Shushan Frangulian – Page 53 – Armenian Directory & News

‘Azerbaijani media outlet distorts my words’, says analyst at Bellingcat

November 12, 2018November 12, 2018 Shushan Frangulian

‘Azerbaijani media outlet distorts my words’, says analyst at Bellingcat

13:14,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Recently the Azerbaijani media commented on the article by Masis Ingilizian, an analyst at the American Bellingcat center, claiming that the author of the article states that “Azerbaijan has liberated new heights in Nakhijevan”.

Masis Ingilizian told ARMENPRESS that the Azerbaijani media outlet distorted his words and presented the translation of the article with changes.

“There is no word in my article that the Azerbaijani side has captured Armenian heights in Nakhijevan. I have talked about the movements of neutral zone. The Azerbaijani media interpreted the article differently, from the viewpoint beneficial for them, even completely changing my words in some parts. It’s a pity for the news outlet”, Masis Ingilizian said.

Earlier spokesperson of Armenia’s defense ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan also commented on the topic, stating that Azerbaijan once again tries to distort the facts. The spokesperson also added that Azerbaijan has not “liberated” a single millimeter land.

Art: ‘I Like Your Photographs Because They Are Beautiful’: by Orhan Pamuk

November 3, 2018November 3, 2018 Shushan Frangulian

The New York Times

November 1, 2018 Thursday 23:42 EST

‘I Like Your Photographs Because They Are Beautiful’

by Orhan Pamuk

Opinion

Orhan Pamuk remembers his friend Ara Guler, the great photographer, who lovingly captured Istanbul and its people.

Ara Guler, who died on Oct. 17, was the greatest photographer of modern Istanbul. He was born in 1928 in an Armenian family in Istanbul. Ara began taking photographs of the city in 1950, images that captured the lives of individuals alongside the city’s monumental Ottoman architecture, its majestic mosques and magnificent fountains. I was born two years later, in 1952, and lived in the same neighborhoods he lived in. Ara Guler’s Istanbul is my Istanbul.

I first heard of Ara in the 1960s when I saw his photographs in Hayat, a widely read weekly news and gossip magazine with a strong emphasis on photography. One of my uncles edited it. Ara published portraits of writers and artists such as Picasso and Dali, and the celebrated literary and cultural figures of an older generation in Turkey such as the novelist Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar. When Ara photographed me for the first time after the success of my novel “The Black Book,” I realized happily that I had arrived as a writer.

Ara devotedly photographed Istanbul for over half a century, continuing into the 2000s. I eagerly studied his photographs, to see in them the development and transformation of the city itself. My friendship with Ara began in 2003, when I was consulting his archive of 900,000 photographs to research my book “Istanbul.” He had turned the large three-story home he inherited from his father, a pharmacist from the Galatasaray neighborhood in the Beyoglu district of the city, into a workshop, office and archive.

The photographs I wanted for my book were not those famous Ara Guler shots everyone knew but images more attuned to the melancholy Istanbul I was describing, the grayscale atmosphere of my childhood. Ara had many more of such photographs than I expected. He detested images of a sterile, sanitized, touristic Istanbul. Having discovered where my interests lay, he gave me access to his archives undisturbed.

It was through Ara’s urban reportage photography, which appeared in newspapers in the early 1950s, his portraits of the poor, the unemployed and the new arrivals from the countryside, that I first saw the “unknown” Istanbul.

Ara’s attentiveness to the inhabitants of Istanbul’s back streets — the fishermen sitting in coffee shops and mending their nets, the unemployed men getting inebriated in taverns, the children patching up car tires in the shadow of the city’s crumbling ancient walls, the construction crews, the railway workers, the boatmen pulling at their oars to ferry city folk from one shore of the Golden Horn to the other, the fruit sellers pushing their handcarts, the people milling about at dawn waiting for the Galata Bridge to open, the early-morning minibus drivers — is evidence of how he always expressed his attachment to the city through the people who live in it.

It is as if Ara’s photographs were telling us, “Yes, there is no end to beautiful cityscapes in Istanbul, but first, the individuals!” The crucial, defining characteristic of an Ara Guler photograph is the emotional correlation he draws between cityscapes and individuals. ‎His photographs also made me discover how much more fragile and poor the people of Istanbul appeared when captured alongside the city’s monumental Ottoman architecture, its majestic mosques and magnificent fountains.

“You only like my photographs because they remind you of the Istanbul of your childhood,” he would at times say to me, sounding oddly irritated. ‎

“No!” I would protest. “I like your photographs because they are beautiful.”

But are beauty and memory separate things? Are things not beautiful because they are slightly familiar and resemble our memories? I enjoyed discussing such questions with him.

While working in his archive of Istanbul photographs, I often wondered what it was about them that so profoundly appealed to me. Would the same images appeal to others? There is something dizzying about looking at the images of the neglected and yet still lively details of the city I have spent my life in — the cars and the hawkers on its streets, the traffic policemen, the workers, the women in head scarves crossing bridges enveloped in fog, the old bus stops, the shadows of its trees, the graffiti on its walls.

For those who, like me, have spent 65 years in the same city — sometimes without leaving it for years — the landscapes of the city eventually turn into a kind of index for our emotional life. A street might remind us of the sting of getting fired from a job; the sight of a particular bridge might bring back the loneliness of our youth. A city square might recall the bliss of a love affair; a dark alleyway might be a reminder of our political fears; an old coffeehouse might evoke the memory of our friends who have been jailed. And a sycamore tree might remind how we used to be poor.

In the early days of our friendship, we never spoke about Ara’s Armenian heritage and the suppressed, painful history of the destruction of the Ottoman Armenians — a subject that remains a veritable taboo in Turkey. I sensed that it would be difficult to speak about this harrowing subject with him, that it would put a strain on our relationship. He knew that speaking about it would make it harder for him to survive in Turkey.

