Category: News

Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection in New England hosted its annual summer festival Sunday, according to ,

The Stanley Street parish hosted hundreds of people, many of whom share family ties, according to the church’s pastor, Kapriel Mouradjian.

“A lot of people here are related to one and other,” he explained. “It’s like two degrees of separation.”

Local families were joined by fellow Armenians from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island. In a few weeks, many of them will head to Springfield, Mass., where St. Mark Armenian Church will be hosting its annual picnic.

Members of the New Britain church spent over a week preparing food for Sunday’s event, expecting to serve over 400 meals. On the menu were lamb kebab, shish kebab, rice pilaf, tabouleh and a khema sandwich, filled with spiced minced meat.

“We make a lot of money for the church today,” said Violet Terdjanian, one of the cooks. “We work a few hours and then we eat. It’s nice to see people come and enjoy.”

The event has been happening since the church building was consecrated in 1982. Before that, the church was on Erwin Place and the festival was held at Falcon Field.

 

In October, the parish is hosting another celebration, in honor of its 75th anniversary.

Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler Mihran Arutyunyan lost to Davor Stefanek of Serbia in men’s Greco-Roman 66 kg final and claimed a silver medal at Rio Olympics.

Arutyunyan had earlier beaten Rasul Chunayev of Azerbaijan in the semifinal.

Manchester United’s midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan Henrikh Mkhitaryan has shared the photos of Armenian medalists at Rio Olympics.

“Olympic gold‬ for Armenia Really proud of our sportsmen in ‪‎Rio2016‬. Artur Aleksanyan (Gold), Migran Arutyunyan (Silver), Simon Martirosyan (Silver), Gor Minasyan (Silver),” Mkhitaryan wrote in a Facebook post. 

Gor Minasyan won the third silver medal for Armenia at Rio Olympics in  men’s +105kg weightlifting with a combined 451 kg.

Ruben Aleksanyan came in forth with a result of 440 kg.

Georgian Lasha Talakhadze won the gold medal with a record 473 kg. His compatriot Irakli Turmanidze cam in third with a result of 448 kg.

Greco-Roman wrestler Arthur Aleksanyan won Armenia’s first gold medal at Rio Olympics.

Aleksanyan beat Cuba’s Yasmany Daniel Lugo Cabrera in the men’s Greco-Roman 98 kg final.

Arrmenia had not claimed Olympic gold since 1996.

– “The Promise,” the Armenian Genocide-themed feature produced by Kirk Kerkorian’s Survival Pictures will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The festival also announced on Tuesday that “The Promise” will be featured as one of the event’s coveted opening weekend galas on September 11.

The film, which hails from award-winning director of Hotel Rwanda, Terry George, stars Golden Globe winner Oscar Issac, Academy Award winning actor Christian Bale and Charlotte Le Bon in the lead.

“Michael, a humble Armenian apothecary, leaves his village to study medicine in cosmopolitan Constantinople. Chris, an American photojournalist who has come to the country to partly cover the geopolitics, is in a relationship with the talented Ana, a Paris-educated, Armenian artist. When Michael meets Ana, their shared heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between the two men. After the Turks join the war on the German side, the Ottoman Empire turns violently against its own ethnic minorities. Despite their conflicts, everyone must find a way to survive — even as monumental events envelope their lives,” reads the film synopsis on the TIIF website.

Sources told Asbarez in June that “The Promise” is eyeing to hit theaters as early as December.

George, who was nominated for a best director Oscar for “Hotel Rwanda,” co-wrote “The Promise” with another Academy Award nominated screenwriter Robin Swicord. In March 2013, George was a guest of the Armenian State Pedagogical University, where the Irish filmmaker compared the Armenian Genocide to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

The film, which also stars, Charlotte Le Bon, James Cromwell, Marwan Kenzari, Jean Reno, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Angela Sarafyan, among others, completed shooting in Europe last fall and is in post-production.

After shooting was completed on the film, Survival Pictures co-manager and a producer of the film, Eric Esrailian told Asbarez in an email that “Kirk will be proud,” referring to Kerkorian. “That makes all of the hard work even more special.”

The entertainment blog, The Playlist, gave an early prediction that “The Promise” will be on a short list for Academy Award consideration in 2017.

Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler Mihran Arutyunyan beat Rasul Chunayev of Azerbaijan in the men’s Greco-Roman 66 kg semifinal and secured at least a silver medal.

Arutyunyan will face Davor Stefanek of Serbia in the final.

Arthur Aleksanyan, in turn, beat Cenk Ildem of Turkey in the men’s Greco-Roman 98 kg semifinal and is set to face Yasmany Daniel Lugo Cabrera of Cuba in the final.

Armenia’s Simon Martirosyan lifted a combined 417kg to win a silver medal in men’s 105kg weightlifting at the Rio Games.

Martirosyan, 19, lifted 190kg in the snatch and 227kg in the clean and jerk.

Ruslam Nuradinov of Uzbekistan claimed the title with a combined 421kg and set a new Olympic record.

The Spanish city of Benalmadena has officially recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide.

The City Council and all political forces represented in it unanimously voted in favor of the institutional statement.

More than 20 Spanish cities have already recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has noted the high economic effect of Armenia’s integration with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), TASS reports.

“Armenia for us is a strategic partner in the Caucasus and we systematically build our relations of alliance along the most sensitive lines and in the international scene, the CIS space first and foremost,” Putin said during narrow format negotiations with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan on Wednesday.

“Incidentally, I was very pleased to see that and I would like to congratulate you. I’ve taken a look at last year’s statistics. Since Armenia joined the EAEU your GDP has grown 10%,” Putin said.

He believes this is a very positive sign. Putin voiced the hope that the positive trend will be preserved.

At the beginning of the meeting Sargsyan said that in the course of his working visit to Moscow he was going to discuss with Putin current interaction between the two countries and to exchange opinion of various issues on the regional agenda. Sargsyan said that in January-June 2016 Russian-Armenian trade was up 12% and commodity export to Russia reached a record-high. He attributed the growth to Armenia’s accession to the EAEU. Sargsyan said his country had no major problems in bilateral relations with Russia.

Armenia joined the EAEU in 2015.

Putin added that he will inform Serzh Sargsyan about the results of the talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement with Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev.

“I met with Azerbaijani President (Ilham) Aliyev in Baku just recently, and, of course, we could not overlook the issue you’ve just mentioned – the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,” Putin said opening talks with the Armenian leader. “Of course, I will be glad to inform you about the results of our talks in Baku.”

The Russian and Azerbaijani presidents held talks in Baku on August 8.