2015 shoot to help create a highly dimensional survey of what Armenians often call “The Great Crime.” (“The Promise,” which starred Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, opened in April to mixed reviews and disappointing grosses.)
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Not rated
Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes
Playing: Pacific Glendale 18; Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena
French master realist and class-conscious filmmaker from Marseille, Robert Guédiguian, has a totally different manner of handling serious issues and humor, The People’s World said in an article about a recent movie by the French-Armenian filmmaker that featured at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Many of his films deal with true historical events. His previous film, “Don’t Tell Me the Boy Was Mad”, involves the Armenian Genocide, a subject close to the heart of this director with Armenian heritage. His remake of “The Army of Crime” (2009) tells the true story of Armenians in the French Resistance during WWII.
Guédiguian’s latest film, “The House By the Sea” (see trailer below), takes place just south of Marseille in a seaport village where families have settled in for decades. The Russian writer Chekhov once said, “If you want to speak about the world, speak about your village.” The film focuses on the unspoken discord in a family of three siblings gathering in their village to determine what to do with their aging father and how to deal with the family property. While the aging locals are dealing with a community that has been gentrified, where all the familiar landmarks are vanishing, replaced by rich speculators, and homes are being priced out of range, one older couple plan their dual suicide, while others contemplate their fate in a profit driven corporate world. But what makes this leftist director unique among his peers is his Marxist awareness of the signs of a changing world. The son jokes at one point about someone calling them “middle class,” knowing as communists they’ve always identified with the “working class.”
As the characters confess their deepest emotions before other family members, such as the wife who suppressed her anger at her husband for allowing their 6-year-old daughter to wander into the water and drown so many years ago, the movie turns into a deep melodrama. While this goes on, they begin to notice a gradual buildup of police cars along the waterfront throughout the summer, soon to discover that the police have been scouting for refugees forced out of their war-torn countries and hiding out in the hills. Sympathizing with this human tragedy, they secretly search for the families, many with very young starving children, and eventually harbor one of the families with three children in their home.
Longtime TIFF Director and CEO Piers Handling says Guédiguian’s newest film is “one of his best films. So moved and impressed by this film that speaks to what is going on today.” It’s a philosophical study of what the world can be, as the seven main characters discuss many of the world’s issues. Guédiguian and his wife Ariane Ascaride accompanied the film in its North American premiere. Explaining the structure of his film, he stated, “The idea of the ‘universal’ doesn’t exist but only when it is crystallized in a single moment or single place such as the one in the movie. I truly believe you can tell every single story of the world from any place in the world.” He most always chooses Marseille.
There’s no question among reputable scholars and historians that the slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War II constitutes genocide. So why, after a full century, is it still considered controversial to declare the murder of approximately 1.5 million Armenians a genocide? That’s the driving question of award-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger’s scathing new documentary, “Intent to Destroy,” which opens in Los Angeles on Nov. 10 and eviscerates Turkey’s campaign of denial.
The film’s title comes from the international legal definition of genocide, in which acts of violence are “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Berlinger explores why, despite volumes of evidence of the Ottoman government’s systematic extermination of Armenians from 1915-23, the present-day Turkish government still is determined to suppress the issue. Several countries, including the United States and Israel, refuse to fully recognize the genocide in order to maintain a strategic military and economic alliance with Turkey.
“Intent to Destroy,” which won the best documentary film award at 2017 DOC LA — The Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, is a documentary hybrid. The movie includes elements of a traditional documentary, including archival interviews with survivors and black-and-white photographs depicting scenes of carnage. There are also interviews with historians and activists who describe the events of the genocide and the century-long efforts to repress those facts.
Berlinger is Jewish and has “always been kind of obsessed with the Holocaust,” and that led him to learn more about the Armenian genocide that preceded it. He knew the Ottomans also had deported Armenians in cattle cars to concentration camps, forced them on death marches and carried out mass executions — with assistance from the German military.
“Many of the deportation orders are actually signed by … German military officers that went on to have illustrious careers in the Third Reich,” Paul Boghossian, a professor at New York University, says in the film. “It’s very clear that German ideas about population control stemmed partly from their experience in the Ottoman empire.”
Berlinger knew that on the eve of the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler instructed his officers to kill Polish men, women and children without mercy, stating rhetorically, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
Berlinger’s films tend to focus on events happening in real time, such as the “Paradise Lost” trilogy about three teenagers wrongfully imprisoned for murder; “Some Kind of Monster,” spotlighting the rock band Metallica; and “Chevron,” which explores the environmental lawsuit filed by Ecuadorians against the oil giant.
