Category: 2019

Adaptation Of Armenian Novel To Be Produced By Egg & Spoon

Emil Lazarian
Broadway World
Sept 24 2019
by BWW News Desk

BroadwayWorld.com Sep. 24, 2019   

Zabelle, Nancy Kricorian’s award-winning novel about one woman’s survival of the Armenian Genocide is being produced by Egg & Spoon as part of its third season. The piece was originally created and produced at Syracuse University‘s Department of Drama in 2015. It was directed and adapted by Leslie Noble, a professor in the department, and devised by an ensemble of four performance students: Sarineh Garapetian, Julián Garnik, Catherine Giddings, and Lindsey Newton.

Those four artists will return to the piece almost five years later to launch Egg & Spoon’s 2019-2020 Season at Access Theater.

“The experience of adapting Ms. Kricorian’s powerful story of survival and directing a performance with these extraordinary young people was on that has stayed with me over the years,” says Leslie Noble. “The students are now teachers. The story continues.”

The idea to adapt Kricorian’s novel came from Sarineh Garapetian, who now serves as a producer, when she was a sophomore at Syracuse. Her intention was to perform it in April 2015 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. “When it got closer to the centennial, I felt that it was important to have a piece that would not blame but inform others, about a time in history that many of my classmates didn’t know about,” Garapetian states. “But working on the piece became about much more than that – it started a conversation. Audience members began sharing their own stories, in response to ours. And ultimately, this conversation is what made producing Zabelle feel that much more important.”

In the suburbs of Boston, Zabelle Chasbanian’s life is nearing an end. And as her present is fading, a distant and forgotten history is reemerging to the surface: her childhood as a refugee during the Armenian Genocide. “Through Zabelle we humanize the one and a half million Armenians lost in the genocide,” said Adam Coy, director. “While growing up in a Jewish household, my mother instilled the phrase, ‘we must remember.’ We must remember to honor the many senselessly lost to persecution, and we must remember so that we don’t allow it to happen again.”

Zabelle runs November 14-17 at Access Theater in SoHo. Tickets can be purchased at www.eggandspoontheatre.org/zabelle.


Erdogan Opens Exhibit of Turkish-Armenian Photographer Ara Guler

Adrine Hakobian
Albawaba, Middle East
Sept 25 2019

Published September 25th, 2019 – 07:48 GMT

Ara Guler Exhibition Opening (Twitter)

Highlights
He said culture and art serve as a global bridge in developing relations among societies.

Turkey’s president opened a photo exhibition Monday featuring the works of renowned Turkish-Armenian photographer Ara Guler. 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently in New York for the 74th session of the UN General Assembly.

The president hailed the exhibition at Alexander Hamilton Custom House, recalling that similar exhibitions were held in Paris, London and Kyoto, Japan.

He said culture and art serve as a global bridge in developing relations among societies.

“I hope that the works of Ara Guler, who has truly become a global brand in his profession, will reach the masses of different cultures and nations coming to New York from all over the world,” said Erdogan.

Turkish pianist and composer Fahir Atakoglu gave a performance and Turkish Nobel chemistry laureate Aziz Sancar was also present at the inauguration.

He said Ara Guler was a man who believed in peace and fraternity.

“The great master, Ara Guler, made history with his lens. His works took a place in important museums and collections of the world and reached millions with his photographs regarding life,” said Erdogan.

Guler was born in Istanbul in 1928. Throughout his life, he was a significant global representative of Turkey’s creative photography.

He worked as a Near East photojournalist for Time Life magazine in 1956, for Paris Match in 1958 and also for German magazine Stern.

In 1962, Guler was awarded the Master of Leica title in Germany and was featured in a special issue of Swiss Camera magazine, one of the world’s leading photography publications.

He also photographed the images for Lord Kinross’ 1971 book on Hagia Sophia and the cover photo for a book marking the 90th birthday of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.

His images on art and art history were published by Time Life, Horizon, Newsweek and Skira Publishing House.

Guler’s photos of the works of famed Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan were published in the 1992 book “Sinan: Architect of Suleyman the Magnificent.”

In 2002, he was awarded the Legion of Honor Order of Arts and Letters by the French government, and in 2009 he received La Medaille de la Ville de Paris from the Paris Municipality.

