Thursday 25 April 2013

"Where Breaking News and History Meet"

APRIL 24, 2013 POLL
Which of these expressions best defines what happened to the Armenians in 1915?
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
HOLOCAUST
MEDZ YEGHERN
GENOCIDE
MASSACRES
WHAT SHOULD ARMENIANS DEMAND FROM TURKEY?
WHAT SHOULD ARMENIANS DEMAND FROM TURKEY?
RETURN OF TERRITORIES
COMPENSATION
RECOGNITION AND APOLOGY
FREEDOM AND SAFETY FOR HIDDEN ARMENIANS IN TURKEY
OPENING OF BORDER WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS
CESSATION OF ANTI-ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA IN THE SCHOOL SYSYTEM
AMERICA'S RECOGNITION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TURKEY'S
 
APRIL 24, 1915 - REMEMBER THE GENOCIDE
Tsitsernakaberd (Armenian: Ծիծեռնակաբերդ)
Staff Reporter
  •  Wed, Apr 24, 2013
 
Tsitsernakaberd is a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide located on a hill overlooking Yerevan, Armenia.
 
Every year on April 24, hundreds of thousands of Armenians gather here to remember the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide that took place in the Ottoman Empire carried out by the Turkish government. Diasporan Armenians worldwide observe commemorations in honor of their forefathers.
 
We remember to this day, 98 years later, April 24, 2013.
 


 
Watch: Aghet–A Genocide, a world renowned documentary commemorating the Armenian Genocide
Staff Reporter
  •  Mon, Apr 22, 2013
 
Aghet – A Genocide, is a German 2010 documentary film (German:Aghet – Ein Völkermordwritten and directed by Eric Friedler on the Armenian Genocide by the Young Turk government of the Turkish Ottoman Empire during World War I.
 
Aghet is the Armenian word for “catastrophe,” depicting the horrific acts which began in 1915 and ended in 1923. It is based on eyewitness reports by European and American personnel stationed in the Near East at the time, Armenian survivors and other contemporary witnesses which are recited by modern day German actors. The visual material partly consists of secretly shot photographs of the death marches, Turkish atrocities and suffering of the Armenian deportees.
 
Aghet was awarded the 2010 Deutscher Fernsehpreis (Best German Documentary), the 2010 Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award, the 2011 Grimme Award (Best German Television Award), the 2011 World Gold Medal at the New York Film Festival, and received international recognition on the Montreal World Film Festival. It has been shown before many international audiences and was also presented to many members of the United States Congress during a special screening.
 
April 24, 2013 is the 98th Anniversary Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. One of the most important ways in which we can honor the memory of those who perished is to raise awareness and ask others to recognize the horrors of the past.
 


 
Rebels kidnap two Aleppo bishops
Islamist rebels in the province of Aleppo
Staff Reporter
  •  Mon, Apr 22, 2013
  Two Aleppian bishops were kidnapped by Syrian rebels in the outskirts of the city Monday evening, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

The driver of Boulos al-Yazigi, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo and Iskandaroun and Yuhanna Ibrahim, the Syrian-Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, was killed during the attack.

The NNA reported that Ibrahim, Yazigi and the third man, also a priest, were driving from a village near the Turkish border to Aleppo. As they approached the city, they were met with an armed group that forced them out of the car.

The bishops are believed to alive and efforts are ongoing to secure their release.
 
 


 
What is Iran’s position on Armenian Genocide?
Iranian Parliament (Majlis)
Staff Reporter
  •  Mon, Apr 22, 2013
The 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide will be marked on April 24. Parliaments of many countries and international organizations have recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide. 

As an Islamic country, which has close economic relations with Turkey, Iran has had reserved and cautious policy on the Armenian Genocide over the past years. However, it should be noted that members of the Iranian Majlis of the sixth convocation have condemned the Armenian Genocide. Iranian President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami visited Tsitsernakaberd, where he laid a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial, during his official visit to Yerevan on September 9 2004. In August 2010, Iranian Executive Vice President Hamid Baghai pronounced the word “genocide” at a forum titled “Iran: bridge of victory” and said, “The Ottoman Turkey government perpetrated genocide in 1915, in which a certain number of Armenians were killed.”

As for current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during his visits to Armenia in 2007 and 2012, perhaps in view of the condition of Turkish-Iranian relations, he avoided visiting the Armenian Genocide Memorial but said at a meeting in Yerevan State University that Tehran condemns every crime committed in mankind’s history. Besides, every year on April 24, the Iranian ambassador to Armenia lays a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial. Despite the fact that the Iranian authorities have not recognized the Armenian Genocide, they do not hinder official and unofficial media and public circles to raise the issue of the Armenian Genocide. It is gladdening that Persian-language TV channels outside Iran also touch upon the Armenian Genocide, presenting the real truth to the Persian-language audience of millions of people.
 
 
— panorama.am

 
Native Informant
Mohammed Fairouz at work on his second symphony in New York City, 2009. Photo by Kurtis Young.
Staff Reporter
  •  Mon, Apr 22, 2013
The oldest music on my latest album, Native Informant, was written in 2008 but the sounds that inform all the music on this disk started coming to me years before that when I was a teenager. My earliest travels to Lebanon took me to Bourj Hammoud, a densely constructed district of Beirut teeming with history and populated largely by Armenians. Many survivors of the Armenian Genocide settled in this area. The prime role that history plays in day-to-day life couldn't be more apparent. Bourj Hammoud's winding streets are a survey of history and if they could talk they would tell us that the study of history is particularly important because history can be our greatest teacher. But the streets of Bourj Hammoud aren't mute. Music seems to emerge from every corner. Much of this music is live and nearly all of it is Armenian from the folk music played on the Duduk to the songs of revered composers like Ganatchian and Komitas. During my time in Bourj Hammoud, I befriended an elderly piano seller who shared his favorite Armenian greats with me. I was struck by the immediacy of the tunes I heard: so shamelessly melodic but consistently deep. This was sophisticated, multilayered stuff and yet the people on the street could sing it. In fact, they did. I never musically recovered.

That's just one element in the landscape of the contemporary Arab World. There's an overabundance of material in the region and certainly enough to rock an artist with inspiration. On the bus ride from Beirut to Damascus I read through a volume of poetry by Mahmoud Darwish and first came across the tender and startling poem that I was eventually going to set to music in 2008. This poem became the basis for my lullaby (called Tahwidah) that opens the Native Informant album. Tahwidah is a short art song that ruminates on deep loss.

Mahmoud Darwish was well-known throughout the Arab World in his lifetime as a leader among avant-garde poets, championing free-verse and innovative poetic structures over the revered ancient forms. So when I first read the opening of Tahwidah, I was surprised to see that the poetry read almost like ghazal (a traditional form of Arabic love poetry). There was even meter and rhyme as a woman sings of the different forms that her lover might take. It's not until the last line of the poem that Darwish breaks out of this lyricism with the revelation that "this is what a woman/said to her son/at his funeral". The poem knocked me out and obsessed me for the rest of the bus ride to Damascus.
 
 
— Huffington Post

 
Syria’s beleaguered leader praises Armenian loyalty
But what choice do they have ? 
Staff Reporter
  •  Mon, Apr 22, 2013
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has commended his country’s ethnic Armenian community among other minorities for their loyalty to the homeland shown amid the ongoing crisis. 

During a meeting with representatives of various political parties and civil forces of Lebanon in capital Damascus Assad also addressed the subject of minorities, stressing that the Lebanese and Armenian communities, in particular, “have not abandoned Syria despite the heavy situation”, reported the Lebanese As-Safir newspaper.

“Though Armenians are Christians, they have managed to establish strong ties with the Moslem society in which they live and of which they have become an inseparable part,” said Assad, as quoted by the source. “Armenians did not leave Lebanon when this country was going through a multitude of trials and they have not abandoned Syria despite the existing crisis, which speaks for the loyalty of the Armenian people.” 

The civil war in Syria that broke out in March 2011 has so far claimed the lives of an estimated 70,000 people, including dozens of ethnic Armenians. Up to three million Syrians have been internally displaced and over a million have become refugees.

Up to 10,000 Armenians fled their homes in Syria, mostly in the city of Aleppo, when fighting intensified last summer to seek permanent or temporary refuge in their historical homeland, Armenia. A majority of those remaining in Armenia today count on their subsequent return to Syria where Armenians have had a traditional community feared by some to be on the verge of disappearance. 
— Armenia Now

 
March in London to remember the Armenian Genocide
Staff Reporter
  •  Mon, Apr 22, 2013
Armenians marched through London to lay wreaths and for memorial service in Westminster at the start of a week of events marking the 98th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, when Turkish attacks between 1915 and 1923 killed 1.5 million Armenians.

Hundreds of Armenians joined in the procession through London, led by Armenian scouts – male and female – carrying flags and 3 wreaths. Many had large placards about the Armenian genocide and demanding that Turkey recognize it – as a condition of entry into the EU. They also demand that the UK government should recognize it and that it should be taught on the national curriculum.

Some carried a placard with a picture of Hrant Dink (1954-2007), described as ‘The 1,500,001st Victim of The Armenian Genocide’. The former editor of the Istanbul Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, he was prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code which makes it a crime to publicly denigrate the Turkish government, republic or nation. After having received many death threats he was assassinated by a 17 year old Turkish Nationalist in January 2007.
 