He had been interested in the Armenian story for a long time, but didn’t know how to tell it until he heard about “The Promise.”
“Intent to Destroy” also explores how Turkish pressure has made it so difficult for Hollywood filmmakers to tell the Armenian story. Franz Werfel, a refugee from the Holocaust, wrote the 1933 best-selling historical novel “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh,” which told of an Armenian community that fought off Turkish soldiers until the French Navy rescued them. He penned it as a historical cautionary tale to warn the world about Hitler as the Nazis were consolidating power in Germany.
Documentary director Joe Berlinger films actor Christian Bale holding a child on the
set of “The Promise.” Photo courtesy of Survival Pictures, LLC. Photo by Jose Haro
Irving Thalberg of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer secured the film rights in the early 1930s, before it was published in English, and tentatively cast a rising young actor named Clark Gable in the starring role. Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, Mehmet Münir Ertegün, successfully pressured the United States State Department to scrap the project by threatening to ban all American films from screening in Turkey.
Several documentaries and low-budget films have since been made about the genocide. But the long-simmering effort to make an epic historical drama heated up when Armenian-American casino mogul Kirk Kerkorian set aside $100 million in his will to make a dramatized film about the Armenians. Terry George, the director and writer of 1994’s Oscar-nominated “Hotel Rwanda,” wrote and directed “The Promise,” and is also a central character in “Intent to Destroy.”
Berlinger embedded himself with the production, traveling with the cast and crew to Spain, Portugal and Malta (filming in Turkey was out of the question) for 72 days as they filmed a love story set against the backdrop of village burnings, death marches and mass executions. “Intent to Destroy,” like “The Promise,” was funded by the Kerkorian Foundation. Berlinger enjoyed full access to the set, interviewing the cast and crew, as well as extras who were descendants of genocide survivors.
“If it were truly a Hollywood production where a studio was making that film, like Warner Bros. or Paramount or whatever, there’s no way that I would have been allowed … on that set for even more than a couple of hours,” Berlinger said.
Berlinger is used to inserting himself into volatile situations, whether it’s a murder trial or a world-famous band’s psychotherapy sessions, and is aware that his presence might have had a disruptive effect on the making of “The Promise.”
“The artistic process is a very precious thing that is difficult to define. And throwing somebody into the mix, you don’t want that to affect or change the outcome,” he said.
“The Promise” had disappointing results at the box office (grossing just $10 million, far below its $90 million production budget) and was not well-received by critics. But Berlinger thinks it still achieved Kerkorian’s goal before his death: having his ancestors’ story told on screen for a mainstream audience.
“It created tremendous dialogue and that was the goal,” Berlinger said. “All the reviews invariably mentioned the Armenian genocide of 1915 as a historical fact.”
The memory of the genocide is engrained in Armenian identity, just as denying that it happened is critically important to the Turks. “Intent to Destroy” does interview a couple of historians who blame the mass killings on a “pogrom,” “forced migration,” “a war of mutual extermination,” and even “Holocaust envy,” instead of genocide.
But whatever word one uses to describe it, “Intent to Destroy” makes the case that genocide did happen, and we must now ask why it happened and how can it be prevented from happening again. The successful denial of genocide emboldens other leaders to carry out ethnic cleansing campaigns with impunity, whether it’s in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia or Darfur.
Berlinger has no illusions that “Intent to Destroy” will convince Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
“Let’s face it. It’s about land and money. If they recognize the genocide, eastern Turkey becomes western Armenia and there’s billions of dollars of reparations, just like the Germans have [made], that would have to be paid,” Berlinger said. “I believe it should be recognized, but I don’t think there’s the political will for a story that’s 100 years old. Even though, for the Armenians, it’s as current as if it were yesterday.”
“Intent to Destroy” will screen at Laemmle Playhouse in Los Angeles and Pacific Theatres in Glendale beginning Nov. 10.
A level-headed documentary lies behind the hot-blooded title of “Intent to Destroy: Death, Denial & Depiction.” While there may be no completely dispassionate way to discuss its topic — the Armenian genocide — the film’s balance of emotion and composure helps make its stories even stronger.
Some 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in the early part of the 20th century. What should be an accepted fact remains a provocative topic, as the Turkish government continues to ignore or deny the events and, as it has for a century, coerce businesses and push other governments to do the same.