He passed away on Oct. 17, 2018 at age 90.

Pashinyan called on men from the American Diaspora to marry Armenian girls

Kanayan Tamar
Arminfo, Armenia
Sept 25 2019

ArmInfo. “If your business is  going very well, be sure to buy an apartment in Yerevan, if not very  – in one of the regions of Armenia,” said Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan at a meeting with representatives of the Armenian community  in New York calling on Armenians living in the USA.

Nikol Pashinyan called on Diaspora representatives to spend at least  a month in Armenia and apply for RA citizenship for at least a month.  “And if funds allow, be sure to open a business in Armenia. These  actions can become a small bridge connecting the Armenian with  Armenia. And most importantly, to marry Armenian girls. Of  course, emotional connection is the most powerful, but it’s good to  physically back it up,” joked the head of the Armenian government.

Nikol Pashinyan on Amulsar program: We need to use our resources for Armenia`s full development

Arbi Tashjian
Arminfo, Armenia
Sept 25 2019

ArmInfo. Armenian Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan considers it improper to demonize the mining  industry. He stated this at a meeting with representatives of the  Armenian community of New York, answering the question why the new  government does not consider revising the legislation in this area so  as not to face possible blackmail of mining investors in the future.

According to Pashinyan, the Armenian government must be completely  honest, both with the Armenian and international public. As the prime  minister pointed out, the new government inherited the problem from  the previous one, and its solution in one way or another can affect  the rating of modern Armenia. “We should go into the details of the  problem to the utmost to find the solution based on facts and risk  studies is,” he noted.

As the head of the Armenian cabinet indicated, whether it is good or  bad, but the fact is that at the moment the Armenian government has  no reason to ban the operation of the Amulsar mine. Perhaps such a  basis will appear tomorrow, in a month, but it is possible that it  will not. “Today’s United States was created on the basis of the  mining industry. One should not be afraid of it as well as the  technology sector. It’s another matter if we can provide a way in the  modern world to operate mines that will not cause at least tangible  substantial harm to life and human health. Any manifestation of  civilization can be risky from an environmental point of view, “said  Nikol Pashinyan, urging to get rid of such phobias. “My position is  as follows – we must use our resources for the full development of  Armenia,” the head of the Armenian government concluded.

To recall, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on September  9 live on Facebook said that at the moment there is no legal basis to  prohibit the operation of the Amulsar mine. Nikol Pashinyan also  officially called on the residents of Jermuk to unblock all roads  leading to the Amulsar mine. Meanwhile, on August 19, experts at  Earthlink & Advanced Resources Development (ELARD) said during a  video conference that the Lydian source data was not complete and, in  general, the  EIAof  2016was insufficient to guarantee the  environmentally sound operation of the mine.

As Pashinyan assured, the Lydian leadership committed themselves to  100% safe operation. In addition, he said that he ordered the  inspection body to study the project in detail, and the criminal case  in the Investigative Committee (under Art. Concealment or intentional  misrepresentation of information on environmental pollution),  previously entrusted to Yura Ivanyan, a relative of the former  Minister of Nature Protection Aramais Grigoryan, who approved the  Environmental Impact Assessment of  the Amulsar development, has been  transferred to the deputy head of the Investigative Committee Arsen  Ayvazyan. “A new investigation team will be formed, which will  consider the facts, give answers to questions in the framework of the  criminal case,” Pashinyan said.

In response, environmentalists, activists and residents of the resort  town of Jermuk said they were not going to unblock the roads leading  to the Amulsar field. “We do not understand the position of the prime  minister, who agreed to open the mine solely on Lydian’s” honest word  “about its 100% safe operation,” said Jermuk residents, stressing  that they would negotiate exclusively around the closure of the mine. 

Turkish press: Turkey commemorates diplomat assassinated by ASALA

Emil Lazarian
DAILY SABAH WITH AA
ISTANBUL
Published25.09.201900:46

Turkey on Tuesday remembered Cemal Özen, a diplomat who was assassinated by an Armenian terrorist group in 1981.

"We remember with respect our martyr Cemal Özen, Security Attache, assassinated by the terrorist organization ASALA in Paris on Sept. 24, 1981," the Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter.

Founded in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) is responsible for hundreds of terrorist acts.

