Armenian News ... A Topalian

The Film 'THE CUT' is now coming out on DVD on 12th October

See details in the attachment.

panarmenian.net
DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO AIR 

ON FRANCE 3
August 27, 2015 

PanARMENIAN.Net - French TV company France 3 filmed a 55-minute
documentary titled "Spring of the Armenians" about the Genocide,
Tert.am reports, citing the French-language Nouvelles d'Armenie.

"Exterminating and persecuting the Armenians over the years resulted
in the formation of many different Armenian communities. Turkey
officially denies the Armenian Genocide, trying to artificially
eliminate the traces of Armenian presence in its territory," the
movie description says.

The film focuses on French-Armenian Artin Varoujan who once swore to
never go to Turkey but then decided to explore his ancestors' land.

"He found out that many Armenians, concealing their identity, managed
to survive the first genocide of the 20th century, never having left
Turkey," the story unfolds.

The film will air on August 31.


armradio.am 

GIUSEPPE VERDI'S REQUIEM TO BE PERFORMED IN 

STEPANAKERT
27 Aug 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem will be performed at the Revival Square of
Stepanakert on September 1 in memory of the victims of the Armenian
Genocide and those, who lost their lives in the Atsakh war.

Artistic director of the concert, world-famous opera singer Lyubov
Kazarnavskaya says the choice should not surprise and worry anyone.

"The undefeatable spirit of the Armenian people and culture, the
revival and development of the nation - this is what the Requiem is
about. This not the march of Verdi's mourning march on the Armenian
soil, this is the height of the human spirit," Kazarnovskaya told
reporters in Yerevan.

"Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine
upon them. May they rest in peace. These are the most important words
in the lyrics of the Requiem. We'll try to sing about that eternal
light," conductor Anatoly Levin said.

The guests have said on many occasions they don't worry about being
included in Azerbaijan's "black list" because of the visit Nagorno
Karabakh.

When speaking about Armenia, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya uses the words
"great" and "beloved."

"I've grown up here. My father served here, I attended the school
after Chekhov and lived at 32, Abovyan Street. This is the reason why
I'm familiar with the Armenian culture praised by Komitas," she said.

The concert of September 1 will feature musicians not only from Russia,
but also Serbia and Italy. 

armradio.am 

HISTORIC REQUIEM SERVICE HELD AT ARMENIAN 

CATHOLICOSATE IN SIS
26 Aug 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
On August 22 a delegation representing the brotherhood of the
Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia left for the Sis
Catholicosate with the blessing of His Holiness Aram I.

A requiem service was held in Sis for the blessed souls of deceased
Catholicoi who lived and served at the Catholicosate of Sis from
1293-1915. Then the pontifical message of His Holiness Aram I was read.

It was the first time in the last 100 years that a pontifical message
was delivered to our people from the ruins of the Catholicosate in
Sis. In his message the Pontiff referred to the Armenian Genocide,
and His demand for the return of the Sis Catholicosate to its rightful
owner, the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia.

His Holiness also reaffirmed the commitment of the Armenian
Catholicosate of Cilicia to the sacred legacy of the Armenian martyrs.

On 27th of April 2015, a lawsuit was filed by the Armenian
Catholicosate of Cilicia to the Constitutional Court of Turkey,
demanding the return of the centuries old Catholicosate in Sis to
the Armenian Church. 

armradio.am 

TANER AKCAM RELEASES NEW BOOK ON PLUNDER OF ARMENIAN PROPERTIY
27 Aug 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Turkish historian Taner Akcam has released a new book (with Umit Kurt)
on the plunder of Armenian properties.

The book titled "The Spirit of the Laws: The Plunder of Wealth in the
Armenian Genocide" examines the confiscation of Armenian properties
during the genocide and subsequent attempts to retain seized Armenian
wealth.

Through the close analysis of laws and treaties, it reveals that
decrees issued during the genocide constitute central pillars of the
Turkish system of property rights, retaining their legal validity,
and although Turkey has acceded through international agreements to
return Armenian properties, it continues to refuse to do so.

The book demonstrates that genocides do not depend on the abolition of
the legal system and elimination of rights, but that, on the contrary,
the perpetrators of genocide manipulate the legal system to facilitate
their plans. 

armradio.am 

ARMENIA TO BE A SPECIAL GUEST AT 28TH MOSCOW 

INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR
27 Aug 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Armenia will be a special guest at the 28th Moscow International Book
Fair along with Serbia and Iran,TASS reports.

Armenia will present books dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide - the "The Sandcastle Girls" by Chris Bohjalian,
"The Book of Whispers" by Varujan Vosganian, "Letters to the World"
by Bogdan Gembarsky and others.

"The Land Speaks" - a collection of works by 10 martyred writers will
also be on display at the Armenian booth.

The event will be held from September 2-6 and will feature 400 Russian
and foreign publishing houses.


armradio.am
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FILM TO PREMIERE IN TURKISH 

CINEMAS THIS WEEK
27 Aug 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The "Lost Birds" - the first Turkey-made film on Armenian Genocide
- will be screened in cinemas across Turkey starting this week,
Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting Turkish Sondakika.com website.

"Lost Birds" tells the story of a brother and a sister who are left
behind during the '1915 Armenian exile.

"Lost Birds," a heartfelt film with themes of love and family directed
by Armenian director Aren Perdeci and Turkish director Ela Alyamac
is the first movie to depict the tragedy in a film shot in Turkey on
its 100th anniversary.

The film is led by young actors Dila Uluca and Heros Agopyan, as well
as an ensemble cast of Armenian actors living in Turkey.

Armenian Genocide Museum...Part 13

Armenian Genocide Museum, part 13

+11

FATHER FRANK’S RANTS Rant Number 646 26 August 2015 NIETZSCHE & THE MIGRANTS

WHAT WOULD THE PHILOSOPHER NIETZSCHE THINK OF THE MIGRANTS SEEKING TO ENTER EUROPE?
------------------------------------------------------------


Pity. Compassion. Sympathy. Feelings the sight of masses of distressed people pressing at the gates of Europe might arouse in most Europeans. Germany, the most generous EU nation (unlike stingy Britain), proposes to take a whopping 800.000 of them. A famous German, the philosopher Fred Nietzsche, would not agree.

Nietzsche treats compassion (mitleid in German) as despicable. An anti-virtue. Indeed, a vice. A dangerous weakness to be spurned. Much in contrast to his early master, Schopenhauer. The latter thinker built his ethics on the notion of pity. As existence is essentially suffering and pain, the correct disposition is to feel pity for the suffering of all sentient beings. Not for humanity only but also for animals, insects, nature, the whole.

Thus Schopenhauer would agree that the Middle East and African migrants seeking to escape war, persecution and starvation deserve compassion. (Along indeed with any living creature, because to be born is itself the greatest misery.) Whether he would warmly have invited them into his native Germany is a matter for speculation…

Nietzsche would have none of that. Schopenhauer’s doctrine was fundamentally mystic and ascetic. An ethics of renunciation. A hatred of life. For Fred life must not be denied but affirmed. Physical health, the body, strength, the instincts, exuberance, the will to power – those are the key virtues.

Compassion, a fellow feeling for others, like refugees, is a mistake. A trick, a sleight of hand which the weak, the downtrodden, the bungled and the botched have perpetrated on the strong and the healthy. Hence, ‘to a higher man pity says nothing whatever’, Nietzsche contends. ‘A man loses power when he pities…Sympathy for the weak is the profoundest immorality’, he holds.

A paradoxical and perverse view? Remember that Nietzsche redefines the meanings of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. In his book, Beyond Good and Evil, he sets out to show that what Christian civilisation and morality call ‘good’ is really evil – and vice-versa. War, for example, is good. Peace, by contrast, is bad. Fred’s ultra-notorious ‘superman’ is good because he prefers war to peace. I guess Fred would feel that Katie Hopkins, the feisty lady who advocated sending gunships to repel migrants as alien invaders, is a superwoman after his own heart.

Is it conceivable Nietzsche might see migrants in a positive light? Perhaps if he thought of them as the new ‘barbarians’. The word had bad connotations in English – the Caliphate boys who blow up ancient monuments and chop up and dismember archaeologists are current examples. The old barbarians however were largely savage Germanic tribes bursting into the confines of the dying Roman Empire and conquering it. Franks, Goths, and Vandals did cause tremendous havoc but they also injected new, fresh and vigorous blood into the effete Roman race. So our philosopher in Will to Power speaks of ‘a dominating race’ that can emerge out of terrible and violent beginnings. ‘Where are the barbarians’ of our time’, he wonders? Could they be…the migrants? Is that possible?

There appear to be plenty of sturdy-looking, energetic young men amongst the incoming ‘swarm’ (only quoting the British PM!). They come from agricultural, pre-industrial societies you could perhaps conceive as less feeble than over-civilised Europe. But they are also fleeing people. Not fierce fighters like jihadis but victims escaping civil wars or simply folks in search of a better life. And they do not come in triumph, bearing weapons like a conquering race. Instead, they beg (somewhat forcefully, true) to be allowed in. Not quite like the ferocious Vandal warriors of old.

The plot thickens. The spectacles of crying women and weeping babies TV cameras deliberately harp on naturally suggest vulnerability, weakness and pain. They evoke sentiments of sympathy and compassion, which Fred would regard as contemptible, the marks of a lower nature. If, however, you focus rather on the smiling and exulting folks coming off some of the Mediterranean boats and making the ‘V’ sign, you may encourage populist and right-wing voices speaking of ‘aliens’ and ‘a threat’. Huh!

Furthermore, most of the migrants are Muslims. That worries some Europeans, although few have the courage to state it openly. Are many migrants a fifth column sent by ISIS in order to prepare the way for future invasions? Would that please Nietzsche? I doubt he ever met a single Muslim or knew much about Islam. In Will to Power he castigates the religion of the Crescent because of its use of belief in life beyond the grave as ‘an instrument of punishment’. Then he praises ‘Mohammedanism’ as ‘a religion for me’, in contrast to Christianity, ‘a woman’s religion’, filled with sentimentality and mendaciousness’! An appraisal of Islam not all Muslims would share.

Nietzsche’s hysterical attack on Christ is at the heart of the matter. In his ‘Antichrist’ he denounces Jesus as neither the Messiah nor a Prophet, neither a genius nor a hero.’ Christ’s advice, ‘Resist not evil’, Fred repudiates as a disgusting manifestation of weakness. The compassion the Son of Man displays towards the poor and the suffering is something his Superman comes in order to destroy. ‘The bungled and the botched shall perish’, he exults. That says it all.

The philosopher’s view of Christ was warped. So was his idea of Christian ethics. Because, as Bertrand Russell observes, compassion and pity are compatible with ‘uprightness, pride and self-assertion’. The priest would add: if necessary, even with a certain ruthlessness.

Revd Frank Julian Gelli

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Armenian News...A Topalian

Baroness Caroline along with 34 of her group were in the region on the said weekend and none of the below was known to have occurred during the stay in the region!...


[not found any report on following incident from Armenian sources,

so wonder what to make of these Azeri claims]

SOLDIERS KILLED IN CLASHES NEAR AZERBAIJAN'S 

BREAKAWAY NAGORNO-KARABAKH REGION
Reuters
Aug 24 2015

BAKU Aug 24 Clashes erupted between troops from Azerbaijan and the
breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region at the weekend, the two sides said on
Monday, giving conflicting death tolls and disputing who was to blame.

Violence has intensified this year around Nagorno-Karabakh, which
has an ethnic Armenian majority.

Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry said five Armenian soldiers were killed
and eight wounded late on Saturday. It said the Armenians were the
first to open fire and three Azeri soldiers were wounded.

Nagorno-Karabakh's Defence Ministry said four Azeri soldiers were
killed and more than 15 wounded, Armenian news agencies reported.

War erupted over Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991 as the Soviet Union broke
up, and killed about 30,000 people. A ceasefire was called in 1994
but violence has broken out sporadically since.

Nagorno-Karabakh has run its own affairs with military and financial
backing from Armenia since the war. Armenian-backed forces hold seven
Azeri districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.

Efforts to reach a permanent settlement have failed despite mediation
led by France, Russia and the United States.

The South Caucasus region is criss-crossed by major oil and
gas pipelines. Oil-producing Azerbaijan, host to global majors
including BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil, frequently threatens to take
Nagorno-Karabakh back by force, and is spending heavily on its
armed forces.

Armenia, an ally of Russia, says it would not stand by if
Nagorno-Karabakh were attacked. (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova and
Margarita Antidze; Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Janet
Lawrence) 

AZERBAIJANI MILITARY SUPPRESSES ACTIVITY OF ARMENIAN 

ARMED FORCES ON CONTACT LINE
APA, Azerbaijan
Aug 24 2015

Baku - APA. On August 22, Armenian armed units treacherously violated
the ceasefire regime, firing with large-caliber machine guns and
60mm and 82mm mortar launchers at Azerbaijani army positions located
in the Aghdam and Khojavand directions along the contact line, the
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

According to the ministry, after a careful assessment of the
operational conditions along the front line, the Azerbaijani command
staff reached the decision of firing with mortar launchers at and
shelling certain squares of the front line of and deep in the enemy
defense as well as outposts, trenches, supporting detachments,
communication line.

"Despite the Armenian side trying to conceal its losses, we have
obtained information that 5 Armenian soldiers have been killed and 8
wounded. After the short but intensive gunfight, the command staff
decided to temporarily cease the skirmish in order for the enemy
side to carry pick the dead and aid the wounded. As a result of the
firing from the Armenian side, 3 Azerbaijani soldiers got light
shrapnel wounds. After receiving first aid, the wounded soldiers
were taken to military hospitals. Doctors said the soldiers were in
stable condition. They have already been returned to their unit,"
the ministry said.

"Armenia's military-political leadership carries full responsibility
for new escalation on the front line and future casualties on the
invader's side," the ministry said, forewarning that the Azerbaijani
side will respond with sterner, more effective and more relentless
strikes to silence the criminals in the Armenian military leadership.


AZERBAIJANI DEFENSE MINISTRY DISMISSES ARMENIAN 

MEDIA REPORTS ON MILITARY LOSSES
APA, Azerbaijan
Aug 24 2015
Baku. Hafiz Heydarov - APA. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry has dismissed
media reports in Armenia on the killing of Azerbaijani servicemen on
the contact line of two sides' troops.

The Azerbaijani side suffered no losses and reports disseminated
by Armenian media are fictitious and divorced from reality, Defense
Ministry spokesman Vagif Dargahli told APA.

On August 22, Armenian armed units treacherously violated the
ceasefire regime, firing with large-caliber machine guns and 60mm
and 82mm mortar launchers at Azerbaijani army positions located
in the Aghdam and Khojavand directions along the contact line, the
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Aug. 24.

According to the ministry, after a careful assessment of the
operational conditions along the front line, the Azerbaijani command
staff reached the decision of firing with mortar launchers at and
shelling certain squares of the front line of and deep in the enemy
defense as well as outposts, trenches, supporting detachments,
communication line.

"Despite the Armenian side trying to conceal its losses, we have
obtained information that 5 Armenian soldiers have been killed and
8 wounded. After the short but intensive gunfight, the command staff
decided to temporarily cease the skirmish in order for the enemy side
to carry pick the dead and aid the wounded.

According to Armenian media reports, 4 Azerbaijani soldiers were
killed and more than 15 wounded.


massispost.com
ARMENIAN-AMERICAN MARK MOOGALIAN HAILED AS A 

HERO IN THWARTING PARIS TRAIN TERRORIST ATTACK
August 24, 2015

PARIS -- Armenian-American professor Mark Moogalian who was hailed by
President Francois Hollande for his "courage" was shot while trying
to disarm a gunman wielding an AK-47 aboard a high-speed train,
according to his wife.

Moogalian is a member of a family of Armenian descent with deep
roots in Virginia. Relatives operated a grocery for many years in
the Hopewell area.

"We couldn't be more proud," said an uncle, Harry Moogalian. He said
in an interview Monday morning that the family is still trying to sort
out the sequence of events that left the author and musician shot
and hospitalized. Moogalian said the family here is still awaiting
word about his nephew's condition.

Moogalian, a 51-year-old English professor at the Sorbonne, spotted
a suspicious passenger while traveling on the Amsterdam to Paris
train Friday.

"My husband told me that he had seen someone strange because he had
entered the toilets with his suitcase and it lasted a long time,"
Moogalian's wife Isabelle told Europe1 radio Monday. "A little while
later the guy came out and that's when he saw that the guy was carrying
a gun."

Isabelle Moogalian, who was also aboard the train, said her husband
spotted the gunman "being grabbed from behind by a different person"
-- thought to be a 29-year-old French banker who has chosen to stay
anonymous.

Mark Moogalian told his wife to "go" and then "rushed towards the
gunman to remove ... the Kalashnikov."

She added: "I did not see my husband get shot, it happened too quickly
and I was pretty much hiding behind seats. But I look at my husband
through the seats at an angle and he looked straight at me and said,
'I'm hit!' ... There was blood everywhere. I ran towards him and I
could see that he had a wound on his back, I then saw another wound
by his neck."

Isabelle Moogalian recounted racing through the train searching for
a doctor, screaming: "Help me! Help me!"

In the next carriage, she found three vacationing Americans and a
British businessman who were subduing the gunman.

She credited Spencer Stone, a 23-year-old U.S. airman who had been
traveling through Europe with two friends, for saving the life of
the professor of English.

"He put his finger on my husband's neck wound to stop the hemorrhaging
continuing and he stayed in this position during the whole voyage,"
she told Europe1.

The American trio and the Briton stripped the suspect of an AK-47,
pistol, a blade and a bag of ammunition. The 26-year-old Moroccan told
a lawyer that he only intended to rob "wealthy people" on the train.

Hollande presented childhood buddies Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony
Sadler and British businessman Chris Norman with the Legion d'Honneur
-- France's highest honor -- on Monday morning.

In addition, the French president praised Mark Moogalian for his
"courage" in intervening during the attack. He was still being treated
in the French city of Lille for his neck wound on Monday.

Isabelle Moogalian also described her husband as "hero," adding:
"Thankfully we had the ... military guys on the train. Otherwise we'd
all be dead."


hetq.am
ARMENIA 2015: BIRTHS AND MARRIAGES DOWN; SUICIDES UP
August 25, 2015

The demographic picture for Armenia seems to heading in the wrong
direction if the numbers recently issued by the National Statistical
Service (NSS) are to be taken at face value.

Take the number of births for example. In the first half of 2015,
18, 719 births were recorded - down 2.8% when compared to the 19,249
births recorded in the same period in 2014.

The number of marriages has also dropped so far this year in total
numbers - down 10.3% from2014.

Suicides are up 23%in the first half of 2015 when compared with the
same period in 2014 (397 in 2015, 323 in 2014).

The NSS reports that 40% of those who committed suicide, or attempted
to, were aged 30 to 65.

50% of those who committed suicide and 65% who attempted to take
their own life were unemployed.

The prevailing assumption is that the drop in births and marriages,
and the rise in suicides, is linked to the socio-economic condition
in Armenia.

Transfer payments from Russia, a source of income for many in Armenia,
dropped substantially in late 2014. The Armenian Dram also lost ground
to the US$ - 20% in December 2014.

Prepared by Union of Informed Citizens


arka.am 

COST OF SENDING FIRST-GRADER TO SCHOOL IN ARMENIA 

GROWS
YEREVAN, August 24. The average cost of sending a
first-grader child to school in Armenia is about 40,000 drams,
according to economist Vilen Khachatryan. Speaking at a news conference
today, he said prices of school supplies for the new schooling year
have increased from the past year due to the fluctuation of currency
exchange rates.

He also pointed out that the margin between wholesale and retail
prices varies between 30-100%. "This is why we need to inform parents
about the stores and outlets where they can buy goods for their
schoolchildren at affordable prices,' he said.

According to the chairman of the Union of Consumers of Armenia Armen
Poghosyan, the exact cost of sending a first-grader to school is hard
to calculate because it depends on the level of income of a family.

"September 1st (when schooling year begins in Armenia) has been a
holiday, but for many parents this holiday turns into a big test,
because the majority of the population is sensitive to price changes,'
he said.

He also complained that the quality of imported goods for
schoolchildren, especially of China-made goods, leaves much to
be desired.

He added that all the goods for schoolchildren must have certificate
of quality. 

Armenia Scores High on Global Index:
Perception vs. Reality
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
The latest report of The Human Freedom Index for 152 countries gives
Armenia a surprisingly high score. The study was conducted jointly by
the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C.; Fraser Institute, Vancouver,
Canada; and Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, Berlin,
Germany. The 108-page comprehensive report ranks countries according
to personal, civil, and economic freedoms enjoyed by their citizens.
The rankings are based on 76 distinct indicators grouped in 12
categories: Rule of Law; Security and Safety; Movement; Religion;
Association, Assembly, and Civil Society; Expression; Relationships;
Size of Government; Legal System and Property Rights; Access to Sound
Money; Freedom to Trade Internationally; and Regulation of Credit,
Labor, and Business.

The top 10 countries according to The Human Freedom Index are: Hong
Kong, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, Australia,
Ireland, United Kingdom, and Sweden. The United States is in the 20th
place.

According to the figures released last week for the year 2012, Armenia
ranks 53rd in the world, much higher than most of its neighbors:
Azerbaijan (126th), Turkey (62nd), Iran (152nd); and slightly behind
Georgia (48th).

Armenia's impressive overall ranking reveals an even more stunning
score when one looks at the two major components of that
ranking. Armenia occupies the 17th place in the world in Economic
Freedom, and 70th in Personal Freedom!

The reason I qualified Armenia's ranking as `surprising' is that most
people would not have expected it to have such a high score, given the
persistent criticism of its leadership by Armenians within and outside
the country. While it is true that the Armenian government has many
shortcomings and deserves to be criticized, we should acknowledge that
the authorities must be doing something right for Armenia to outrank
in The Human Freedom Index such influential countries as:
Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Kuwait, Mexico, Qatar,
Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

The only explanation for this dichotomy between people's perception of
Armenia and reality is that its officials have done a bad job of
promoting the country's positive accomplishments. Otherwise, most
Armenians would not have such a negative impression of their homeland.
To illustrate this point, let's take Singapore, a country that
successfully promotes its achievements and is universally praised as a
model of good governance, rapid economic development, and prosperous
living conditions. While there is no question that this Asian Tiger
has an impressive record of accomplishments, it is surprising that
Singapore -- ranked 43rd in the world -- is only 10 places ahead of
Armenia in The Human Freedom Index. If one pays attention to all the
hype about Singapore, one would expect that country to be ranked in
the top 10, while Armenia should be ranked 100, given the constant
critical comments it receives.

As they say, `perception is reality.' In fact, perception is much more
important than reality, because people judge everything on the basis
of their own impression, regardless of how different it might be from
reality. For example, in the past several years Armenia has been
ranked higher than expected on several global reports. Yet, the
Armenian government has never publicized these respectable rankings,
thereby failing to create a positive image for the country which would
attract tourists and investors from around the world.

Many of the countries that Armenia outranks are much more prosperous,
yet they fall far behind in The Human Freedom Index, which can only
mean that a country's wealth -- multi-billion dollar oil revenue in
the case of Azerbaijan -- does not guarantee affluence or freedom for
its citizens!

However, given Armenia's relatively high ranking, its leadership can
no longer use the excuse that the country's development is handicapped
due to limited financial and natural resources. Everything does not
depend on money. Since Armenia is ranked 17th on Economic Freedom,
there is no excuse for it to be ranked 70th on Personal Freedom. The
latter index could be improved greatly without costing the state a
single dollar. All it takes is caring government officials who are
committed to improve the people's welfare.

The biggest deficit of the Armenian leadership is not the lack of
funds, but the lack of public trust. The authorities can regain the
citizens' trust by working diligently to better their living
conditions, and only then, the public's positive perception would
match the reality of Armenia's global rankings.


tert.am
KIM KARDASHIAN EDGES OUT BEYONCE TO BECOME THE 

MOST POPULAR PERSON ON INSTAGRAM
24.08.15

After Kim Kardashian West spent weeks steadily gaining on Beyoncé,
she's just beat the pop star to become number one on Instagram.

Kardashian West edged past Beyoncé overnight by hitting 44,005,604
followers, according to Tecninsider.io.

Beyoncé lags just behind with 43,935,648 followers.

Both women are said to be predominantly posting photos of themselves
and their families -- especially their adorable daughters -- on
Instagram. The main difference: Kardashian West appears to update
her account more often, and her photo captions are wordier and more
personal.

Keghart

Montreal Armenian Disunity the Big Winner     Translate or View it in your browser Berdge Manoukian, Montreal, 23 August 2015 The results are in. Viken L. Attarian has lost the investiture campaign and the establishment candidate, Mélanie Joly, was announced as the winner in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville riding's Liberal candidate nomination. Viken's contingent of volunteers, quoted as the best-organized team by numerous reporters and nomination process followers, unfortunately ended third among the four candidates.   While the numbers and the poll results are yet to be analyzed, the preliminary analysis of the results makes us conclude certain facts: ....Read more >>     The Pension of Armenian Second World War Veterans.  According to War Veteran of Armenia 1,091 Great Patriotic War (Second World War) veterans receive 50,000 dram pension a month. That’s about $120.   Read More The poll question is located on front page in the right column of www.keghart.com Will Western Armenian disappear in 50 years?   Forward to a Friend

This email was sent to tr8seta@gmail.com why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences Dr. Dikran Abrahamian · 15 Bridle Rd. · Penetanguishene, On L9M 1J5 · Canada

Armenian News ... A Topalian

Richmond-Times Despatch

Ex-Midlothian man shot trying to subdue France train gunman

Mark Moogalian

August 24, 2015
ByBILL McKELWAY Richmond Times-Dispatch

Family members of a former Midlothian man hailed as a hero for being the first passenger to grab an assault rifle from a gunman aboard the high-speed train headed from Amsterdam to Paris say they are proud of Mark Moogalian and anxious to learn more about his condition after being shot while wresting the weapon Friday from Ayoub El-Khazzani.

The Telegraph of London reported that Moogalian, 51, who teaches English at the Sorbonne, tackled El-Khazzani during Friday’s train attack and grabbed his weapon before being shot through the neck. The attacker was then subdued by three vacationing Americans who have been cited for their heroism in the episode, as well as a Briton.

Moogalian, a graduate of Midlothian High School, is a member of a family of Armenian descent with deep roots in Virginia. Relatives operated a grocery for many years in the Hopewell area.

“We couldn’t be more proud,” said an uncle, Harry Moogalian. He said in an interview Monday morning that the family is still trying to sort out the sequence of events that left the author and musician shot and hospitalized. Moogalian said the family here is still awaiting word about his nephew's condition.

Moogalian's encounter with the gunman appears to be the first confrontation in the episode that was quelled by the three Americans and Briton who Monday were given France's highest award, the Legion d'Honneur, by President Francois Hollande.

Hollande acknowledged that Moogalian also intervened. Moogalian's wife told Europe-1 radio Monday that he, too, "is among the heroes in this story," the AP reported.

Isabella Risacher-Moogalian described hiding behind train seats from the attacker and then seeing her husband wounded. "He looked at me and said 'I'm hit, I'm hit.' He thought it was over and he was going to die," the AP quoted her as saying.

According to The Telegraph, Moogalian was hospitalized but doing well despite the ordeal.

The British newspaper quoted Moogalian’s sister, Julia, as saying the gunman was able to pull another weapon and shoot her brother, who suffered nerve damage as the bullet passed through his body.

According to The Telegraph, Moogalian made sure his wife was behind a seat before confronting the gunman and taking his weapon.

Moogalian's sister said "there's a video of him saying, 'help me' - he thought he was losing so much blood he would die." The newspaper reported on its website that Moogalian was doing well in the hospital despite the ordeal.

"We're extremely proud of him," the sister was quoted as saying.

Moogalian's uncle described his nephew as a a free spirit who recently authored a vaguely autobiographical novel called Mr. Farride about a man living on a houseboat on the Seine River in Paris, is married and teaches English at the Sorbonne.

“He has taken a much different path than much of the family and what he has accomplished has been very much on his own,” Harry Moogalian said.

An artist, sculptor and musician, Moogalian formed a duo called Secret Season with his wife, whom he married in 2003.