Joe Berlinger, the director, uses old footage of survivors and insights from historians to provide an overview of the crimes. He also embeds himself with the cast and crew of “The Promise,” a recent fictional film set around 1915 that explores the fighting and mass killings. Mr. Berlinger’s plan is smart as well as symbolic — evidence shows that the Turkish government has often pressured studios into shelving movies about the genocide.
Discussions on the film set are intertwined with historical analysis, and there are explorations of crowd psychology, revisionism and German cooperation with the Ottoman Turks; it’s no stretch to see how the massacre of Armenians helped lay groundwork for the Holocaust.
At its core, “Intent to Destroy” is a call to remember the victims, both for their sake and for our own. “If you want to understand Yugoslavia, if you want to understand Rwanda, if you want to understand any other mass atrocity [that] is happening today, you should really look into the Armenian genocide,” one scholar says near the end of the documentary. “History is not in the past.”
Director Joe Berlinger
Writers Joe Berlinger, Cy Christiansen
Stars Shohreh Aghdashloo, Taner Akçam, Hagop Asadourian, Peter Balakian, Christian Bale
Running Time 1h 55m
Genre Documentary
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—The 20th Arpa International Film Festival and Awards Gala was full of memorable moments this year. An unprecedented number of guests attended the three-day film festival held at Hollywood’s historic Egyptian Theatre from Nov. 3-5. The opening night program, featuring the French biopic “Dalida,” was sold out, as were the centerpiece films “Intent to Destroy” and “Dead on Arrival” on Saturday evening.
(L to R) Terry George and Eric Nazarian (Photo: Don Q. Hannah Photography)
The celebratory weekend closed with a spectacular sold-out Awards Gala held at the Loews Hollywood Hotel on Nov. 5. Over 400 guests attended the special 20th anniversary evening hosted by filmmaker Eric Nazarian (“The Blue Hour,” “Bolis,” “Three Christs”). The program included special musical performances by theremin virtuoso Armen Ra and vocalist Mister X.
Awards were presented to the five winning films in the Best Shorts, Best Documentary, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Feature categories. Honorees Terry George, Carl Weathers, Alexander Dinelaris, and Chris Cornell (posthumously) were given touching tributes, along with one-of-a-kind gifts.
Armen Ra (Photo: Don Q. Hannah Photography)
Special guests during the weekend included Serj Tankian, Angela Sarafyan, Billy Flynn, Barbara Carrera, Ara Keshishian, Ken Davitian, Stephen C. Sepher, Rory Fradella, Nazo Bravo, Lillo Brancato, and Scottie Thompson.
Unique Khachkar Presented to Terry George
Academy Award-winning screenwriter-director Terry George (“The Promise,” “In the Name of the Father,” “Hotel Rwanda,” “The Shore,” “Some Mother’s Son”) received the prestigious Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award, named after the German soldier/medic who was stationed in the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian Genocide and documented the atrocities he witnessed with his photographs.
Arpa’s coveted Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award, presented each year to a filmmaker whose work contributes toward the struggle for social consciousness and human rights, was awarded to Terry George in recognition of his extensive body of films that have shed light on the situation in his native Northern Ireland, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Armenian Genocide.
Terry George also received a unique khachkar (stone-cross) sculpted by local artist Hrach Gukasyan. The tradition of etching crosses on stone is unique to the Armenian and Irish nations. A special khachkar with a Celtic cross surrounded by Armenian motifs was commissioned by Arpa, symbolizing the Armenian people’s gratitude to the Irish filmmaker.
Boxing Belt Presented to Carl Weathers
Carl Weathers, the beloved actor best known for his portrayal of Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” series, was the recipient of Arpa’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Weathers has also starred in films such as “Predator,” “Action Jackson,” “Hurricane Smith,” “Happy Gilmore,” and “Little Nicky.” Presenting the Lifetime Achievement Award to the legendary actor was award-winning writer/producer Jason Wilborn, best known for his work on “Queen Sugar,” “Brothers and Sisters,” and “American Dreams.”
Carl Weathers (Photo: Don Q. Hannah Photography)
Weathers received a special personalized authentic championship boxing belt designed and gifted by SARTONK, originator of the modern boxing belt. Edward Majian’s SARTONK was founded based on the designs of his grandfather Ardash Sahagian’s boxing belts, which serve as the blueprint for all of today’s championship boxing and MMA belts.
Lifetime Legacy Award Posthumously Awarded to Chris Cornell
This year’s Lifetime Legacy Award was posthumously awarded to music icon Chris Cornell, whose life came to a tragic end early this year. Cornell, best known as the lead vocalist for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave, as well as the founder and front man of Temple of the Dog, was also a human rights activist committed to ameliorating the worldwide refugee crisis and the despair of vulnerable children. The Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter’s last solo release was the charity single “The Promise,” written for the motion picture of the same name.
