Category: 2020

COCONUT CREEK, Fla.—Armenoid Productions announced  that its 2013 award-winning “Orphans of the Genocide“ documentary is now available for free on Amazon Prime Video. The visual journey of never-before-seen archival footage and discovered memoirs of Armenian orphans tells of the horrors of the Armenian genocide of 1915. It was widely broadcast on PBS TV Stations reaching more than 50 million households, and translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek and Armenian.

“We chose to make ‘Orphans of the Genocide’ available for free on Amazon to expand our viewership. Currently it is available in the U.S. and the UK and will soon be available in Germany and Japan with subtitles,” says Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award Laureate, 4-time Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and founder of Armenoid Productions, Bared Maronian.

Orphans of the Genocide documents the arduous journey of over 150,000 Armenian orphans who were later rescued by American and Scandinavian relief organizations. Among many orphans profiled is Satenig, American pathologist and euthanasia proponent, Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s mother. Selected by the Hong Kong World International Film Festival, and nationally distributed by the National Educational Telecommunications Association to over 250 TV stations across the U.S., the documentary received a Telly Award. It was nominated to the 2014 Regional Emmy Award in Historical Documentary category, selected in NYC Filmmaker’s Festival, nominated as Best Documentary at the 2013 ARPA Film Festival, featured at New York’s Unspoken Human Rights Film Festival, and received the Audience Choice Award at the 2013 Pomegranate Film Festival in Toronto, Canada.

Bared Maronian’s most recent production Bloodless: The Path to Democracy is a collaboration between Armenoid Productions and Cultural Impact Foundation. It documents the civil disobedience of the people’s revolution of 2018 in Armenia which resulted in the bloodless overthrow of an incumbent, corrupt, oligarchic government and the appointment of a new “people’s choice” Prime Minister. Maronian’s earlier 2016 documentary, Women of 1915, examines the plight of the Armenian women during and after the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

Armenia’s Representative to the OSCE, Ambassador Armen Papikyan briefed the Permanent Council on the recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which called Azerbaijan’s government for glorifying and encouraging the ax murderer Ramil Safarov for the 2004 murder of Armenian soldier Gurgen Margaryan while he was sleeping.

In his briefing, Papikyan said that case shows the true colors of the Azerbaijani authorities, whose actions, encouragements, distortions, exaggerations, manipulations and disinformation, their effective hate propaganda became an obstacle to peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The prevailing level of hostility towards Armenians could not contribute to creation of an environment conducive to peace. The case vividly illustrates that under no circumstances Azerbaijani authorities can be entrusted with the responsibility of providing security to any part of the Armenian people. Therefore, under no circumstances the people of Artsakh cannot be left without secure lines of defense,” said Papikyan.

He emphasized that the actions of Azerbaijan clearly demonstrate that this country cannot be regarded as a reliable partner in bilateral and multilateral relations, particularly when it comes to delivering on such commitments as fighting hate crimes.

Below are Papikyan’s remarks.

The purpose of introducing this current issue is to inform the participating States of the essence and details of the case and thus expose the latest attempts of the authorities of Azerbaijan at manipulation and disinformation, and denial of any wrongdoing in case of Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani military officer convicted of premeditated brutal murder of Armenian military officer in 2004, thus justifying and endorsing the glorification of that despicable hate crime.

The case in question was brought to the Strasbourg Court by Makuchyan and Minasyan v. Azerbaijan and Hungary (application no. 17247/13) after Ramil Safarov, who was convicted by the court in Hungary to serve a life-time sentence for decapitating by an axe of Armenian military officer Gurgen Margaryan while in his sleep and attempted murder of another Armenian officer during the NATO/PFP courses in Hungary back in 2004.

On 13 April 2006 the Budapest High Court found Ramil Safarov guilty of the exceptionally cruel and premeditated murder of Gurgen Margaryan and of preparation for murder of Hayk Makuchyan. Based on the conclusions of the Hungarian court the crimes were committed with vile motives and exclusively because of the Armenian nationality of the victims.

On 31 August 2012 Safarov was transferred to Azerbaijan to continue serving his sentence there, was pardoned by the President of Azerbaijan immediately upon his landing in Baku, was given a hero welcome by the Government of Azerbaijan, its state officials including Mr. Ayaz Guliyev, the then Azerbaijani parliamentarian, Member of the OSCE PA and currently the Vice President of the same august body as well as Ms. Ganira Pashaeva, Member of the Azerbaijani Delegation to PACE at that time. Moreover, next day, on 1 September 2012 Safarov was promoted to the rank of major by the Minister of Defence during the course of a public ceremony. On 6 December 2012 he was provided use of a flat belonging to the State housing fund and he was also awarded eight years of salary arrears.

I am giving all these details in order for the participating States to clearly see that people who are trying today to convince the international community of their commitment to peace and tolerance, are in fact the same people who glorified the murderer who committed a heinous hate crime.

