Category: News

Renowned classical sound director and producer Igor Fiorini is planning a major project, in conjunction with acclaimed Italian live sound engineer Luca Giannerini, which will take place at the end of September 2015, according to

This will involve the live performance, recording and broadcast in high definition DXD/DSD of a concert to mark the centenary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Entitled The Amen Project, the concert will take place at the main Arena in Verona and will use music, words and dance to trace the history of the Armenian people to the current day.

“We will have plenty of musicians to capture, plus a number of choirs including a children’s choir,” Fiorini says. “This is a massive cultural event that will be broadcast live on television so it is imperative that we get it right.”

During the centenary year of the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire, the executive committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) is meeting in this country on 8-13 June 2015, hosted by the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, to honour the martyrs and victims of the genocide. We visit the genocide memorial to remember them and to pray in the name of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. And we celebrate the life of the Armenian nation and the witness of the Armenian church.

The executive committee recalls the Minute on the 100^th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide adopted by the WCC 10^th Assembly in 2013 in Busan. This important action by the 10^th Assembly followed many other occasions on which the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) had called for recognition of the Armenian genocide by the United Nations (UN) and by member states, dating back to the 1979 session of the UN Human Rights Commission. The WCC has played a key role over many years in accompanying the Armenian church in speaking out and working for recognition of the genocide, and for appropriate responses to the genocide’s continuing impacts on the Armenian people.

A minute adopted at the 6^th Assembly of the WCC held in 1983 in Vancouver acknowledged that “The silence of the world community and deliberate efforts to deny even historical facts have been consistent sources of anguish and growing despair to the Armenian people, the Armenian churches and many others.” While some continue their efforts to deny or minimize these historical events, the executive committee is greatly encouraged by His Holiness Pope Francis’ public recognition on 12 April 2015 of the mass killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians as genocide. We stress that there is a duty on the international community to remember the victims of genocide, in order to heal these historical wounds and to guard against similar atrocities in the future.

The WCC, with its many member churches, has participated in several events marking the centenary, including the official commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and canonization of the martyrs in Yerevan, Armenia, on 21-25 April. The WCC and its member churches will continue to participate in the ongoing centennial commemorations this year by the Armenian diaspora, including with the Armenian Church Holy See of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon, on 18-19 July. The Executive Committee thanks the many member churches and ecumenical partners around the world that have observed or will observe this ongoing centenary in their own contexts, and that have spoken in recognition of the genocide and in commemoration of its victims. Through these commemorations, we acknowledge that these tragic events occurred, and that they must be named by their right name.

 

The Armenian genocide was accompanied in the same historical and political context by genocidal acts against other – mostly Christian – communities of Aramean, Chaldean, Syrian, Assyrian and Greek descent, which have blighted history at the beginning of the 20^th century.

Denial, impunity and the failure to remember such events encourage their repetition. Those who deny or attack the life and dignity of a sister or brother undermine and destroy the humanity of both the victim and themselves. These centennial commemorations should mark the passing of the time when governments remain reluctant to name what occurred one hundred years ago as genocide. We urge all governments to abandon this reluctance.

In this centenary year, we call the international community, the WCC’s member churches and all people of faith and good will to remembrance, and to re-commit to the prevention of genocide and all crimes against humanity.

It’s been a decade since System of a Down released a new album —and all has been quiet on the studio front since the artsy heavy rock quartet came back from a four-year-hiatus in 2010.

But the wait — which is the operative word — may come to an end soon, according to

“We do want to get together after the tour to talk about writing, but who knows?” says drummer John Dolmayan. Right now SOAD’s focus is on the current Wake Up The Souls tour, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide during World War I, “But who knows.” Dolmayan adds. “Maybe things will happen on this tour that will inspire songs. Anything can surprise you.”

For Dolmayan and his mates — all of Armenian heritage — the tour, of course, “transcends the music.”

“This is more important than the next System of a Down album,” he says. “This is something that’s far-reaching, and it’s actually even bigger than the Armenian genocide itself. This is a world issue.”

SOAD has been at the forefront of that issue since forming during 1994 in Los Angeles, and its campaign has carried more weight thanks to the success of five platinum albums, the last two of which — “Mesmerize” and “Hypnotize,” both in 2005 — debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

The spread-out, 14-date tour began during April in Los Angeles and included an April 23 stop in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, the day before the annual worldwide observance of the genocide, which also was SOAD’s first-ever performance in Armenia. For frontman Serj Tankian, it’s not only another opportunity to talk about the genocide and promote worldwide recognition of it but to also tie that in with events going on today.

“What’s important to us is the fact that genocide still occurs today,” Tankian explains. “There is no international, executable agreement, irrespective of the Genocide Convention and many ad hoc committees around the world. There’s nothing that all nations have signed that says when a genocide is occurring, all bets are off. … It’s important to us to not just raise awareness but to help bring justice to this cause.”

But, Dolmayan adds, SOAD is careful about how it delivers that message to crowds coming to hear the group play “Chop Suey!” “Aerials,” “Hypnotize,” “Toxicity” and its other favorites.

“You don’t want to get too preachy,” the drummer acknowledges. “You want to provide information, but you don’t want to push it down people’s throats. So we will have some information available and we have some video presentations we put together that will be taking place during the show.

“We’ve been very fortunate in that we’re in a position we can entertain people and also give them information at the same time, if they’re open to it.”

Militants from the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) have destroyed a unique Gospel in Iraq.
“They have burned an old Gospel weighing 90 kg in Mosul. A priest had called on them to sell the book, but they did not agree,” Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, the Grad Mufti of Syria, who is now in Russia, told .

