Category: News

– When a cousin of Diana Hekimian’s in San Francisco mentioned that she had found an old manuscript in the basement of her apartment building two months ago, Hekimian didn’t know what to think.

Then she saw the manuscript. With its faded type, handwritten notes, and photographs taped to the pages, “it looked like a very important document,” she said. So, she brought it to the Armenian Film Foundation for help figuring out what it was.

Hekimian, a founding member of the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance and board member of the Armenian International Women’s Association, had actually just stumbled upon an original copy of one of the earliest reports of the 1915 genocide in Armenia: The Diyarbekir Massacres and Kurdish Atrocities. It was written by British Pro-Consul Thomas Mugerditchian and published in 1919.

People all over the world can get a personal glimpse into Mugerditchian’s life through the testimony of his daughter, Alice Mugerditchian Shipley, which is integrated into the Visual History Archive as part of USC Shoah Foundation’s Armenian Genocide testimony collection. The testimony was originally filmed by documentarian J. Michael Hagopian and collected by the Armenian Film Foundation.

The Mugerditchian family lived in comfort and prestige in Diyarbekir, Turkey, until World War I began and Alice, her mother and siblings were forced to flee. They attempted to stay alive in Kharpert (Harput) until finally deciding to escape through the mountains of Dersim and into Russian controlled Erzincan. Thomas Mugerditchian was still in Diyarbekir when he wrote his report and later served as a diplomat in Egypt. The family was finally reunited in California in 1921.

The Diyarbekir Massacres and Kurdish Atrocities is significant because it was one of the first written reports of violence committed against Armenian men, women and children in May 1914 leading up to the beginning of the Armenian Genocide in 1915, said Carla Garapedian, board member of the Armenian Film Foundation. The acts of violence and persecution against innocent civilians that Mugerditchian describes provide clues that a genocide was about to begin.

“You don’t suddenly attack a population,” Garapedian said.

Mugerditchian’s report is based on his own personal observations as well as accounts from four other witnesses.

The book’s content is truly harrowing. Mugerditchian describes babies being thrown off bridges, entire village populations marched off into the desert and massacred, and rivers flowing red with blood from murdered civilians.

Mugerditchian compiled his report, made four carbon copies (one of which is Hekimian’s) and sent it to the U.S. State Department. It was published in 1919. In 2013, it was translated to English from the original Armenian; it can be purchased on .

In 1983, Shipley wrote her own memoir, , about her family’s story of survival. Hagopian interviewed her for his collection of Armenian Genocide survivor and witness testimonies in 1985.

Hekimian hopes to donate the manuscript to an Armenian cultural institution or museum.

On this day we celebrate the World Press Freedom Day. On the 25th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration the EU wishes to recall the principle that “the establishment, maintenance and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free press is essential to the development and maintenance of democracy in a nation, and for economic development”.

The right to freedom of opinion and expression includes freedom to seek, receive and impart information. It is a key component of democratic governance and development. People need to be fully informed to be able to form an opinion and participate in decision-making processes that affect their lives. Freedom of information also contributes to better governance as it enhances transparency in public affairs and can be used as a tool to make governments accountable for their actions, in particular when access to information results in the exposure of human rights violations or corruption practices.

Ensuring access to information can serve to promote justice and reparation, in particular after periods of grave violations of human rights.

The EU is committed to continue promoting and protecting freedom of opinion and expression worldwide, not only offline but also in relation to the cyberspace and other information communication technologies, as highlighted by the adoption in 2014 of the EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline.

It condemns the increasing level of intimidation and violence that journalists, Human Rights Defenders, media actors and other individuals face in many countries across the world when exercising the right to freedom of opinion and expression online and offline.

In addition to combating outright violence the EU is determined to fight against laws or practices that impose censorship, encourage self-censorship or provide legal penalties, including criminal, financial and administrative sanctions, as well as against the misuse of market powers and poor economic conditions.

The EU reaffirms its determination to promote and support, freedoms of opinion and expression as rights to be exercised by everyone everywhere, based on the principles of equality, non-discrimination and universality – through any media and regardless of frontiers.

This is your Right!

On  May 3 Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan and the first President of the Republic of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan held a meeting.

A range of issues related to the wide-scale military operations unleashed by the enemy from 2 to 5 April was discussed during the meeting.

President Sahakyan signified the consolidated stance of the political forces during these days of ordeal and their role in solving issues the nation faced.

In case of the official recognition of the NKR, everyone will first hear about this from the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan,” President’s Spokesman Vladimir Hakobyan has declared.

“Azerbaijan has lived in tyranny for such a  long time that even the highest governmental circles have forgotten about the existence of people outside prisons in other countries, who constitute opposition and who have the right to come forth with legislative initiatives.  And what a surprise – in other countries the governments are obliged to put the opposition’s initiatives on their session agenda and discuss them,” Vladimir Hakobyan said in comments to News.am.

The comments come after statements of the Azerbaijani Presidential administration, the Foreign Ministry and other officials regarding the draft law on recognizing the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) on the agenda of the Armenian Government session.

“Currently Armenia is watching the “parade” of delirious statements of Azerbaijan’s different high-ranking officials, which besides surprising can only amuse. One gets an impression that even books on democracy, which can be read in order to get informed, have disappeared from Azerbaijan,” he said.

Hakobyan also added: “Let no one doubt that in case of the official recognition of the NKR, everyone will first hear about this from the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. ”

During its forthcoming sitting on Thursday the Armenian Government will consider the draft law on recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic co-authored by opposition MPs Zaruhi Postanjyan and Hrant Bagratyan.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has awarded the serviceman, who beheaded Karam Sloyan, private of the NKR Defense Army.

Aliyev handed in the award as he visited the frontline, accompanied by his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva.

 

Although rare ceasefire violations by the Azerbaijani side were reported last night, the concentration of troops and active movement is observed at the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh forces, the NKR Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army follow the steps of the Azeri forces and are ready to take relevant measures if necessary.

No violations of the ceasefire agreement are reported at this point. The situation is under vigilant control of the NKR Defense Army.

Turkey has warned the Bundestag not to condemn the  annihilation of Armenians by Turkey as genocide, reports.

“It is not the role of national parliaments to judge history,”Turkish Ambassador to Germany Hüseyin Avni Karslioglu told the Düsseldorf-based Rheinische Post.

The Ambasaador said “the genocide is a legal concept defined by the Geneva Convention and it’s only up to international courts to rule on the issue.”

“It is questionable whether the Bundestag will contribute to normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia with a resolution in which the events are called genocide,” Karslioglu said.

Rather, he said, “the two nations should be encouraged to cooperate with regard to this tragic period of history” and pointed to Ankara’s offer to form a commission of historians.

The German on June 2, according to an agreement reached in April between the Greens and the government.

The ruling coalition, the Left and the Alliance90/Green Parties have reached an agreement to call the 1915 events “genocide.”

“Despite the numerous appeals of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and the international community to fully respect the trilateral ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995, Azerbaijan continued violations, concentrating heavy weaponry and military forces along the entire Nagorno Karabakh, further increasing its war-mongering and launching a provocative propaganda campaign on international arena, trying to accuse the Armenian side in exactly the same it is doing itself, thus preparing ground for new military attacks,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said at a joint press conference with his Finnish counterpart Timo Soini.

“It can have far-reaching consequences for the whole region. We are sharing the view with the international community that there is no alternative to an exclusively peaceful negotiated settlement of the Karabakh conflict,” Minister Nalbandian said.

Edward Nlabandian said that immense efforts will be needed for resumption of the negotiation process. He stressed the need for implementation of a mechanism for investigation of ceasefire regime violations and guarantee the unconditional implementation of the ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995.

“All these proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs are fully supported by Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh,” he said.

At a meeting in Helsinki the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Finland discussed a number of issues on regional and international arena, including the situation in the Middle East, fight against terrorism, etc.

As a member and former Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Finland finds the escalation of the Karabakh conflict unfortunate and condemns all violence along the line of contact, Finland’s Foreign Minister Timo Soini said at a joint press conference with visiting Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

He urged the sides to respect the ceasefire. “We all know that there can be no military solution to this conflict, it must be solved in a political way,” the Minister said.

“Finland fully supports the current Co-Chairs – the United States, Russia and France, and all their mediating efforts,” Minister Soini said.

The  NKR Human Rights Defender has issued on  facts of human shielding and use of indiscriminate weapons against the civilian population of Nagorno Karabakh by Azerbaijani military forces.

The report reminds that since 2 April 2016, the Azerbaijani military forces have committed numerous grave violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law by aggressively attacking the entire Line of Contact between the NKR-Azerbaijani forces, as well as the Nagorno Karabakh settlements near the Line of Contact and deep in the rear.

According to the statement, Intentional deployment by Azerbaijan of its military units and artillery in the vicinity and within civilian settlements and using them as firing positions goes against the obligations imposed upon by the Geneva Convention (IV, Article 28) to which Azerbaijani  is a State Party and which reflects fundamental rules of international humanitarian law, as well as other obligations under customary international law.