Moogalian’s father, now retired, was a senior scientist with Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co.

The family moved to Richmond from Durham , N.C. and Moogalian has written that rivers, the Eno in North Carolina, the James in Richmond and the Seine in Paris have always been central to his life.

A short biography states that after travelling to France he busked from London to Venice, taking in the culture and writing songs. He paints, sculpts, writes and plays music for a living. “The trip to Europe was a turning point in his life,” according to a short biography accompanying his novel.

Moogalian was the founder of two musical groups in Richmond, Look Like Bamboo and Javaman. And his range of abilities as a musician stretches from the guitar to the hand saw. Both musical groups were widely praised by area critics for their musical ability.

Friends and family praised Moogalian on Facebook late Sunday.

“Please keep my cousin in your prayers. What courage,” Sheila Konis posted.

“Incredible act of bravery from former classmate Mark Moogalian Midlothian High School,” posted Caycee Poust Buscaglia. “Prayers on speedy recovery!”

In Paris this morning, the three Americans and Briton were honored by Hollande. He said that while two of the Americans who tackled the gunman were soldiers, "on Friday you were simply passengers. You behaved as soldiers but also as responsible men," according to an account by The Associated Press.

Hollande then pinned the medals on U.S. Airman Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos, and their longtime friend Anthony Sadler. British businessman Chris Norman was also honored.

A French passenger was the first to try to stop the attacker and was also honored Monday, but he did not want his identity publicly known, Hollande said, who added "I understand" the decision.


(Tom Kapsidelis contributed to this report.)

Armenian News... A Topalian

The Independent
Argentina Armenians keep culture alive - Video
16 August 2015 

http://www.independent.co.uk/video/?videoid=4190830302001 

armenpress.am

"ANCIENT TURKEY" HALL RENAMED INTO "ANATOLIA AND 

URARTU" IN BRITISH MUSEUM BY EFFORTS OF ARMENIANS
19 August, 2015

YEREVAN,. "Aincient Turkey" hall of London's British Museum has 

been renamed into "Anatolia and Urartu".

"Armenpress" reports that the author of the initiative, Armenian Zapyur
Batikyan wrote about this on her Facebook page and installed a photo.

"Of course, I would prefer it to be named Armenia or Armenian
Highlands, but this was the first step towards restoration of justice.

First and foremost, I am thankful to late Mrs. Karine Ghazinyan,
Ambassador of Armenia to Great Britain, who supported my initiative,
as well as to the Minister of Culture, and those Armenian and British
historians who had their contribution to this work", she wrote,
expressing gratitude to Gagik, who helped to organize the petition
and gather over 12 thousand signatures.

The British Museum was established in 1753. It is the main
archeological museum of current Great Britain and previous British
Empire. It is the second most popular museum in the world, after
Louvre. 

RFE/RL Report
New Constitution To Regulate Armenia's Entry Into Blocs
Irina Hovhannisyan
19.08.2015

Armenia's possible accession to new "supranational" alliances would
have to be put on a referendum and approved by most voters, according
to one of the constitutional changes drafted by a commission formed by
President Serzh Sarkisian.

The proposed clause has prompted diametrically opposite
interpretations by representatives of the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (HHK) and Zharangutyun (Heritage), one of the opposition
parties rejecting the constitutional reform.

Armen Martirosian, Zharangutyun's deputy chairman, claimed on
Wednesday that the draft amendment, if passed, will make it easier for
the Armenian authorities to further "limit our sovereignty." He said
this might occur through an eventual transformation of the Eurasian
Economic Union (EEU) into a more tightly-knit and political bloc led
by Russia.

Zharangutyun is the sole parliamentary force to have openly opposed
Armenia's membership in the EEU, which took effect in early
January. The party says that the EEU, which also comprises Belarus,
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, was cobbled together by Russia with the
ultimate aim of restoring the Soviet Union. The Sarkisian
administration has dismissed such claims.

"On paper, the Soviet Union was a union of effectively independent
states," Martirosian told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am). "But in reality, all key decisions were the
prerogative of the central government."

"A similar situation may emerge now. This new constitution allows
that," he claimed.

Hovannes Sahakian, a senior HHK lawmaker, disagreed, saying that the
amendment in question would on the contrary serve as an additional
safeguard against arbitrary government decisions endangering Armenia's
national independence. "I don' think that we should look for dangers
here," he said. "I don't see anything bad here."

Ara Ghazarian, an independent legal, expert, also defended the
proposed change. "It's better to make such decisions in a referendum
than in someone's office," he said.

"The EEU is a case in point," Ghazarian went on, recalling Sarkisian's
unexpected decision in September 2013 to make Armenia part of the
Russian-led union. The decision was announced immediately after
Sarkisian's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

panarmenian.net 

RESEARCH: TURKS, KURDS WHO REACHED OUT TO ARMENIANS DURING GENOCIDE
August 21, 2015 

The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and
the Kaloosdian/Mugar Chair at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies at Clark University together with Professor Taner
Akcam have initiated a major research.

This vast research project aims at collecting information on those
Turks and Kurds that reached out to the victims of the Armenian
Genocide.

The main mission of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation is
to unveil untold stories of rescue and solidarity. The issue of the
Muslim rescuers who went out of their way to save Armenians at the
beginning of the 20th century is an unchartered territory waiting to
be discovered, is stated in the preamble of the report.

"It is a great honor to join forces with Professor Taner Akcam,
a world-renowned Turkish historian and sociologist who has devoted
his efforts to try and reconcile the narratives of the Armenian
and Turks, and his chair at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies at Clark University.