The mufti said that such a thing as “a religious war” is unacceptable in the world.

“Religion does not reach people’s hearts by the sword,” he said.

Hassoun called on all people of good will to work on “preventing this virus from coming out of Syria and affecting the rest of the world.” He expressed concerns about the fact that attempts are being made to cause religious division in Syria.

Amnesty International has been blocked from entering Azerbaijan before the inaugural European Games, amid a clampdown on free speech designed to quell critics, reports.

The human rights organisation had been planning to launch a new report highlighting the crackdown on free speech, independent media and government critics. However, just as Amnesty officials prepared to travel, they received a message from the Azerbaijan Embassy in London on Tuesday afternoon stating it was “not in a position to welcome the Amnesty mission to Baku at the present time” and suggesting any visit should be postponed until after the games.

The decision to bar Amnesty came as Emma Hughes, a human rights campaigner with Platform who has previously been critical of BP’s role in cooperating with Azerbaijan, was stopped from entering the country. After arriving on Tuesday Hughes, who had been given press accreditation to cover the games, was told she was on a “red list” and held in the terminal before being put on a flight out of Baku.

The European Games, featuring 6,000 athletes begin on Friday in Baku’s new 68,000-capacity national stadium.

The Guardian has said in an it expects an apology from the Turkish President. According to the paper, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan likes to dish it out to the press. Last week he personally threatened an editor with espionage and “crimes against the government” that could mean a life sentence for Cumhuriyet’s Can Dündar. Also last week, journalist Mehmet Baransu went on trial accused of publishing classified documents, with prosecutors demanding a 52-year sentence.

Last week, as the election campaign neared its climax, Turkey’s president decided to attack the international media as well as the Turkish. He singled out Germany’s Die Zeit, which was accused of going berserk over the plan to build a third Istanbul airport. Then he turned on the New York Times, which he said was run by “Jewish capital” and was “raging against me”. The attack on the Times came at the end of a week in which Mr Erdoğan had personally intervened to prevent the award of an honour that was due to be presented by the mayor of Gaziantep to the paper’s former Istanbul bureau chief.

The president then attacked the Guardian. “Do you know what an English newspaper is saying?” Mr Erdoğan told an AKP rally in Ardahan. “It says ‘poor Muslims who are not entirely westernised cannot be allowed to rule their countries on their own’.” It was shameless, Turkey’s leader said. He then warned the Guardian: “Know your place.”

The Guardian says Mr Erdoğan’s charge is without any foundation. The Guardian did not say or print the words that Mr Erdoğan claimed. Nor did it say anything like them.

“The allegation that the Guardian said poorer Muslim Turks cannot be allowed to rule their own country is a mischievous lie. It appears to have been concocted by a newspaper columnist favourable to the president, was then picked up by others, before spreading quickly on social media in Turkey. Before long it found its way – wholly unchecked – into Mr Erdoğan’s speech in Ardahan, which gave the lie a fresh turbo-charge of publicity,” the editorial reads.

“Journalists have to be careful with their choice of words. When they get something wrong, as they sometimes do, they must correct it as soon and prominently as possible. In a serious case, they must also apologise. As the Guardian’s longest-serving editor, CP Scott, put it, facts are sacred. Politicians too must be careful with their words. They also must get their facts right. Mr Erdoğan got his words and facts badly wrong. Perhaps an apology is in order as well.”

HDP Istanbul Member of Parliament Garo Palyan spoke to after the results of Sunday parliamentary elections in Turkey were announced.

Paylan said that they had expected to win 11-13% of the votes, and that the results were not a surprise.

Paylan stated that the HDP’s victory had come as a result of four-year hard work, and said: “We founded the HDP in 2011. During the 2-year foundation period, all identities and all democratic groups came together. Our party includes all identities, and we stand for equality. We are also aware that this has not been tried in politics in Turkey before. Ours is a discourse of radical democracy with no ifs and buts.”

One of the three new Armenian MPs in Parliament, Paylan explained his goals as follows: “It’s not having three Armenian MPs in Parliament matters, it’s what they will say and do. My party will stand out with its policy based on equality. The AKP also has Kurdish MPs but we have not witnessed an egalitarian approach from them. All other parties need to show more effort on this matter. It was this discourse that brought us success, I wish other parties can see that politics in Turkey can change.”

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received James Warlick, the US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Press Service of the Ministry of foreign Affairs reports.

The interlocutors held a detailed discussion on issues related to the negotiation process on the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict.

A 12-year-old is uprooted from his hometown of Beirut and sent to live with his grandpa in LA’s Little Armenia in Aram, Aram, which will have its world premiere June 14 at the Los Angeles Film reports.

Impressed by a guy who wants to unite Armenians against their neighborhood’s Latino gang, young Aram (John Roohinian) struggles to navigate the clash between Old World values and his new identity in America.

First-time writer-director Christopher Chambers also shot and helped edit and produce the film, which features a mix of English and Armenian and is the first Armenian film to screen at LAFF. The cast also includes Levon Sharafyan, Sevak Hakoyan, Alla Tumanian, Inga Stamboltyan, Mike Ghader, David Villada, Tina D’Marco and Naria Alyssa. Here’s an exclusive clip from the pic, which screens in the LA Muse section.

US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick today met with the Armenian athletes leaving for Baku to participate in the inaugural European Games in the Azerbaijani capital, the US Embassy in Armenia informed in a Twitter post.

Attending the event were President of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan, the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Gabriel Ghazaryan, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, Olympic Champion Albert Azaryan and others.

The European Games will run from June 12 to 28.