(L to R) Karla Marukian, Eric Nazarian, and Angela Sarafyan; Chris Cornell Portrait by Emil Kazaz ((Photo: Don Q. Hannah Photography)
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Cornell Family was unable to attend the Gala. There to accept the Lifetime Legacy Award on behalf of the family was beloved actress Angela Sarafyan (“Westworld,” “The Promise”), a recipient of the Arpa Rising Star Award in 2014. Sarafyan was visibly moved after a touching tribute reel to Chris Cornell and emphasized his philanthropic and humanitarian efforts. A specially commissioned portrait of Chris Cornell was gifted by renowned artist Emil Kazaz and presented to Sarafyan.
Screenwriter Alexander Dinelaris Honored with Arpa’s Career Achievement Award
Oscar-winning screenwriter Alexander Dinelaris, best known for his original screenplay for the 2014 film “Birdman,” received Arpa’s Career Achievement Award. His body of work includes numerous theatrical pieces and musicals, including “The Bodyguard,” featuring the music of Whitney Houston, and the critically acclaimed “On Your Feet!” Broadway musical about the life and career of Gloria Estefan. Dinelaris’s earlier works include the powerful play “Red Dog Howls,” in which he touches on the Armenian Genocide. The piece was influenced by his Armenian grandmother, who played an important role in his younger years.
Alexander Dinelaris (Photo: Don Q. Hannah Photography)
The Award was presented to Dinelaris by Michael Peretzian, with whom he collaborated on the play “Red Dog Howls.” Peretzian is known for representing many distinguished screenwriters and directors, including John Madden and Anthony Minghella. Both Peretzian and Dinelaris in their remarks touched on their Armenian ancestry and the need to be more accepting of Americans who come from different ethnic backgrounds. Dinelaris was also presented with a specially engraved Mont Blanc pen gifted by Bhindi Jewellers, in recognition of his superb writing.
(L to R) Haig Boyadjian, Serj Tankian, Sylvia Minassian, and Angela Tankian (Photo: Don Q. Hannah Photography)
2017 Arpa IFF Winning Films
Best Feature Film: “Dalida” (France, 2016)
The award was presented by two-time Golden Globe-nominated actress Barbara Carrera, who starred in close to 40 movies, including the James Bond film “Never Say Never Again,” “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” and “Embryo.”
“Dalida” is an intimate portrait based on the real story of a strong, fiercely independent woman whose 30-year dazzling career was punctuated by tragic events, with no less than three of her lovers committing suicide. With over 170 million albums sold, Dalida was the first singer to receive platinum and diamond discs; some of her best hits are “Bang Bang,” “Paroles Paroles,” and “Avec Le Temps.” Dalida continued to perform at concerts until her last days, but her suicide in 1987 immortalized her iconic image as a diva and renowned singer.
Theatrical poster of “Intent to Destroy”
Best Documentary Film: “Intent to Destroy” (USA, 2017)
The award was presented to Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger by top Eileen Ford model Ronnie Carol, known for her role as Juliette Bagradian in the movie “40 Days of Musa Dagh,” along with a recurring role on the soap “As the World Turns.”
Pulling back the curtain on mass murder censorship in Hollywood due to U.S. government pressure to appease a strategic ally, “Intent to Destroy” embeds a historic feature film production as a springboard to explore the violent history of the Armenian Genocide and legacy of Turkish suppression and denial over the past century.
Joe Berlinger’s 13th feature documentary film captures the cinematic and political challenges of producing a historically meaningful, big-budget feature film in an environment rife with political suppression and threats of retaliation. By intertwining these three separate threads—the modern-day production of “The Promise,” the history of the Armenian Genocide, and the century of international repression—“Intent to Destroy” coalesces to provide a comprehensive view on the atrocities of 1915 to 1923 and their resounding aftermath, right up until the present day.
“Intent to Destroy” will be released theatrically on Nov. 10 at the following locations: Laemmle’s Playhouse in Pasadena; Pacific Theaters 18 in Glendale, at the Americana at Brand; Village East Cinema in New York City.
Theatrical poster of “Mariam’s Day Off”
Best Short Film: “Mariam’s Day Off” (Armenia, 2016)
The award was presented by actor Yancey Arias from the NBC series “Kingpin” and the FX series “Thief.” Arshak Amirbekyan’s film, shot in Armenia, is about a young prostitute who meets an artist in a park, gets invited to a modeling session, and finds herself in a new and exciting world of artists; but, when night falls, she has to return to her regular life in the park. The Award was accepted by actor/director Ashot Adamyan, who stars in the film.