This is a unique attempt to identify and honor the many Turks and
Kurds that lent a hand to their Armenian neighbors in one of the
darkest periods of mankind. The Wallenberg Foundation does the same
concerning the Holocaust. Rather than focusing on the evil, our NGO
strives to highlight the spirit of solidarity of the women and men
who, like Raoul Wallenberg, oftentimes risked their own lives to
save others. This is our duty towards those saviors and, above all,
our obligation to the young generations that should be aware of these
role models.

The research work conducted in this regard was undertaken in a in-depth
and painstaking manner in Muslim (Turkish and Kurdish) provinces where
most of the killings occurred, and where most of these stories have
been passed on verbally from generation to generation.

As promised, the research is now published and presented to the public
light in order to be examined and commented by experts and lay readers
as well. Recognition of goodness is one of the pillars of our mission,
and we are confident that this ambitious research will enable us to
add more names to the list of rescuers," the Foundation said.


tert.am 

ARMENIA'S FEMALE POPULATION HITS RECORD HIGH ON 

GLOBAL SCALE - REPORT
20.08.15
Armenia has been listed among the world countries where women appear
to be essentially outnumbering men.

The finding was published by the Washington Post which cited the
United Nations' estimates for 2015.

Along with Armenia, other countries with the largest female
populations turn out to be Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Russia and Ukraine. Those countries are also reported to be leading
world statistics in the life-expectancy gap between men and women.

"The national differences between male and female populations change
with age. In Russia, for example, the gender ratio is clearly divided
by age groups. There are more new-born boys than girls in Russia
each year. Men continue to outnumber women until the age of 31. But
from the age of 32, there are more females than males, with the gap
growing wider every year.

"Much of the gender discrepancy can be explained by history. The
demographics in the former Soviet Union have been greatly influenced by
its history during the 2oth century. According to the very first census
conducted in Russia 1897, there were 98.9 men for every 100 women. It
almost matches today's gender ratio. 

panarmenian.net 

ARMENIAN DRAM AMONG 10 CURRENCIES AT RISK OF DEVALUATION: BLOOMBERG
August 21, 2015
Thursday, Aug. 20's 22 percent plunge in the
tenge after Kazakhstan abandoned control of its exchange rate
revealed a sense of urgency among policy makers: they had tried a
managed depreciation just a day earlier. The escalation signaled
to investors that it has become too costly for developing nations
to defend their currencies. Vietnam also devalued the dong, while
freely traded currencies such the South African rand and Turkey's
lira extended losses.

The trigger for the wave of depreciations was China's decision to
weaken the yuan on Aug. 11, leaving countries competing with the
world's second-largest economy in export markets and those selling
goods to it at a disadvantage. That added to the woes of emerging
markets already reeling from a looming increase in U.S. interest rates
and weakness in oil prices. Some, like the countries of the former
Soviet Union, face an additional problem: the ruble's continued
weakness puts them in an unfavorable position in their trade with
Russia.

According to Bloomberg, below are the currencies that are among those
most at risk from this conflux of global developments:

* Saudi Arabia's riyal: Armed with $672 billion in foreign reserves,
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has enough capacity to
hold the peg, according to Deutsche Bank AG. Nonetheless, speculators
are betting on a break of the currency regime as crude oil tumbled
to a seven-year low. The forwards, contracts used by traders to bet
on or hedge against future price moves, fell to the weakest since
2003, implying about a 1 percent decline in the riyal over the next
12 months.

* Turkmenistan's manat: This oil-exporting nation with close economic
ties to Russia devalued its currency by 19 percent in January.

Stockholm-based SEB AB forecasts a further weakening of as much as
20 percent in the next six months.

* Tajikistan's somoni: The nation has close ties with Kazakhstan,
which accounts for about 11 percent of trade, and SEB expects a
depreciation of 10 to 20 percent.

* Armenia's dram: The currency has lost 15 percent in the past 

12 months, compared with a 46 percent drop in the ruble. A 

quarter of the country's trade is with Russia.

* Kyrgyzstan's som: The weaker tenge will put pressure the som because
of this country's ties to Kazakhstan, according to BMI Research.

* Egypt's pound: The country has limited investors' access to foreign
currencies amid a shortage since the 2011 Arab Spring protests.

Traders are betting the pound will weaken about 22 percent in a year,
according to 12-month non-deliverable forwards. 

armenpress.am 

UK AMBASSADOR: NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT 

SETTLEMENT MUST REMAIN ABSOLUTE PRIORITY FOR 

ALL WHO CARE ABOUT THIS REGION
21 August, 2015

YEREVAN,  Irfan Siddiq, Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great 

Britain and Northern Ireland to Azerbaijan announced that Nagorno

-Karabakh conflict settlement must remain absolute priority
for all who care about this region.

"Armenpress" reports that Irfan Siddiq made the statement during his
interview with APA.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains one of the most important
regional issues. The conflict is a cancer that contaminates the whole
region, displacing people, taking the lives of those on the front
line, creating instability and preventing further regional economic
co-operation. Resolution of the conflict must remain an absolute
priority for all who care about this region. Like all those following
this issue, my hopes for the rest of the year are, unfortunately,
greater than my expectations. I hope that before the end of this
year the peace talks will become more serious with another meeting of
the Presidents as part of a sustained negotiation effort. The Minsk
Group Co-Chairs have suggested comprehensive peace talks as one way
of injecting momentum into the process. I support this call and urge
all parties to respond positively to this suggestion to find a way
to break the deadlock and move away from the painful and unhelpful
status quo" said Irfan Siddiq.


mediamax.am 

IAN GILLAN'S 70TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED IN YEREVAN
August 20, 2015 09:33
EXCLUSIVE
On August 19 evening, the 70th anniversary of rock legend, Deep 

Purple frontman Ian Gillan was celebrated in Yerevan.

Ian Gillan's fans and people involved in the singer's Armenia-related
projects had come together at Mediamax office.

The guests watched "Pictures of Home" documentary telling about Ian
Gillan's affinity with Armenia and drank a toast to their favourite
singer.


