Category: 2022

Mistreatment Of Minorities In Turkey 104 Years After The Armenian Genocide

Jagharian Tania

May 5 2022

  • Britt Gronmeyer
  • May 5, 2022

The 24th of April 2022 marked the 104th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. On this day, Ottoman authorities arrested Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople, ultimately leading to the deportation, massacre, and mass extermination of over one million Armenians. Although the Armenian Genocide began over a century ago, ethnic and religious conflicts remain relevant in Turkey and conflict with the Kurds has become a major component of Turkish policy.

The anniversary of the Armenian Genocide was recognized from world leaders including United States President Joe Biden. In a statement released on the White House website, President Biden recognized the event while using it as a forum to discuss the role of obstruction of human rights in modern geopolitics. Although the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide has been recognized by several states on its anniversary, the significance of Turkey’s lack of recognition has not gone unnoticed. It is relevant to note that Turkey as well as its allies such as Israel have not recognized the Armenian Genocide. In Turkey, it is illegal to mention to the genocide as it opposes the nationalist agenda that has been in place since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk established the Republic of Turkey in 1923. While human rights advocates continue to fight for Turkey and her allies to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Turkey continues to be held accountable for controversial obstructions of the rights of minorities.

Numerous human rights concerns within Turkey have emerged in recent years, especially since Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s accession to presidency in 2014. These concerns exist within the scope of domestic issues, Turkey’s relationship with the Kurds, and Syrian refugees. Turkish relations with the Kurds have been truculent since the Kurds’ failure to acquire an independent nation in the aftermath of World War II. According to a Study by the Harvard University School of Divinity, the Kurds make up roughly 18% of Turkey, making them a significant minority within Turkey’s population. Less than a week before the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey launched new offensives against Kurds in Iraq and Syria, further condemning the group to the status of a repressed population in the areas they inhabit. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has tracked Turkey’s violations of International Human Rights Law within President Erdoğan’s centralized and authoritarian government in which the HRW recorded restrictions of media, human rights defenders, Kurdish activists, the LGBTQ+ community, and anyone who could be considered a threat or critic of Erdoğan’s government. Furthermore, the treatment of women by the Turkish government has rapidly deteriorated as the country has left the Istanbul Convention, a convention on the prevention of violence against women, despite having been the first country to join this agreement and having previously held a reputation of being progressive in the fight for women’s rights. According to the UN Refugee Agency, the immense population of refugees currently residing in Turkey including 3.7 million Syrians. The number of Syrian refugees in the region opens opportunities for widespread discrimination and poor treatment of minorities which has increased in times of economic hardship. Violence between Turkish communities and refugees has become more frequent and systematic hostility has strengthened.

Widespread recognition of the Armenian Genocide by nations and organizations across the globe is vital in achieving equality and reducing the harm done to minorities in Turkey. If these human rights violations continue to go unnoticed in Turkey it can have monumental consequences on the future of European peoples and refugees as well as signify hypocrisy from those who condemn the Armenian Genocide while allowing the mistreatment of minorities in Turkey to continue.

Georgian, Armenian state revenue agencies discuss information exchange for crime prevention

Karakhanian Suren
AGENDA, Georgia
May 6 2022
Agenda.ge, 6 May 2022 – 18:33, Tbilisi,Georgia

Results achieved as part of a programme for information-sharing for organised crime prevention and identification of high-risk shipments were discussed in a meeting between officials of Georgia’s Revenue Service and the State Revenue Committee of Armenia, the Georgian agency said on Friday.

The Revenue Service hosted a delegation of the Armenian body to review their cooperation within a joint project of the World Customs Organisation and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The sides discussed achievements within the UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme, which aims to facilitate exchange of information related to joint operations in the detection and prevention of organised crime.

It also involves cooperation over elimination of drug trafficking and other illicit activities, as well as identifying high-risk shipments, promoting legitimate trade and strengthening international cooperation.

In the meeting, future plans of the state bodies of both countries were also discussed.

Food: Gray and Gray is hosting an Armenian takeover by Tom Sarafian

George Mamian
Australia – May 6 2022
 May 6 2022 at 4:56 PM


Chef and condiment king, Tom Sarafian, is about to embark on a two-and-a-half week residency at Gray and Gray Bread and Wine in Northcote, cooking the food of his Armenian heritage with a focus on autumn flavours.

From May 12 to 29, Sarafian will flip the restaurant’s menu from Georgian and Russian fare into the food of his father’s family, headlined by quince-glazed suckling pig cooked over charcoal with smoked chestnuts.