Armenian terrorist groups targeted Turkish ambassadors and diplomats around the world from 1975 to 1984.

ASALA killed over 30 Turkish diplomats and officials in various attacks during that decade.

In his 2006 study on Armenian terrorist groups, former Turkish diplomat Ömer Engin Lütem revealed that the killings spanned the continents, taking place in the U.S., Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Lebanon, Greece, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, Portugal, Iran and the U.K.

Though the group was officially formed in 1975, the first killing of a diplomat and his deputy came on Jan. 27, 1973, when the Turkish Consul General in Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and his aide Bahadır Demir was killed by Gourgen Yanikian.

Three diplomats were killed between 1973 and 1978, after that however Turkish public servants abroad became widespread targets for Armenian terrorist organizations, like ASALA and the so-called Justice Commandoes for Armenian Genocide. Armenian terrorist attacks intensified from 1980 to 1983, when over 80 percent of all attacks – 580 of the 699 – occurred. The attack at Esenboğa airport on Aug. 7, 1982, was one of the most notorious attacks of ASALA, as the group targeted non-diplomat civilians for the first time.

Nine people died and over 80 were injured when two terrorists opened fire in a crowded passenger waiting area of the airport in the Turkish capital Ankara. The 1981 and 1983 Paris attacks are among the group's other most horrific acts. ASALA terrorists held 56 people hostage for 15 hours during the Turkish Consulate attack in 1981, while a suitcase bomb killed eight people – most of them non-Turks – in 1983 at a Turkish Airlines check-in desk at Paris' Orly Airport. According to Turkish officials, because of the Orly attack, the group lost much of its support and financial backing from the Armenian diaspora and had to dissolve. The terrorist attacks ended in 1986, according to the Armenian Terror study.

Armenia MOD on Azerbaijan military infiltration attempt into Karabakh: Something very strange has happened

Garnik Zakarian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 24 2019
Armenia MOD on Azerbaijan military infiltration attempt into Karabakh: Something very strange has happened Armenia MOD on Azerbaijan military infiltration attempt into Karabakh: Something very strange has happened

17:36, 24.09.2019

I cannot say what the “activeness” by Azerbaijan is due to. Armenia’s Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said this in a conversation with reporters Tuesday, and referring to the Azerbaijani side’s subversive infiltration attempt Sunday toward an Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Defense Army combat position located on the southeastern sector of the line of contact between Artsakh-Azerbaijan.

“It was very strange in terms of the hour of the operation, the number of personnel involved, the involvement of representatives of the special division; at least what was reported,” Tonoyan said. “Maybe they were lost.

“I will now avoid giving any assessment of what has happened, because at this moment we also are analyzing what actually has happened.

“In addition, one must also know the assessment of the Defense Army as to what it’s really like, because something very strange has happened in terms of time, number of [people] involved, and their actions.”

Asked what the Armenian side’s response will be, the defense minister noted as follows: “At the moment we will not respond; on the contrary, we have done our humanitarian duty—that is, the Defense Army did what it was supposed to do.”

He recalled that the dead body of the Azerbaijani soldier had already been transferred at about 7pm Monday.

As reported earlier, on September 22, at about 4:15pm, the Azerbaijani side carried out subversive infiltration attempt into an Artsakh Defense Army combat position located on the southeastern sector of the line of contact between the Artsakh-Azerbaijani opposing troops.

“As a result of the competent actions by the DA position-holding personnel, the adversary was driven back to its initial positions, leaving one dead body at the neutral zone,” Artsrun Hovhannisyan, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, had noted in a Facebook post. “The DA has not had any losses.”

Details of the incident are being clarified.

Some instants of the subversive infiltration attempt were recorded by the DA video-recording devices.

Gustavo Nikoghosyan: Former Armenian authorities would also collaborate to combat corruption

Ani Tigranian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 24 2019
Gustavo Nikoghosyan: Former Armenian authorities would also collaborate to combat corruption Gustavo Nikoghosyan: Former Armenian authorities would also collaborate to combat corruption

17:01, 24.09.2019
                  

The former authorities would also collaborate to combat corruption. This is what Head of Internal Oversight of “Armenia” International Airports” CJSC Gustavo Nikoghosyan told journalists today.

According to him, the fact that the Armenian government is open for collaboration is important for Corporacion America.