Best Screenplay: “The Liberation of Skopje” (Macedonia/Croatia/Finland, 2016). Writers: Dusan Jovanovic, Rade Šerbedžija, Danilo Šerbedžija
“The Liberation of Skopje” captures the horrors and suffering of the Second World War, portrayed in bittersweet terms through the eyes of 11-year-old Zoran, whose father has joined the partisans to fight the German occupiers and whose mother becomes involved with a German officer.
Best Direction: “H.O.M.E” (USA, 2016). Director: Daniel Maldonado
“H.O.M.E” is a film about urban communication, alienation, and the human condition. Part lyrical tone poem of NYC, it comprises two stories involving intimate and meaningful encounters through the lens of a “disconnected” city in constant motion.
About AFFMA and Arpa International Film Festival
Over the course of 20 years, Arpa International Film Festival has continuously provided a platform dedicated to cultivating cultural understanding and global empathy for international cinema. Recognized as one of the oldest independent film festivals for international cinema in Los Angeles, Arpa has bridged cultural divides by fostering dialogue among people of diverse backgrounds. By showcasing local, international, and Armenian films that explore critical issues such as war, genocide, dual identities, exile, and multiculturalism, Arpa has solidified its role in safeguarding films that continue to make a social impact.
One of the overarching goals of Arpa Foundation for Film, Music & Art (AFFMA) in launching its signature Arpa International Film Festival two decades ago was to create an arena that offers Armenian filmmakers, Armenian films, and Armenian-themed films wider exposure in Hollywood. In light of its landmark anniversary, AFFMA has decided to create internship opportunities for students of Armenian heritage who are pursuing careers in cinema and entertainment. This will augment previous forms of support given to filmmakers over the past 20 years and allow the organization to deliver an increased number of film screenings and other events promoting Armenian artists year-round.
Voice of America
In an exclusive interview with Current Time reporter, Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismailova touched upon the noisy corruption scandal which involves the Aliyev family.
In recent decades, Baku, outwardly, reminds of a western city, where the desire to quickly overcome European integration challenges is noticeable.
There are many similar buildings in the central part of Baku where some street names are written only in English.
Though, all this is only an outward impression. In fact, Azerbaijan is among the most corrupt countries in the world where there is no freedom of speech and media, and any manifestation of critical thinking is punished with imprisonment.
Continuing the traditions of his father Heydar Aliyev, Ilham also prefers to keep the levers of power and almost everything under the control of his family.
After the referendum held in 2016, the post of Vice President was added in Azerbaijan which Ilham Aliyev conveyed his wife Mihriban Aliyeva, and their eldest daughter was appointed as the director of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.
“Since 2008, due to the large flow of foreign investments, about 130 billion dollars was invested in Azerbaijan, but it is not known how the money was spent,” said investigative journalist Khadija Ismailova.
Khadija Ismailova, former Azeri correspondent of Azerbaijani service the radio Freedom, is perhaps the only investigative journalist in Azerbaijan who managed to reveal the details of the state scale scandalous corruption history with the participation of Aliyev family.
“It turns out that the oil boom started in here and ended, but nothing has changed in our country,” said Ismailova.
It should be reminded that the Azerbaijani authorities had never reacted to the facts presented in the articles of Khadija, but in autumn 2015, Khadija was sentenced to 7.5 years’ imprisonment on charges of tax avoidance, illegal entrepreneurial activity, and abuse of office,
As a result of harsh criticism and pressure by many international human rights organizations and activists against the verdict, imposed on these political motives, in 2016, after six-month imprisonment, Khadija was released.
“I have investigated the details of the activities of the businessmen belonging to the Aliyev family, and I can say that all these companies have one common thing: they are all badly guided… There has been no case in Azerbaijan, disclosed by us, that the Prosecutor General’s Office investigated. There has been no such case. We have discovered that offshore companies linked with British companies also belong to Aliyev’s daughters. When this story came to the surface, negatively affecting the income and reputation of those companies, the Aliev family decided to sell them. And whom did they sell them again? To the Government… And it turns out that we – citizens, had to pay for it again… The family works here, but they have created such a system that nobody in this country, no one, except them, can afford to make big money. And not only large amounts of money, but in general, to make any money. It’s like a game called Tables, when closing and holding all your positions, you do not have any opportunity to move. Because starting from that moment, when people begin to move freely, that is, to earn enough money and live a good life, they will start to raise other issues … this is what our government does not wish,” Investigative journalist Khadija Ismailova told a correspondent of The Current Time.