THEATRE REVIEW: GARINE, ARCOLA THEATRE, UK
British Theatre.com
Aug 18 2015
REVIEW: Garine, Arcola Theatre
By Tim Hochstrasser 
4 Stars

The annual Grimeborn Opera Festival aims not only to provide a showcase
for contemporary opera and new versions of established repertory,
but also to highlight works once popular and now forgotten.

Gariné is one such work, and a rare bird on any number of counts.

It's a long five-act operetta from the 1870s and thus contemporary with
Carmen (to which witty allusion is made at one point in the evening);
but there the surface similarities end. The composer was an Armenian,
Dikran Tchouhadjian, son of the sultan's clockmaker, and a part
therefore of the cosmopolitan world of mid-nineteenth-century Istanbul,
protected from the increasing persecution of his compatriots. He
received an excellent musical education in Milan before writing
a series of successful operettas and less successful historical
operas that garnered him the nicknames of the 'Oriental Offenbach'
and 'Armenian Verdi'. His greatest success was with Gariné then
under its original but more prosaic title of The Chickpea Vendor,
which was much performed around Europe for several decades.

What we heard at the Arcola was in important respects different from
the original. This was a semi-staged performance and therefore a great
deal of the original material was cut. Instead of an orchestra we had
a grand piano played with admirable delicacy and panache by Kelvin
Thomson. So it is impossible to comment directly on the composer's
great attributed skills as an orchestrator. A new libretto and
translation was provided by Gerald Papasian, the director and driving
force behind the whole enterprise. He also interpolated narrative
summaries to provide continuity through the much-amended plot.

Musically this work has a great deal of charm though if I had heard it
blind I would have suspected the influence of Rossini and Gilbert and
Sullivan rather than Offenbach and Verdi! Long sequences of choruses
in waltz or quadrille tempo are broken up by arias that showcase the
voices of the principals in music that is testing but not virtuosic
for its own sake. The melodies have a sweetness and folk inflection
to them that indicates an Armenian source, but the accompaniments
generate a bouncy, arpeggiated vigour with occasional harmonic walks
on the wilder side that suggest how attractive and sophisticated an
orchestral backcloth to this music would sound. Otherwise it does
not come over as a specifically orientalist work, at least in its
aural properties: more a highly competent operetta in the mainstream
European house style of the day. Perhaps I am simply registering my
own cultural conditioning but at times The Pirates of Penzance did
not seem far away (and that is certainly not a bad thing).

Dramatically, the story is no better and no worse than many an
implausible set of romantic mishaps from the world of operetta. The
plot revolves around a theatre company whose director, Armen, (Edward
Saklatvala) has just lost his lead singer to a rival company. Gariné
(Danae Eleni) is ideally suited to save the day, but unfortunately her
father Hor Hor, the wealthy chickpea vendor (Leon Berger), is opposed
to her taking the stage. There are many obstacles to be overcome before
both the play and the relationship can go forward, not least in a whole
complicated series of sub-plots that it would be tedious to summarise,
except to say that they provide plenty of set-piece opportunities
for sensual choreography, quick costume-changes, comic pratfalls,
melodramatic threats, and commentary by the chorus of actors and
dancers that provide the heart to the work.

In two respects, however, this is a distinctive and individual
scenario. The question of whether women should perform on the stage
or not was a real controversy in the theatre of the composer's day
which had real consequences for those at the centre of it. There
is an edge to the musical writing and to the text here that rightly
lifts the action out of knockabout comedy. And in addition there is an
interesting debate taking place about the pecking order of theatre -
does value lie with high art or with street theatre that is close
to popular taste, or with both? At the end of the action the street
comedians and jugglers demand equal consideration and ranking in the
Istanbul theatre, alongside the formal troupes. Again this issue was
one that mattered to the players and audiences of the day, and it
has eerie pre-echoes of the debate that takes place in the Prologue
to Strauss and Hofmannsthal's Ariadne auf Naxos. Music and theatre
may be 'holy arts', but aren't we all entitled to some time out?

With so much crammed into what was still a long evening, inevitably
there were compromises and not all of them to the advantage of
the piece. Papasian's narrative interventions, while necessary for
clarity's sake, were over-long and garlanded with too much stage
business that held up the action. Quite a bit of the basic acting,
aside from the bravura concerted items, was wooden and under-rehearsed;
and there were longueurs in the second half as the plot speeded ahead
to its conclusion while the list of musical numbers still had a long
time to run. That said, there were many unimpeachable strengths in
the company and in the production that need to be noted.

Vocally it was very accomplished across the range of principals and
chorus, and all the chorus and ballet numbers, together with the many
moments of elaborate comic business, were neatly choreographed and
sometimes genuinely funny. It was great to see everyone display such
joy and confidence in this rare material.

For me four performances stood out. Eleni's rendition of the title
role was very sympathetic and technically much more secure than
her performance as Musetta last week, with delicate runs, a very
good secure top register and only a hint of pressure on sustained
high notes. She also acted well, moving plausibly from gaucheness to
confidence across the evening. As her partner, Saklatvala sang with
excellent clarity of sound and verbal definition, but was underpowered
in his acting; whereas Leon Berger had a great time playing the
outraged and outrageous patronizing patriarch, Hor Hor. In some ways,
even in this new version, Hor Hor is the central and most interesting
role, combining something of Rigoletto, Osmin and Falstaff in his
persona, and Berger got all these elements across in musical detail
and character acting. A special mention would go to Katie Grosset
in the junior lead soprano role of Shoushan: she delivered her main
aria in the second half with real panache and danced with understated
grace throughout the evening.

The evening was notable for reviving a work of genuine tuneful elegance
and comic potential. The commitment and skill of the production
overall makes you want to see the same company offer a fully staged
run in a larger venue - and soon.