 
— Public Radio of Armenia

 
Memorial to Armenian genocide unveiled in southern Hungary
Szeged (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈsɛɡɛd]) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county town of Csongrád county.
Staff Reporter
  •  Mon, Apr 22, 2013
A memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide during WWI was inaugurated in Szeged, S Hungary, on Saturday, politics.hu reports. The cross stone was erected in the Park of Christian Solidarity near Szeged cathedral. Addressing the ceremony, goodwill ambassador Levon Sargsian welcomed that a memorial of this kind was unveiled in Hungary. “Although the recent period has witnessed some difficult moments, they have been swept away like ash in the wind,” he said.

Although diplomatic relations between Armenia and Hungary were broken, ties between the two nations date back to centuries, Levon Sargsian said. The ambassador stressed the need to pay tribute to the 1.5 million victims and fight to prevent similar atrocities anywhere in the world.

Addressing a letter to the participants, Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi said that the two nations had been bound by centuries-long friendship, arising from a common Christian faith, common fate and the remarkable achievements of Armenians who had settled in Hungary.

Martonyi said that Hungarian-Armenian friendship should be further deepened and cooperation extended in all fields of life, including diplomatic relations.
 
 
— Public Radio of Armenia

 
Armenia fails to win medal in tournament
Taekwondo /ˌtaɪˌkwɒnˈdoʊ/ (Korean 태권도 (跆拳道) [tʰɛk͈wʌndo]) is a martial art originating in Korea. It combines combat and self-defense techniques with sport and exercise. In 1989, taekwondo was the world's most popular martial art.
Staff Reporter
  •  Mon, Apr 22, 2013
The national team of Armenia could not achieve any medals at the 2013 European Under-21 Taekwondo Championships that were held in Moldova. In his starting bout, Hayk Khachatryan (74 kg) lost to his Ukrainian opponent. Sergey Vardazaryan (68 kg) likewise was defeated in his first match, but this time against the Greek representative.
Losing to his Spanish challenger likewise in his starting fight, Sergey Galstyan (58 kg) also was eliminated from further competition. And Avetik Ghazaryan (63 kg) was defeated by his Cypriot opponent likewise in the first round.    
Sergey Avanesov (54 kg), on the other hand, made it all the way to the quarterfinals where, however, he was defeated by the representative of Germany.
 
 

— News.am

 
Mon, Apr 22, 2013 •Administration Slashes Aid to Armenia.
Mon, Apr 22, 2013 •SBS gives Armenian radio program another hour
Sun, Apr 21, 2013 •Design for planned Armenian Genocide Memorial in Pasadena unveiled
Sun, Apr 21, 2013 •Ridgefield boy's essay on genocide in Armenia a winner
Sun, Apr 21, 2013 •Stephanie Tency would love to visit Armenia some day - Interview with Miss Universe Nederland 2013 (sic)
Sun, Apr 21, 2013 •Despite Central Asia Focus, Armenia Still CSTO's Most Faithful Ally
Sun, Apr 21, 2013 •NASDAQ OMX ARMENIA Supports Introduction of Corporate Governance Principles in Listed Companies
Sat, Apr 20, 2013 •D.C. buildings linked to Armenian Genocide museum to be razed
Fri, Apr 19, 2013 •Hunt for Boston Marathon Bomber Continues in Watertown
Fri, Apr 19, 2013 •Pastures of Milk and Honey: Heifer Empowers Armenian Farmers
Fri, Apr 19, 2013 •Armenia posts 28,2% drop in export
Fri, Apr 19, 2013 •International experts to address crucial issues facing Diaspora
Fri, Apr 19, 2013 •OSCE Trains Human Rights Educators in Armenia
Fri, Apr 19, 2013 •EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström welcomes the signing of the EU-Armenia Readmission Agreement
Fri, Apr 19, 2013 •Reaching Armenia is not easy for tourists – US ambassador
Fri, Apr 19, 2013 •When it Comes to Wine, Could Georgia's Gain be Armenia's Loss?
Fri, Apr 19, 2013 •EU-Armenia Friendship Group will make its first trip to Armenia next week.
Fri, Apr 19, 2013 •Armenia and Iran sign cultural cooperation programme. (sic)
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 •Matter of Copyright: Armenian publishers of novel by Azeri writer ready to pay compensation upon request
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 •Armenian Princess to Visit Larchmont's Voracious Reader on Friday
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 •Intelligence agents of Russian Military Base in Armenia work out actions in upland and urban conditions
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 •Armenia’s Acting Defense Minister visits Lithuania
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 •Armenian Ambassador participated in Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group session
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 •Armenian dried fruit producers to improve agricultural practices
Wed, Apr 17, 2013 •He's got Armenia under his skin, and we get a guidebook

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