On 26 May 2020 the European Court of Human Rights in its ruling concluded that the actions of Azerbaijan to grant an impunity for a serious crime perpetrated by the axe murderer Ramil Safarov have no justification. “The Court considered that Azerbaijan had assumed responsibility for the enforcement of R.S.’s prison sentence upon his transfer, and from that point on, it had been called upon to provide an adequate response to a very serious ethnically-biased crime for which one of its citizens had been convicted in another country. Instead of enforcing R.S.’s sentence, however, he had been set free and treated as an innocent or wrongfully convicted person and bestowed with benefits.

The measures taken by the high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan, including a specially dedicated page to Safarov opened on the President of Azerbaijan’s website led to impunity which was coupled with the glorification of his extremely cruel hate crime. Safarov had in effect been granted impunity in Azerbaijan for the crimes committed against his Armenian victims. The Court concluded that Azerbaijan was in violation of its obligation under Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights (Rights to Life) to effectively deter the commission of offences which put others’ lives at risk.

Moreover, the Court found sufficient evidence to conclude that Safaorv’s pardon and other measures in his favour had been racially motivated, whereas the ethnic bias of his crimes had already been fully investigated during Court proceedings in Hungary.

Moreover, the Court noted the statements by Azerbaijani officials calling Safarov a patriot and a hero. “It deplored the fact that the majority of those statements had expressed particular support for the fact that R.S.’s crimes had been directed against Armenian soldiers and considered that the very existence of the website suggested that he had been pardoned because of the ethnic nature of his attack.

Attempts by the Azerbaijani Government to deny the factor of ethnicity of the victim were not sufficient “to refute the overwhelming body of evidence from the applicants that the various measures leading to R.S.’s virtual impunity, coupled with the glorification of his extremely cruel hate crime, had had a causal link to the victims’ Armenian ethnicity.” Therefore, the Court found that Azerbaijan was in violation of Article 14 (Prohibition of Discrimination) in conjunction with Article 2 (Right to Life).

The Safarov transfer and subsequent an immediate release and glorification caused an outrage and wide-spread condemnation from countries all over the world, from such international organizations as the EU, Council of Europe. The European Parliament adopted a resolution in this regard, and various Parliamentary Assemblies reacted to this case.

As this Delegation underlined earlier, if we fail to condemn Azerbaijan’s position on this issue, we would condone the words and the actions of Azerbaijan as it implicitly condones such acts itself. Fanning the flames of hatred, state sponsored and propagated Armenophobia in and by Azerbaijan provides a pretext, a reason, a motivation, better yet, a license to those who are inclined to operate outside the law, thinking they are doing national duty.

It is symptomatic that such brutality is being referred to by Azerbaijan as an “incident”, thus encouraging self-appointed avengers to commit such despicable acts of vengeance operating outside the law. The Azerbaijani Government has never expressed any remorse regarding this ethnically motivated hate crime by the murderer whose words were “My job is to kill all [Armenians], because until they live, we will suffer.

The action of Azerbaijan clearly demonstrates that this country cannot be regarded as a reliable partner in bilateral and multilateral relations, particularly when it comes to delivering on such commitments as fighting hate crimes.

This whole case discloses the real face of Azerbaijani authorities, whose actions, encouragements, distortions, exaggerations, manipulations and disinformation, in short, their effective hate propaganda became an obstacle to peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The prevailing level of hostility towards Armenians could not contribute to creation of an environment conducive to peace.

The Safarov case vividly illustrates that under no circumstances Azerbaijani authorities can be entrusted with the responsibility of providing security to any part of the Armenian people. Therefore, under no circumstances the people of Artsakh cannot be left without secure lines of defense.

The Colorado House of Representatives on Thursday unanimously passed House Bill 1336 – Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Public Schools – which requires Holocaust and Armenian Genocide education as a condition for High School graduation in Colorado, the Armenian National Committee of America Colorado reported.

The ANCA Colorado thanked the original sponsors, Representative Dafna Michaelson Jenet, Representative Emily Sirota, Senator Steve Fenberg, and Senator Dennis Hisey, as well as “honorary Armenian” lawmakers Rep. Daneya Esgar and Senator Dominick Moreno, for championing this bill and making sure that the Armenian community was included in the process from the very beginning.

After the measure passed, Esgar took to Twitter to say that “I had never heard of the Armenian Genocide until I learned about it from an Armenian friend. She [Eds: the friend] didn’t understand why we never talked about the genocide of her people.”

“We must do better. It is critical for us to teach students about these atrocities,” added Esgar.

The Colorado ANCA also expressed special gratitude to its partners, the Coalition against Global Genocide and Jewish Colorado, for working hand in hand with ANCA Colorado to make the cause of genocide education a reality.

“And a huge thank you to all the organizations, in particular Armenian National Committee America – Western Region, Armenians of Colorado and ADL – Anti-Defamation League, for making sure that the State of Colorado has the funds to implement the law,” the ANCA Colorado said in a Facebook post.

The legislation is expected to be discussed and voted on in the Colorado Senate, then it will go to the governor for his signature.

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Friday that despite the continuing rapid spread of coronavirus in Armenia his government still hopes to contain the epidemic without imposing a fresh nationwide lockdown.

Pashinyan insisted that while renewed lockdown restrictions are one of the options currently considered by the government they are not necessarily a panacea for ending the country’s deepening coronavirus crisis.