The latest investigation by the British magazine The Guardian, in which Khadija also took part, revealed a secret bank account owned by the government of Azerbaijan, with $ 3 billion used to bribe high-ranking European politicians.
Ali Hasanov, Aliyev’s advisor, called the publication of The Guardian as “poisonous”, adding that the initiators are British secret services, the Armenian Diaspora, and the United States of America.
During the protest action today, YSU Faculty of Mathematics Department Associate Professor Karen Saghatelyan called for opening the closed doors of the Faculty of Physics and allow students to take part in a strike. “I’m against the abolition of the academic procrastination. I think that instead of postgraduates and students, all this “cops” should serve in the army.”
On the question how the eliminaton of academic procrastination would affect students, Karen Saghatelyan said: “It is a case of statistics, one part will be able to continue their studies, and the other part will not. There are people who are not students anymore, after finishing serving in the army. Some manage to get the lowest mark and continue their studies. But it does not mean that everyone should be sent to army.”
As to the suggestion of the lecturer to send “cops” to the army, Ashot Aharonyan, Chief of the Police Public Relations Department commented on it.
“Not only young people who have raised the problem, but also some propagandists, participate in the protest against the draft law on compulsory military service. During the polluted water this is common, but irresponsibility must also have boundaries. For example, a person namend Saghatelyan, representing the Department of Mathematics told journalists that instead of the students, it would be right to send cops to serve in the army.An associate professor, who also is a pedagogue, at his age should know that they are not called “cops” but police. Second: he had to be aware that the officer in the police was obliged to have served in the army.Third: these police officers took part in the Artsakh war, then the four-day war, and they are prepared and ready for the first reserve to go to the front every moment. Fourth: many of these police officers not only returned from military and serve in pilice but also study in higher education institutions, in parallel with serving.I emphasize “service” and “learning” so that a professional and citizen educator understands that service and study are not antonyms but often synonyms. Eignteen years’ old, given to emotions, may consider it ahrd to understand this, but I think the Docent, especially of the pragmatic mathematics sphere, is obliged to perceive, otherwise how and where the scientific areas lead his students…”
Today, Serzh Sargsyan received a group of participants of the 2nd All-Armenian Scientific Conference held in Yerevan on November 5-8. The delegation consisted of prominent Armenian scientists and scholars from the United States, Russia, France, Ireland, Denmark and other countries.
Welcoming the scientists to Homeland, Serzh Sargsyan highlighted the holding of this already traditional conference in capital Yerevan.
“It is crucial for young people to have the opportunity of communicating with individuals who have already achieved great success in science and technology, but I believe that this forum is also important from another perspective: it is not only a chance for young people to get familiar with new scientific ideas, but it is also a good opportunity to see how successful people can be of service to our country. We have no other way but to build a knowledge-based economy,” Mr. Sargsyan emphasized, presenting Armenia’s consistent policy of encouraging and promoting successful scientists and the individuals with great aspirations amid the financial constraints faced in the country.
The scientists in attendance talked about their impressions of the President-supported All-Armenian Scientific Conference, dwelling on the achievements recorded since the first forum. They evoked those substantive discussions held with many young Armenian researchers that are supposed to combine the scientific potential of Armenia and the Diaspora, exchange know-how, as well as to discuss issues relevant research and education and the ways of dealing with them in a bid to promote Armenia’s development.
The guests exchanged ideas with Mr. Sargsyan on further cooperation for the promotion of science and education in Armenia. During the meeting, Serzh Sargsyan answered the scientists’ questions.
Today, there is a global strike in Catalonia again, demanding the release of politicians in the country.
To remind, former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four former ministers were freed with conditions by an investigating judge in Belgium sveral days ago.
Puigdemont and ministers voluntarily surrendered to the Belgian police when Madrid disbanded the Catalonian government, putting direct government in the autonomous region, and made a decision to arrest them, which was mandatory in all European Union member states. Eight other officials of the Catalonian government have been detained, interrogation, one of which was released on bail.
The Spanish Supreme Court blames Puigdemont and its administration officials for riots and wasting budgetary means. On November 17, the Belgian court will consider the issue of Puigdemont’s extradition.
The people consider them political prisoners.
The strikers blocked the roads, the highway leading to France, some routes of high-speed trains.