Over the years, he trusted me a little and occasionally brought up political subjects he wouldn’t raise with others. One day he told me that in 1942, to avoid the exorbitant “Wealth Tax” the Turkish government was imposing specifically on its non-Muslim citizens, and to evade deportation to a forced labor camp on failing to pay the tax, his pharmacist father had left his home in Galatasaray and hidden for months in a different house, never once venturing outside.

He spoke to me about the night of Sept. 6, 1955, when in a moment of political tension between Turkey and Greece caused by events in Cyprus, gangs mobilized by the Turkish government roamed the city looting shops owned by Greeks, Armenians and Jews, desecrated churches and synagogues, and turned Istiklal Street, the central avenue that runs through Beyoglu, past Ara’s home, into a war zone.

Armenian and Greek families ran most of the stores on Istiklal Avenue. In the 1950s I would visit their shops with my mother. They spoke Turkish with an accent. When my mother and I would return home, I used to imitate their accented Turkish. After the ethnic cleansing of 1955, the purpose of which was to intimidate and exile the city’s non-Muslim minorities, most of them left Istiklal Avenue and their homes in Istanbul. By the mid-1960s, barely anyone was left.

Ara and I were comfortable talking in some detail about how he went about photographing these and other similar events. Yet we still did not touch upon the destruction of the Ottoman Armenians, Ara’s grandfathers and grandmothers.

In 2005, I gave an interview where I complained that there was no freedom of thought in Turkey and we still couldn’t talk about the terrible things that were done to the Ottoman Armenians 90 years ago. The nationalist press exaggerated my comments. I was taken to court in Istanbul for insulting Turkishness, a charge that can lead to a three-year prison sentence.

Two years later, my friend the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot and killed in Istanbul, in the middle of the street, for using the words “Armenian genocide.” Certain newspapers began to hint that I might be next. Because of the death threats I was receiving, the charges that had been brought against me and the vicious campaign in the nationalist press, I started spending more time abroad, in New York. I would return to my office in Istanbul for brief stays, without telling anyone I was back.

On one of those brief visits home from New York, during some of the darkest days after Hrant Dink’s assassination, I walked into my office and the phone immediately started ringing. In those days I never picked up my office phone. The ringing would pause occasionally, but then it would start again, on and on. Uneasy, I eventually picked up. Straight away, I recognized Ara’s voice. “Oh, you’re back! I am coming over now,” he said, and hung up without waiting for my response.

Fifteen minutes later, Ara walked into my office. He was out of breath and cursing everything and everyone, in his characteristic manner. Then he embraced me with his huge frame and started to cry. Those who knew Ara, knew how fond he was of swearing and forceful masculine expressions, will understand my amazement at seeing him cry like that. He kept on swearing and telling me, “They can’t touch you, those people!”

His tears weren’t slowing down. The more he cried, the more I was gripped by a strange sense of guilt and felt paralyzed. After crying for a very long time, Ara finally calmed down, and then, as if this had been the whole purpose of his visit to my office, he drank a glass of water and left.

Sometime after that we met again. I resumed my quiet work in his archives as if nothing had happened. I no longer felt the urge to ask him about his grandfathers and grandmothers. The great photographer had already told me everything through his tears.

Ara had hoped for a democracy where individuals could speak freely of their murdered ancestors, or at least freely weep for them. Turkey never became that democracy. The success of the past 15 years, a period of economic growth built on borrowed money, has been used not to broaden the reach of democracy but to restrict freedom of thought even further. And after all this growth and all this construction, Ara Guler’s old Istanbul has become — to use the title of one of his books — a “Lost Istanbul.”

More photos at

Asbarez: WithLove.am Releases Annual Curated Handcrafted Armenian Products

October 26, 2018October 26, 2018 Shushan Frangulian

Armenia

Latest

News

Top Stories

9 hours ago

Withlov.am has introduced a curated series of products

New Two-Tier Pricing Introduced
LOS ANGELES—WithLove.am, an online marketplace aiming to bridge the gap between sustainable, artisanal small businesses in Armenia and customers in the United States, has released its fourth annual limited edition items especially curated to be sold in a new tiered setup.

For the first time, customers will have the option to choose from a ‘select’ three-item set and a ‘premium’ four-item set which includes complimentary shipping. The collection launches November 1, with pre-orders being accepted now.

Since 2015, WithLove’s team has been curating the best of the country’s artisan economy into a special, one-of-a-kind set sold annually during the holidays. This spirit of discovery is the root of the concept behind WithLove, an initiative of Sosé and Allen’s Legacy Foundation which establishes programs and supports existing programs aimed at bridging the gap between Armenia and its Diaspora, through an emphasis on education, repatriation, and volunteerism.

“[My sister] was always on the hunt to meet talented people doing creative things,” said Legacy Foundation director and younger brother to Sosé, Vaché Thomassian. “Whether it was the ceramic potter who made [her] wedding favors, the young jewelry maker that she bought earrings from after meeting on Facebook, the painter, the clothing seamstress, or the shoemaker, there was no shortage of amazing stuff that she was able to find in Armenia.”

Customer feedback over the course of the last 3 years had indicated a need for more range in price and product options. WithLove aims to move closer to this ideal with its two-tiered approach for 2018. The products in this year’s curation are:

Saroyan “Armenian Mountain” candle by Shabeeg

Saroyan “Armenian Mountain” candle by Shabeeg
Mary Sukiasyan captures the scent of Armenia with wild peppermint oil.

Saroyan “Armenian Mountain” candle by Shabeeg

Dried apricots by Chreni
Co-founder Daniel Ghevondian and his all-woman team dehydrate Armenia’s national fruit to maximize its flavor and shelf life without added preservatives or sugars.

Porcelain studs by Ooloong

Porcelain studs by Ooloong
Toxin-free earrings handmade by Lilit Gevorgyan using luster gold, inspired by her childhood times spent in the gold mines her father worked at.

Macheek Leather Wallet

Leather wallet by Macheek
Designed and handmade using traditional ornamentation by Davit Minasyan, who launched the brand within his father’s workshop. *This product is only available in the premium set*

To learn more about the stories behind the products and their makers and to purchase a set, visit the online store.

If the electoral code is not changed, the velvet revolution will be discredited (video)

October 25, 2018October 25, 2018 Shushan Frangulian

20:30 | October 24,2018 | Politics
Հայ

It is inadmissible to hold extraordinary parliamentary elections by the existing Electoral Code. According to the head of the Analytical Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation Stepan Grigoryan, the results of the local elections prove the shortcomings of the current Code.

“There was election in more than 40 villages, almost everywhere the authorities won, it does not matter whether they are good people or not, but these people are not the bearers of party ideology.”

According to him, if the electoral code is not changed, the velvet revolution will be discredited.

“One and a half months are left before the elections, but we have no electoral code; the parties do not know what law they should obey. The difference is essential, the rating system and what Ararat Mirzoyan’s delegation suggests are different systems.”

Stepan Grigoryan notes that besides the adoption of the electoral code, the political forces, which are going to participate in extraordinary parliamentary elections, should introduce new laws.

“It is impossible with the old ones, it is excluded, we should not allow it.”

According to Stepan Grigoryan, the main fault of the current situation is the National Assembly’s, but the government has a great responsibility as well. “The government has levers and opportunities to make the MPs come and vote on Monday.”

If the National Assembly does not accept Electoral Code on October 28, snap parliamentary elections scheduled for December will be held by the current code.

Thousands bid final farewell to renowned Istanbul-Armenian photographer Ara Guler (photos)

October 21, 2018October 21, 2018 Shushan Frangulian

| 16:49 | October 20 2018

New minister of sports and youth affairs appointed

October 11, 2018October 11, 2018 Shushan Frangulian

| 17:29 | October 10 2018

Անթիլիաս – ՈՒՂՂԱՓԱՌ ԵԿԵՂԵՑԻՆԵՐՈՒ ԵՒ ՍՈՒՐԲ ԳՐՈՑ ԸՆԿԵՐՈՒԹԵԱՆ ԺՈՂՈՎ Ս. ԷՋՄԻԱԾՆԻ ՄԷՋ

October 10, 2018October 10, 2018 Shushan Frangulian

Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
PO Box : 70 317 Antelias – LEBANON
Tel: (+961-4) 410 001 / 3
Fax: (+961-4) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]

ՈՒՂՂԱՓԱՌ ԵԿԵՂԵՑԻՆԵՐՈՒ ԵՒ ՍՈՒՐԲ ԳՐՈՑ ԸՆԿԵՐՈՒԹԵԱՆ ԺՈՂՈՎ Ս. ԷՋՄԻԱԾՆԻ ՄԷՋ

27 Սեպտեմբերէն 1 Հոկտեմբեր 2018-ին, Ս. Էջմիածնի
մէջ տեղի ունեցաւ ուղղափառ եկեղեցիներու եւ
Աստուածաշնչային Միացեալ Ընկերութիւններու միջեւ գործակցութեան միջազգային համաժողովը։ Սոյն համաժողովին Ամենայն Հայոց
Կաթողիկոսութեան կողմէ կը մասնակցէր Գերշ. Տ. Եզնիկ Արք. Պետրոսեանը եւ Մեծի Տանն
Կիլիկիոյ Կաթողիկոսութենէն՝ Գերշ. Տ. Մակար Եպս. Աշգարեանը, որ միաժամանակ անդամ է վերոյիշեալ համաժողովի մնայուն
յանձնախումբին։

Երկու եկեղեցական ընտանիքներէն եւ Աստուածաշնչային Միացեալ Ընկերութիւններէն
կազմուած մնայուն յանձնախումբի անդամները իրենց տարեկան հանդիպումները եւ
աշխատանքները սկսած էին շուրջ 20 տարիներ առաջ, նպատակ ունենալով հասնիլ համատեղ
համաձայնութեան մը եւ խմբագրել ուղեցոյց մը (memorandum), ըստ որուն կարելի պիտի
ըլլար վերոնշեալ եկեղեցական զոյգ ընտանիքներուն եւ Աստուածաշնչական Միացեալ
Ընկերութիւններուն միջեւ գործնական ու անվերապահ համագործակցութիւնը,
աշխատակցութիւնն ու հասկացողութիւնը, եւ թէ ինչպէ՞ս կարելի է Աստուածաշունչի
թարգմանութեան օժանդակել, բաժնել ու տարածել՝ հասանելի դարձնելով բոլորին։

Այդ ուղեցոյցը արդէն իսկ տարի մը առաջ Կրէտէի մէջ տեղի ունեցած ժողովին
վերջնական ձեւի բերուած էր եւ կը մնար անոր ստորագրութեամբ պաշտօնականացումը։

Ժողովի հիւրընկալողն էր Հայաստանի Ս. Գրային ընկերութիւնը։

Համաժողովը կը կրէր «Աստուածաշունչը Փոփոխալից Աշխարհի Մը Մէջ» խորագիրը։ Ժողովին
մասնակցեցան շուրջ 40 աստուածաբաններ, եկեղեցիներու
ներկայացուցիչներ, հոգեւոր հայրեր, ինչպէս նաեւ յատուկ
հրաւիրեալներ իբրեւ դիտորդներ՝ եկեղեցիներու Համաշխարհային Խորհուրդէն (Ե.Հ.Խ.),
Միջին Արեւելքի Եկեղեցիներու Խորհուրդէն եւ Աստուծաշնչային Միացեալ եկեղեցիներու
եկեկեցական յարաբերութեան յանձնախումբի անդամներէն։

Համաժողովի ընթացքին ներկայացուեցան հետեւեալ
դասախօսութիւնները.- «Աստուածաշունչին տեղն ու դերը եկեղեցւոյ կեանքին
մէջ», «Աստուածաշունչին
ներշնչականութիւնը», «Աստուածաշունչին
տեղը համաշխարհայնացած աշխարհին մէջ»,
«Աստուածաշնչային Միացեալ Ընկերութիւններու ծառայութիւնը բոլոր եկեղեցիներէն
ներս՝ առաքելութիւն, տեսլիք եւ արժէքներ», «Թարգմանութիւնները իբրեւ
հիմնական կիզակէտ Աստուածաշնչային Միացեալ ընկերութիւններուն համար» եւ «Միաթուային
(digital) դարու մարտահրաւէրներն ու
առիթները»։

Զոյգ օրերու ընթացքին տեղի ունեցան քննարկումներ,
միտքերու փոխանակում ու առաջարկներ։ Աւարտին, կարդացուեցաւ «Հասկացողութեան
Ուղեցոյցը» (Memorandum of Understanding)
եւ որոշ փոփոխութիւններէ ետք, բոլորին համաձայնութեամբ, ընդունուեցաւ եւ
պաշտօնապէս ստորագրուեցաւ։

—

Communication & Information Department

Mort de Charles Aznavour après une longue et belle vie de bohème

October 1, 2018October 1, 2018 Shushan Frangulian

Le Figaro, France

1 oct 2018

Mort de Charles Aznavour après une longue et belle vie de bohème

Par Michaël Naulin

DISPARITION – Le légendaire artiste franco-arménien s'est éteint à l'âge de 94 ans. Avec des chansons telles que Emmenez-moi, Je Me Voyais Déjà ou La Bohème, l'éternel Charles Aznavour a traversé les époques, les générations et les frontières.

«Chanteur de variété le plus important du XXe siècle». C'est le titre attribué en 1988 à Charles Aznavour par la chaîne américaine CNN et le Times. Plus de 1200 chansons dans sept langues différentes, des spectacles dans 94 pays et plus de 100 millions de disques vendus dans le monde entier. Mais aussi plus de 60 participations à des longs-métrages. Très discret sur sa vie privée, le chanteur a été marié trois fois et a eu six enfants dont trois avec sa dernière femme Ulla avec qui il était marié depuis plus de 50 ans.

Icône de la chanson française, Charles Aznavour était une star mondiale, au point d'avoir son étoile sur le «Walk of Fame» à Hollywood en 2017. Soixante-dix ans de carrière en haut de l'affiche pour cette légende de la chanson française. Il est mort dans la nuit de dimanche à lundi, à l'âge de 94 ans à son domicile dans les Alpilles (sud de la France), ont annoncé ce mardi ses attachées de presse. Il revenait d'une tournée au Japon, après avoir été contraint d'annuler des concerts cet été en raison d'une fracture du bras après une chute.

Ses premières années débutent comme un roman. Ses parents, Misha et Knar Aznavourian, viennent de Salonique, en Grèce. Son père est le fils d'un ancien cuisinier du tsar Nicolas II, sa mère appartient à une famille de commerçants arméniens de Turquie qui avaient fui le génocide de 1915. Charles Aznavour, à l'époque Varenagh Aznavourian, naît en France, le 22 mai 1924. Ses parents attendent à Paris un visa pour les États-Unis. Finalement, la France sera leur terre d'accueil. Son père mène une carrière de restaurateur et de patron de café laborieuse, il préfère chanter.

Encouragé également par sa mère, actrice, le jeune homme joue du violon dans les rues, entre à 9 ans à l'École du spectacle et se donne comme nom de scène «Aznavour». Rapidement, la chanson devient une évidence. Un certain Charles Trenet, devient son idole. À 17 ans, en pleine guerre, il rencontre un jeune compositeur fou de jazz, Pierre Roche. Le duo «Roche et Aznavour» commence à courir les cabarets. De cette collaboration naîtra notamment J'aime Paris au mois de mai.

1945, période creuse pour les deux artistes, malgré un contrat d'enregistrement signé avec Jacques Canetti chez Polydor. L'année d'après, la rencontre avec Edith Piaf les relance. Elle les invite à la suivre pendant une tournée de deux ans en France et aux États-Unis. La chanson swing du duo ne s'impose pas vraiment en France, mais a du succès au Canada… Et Pierre Roche finit par s'y marier. La carrière solo d'Aznavour débute… difficilement.

Pendant huit ans, l'artiste travaille dans l'ombre de la chanteuse. «Le petit génie con» devient l'homme à tout faire de l'icône, alors au sommet de sa carrière. Il conduit la voiture, répond au téléphone, s'occupe des éclairages et du son pendant les tournées… De temps à autre, il lui présente une chanson qu'il a écrite, sans grand succès. Piaf lui répète qu'il ne percera jamais comme chanteur.

Mais Aznavour persévère, s'accroche et écrit plusieurs chansons pour Gilbert Bécaud, Juliette Gréco, Patachou… Piaf elle-même fait un succès avec Jezebel.

En 1955, ses fossettes et son regard profond font leur première apparition à la télévision. Les mains dans les poches, l'air décontracté, presque désinvolte, Charles Aznavour entonne Le Palais de nos chimères:

Aznavour est sur la voie du succès: la critique a beau ne pas croire en lui, le public commence à s'attacher. Sur ma vie, Parce que, Sa jeunesse, Au creux de mon épaulesont ses premiers succès.

Un début de carrière qui aurait pu se terminer tragiquement. À l'été 1955, le chanteur est victime d'un violent accident de voiture sur la route de Saint-Tropez. Hôpital, convalescence: plusieurs mois éloigné du métier, il doit tout reconstruire. L'année suivante, Charles Aznavour fait sa première à l'Olympia. Mais les critiques sont toujours virulentes sur la voix et le physique du chanteur. Des propos qui le blessent profondément et pourtant, les propositions de contrats s'enchaînent.

«D'autres ont réussi avec un peu de voix mais beaucoup d'argent, Moi j'étais trop pur ou trop en avance, Mais un jour viendra je leur montrerai que j'ai du talent.»

Charles Aznavour, Je m'voyais déjà

La légende Aznavour est née un soir de décembre 1960. À l'Alhambra, le grand music-hall près de la place de la République, à Paris, sa carrière se joue en une soirée. Après six chansons interprétées dans une atmosphère glaciale, l'artiste sort sa dernière carte: Je m'voyais déjà. L'histoire d'un artiste dont la carrière ne décolle pas. Charles Aznavour entonne le dernier couplet: «On ne m'a jamais accordé ma chance, D'autres ont réussi avec un peu de voix mais beaucoup d'argent, Moi j'étais trop pur ou trop en avance, Mais un jour viendra je leur montrerai que j'ai du talent.» C'est l'ovation. Un succès énorme et définitif: Aznavour ne quittera plus le haut de l'affiche, il a 36 ans.

La Bohème, La Mamma, Sa jeunesse, Toi et moi, Mes emmerdes, Non je n'ai rien oublié, Désormais, Les Comédiens, Emmenez-moi, Tu t'laisses aller… Charles Aznavour enchaîne les tubes et, en 1963, entame une carrière aux États-Unis. Il séduit les Américains, qui se pressent pour assister à sa représentation au Carnegie Hall de New-York. Près de 400 New-Yorkais sont présents dans la salle. Le chanteur alterne les chansons en anglais et en français. Une soirée qui marque le véritable point de départ de sa carrière internationale.

En France, Aznavour devient une référence. Et quand, en 1989, il fait appel aux artistes français pour venir au secours de l'Arménie, son pays d'origine, qui vient d'être ravagé par un tremblement de terre, ils sont quatre-vingt-dix chanteurs et comédiens à se presser derrière le micro pour chanter Pour toi Arménie – le single sera vendu à un million d'exemplaires. En 1997, il est nommé officier de la Légion d'honneur.

Chanteur reconnu, Charles Aznavour aura aussi une carrière dans le cinéma avec 63 films au compteur. Si beaucoup ont été des nanars, il joue ses plus beaux rôles dans les années 1960: Tirez sur le pianistede Truffaut, Le Testament d'Orphée de Cocteau, Un taxi pour Tobrouk de La Patellière, Paris au mois d'août de Granier-Deferre… En 1968, la star internationale tourne son premier film en anglais: Candyde Christian Marquand avec Marlon Brando, Richard Burton et James Coburn. Il joue également en allemand, dans Le Tambour (1979) de Volker Schlöndorff qui obtient l'Oscar du meilleur film étranger. Héros dramatique, il tourne sous la direction de Claude Chabrol en 1982, Les Fantômes du chapelier dans le rôle d'un homme écrasé et réservé.

Aznavour compose de nombreuses musiques pour ses films, écrit le scénario de la comédie de Paul Boujenah, Yiddish Connection. Dans les années 1990, il se fait plus discret au cinéma, tournant principalement des téléfilms.

Huit kilos, c'est le poids de l'intégrale de l'œuvre d'Aznavour, sorti en 1996. Un imposant coffret de 33 CD en forme de colonne Morris qui donne toute la dimension de la carrière du chanteur.

Aznavour entre dans le XXIe siècle. Chaque tournée est alors présentée comme la dernière. En 2000, il annonce ses adieux, puis finalement fête ses 80 ans en 2004 au Palais des congrès, son port d'attache. L'année d'après, il entame une tournée d'adieu nord-américaine et poursuit ensuite cette dernière à l'international, en chantant en Asie, en Europe, en Océanie et en Amérique du Sud. Sa «dernière rentrée» était prévue en 2007. Mais chaque année, Aznavour savoure l'ivresse d'être en haut de l'affiche. 2009 est un nouveau marathon nord-américain.

» LIRE AUSSI – Charles Aznavour: «J'espère chanter jusqu'à 100 ans»

Un an plus tard, Charles Aznavour n'est toujours pas rassasié. Il sort Aznavour toujours, son 50ème album et enchaîne directement avec la tournée européenne Charles Aznavour en toute intimité. En 2013, on se souvient de son duo avec Johnny Hallyday sur le titre «Sur ma vie» à l'occasion des 70 ans de l'idole des jeunes. En mai 2015, il sort Encores, son 51e album, mais son 46e original. Auteur de nombreux volumes autobiographiques, le chanteur était passionné de littérature et confiait en 2017, dans les colonnes du Figaro: «Je m'instruis, parce que j'en ai besoin pour mon travail, pas pour briller en société. Mon nom brille pour moi, c'est déjà assez emmerdant.»

En 2018, Charles Aznavour repartait à 93 ans sur la route des concerts. Après sept ans d'absence, il s'était produit dans six villes en France en janvier. Celui qui voulait chanter jusqu'à l'âge de 100 ans, devait effectuer une tournée en novembre à travers le monde.

● Duo avec Johnny Hallyday sur le titre «Sur ma vie» à l'occasion des 70 ans de l'idole des jeunes.

Sports: Why Arsenal could be without Henrikh Mkhitaryan against Qarabag in the Europa League

October 1, 2018October 1, 2018 Shushan Frangulian

Football, UK

Sept 30 2018

Why Arsenal could be without Henrikh Mkhitaryan against Qarabag in the Europa League

The Gunners will face Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday

ByTashan Deniran-Alleyne

19:30, 30 SEP 2018

Arsenal will be without Henrikh Mkhitaryan for their Europa League clash against Qarabag away from home.

The draw for this season's Group phase was made in August with last season's semi-finalists being drawn against the Azerbaijan outfit as well as Sporting Club and FC Vorskla.

On paper the Gunners should safely progress to the knockout stages with Sporting likely to be their biggest threat but they will have a couple of long trips to eastern Europe.

One of which includes a game in Baku.

However, it would appear that Unai Emery will have to make do without the player who scored the first goal of his reign as new Arsenal head coach.

According to Vivaro News , Mkhitaryan will be unavailable for the away game against Qarabag.

This is due to the fact that Azerbaijan have banned Armenians from entering the country over tensions between the bordering rivals.

t was the case for the attacking midfielder whilst at former club Borussia Dortmund in 2015 as security concerns led to the German club decided to leave him out of their squad for a Europa League game against Azerbaijani club Gabala.

Furthermore, with the final in Baku he could also miss that game should the Gunners make it that far.

Uefa issued a statement on the matter and it reads: “It is a standard procedure for Uefa to send letters of support to associations, clubs or embassies in order to obtain visa for players in order to be able to travel to another country and play in Uefa competition matches."

Mkhitaryan , who joined the Gunners in January, saved his best form for the Europa League during the second half of last season as he came up with important goals against Ostersunds and AC Milan.

Even with this expected absence Arsenal should have enough going forward to get a good result in Azerbaijan.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 09/11/2018

September 12, 2018September 12, 2018 Shushan Frangulian

                                        Tuesday, 

Pashinian Urges Yerevan Voters To Reaffirm Victory Of ‘Revolution’

        • Karlen Aslanian

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks at a rally for Yerevan mayoral 
candidate Hayk Marutian, Yerevan, 10Sep2018

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian called on voters in Yerevan to reaffirm 
the results of last spring’s “velvet revolution” in an upcoming ballot in the 
capital – the first major election in Armenia since the change of government.

Twelve parties and alliances are contesting the ballot in which Yerevan’s 
municipal assembly and eventually mayor will be elected.

A pro-Pashinian alliance in the elections called My Step is led by popular 
actor and producer Hayk Marutian.

Speaking at a rally launching the My Step campaign on Monday night Pashinian 
said that more than just a mayoral position and Marutian’s candidacy were at 
stake.

“Those who vote for My Step and for Hayk Marutian vote for early parliamentary 
elections,” he said.

The holding of early parliamentary elections within a year is part of the 
program of the Pashinian government approved last May.

Under the current Constitution, snap general elections can be held only if the 
prime minister resigns and lawmakers twice fail to elect his or her replacement.

In the past several weeks Pashinian publicly spoke of scenarios in which former 
President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) that still 
dominates the National Assembly could break political agreements and try to 
install another prime minister if he steps down as prime minister. As an 
additional safeguard he, therefore, suggested a constitutional amendment that 
would allow the parliament to dissolve itself.

Addressing the pro-Marutian rally, Pashinian warned other political parties and 
groups, which he did not name, against planning a “counterrevolution.”

“Some political forces that present themselves as advocates of the revolution 
are conducting negotiations with the HHK for the latter to help them with their 
vote-rigging resource,” Pashinian asserted. “Come to your senses, madmen!”

The head of the Armenian government said, therefore, the September 23 vote has 
an “exceptionally important political meaning.” “As at these elections people, 
citizens of Armenia at polling stations should reaffirm the victory that they 
registered in Republic Square…, reaffirm people’s power, the victory of the 
people’s nonviolent velvet revolution in Armenia,” Pashinian underscored.

My Step’s candidate Marutian, who was one of the active Pashinian supporters 
during peaceful antigovernment protests in spring, was criticizes by political 
rivals last week for his remarks in which he made a division of the political 
spectrum into “whites and blacks” ahead of the Yerevan elections.

“It’s a very clear situation in Armenia today. There are white forces and black 
forces. I want to officially state that we are white forces, and all those who 
do not want us to succeed are black forces,” Marutian said on September 2.

The remarks were swiftly construed by representatives of the former government 
as discrimination against part of society that does not share the ideas of the 
political team that came to power in Armenia in the wake of last spring’s 
‘velvet revolution’.

Marutian later publicly regretted having used the expression. Pashinian then 
weighed in on the issue, acknowledging that Marutian’s remarks were “not quite 
correct.”

The HHK is not participating in the Yerevan elections. Its senior member Taron 
Markarian resigned in July after serving as Yerevan mayor for seven years. The 
Council of Elders could not elect a new mayor, triggering early elections.




Armenia Expounds On Planned Syria Mission

        • Sargis Harutyunyan

Syria - Russian soldiers distribute humanitarian aid sent by Armenia in Aleppo, 
14Feb2017.

Armenia will engage in a humanitarian mission in Syria by sending mostly 
doctors and engineers, according to a senior Defense Ministry official in 
Yerevan.

Following his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 
September 8 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced a joint Armenian-Russian 
humanitarian program for Syria, but did not disclose any details.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Tuesday Deputy 
Defense Minister Gabriel Balayan said that the Armenian mission will be 
operating in the war-torn Middle Eastern country within the framework of a 2015 
UN Security Council resolution and an intergovernmental agreement with the 
Syrian government.

“The non-military group will be exclusively subordinated to the relevant 
department of the Republic of Armenia. We do not rule out cooperation with 
Russia in some ways, but the group will operate exclusively under the flag of 
the Republic of Armenia,” he said.

As for the mission, Balayan said that Armenian medics and engineers will help 
civilians in Aleppo, including ethnic Armenians living in this Syrian city.

“At the request of the Syrian government we will be sending specialists who 
will try to be of help to civilians,” the Armenian deputy defense minister 
said, adding that Armenian sappers will help demine and destroy self-made mines 
that have been stockpiled in Aleppo.

Aleppo was home to the majority of an estimated 80,000 ethnic Armenians who 
lived in Syria before the outbreak of the conflict in 2011. Tens of thousands 
of Syrian Armenians fled their homes since the start of hostilities in the Arab 
republic. Many of the displaced Armenians took refuge in Armenia.

Speaking in Yerevan on Tuesday, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian 
also confirmed that Armenian specialists in Syria will be involved “exclusively 
in the humanitarian context of security.”

“The security of Armenians living in Syria is one of the major issues on our 
agenda,” the top Armenian diplomat stressed.

In recent years the Armenian government sent several planeloads of humanitarian 
assistance to civilians in Syria. The relief was delivered to the war-torn 
country by Russian transport planes.

Receiving Syria’s ambassador in Yerevan Muhammad Haj Ibrahim last week Armenian 
Parliament Speaker Ara Babloyan said Yerevan was willing to take part in the 
reconstruction of Syria. He did not elaborate.

Russia, which has helped Syrian government forces to restore control over much 
of the country’s territory, has been seeking greater Western involvement in the 
reconstruction of Syria. The United States and its allies, however, are tying 
reconstruction assistance to a process that includes UN-supervised elections 
and a political transition in Syria. Washington blames Syrian President Bashar 
al-Assad for the country’s devastation.




Armenian PM Condemns Wiretapping Of Top Law-Enforcement Officials


Armenia - National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsian and Special 
Investigation Service head Sasun Khachatrian comment on the wiretapping scandal 
in a press conference in Yerevan, 11Sept, 2018

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has condemned the wiretapping and 
posting of telephone conversations that took place between the chiefs of 
security and investigation agencies in late July and concerned the prosecution 
of ex-president Robert Kocharian and other former officials in connection with 
2008 deadly post-election events.

The audio of the conversations between National Security Service (NSS) Director 
Artur Vanetsian and Special Investigation Service (SIS) head Sasun Khachatrian, 
both of whom have confirmed its autheticisty, was leaked to the media and 
published by several news websites on Tuesday.

Based on the contents of the recording critics have accused the Pashinian 
administration of reneging on its public pledge not to guide the work of the 
judiciary.

In the audio Vanetsian and Khachatrian discuss particular circumstances of the 
case against Kocharian, who is charged with overthrowing Armenia’s 
constitutional order during the 2008 violence in which 10 people were killed.

In particular, Vanetsian says that the judge who was supposed to decide on 
Kocharian’s arrest was afraid to make a decision and telephoned him to ask for 
directions. In the audio the NSS chief also repeatedly warned the SIS head not 
to arrest former deputy defense minister Yuri Khachaturov, who currently serves 
as secretary-general of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty 
Organization. Vanetsian explained that Khachaturov’s arrest could entail 
“political problems.”

Reacting to the wiretapped conversations, the office of Kocharian issued a 
statement today, describing the case as “a classical example of a political 
vendetta.”

In a live Facebook broadcast later today Pashinian condemned the fact of the 
secrete recording and posting of an audio with a telephone conversation between 
two security agencies chiefs. At the same time, he put a brave face on the 
situation, doubting the value of the “revelation” and its implications.

Referring to his earlier public statements in which he repeatedly said that he 
would not use his office to influence the judiciary, the prime minister 
emphasized that he did not say that judges, most of whom were appointed still 
by the former “corrupt” system, did not continue to call and ask for guidance.


Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian comments on the wiretapping scandal 
in a live Facebook broadcast, Yerevan, 11Sep2018

“Still at a rally in Yerevan’s Republic Square on August 17 I stated that in 
general, in my opinion, the March 1, 2008 case was disclosed and that murderers 
will be brought to justice,” he said. “I have said before that judges were 
calling and asking what they should do, how they should decide on one matter or 
another.There is no secret in it. And I have said that I refuse to give 
instructions to the judiciary,” Pashinian said.

The prime minister suggested that a number of former “small and large” 
officials, including Kocharian, ex-president Serzh Sarkisian, ex-prime minister 
Hovik Abrahamian, ex-Yerevan mayor Taron Markarian and others, were interested 
in thwarting the process of justice in Armenia. But he stressed that his 
government “will not yield to blackmail.”

“The case of March 1, 2008 must be disclosed, the murderers must be brought to 
justice, what has been plundered must be recovered,” Pashinian declared in a 
stern tone.

The prime minister stressed that his government will continue an uncompromising 
struggle against corruption and urged people to turn out in large numbers for a 
campaign rally of his ally, Hayk Marutian, who is running for Yerevan mayor, 
which was planned to be held in one of Yerevan’s neighborhoods on Tuesday 
night. Pashinian stressed that this way people will show their support for his 
government and its fight against corruption.

Later, at the rally, Pashinian described the wiretapping of the security 
official as “a conspiracy and crime against the statehood of Armenia.” “I have 
instructed the National Security Service, the police to find those who 
organized the conspiracy within the shortest possible period of time and hold 
them accountable in the strictest terms,” the Armenian premier said.

Pashinian ordered security services to start raids to “disarm oligarchs and 
their so-called bodyguards” who had “imported wiretapping equipment and set up 
their own special services within the state.”

Meanwhile, at a joint press conference with the SIS head held the same day NSS 
Director Vanetsian said that a criminal case was launched in connection with 
the fact of the wiretapping. He voiced confidence that those responsible will 
be held accountable.

As for the contents of the coversation, Vanetsian said they discussed legal 
issues connected with the cases of two senior former officials. At the same 
time, he stressed that the fight against corruption and crime will continue.

“Money plundered from Armenia will be recovered and the murderers will appear 
in court. This process is unstoppable,” the NSS chief declared.




Special Army Units Accused Of Firing At People In 2008 Post-Election Unrest


Armenia -- Tanks on the streets of Yerevan following deadly clashes, March 2, 
2008

The army not only participated in quelling post-election protests in Armenia in 
2008, but also fired at people and residential buildings, a top Armenian 
investigator insisted on Tuesday, referring to special army units allegedly 
formed by former authorities for the purpose.

Sasun Khachatrian, the head of the Special Investigative Service (SSS), held a 
joint press conference with Director of the National Security Service (NSS) 
Artur Vanetsian convened at short notice following a wiretapping scandal that 
broke out on Tuesday.

A secretly recorded audio of telephone conversations of the two concerning the 
prosecution of ex-President Robert Kocharian and other former officials in 
connection with the deadly events of March 1-2, 2008 was leaked to the press by 
an anonymous source in an apparent attempt to show that the administration of 
recently elected Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian allegedly influenced the 
judiciary in related cases.

Pashinian, who came to power on the wave of last spring’s peaceful street 
protests with an agenda of political reforms and anti-corruption struggle, has 
brushed aside the accusations, stressing that his government “will not yield to 
blackmail” and will press ahead with anti-corruption cases and reopened 
investigations into alleged crimes committed by former officials.

Kocharian and several other senior former officials are accused of breaching 
the constitution by ordering the use of the army to quell opposition protests 
in the wake of a disputed presidential election in 2008. Ten people, including 
two security officers, were killed in the violence.

The investigation of the events conducted during the 10-year presidency of 
Serzh Sarkisian, Kocharian’s longtime ally and hand-picked successor, revealed 
no one who could be charged in connection with the killings.

After the change of government ex-president Kocharian was arrested on July 28, 
but an appeals court released him on August 13, finding that the Armenian 
constitution gives him immunity from prosecution. Prosecutors have appealed the 
decision at a higher judicial instance since. In the meantime, a decision has 
been made not to allow Kocharian to leave Armenia pending investigation.

At today’s press conference SIS head Khachatrian disclosed some details of the 
investigation, arguing that investigators have proof of the army’s involvement 
in the events.

“Our investigation has already established that the army not only participated 
in the events of March 1-2, 2008, but also fired in the direction of people, 
apartments, that is, the army fully participated in these actions. Secondly, I 
want to disclose more details that I frankly did not want to do, but today 
there is an occasion for that and the public should know it. After the secret 
order when it was decided to gather servicemen from different military units in 
Yerevan, soldiers were in service at border posts without shifts, as a result a 
very dangerous situation was created, and you know that there was an 
[Azerbaijani commando] raid,” Khachatrian said.


Special Investigation Service head Sasun Khachatrian, Yerevan, 11Sept, 2018

According to the top investigator, the most disgraceful thing that happened to 
the army during those days was that the country’s then leaders “turned soldier 
into mercenaries and used them against the people.”

“Within the framework of the criminal case it has already been established that 
in the period after February 23, [2008] and until March 7-8, [2008] oligarchs 
gave money to soldiers to protect them, their property, their political 
aspirations,” the SIS head said, showing an original register “with names and 
signatures of soldiers and their commanders and sums of payments that were made 
from [bank] accounts of oligarchs and senior officials.”

When asked whether the SIS was going to make those names public, Khachatrian 
replied: “I will give the names later. Why name them now? Only for them to run 
away?”




Press Review



“Haykakan Zhamanak” suggests that despite the speculation that the Russian 
leadership has prohibited the country’s ethnic Armenian businessmen to make 
investments in Armenia it has not found at least one such businessman who would 
confirm that. “It is not difficult to guess where that speculation comes from. 
During the days of the revolution representatives of the already former 
government spared no effort to make an impression of having the Kremlin’s 
backing in order to stop the revolution and shore up their positions. A group 
of Russia-based Armenian businessmen, who had managed to establish some times 
with Russian political elites, were helping them with that. That help, however, 
in no way thwarted the course of the revolution, and the same group is 
currently trying to economically sabotage the current government,” the paper 
writes.

On the same subject “Zhoghovurd” reports, citing its own sources, that Armenian 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s meeting with ethnic Armenian businessmen in 
Moscow went not quite smoothly. “Those who gathered there were mainly 
businessmen tied to the former government in different ways, businessmen who 
did not feel quite comfortable working with Armenia’s new government. Many of 
them attended the meeting as observers. Some in private conversations with each 
other said that they would no longer invest in Armenia because they feared the 
new Armenian government would cause them additional headache – they don’t want 
to make investments facing the prospect of being put behind bars,” the paper 
says.

“If the Civil Contract party wins a majority, then I am against joining it 
purely for coming to power,” Aram Sargsian, the leader of the Hanrapetutyun 
party and an ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in the current parliament, 
told “Zhamanak”, speaking about the prospect of early parliamentary elections. 
“The issue of the Yelk alliance appears to have been closed, and the sides 
involved know all too well that it is dictated by the political situation. 
Regardless of the different personal and political motivations of the 
participants of the alliance, the logic of domestic and external political 
realities makes it more important not to preserve the Yelk alliance, which was 
a mechanism formed within the logic of the former political configuration, but 
to form a new logic and a new system corresponding to the new situation,” the 
paper writes.

(Tigran Avetisian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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