“Suppose that coronavirus indicators in Armenia are miraculously reduced to zero with the help of administrative levers,” he told a daily news briefing. “But … if there is no change in our individual behavior, as soon as we open up to the outside world potentially infected people will come to Armenia and we will have to do everything all over again.”

“So I’m thinking along these lines: we must together solve this problem with mass changes of our individual behavior,” he said. “In this regard, I believe in Armenia’s citizens and believe that solutions to this and other problems lie in our consciousness and we should follow the path of changing our consciousness and behavior.”

Accordingly, Pashinyan repeated his calls for the population to practice social distancing, wear masks in all public and enclosed spaces, frequently wash hands and stay away from large gatherings. Citizens should also alert help authorities fight against violations of these safety rules, he said.

Critics of the government are skeptical about the effectiveness of this strategy. They say that only a renewed lockdown can make a difference.

Pashinyan admitted earlier this week that the Armenian health authorities are also favoring such a drastic solution. He voiced misgivings, saying that it could cost the Armenian economy dearly. He also argued that the government had already issued stay-at-home orders, banned public transport and shut down most businesses in late March.

Critics counter that the authorities never properly enforced the lockdown and ended it too soon. They cite the example of many European countries and especially neighboring Georgia whose government only recently began easing serious curbs on people’s freedom of movements and reopening the domestic economy.

The Georgian authorities have so far reported 805 coronavirus cases and only 13 deaths caused by them, compared with 11,817 cases and at least 183 fatalities registered in Armenia.
On Thursday alone, the Armenian Ministry of Health recorded about 600 single-day COVID-19 infections. By contrast, only 4 people in Georgia tested positive for the virus.

Health Minister Arsen Torosyan warned on Thursday that Armenia’s healthcare system is now so overstretched that hospitals may soon be unable to admit all infected people in need of urgent treatment.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region issued a statement Friday expressing its concerns about the decision last week by California Governor Gavin Newsom to deny parole to Hampig Sassounian.

Below is the text of the statement.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region, the largest grassroots advocacy organization representing the interests of more than one million Armenian-Americans in California, expressed its grave concerns in a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom regarding his recent reversal of the decision of the Parole Board to release Hampig Harry Sassounian from prison after serving 38 years.

We are deeply troubled with Governor Newsom’s decision on numerous fronts. Chief among them is the Governor’s long-standing and deep understanding of the Armenian Genocide and his familiarity with the consequences it has had on generations of survivors, as the Governor himself acknowledges in his ruling. In addition, it is clear from the myriad of letters sent to the Governor by community and religious leaders as well as many elected officials who unequivocally support the release of Mr. Sassounian, that our community stands united in its call for a just decision on humanitarian grounds. Moreover, not one but two Parole Boards have unanimously decided that Mr. Sassounian is more than sufficiently rehabilitated after serving his entire adult life from the young age of 19 and that after 38 years, parole would be justified. Yet in the face of all these overwhelming calls for Hampig Sassounian’s immediate release, it appears that the Governor has made a decision which is inconsistent with his own record and public stance on judicial and prison reform, human rights, and criminal justice, causing confusion, profound disappointment and deep frustration within our community.

We are also very concerned that our State’s criminal justice system is being held hostage by foreign influence and threats from the Turkish government not only through the highest levels of the Trump Administration but even directly aimed at the Governor himself. None of these outside influences should have a voice in determining the fair administration of justice in this case.  American civil liberties should never be encroached upon by any foreign entity, and the Governor has been entrusted by the citizens of California to protect those rights and liberties. Sadly, it appears that he may have succumbed to outside pressure without any justification whatsoever and after taking such bold stances against similar pressures in other instances.

During these extraordinarily challenging times of the pandemic and civil unrest in which equal justice for all is the common mantra sought by all segments of society, Governor Newsom has a heightened duty to grant humanitarian relief to prisoners who have served their time and have demonstrated reform and rehabilitation. As the Governor’s written decision states, “I am required to ‘give great weight to the diminished culpability of youth as compared to adults, the hallmark features of youth, and any subsequent growth and increased maturity of the prisoner’ when determining a youthful offender’s suitability for parole. … The question I must answer is whether Mr. Sassounian will pose a current danger to the public if released from prison.” Yet in the case of Mr. Sassounian, who at the age of 57 fully intends upon his release to immediately relocate to Armenia and thus will not be a current danger to the public or a further financial burden to our State if released, the Governor opted to proactively and affirmatively reverse a well-reasoned and fully investigated decision of his own Parole Board and the Board preceding it, both of which came to identical decisions after doing their own due diligence. Mr. Sassounian has served more than an average life sentence given his status as a youthful offender, and no one can credibly argue that justice has not been served for the crime of which he was convicted. He has fully rehabilitated himself and shown every indication that he is capable and ready to lead a peaceful life in the Republic of Armenia.

On behalf of our organization and the Armenian-American community whose interests it represents, we call for action, accountability, and a just and humanitarian result in the most expedient manner possible. Given the fact that Governor Newsom will have another opportunity next year to grant parole to Hampig Sassounian, the universal calls for social justice and equal treatment under the law, amplified even more during these challenging times, deserve no less.