“The fight against corruption is a constant process for us. Seventy percent of countries have a higher level of corruption than Armenia. This is a global matter,” he stated.

In 2001, the Government of Armenia and Eduardo Eurnekian’s Corporacion America signed an agreement on the concession management of Zvartnots International Airport for 30 years, and later, a similar agreement was also signed in regard to Shirak Airport. Today, more than $160,000,000 has been invested for modernization of the two airports.

Armenian PM: I am not worried that people would become impatient

Adrine Hakobian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 24 2019
Armenian PM: I am not worried that people would become impatient Armenian PM: I am not worried that people would become impatient

14:32, 24.09.2019
                  

It is not a surprise that we have a huge resistance on behalf of our former elite to stop Armenian government’s efforts in fighting corruption, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with FOX LA’s Araksya Karapetyan.

“But we would not stop, there is no doubt,” he said.

Speaking about the process of economic revolution, he said “we have a good economic dynamics, the predictions on our economic growth are improving with every month”.

Asked whether an average Armenian is happy today, Pashinyan said Armenia still has quite a big unemployment rate. However, he added that 75 000 new jobs were created last year.

He underscored importance of making ecosystem where making business would be more attractive more positive.

Asked whether he is worried that people would become impatient, Armenian PM said: “I am not worried. People see that we are in the process of huge changes and those changes are bringing concrete results”.

https://news.am/eng/news/535133.html

Person who was with Armenia ex-Police chief before his death is questioned

Khondkarian Raffi
News.am, Armenia
Sept 24 2019
Person who was with Armenia ex-Police chief before his death is questioned Person who was with Armenia ex-Police chief before his death is questioned

11:41, 24.09.2019
                  

YEREVAN. – Hayeli.am news website, citing its sources, provided details on the death of former Police chief Hayk Harutyunyan of Armenia.

According to information which this website has received, the incident took place in the presence of witnesses.

“The Prosecutor General and [Special Investigation Service chief] Sasun Khachatryan are on my case for these past few months,” Harutyunyan had told those present, according to Hayeli.am. “They are forcing me to give false testimony against [ex-President] Robert Kocharyan and [Police Colonel] Gegham Petrosyan; but are they not guilty.”

Naira Harutyunyan, head of the Information and Public Relations Division of the Investigative Committee, has referred to this article.

“To find out the circumstances of the incident of Hayk Harutyunyan’s death, the person who was with him at the scene of the incident has been questioned,” she noted. “The latter stated the content of the conversation with Hayk Harutyunyan, which had nothing to do with putting pressure on him, and in general, with putting pressure by any person, within the framework of the criminal case being investigated on the events of March 1 [2008 in capital city Yerevan].

“The Investigative Committee states that the news publicized on Hayeli.am website is not true, and it urges the media to refrain from publicizing unverified information.

As reported earlier, on Monday, at 11:59pm, a call was received informing that the dead body of ex-Police chief Hayk Harutyunyan was found in a house in Bjni village, in Kotayk Province.

A criminal case has been launched into this incident, and on charges of causing suicide.

Investigative Committee: Ex-Armenian police chief used ‘significant amount of alcohol’ before death

Albert Nalbandian
Panorama, Armenia
Sept 24 2019

Authorities are investigating the death of former Police Chief Hayk Harutyunyan, who was found dead in his home in Bjni, a village in Armenia’s Kotayk Province on Monday.

The ex-officer’s body was found with gunshot wounds in the head.

In an examination of the scene, investigators have found bloodstains, a firearm next to the body and a shell. Witnesses have been questioned, the Investigative Committee said in a press release.

The investigation has revealed that the former police chief consumed a significant amount of alcohol before the incident.

Several forensic-medical examinations have been assigned.

The preliminary probe is underway, with measures being taken to ensure an objective and comprehensive examination of the circumstances surrounding Harutyunyan’s death and to check the validity of the circumstances reported in testimonies.

The Kotayk Regional Department of the Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case under Article 110 (Part 1) of Armenia’s Criminal Code (causing someone to commit suicide or attempted suicide by means of threat, cruel treatment or harassment).

Harutyunyan served as Armenia’s Interior Minister from 1999 to 2003. He was Police Chief from 2003 to 2008. Later, he also headed the Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice.