Author: Christine Harutyunian

Ten soldiers and eight civilians were killed on Oct. 9 in an Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) suicide bomb attack targeting a military road checkpoint in the Şemdinli district of the eastern province of Hakkari, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has announced, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Speaking ahead of a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) consultation meeting in Istanbul, Yildirim said 10 soldiers and eight civilians were killed in the suicide attack when a PKK bomber blew himself up inside a bomb-laden pickup that drove into the Durak gendarmerie road checkpoint in the district.

Yildirim said five tons of explosives were used in the attack, which created a six-meter deep hole at the scene and damaged buildings nearby.

Two of the killed soldiers were identified as Pvt. Eyüp Hacıoğlu and Gendarmerie Specialized Sgt. Hasan Aydoğdu.

In addition, the Hakkari Governor’s Office also stated that 27 people, including 11 soldiers, were wounded in the attack and were transferred to hospitals with a military helicopter.

–  Turkey is exiting the European Union’s Creative Europe program which supports the arts, including film and TV — a surprise move that comes as relations between the Turkish government and the E.U. become increasingly strained.

In 2015, Turkey joined the ranks of non-E.U. member countries allowed to tap into Creative Europe’s 1.46-billion-euro fund ($1.56 billion) to support culture and the arts between 2014 and 2020. Creative Europe incorporates the E.U.’s Media Program, which subsidizes production, promotion, and distribution of film, TV, and video content.

“The European Commission regrets Turkey’s decision and the fact that Turkish cultural and audiovisual operators will miss future opportunities for cooperation with their counterparts in the E.U.,” an E.U. spokeswoman. “Although this is unfortunate, the commission respects the sovereign decision of Turkey.”

The withdrawal, now under negotiation between the E.U. and the Turkish government, is to be effective from Jan. 1, 2017.

According to Turkish daily Haberturk, the pullout is in response to a and performed in April by Germany’s Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra, in commemoration of the Armenian genocide.

More recently, in the wake of the July 15 failed coup in Turkey, tensions between the E.U. and Ankara have worsened, partly because E.U. officials have criticized Erdogan’s heavy crackdown against the coup’s alleged plotters and sympathizers.

To date, an estimated 2.4 million euros ($2.6 million) has been allocated by Creative Europe to support Turkish films and cultural projects, including the Istanbul Film Festival’s Meetings on the Bridge co-production forum. It is unclear whether Turkey’s pullout from Creative Europe will also affect the country’s membership in European co-productions fund Eurimages, which is overseen by the Council of Europe, not by the European Union.

In any event, the withdrawal is a blow to the Turkish film industry since producers, distributors and fest and film market organizers will not be able to tap into the Media Program’s soft money. It also symbolically weakens their ties with Europe’s creative community.

“It is a very unfortunate decision,” said Basak Emre, co-director of Festival on Wheels, which promotes Turkish films. “Many artists and cultural institutions will be affected. But we do not know the details of this decision yet,” she noted.

On September 28, in the framework of the working visit to Belgium Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Karen Mirzoyan met with Director of the European Friends of Armenia NGO Diogo Pinto. During the meeting, the sides discussed a range of issues related to joint projects and their realization.

Later in the day the NKR Foreign Minister had a working lunch with member of the Belgian Parliament and PACE Piete De Bruyn. The sides touched upon the existing situation of the peaceful settlement of Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, the large-scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against the NKR on April 2-5 as well as its consequences.

On the same day, Karen Mirzoyan participated in an event dedicated to the 25^th anniversary of Armenia organized by the Embassy of Armenia in Brussels.

The working visit of Minister Karen Mirzoyan to Belgium has ended.

Armenia’s First Deputy Defense Minister David Tonoyan had a phone conversation with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk today.

The interlocutors discussed the situation at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

David Tonoyan informed Amb. Kasprzyk that private of the NKR Defense Army Sevak Khachatryan had been killed as a result of firing from the Azeri side on September 25.

The Deputy Defense Minister deemed the fact of the ceasefire violation unacceptable and underlined that the Azerbaijani side is fully responsible for the deadly incident.

Andrzej Kasprzyk, in turn, expressed concern over the incident and the loss of life. He pledged to take steps to avoid further destabilization of the situation.

 

 

 

The Armenian Government today approved the bill on amendments to the structure of the executive body.

Under the proposed bill, the Ministry of Economy will be renamed Ministry of Investments and Support of Entrepreneurship, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources will be called the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, the name of the Ministry of Transport and Communication will be changed into Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies. The Ministry of Urban Development will be excluded from the list.

According to Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, the Ministry of Investments and Support of Entrepreneurship will support the businessmen and address the issues they raise, consider their objections and proposals.

Speaking about the IT sphere, the Prime Minister said “the field has its peculiarities and it’s logical for the Ministry of Transport and Communication to address issues of IT, as well.”

The cessation of hostilities in Syria that came into effect at sunset on Monday appears to be holding, reports suggest, the BBC reports.

The deal, brokered by Russia and the US has been described by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, as possibly the “last chance to save a united Syria”.

Residents in the embattled northern city of Aleppo say there is calm there.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said it was “quiet” on nearly all fronts.

However, other reports spoke of sporadic attacks carried out by both government forces and rebels after the ceasefire had come into effect.

The Observatory said they included aerial bombardment of some villages in Hama province, and shelling near Damascus.

The Syrian army has said the truce will be applied throughout Syria for seven days, but that it reserves the right to respond decisively to any violation by armed groups.

A number of rebel factions have given a guarded welcome to the deal but expressed reservations about its implementation.

Mssis Post – Naré Mkrtchyan describes her film, The Other Side of Home, as “a universal story of identity, denial, and how the experience of genocide creates a ripple effect for future generations on both sides.”

In 2015, a Turkish woman named Maya discovers that her great grandmother was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. As Maya wrestles with this new reality, she comes to embody the conflict that remains unresolved between the two peoples. She has two conflicting identities: one that suffers and the other that denies the suffering and its causes. The Other Side of Home is a documentary that follows Maya as she goes to Armenia to take part in the 100th commemoration of the Genocide and to explore her new-found roots.

The USC Institute of Armenian Studies is co-hosting the screening with the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the USC Shoah Foundation. The 40-minute film will be followed by a conversation with the film’s director and USC Institute of Armenian Studies Fellow, Filmmaker Eric Nazarian.

Naré Mkrtchyan is a filmmaker living in Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Her passion is telling unique human stories that connect people and move beyond the boundaries of nationality, gender, and religion.

Born in Armenia and raised in Los Angeles, Eric Nazarian is also a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He has lectured on the origins of cinema and the Armenian Genocide on campuses across the U.S. and Europe. Nazarian is currently working on the film adaptation of The Sandcastle Girls, Chris Bohjalian’s critically acclaimed bestselling novel. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America.

Salpi Ghazarian, the director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, says, “After the Genocide, most of the Armenian survivors who stayed in Turkey took on new identities – sometimes voluntarily, often not. These were the hidden Armenians who knew who they were. But as the genocide generation disappears, the third and fourth generations who are slowly discovering their roots are shocked and unprepared for their new identity. This film adds to the conversation about this difficult transition.”

Dozens were reported injured in clashes between police and protesters at Khorenatsi Street and Sari Tagh district of Yerevan.

According to preliminary data of the Ministry of Health, more than 30 people have been hospitalized.

The Police used special means to disperse rallies at Khorenatsi Street and Sari Tagh district.

 

Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan is the 36th most expensive footballer of all time. The midfielder moved from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United for €42m earlier this month.

With Manchester United looking to break the world transfer record of 100 million euros ($110 million) in order to sign Paul Pogba from Juventus, has counted down the 100 most expensive players of all time.

Gareth Bale is the most expensive footballer of all time. The Wales international cost Real Madrid €101m in 20013.

Christano Ronaldo, who moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 for €94m is the second in the list.

Barcelona’s Neymar comes third (€88.2m), followed by Luis Suarez (€81.7m) and James Rodriguez (€75m).

Standoff at the Armenian police station seized by gunmen early on Sunday enters the third day.