The 14-dish feast is an all-new menu for Sarafian. It opens with a fleet of six mezze, then moves on to tiny mante (dumplings) that Sarafian’s grandmother used to make. Baked in the oven and finished with warm tomato sauce, their final texture is similar to a pot-sticker, with one crunchy side and one steamed side.

“These are things I’ve wanted to cook for a long time and haven’t found the right place or time,” says Sarafian. “But Gray and Gray feels like the perfect place to do that [because] of Boris’s knowledge when it comes to that kind of food.”Armenia shares a border with Georgia, a touchpoint of Gray & Gray’s menu, thanks to co-owner Boris Portnoy’s time there making wine.

The drinks list will celebrate Armenia’s 6000-year-old culture of fermented drinks, which stretches nearly as far back as Georgia’s.

May 12-29, Wed-Sat from 6pm, Sun from noon.

Gray and Gray Bread and Wine, 188 High Street, Northcote; $80 for four courses (pescatarian and vegetarian menus available), 0434 618 331, breadandwine.com.au


Mississippi becomes the 50th US state to recognize the Armenian Genocide

Ani Tigranian
Public Radio of Armenia
May 6 2022

Mississippi became the 50th US state to recognize the Armenian Genocide, with Governor Tate Reeve’s proclamation marking April as Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month”

“I’ve proclaimed April as Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month,” Governor Reeve said in a Twitter post.
 
“The systematic destruction of lives has spanned areas and cultures from Armenia to Darfur, the Holodomor to the Holocaust,” he added.
 
“Genocide has no place in society, and we must do everything we can to prevent it,” the Governor said

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Armenian car hit by Azerbaijani truck in Artsakh, rolls down the gorge

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
May 6 2022

On May 5, at about 13:30 a truck of the Azerbaijani motorcade hit an Armenian car on the opposite lane of the road, As a result, the car rolled down the gorge on the Drmbon- Martakert section of the highway.

Police officers arrived at the scene immediately after the incident. The driver and the two passengers were not seriously injured and their lives are not in danger.

The Artsakh Police say they are taking measures to reveal the circumstances of the case, the causes of the accident and the possibility of preventing it, to find out whether the collision was intentional or negligent.

Artsakh’s State Minister Artak Beglaryan called the incident a “deliberate crime by an Azerbaijani truck against an Artsakh civilian car.

The victims of this crime were TUMO Center employees in their mission of collecting more rural children for better education.

Armenian-founded DISQO company acquires Feedback Loop

Vanyan Gary
Public Radio of Armenia
May 6 2022

Armenian-founded customer experience platform DISQO today announced the acquisition of Feedback Loop, Inc. Feedback Loop’s SaaS technology empowers fast and easy consumer feedback for product and marketing professionals, from early-stage discovery to ideation and design. The acquisition accelerates DISQO’s mission to build the most trusted platform that fuels brand growth by connecting consumers’ sentiments to their online behaviors. With the addition of Feedback Loop, DISQO facilitates aq comprehensive understanding of brand, product, and customer experiences for any organization, from SMBs to enterprises.  

Rob Holland, CEO of Feedback Loop and former GVP of Oracle Data Cloud, has been named EVP, General Manager of Feedback Loop at DISQO. Approximately 50 new team members will join DISQO, bringing the global headcount to more than 500 people.

The acquisition follows DISQO’s recent Series B funding round which it closed as part of its plan to further scale the capabilities and reach of its customer experience (CX) platform. With digital transformation, brands large and small have been disconnected from their customers, forcing them to make decisions based on ambiguous signals. DISQO is solving this by giving brands direct access to their customers, so they can not only understand what customers think, but also what they do online.

With the addition of new agile customer feedback and analytics capabilities, any client can now validate products, features, and marketing before bringing them to market. Tens of thousands of new SMB and mid-market clients can now access DISQO’s platform, expanding upon its current hyper-growth enterprise business.

“Organizations often lack the access and tools needed to make the right data-driven decisions for their customers, especially medium-sized and small businesses,” said Armen Adjemian, Co-Founder & CEO, DISQO. “Traditional CX platforms have limited users within organizations and only enable customer experience feedback from existing customers. DISQO is expanding the power of CX by empowering all decision-makers, from SMBs to large enterprises, to understand customer experiences, everywhere, with existing and prospective customers.”

Some of Feedback Loop’s current clients who will benefit from the acquisition include the Ad Council, Comcast, Experian, Farmers Insurance, Humana, NBCUniversal, Utz, Caribou Coffee, and Uber. These companies and others will be able to gather faster, more accurate feedback via access to DISQO’s platform and by leveraging DISQO’s multidimensional customer profiles and measured digital behaviors.

“One of the biggest pain points in business is the inability to get immediate customer feedback when decisions have to be made,” said Rob Holland, EVP, General Manager of Feedback Loop. “With our agile feedback technology, DISQO is amplifying the voice of the customer in all decisions, from product innovation to advertising and everything in between.”

DISQO’s platform currently fuels customer understanding for more than 300 blue-chip brands, 125 of the world’s largest market research firms, 35 leading advertising agencies, and more than 20 media platforms. Utilizing applications for market research, advertising measurement, and customer feedback, these clients create a breakthrough understanding of consumers’ lifestyles, preferences, beliefs, and habits.

Precision Agriculture Center with drone training lab opens at Agrarian University of Armenia

Boshkezenian Garik
Public Radio of Armenia
May 6 2022

The Precision Agriculture Center with a drone training laboratory was opened today at the National Agrarian University of Armenia.

The laboratory was set up and furnished within the framework of the European Union-funded Green Agriculture Initiative (EU-GAIA) project, which is co-funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation.

The Agradrons Laboratory will serve university students and lecturers for research purposes, as well as farmers and professionals for production and training purposes.

“The EU is glad that Armenian farmers and students of the Agrarian University now have the opportunity to learn these technologies and use them for educational and production purposes. Innovation is the key to sustainable rural development: through innovation, EU and Armenia can maintain the competitiveness of the agri-food sector and create more and better jobs in rural areas, all the while safe-guarding the planet for future generations,” the EU Delegation to Armenia said in a Facebook post.

Eight Nobel laureates to arrive in Armenia for Starmus festival

Garnik Tadevosian
PanArmenian
Armenia – May 6 2022
May 6, 2022 – 18:54 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Eight Nobel laureates, including renowned biochemist and molecular physiologist Tim Hunt, will arrive in Armenia to take part in the Starmus Festival to be held in Armenia on September 5-10, co-founder of Starmus, astrophysicist Garik Israelyan has said, Aravot reports.

Israelyan has revealed that Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, whose lectures are attended by 10,000-15,000 people will also participate in the festival.

In 2013, while rotating around the Earth, Hadfield recorded a cover of David Bowie’s early career hit, “Space Oddity”. Four years later, the music video they created and released has been viewed more than 51 million times․

The astrophysicist revealed that famous rock stars will also travel to Armenia, adding that System of Down frontman Serj Tankian and jazz pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan too will join the event. According to him, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, the original lead singer of Genesis Peter Gabriel are interested in the festival as well.

The festival will be open to universities, and people behind the initiative have programs in Gyumri and other towns, because they want the festival to go beyond Yerevan.

Israelian came with the ide of establishing Starmus in 2005, when he compiled a unique library of acoustic sound waves produced within the bodies of stars. The scientists then joined forces with Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist and legendary guitarist of the band Queen, to create the festival that would bring the stars together with music.

Tonoyan confirms ex-army chief of staff’s report on ending Karabakh war

Garnik Tadevosian
PanArmenian
Armenia – May 6 2022
May 6, 2022 – 11:54 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan, who has been in custody since September 2021, has said that ex-Chief of the Army General Staff Onik Gasparyan had indeed reported during the Second Karabakh war that hostilities must be stopped within 2-3 days.

In an interview with NEWS.am, the former official was asked: after the 44-day war, former Chief of Staff Onik Gasparyan declared that he had reported to the Security Council on the fourth day of the war that it was necessary to stop the war within 2-3 days. [Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan denies Gasparyan’s statement. Did you, as the Minister of Defense attending that meeting, hear Gasparyan’s report?

“I have mentioned it before, and now I reaffirm that the above-mentioned statement was indeed made. Moreover, it was made not only in the meetings of the Security Council, it was also agreed with me,” Tonoyan said.

“Nevertheless, the Armed Forces were ready to fight and take no step back, regardless of the diplomatic efforts to end hostilities.”

The Second Karabakh war lasted 44 days and ended when Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev signed a ceasefire statement on November 9, 2020. Under the deal, the Armenian side returned all the seven regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.

Azerbaijani military convoy throws Armenian taxi into Karabakh gorge

Emil Lazarian
PanArmenian
Armenia – May 6 2022
May 6, 2022 – 12:39 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A vehicle from an Azerbaijani military convoy passing through Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) has pushed and thrown an Armenian taxi into a ravine.

Military expert Karen Vrtanesyan has said that no one was hurt in the incident.

Irina Safaryan, one of the locals, tweeted images from the scene, revealing that her friends were on their way to a village near Martakert, when they were hit by the Azerbaijanii army motorcade, and as a result their car rolled down the gorge.