On June 10, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who are in Armenia as part of a regional visit.
The meeting with Ambassadors Richard Hoagland (US), Stephane Visconti (France) and Igor Popov (Russia) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk focused on the situation along the Line of Contact between Nagorno-Karbakh and Azerbaijani armed forces.
Mr Nalbandian called the mediators’ attention to the fact that an agreement was reached during the meeting of Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani FMs in Moscow in April in the presence of the mediators regarding a similar press release, which was published by the foreign ministries of Armenia and Russia. However, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry, as always, not only failed to implement the agreement, but also made an absurd statement alleging that during the Moscow meeting the foreign ministers didn’t highlight the implementation of the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg summits in 2016, rather, the negotiations of the summits were discussed during the meeting.
The Armenian FM stressed that the May 18 statement of the Co-Chairs was not the fist targeted statement, Azerbaijan continues to ignore the urges and calls of the Co-Chairs, moreover it does the opposite. Edward Nalbandian added that a situation is maturing when the Co-Chairs should not only make statements, but also take specific actions to curb this destructive and provocative policy of Azerbaijan.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in Armenia on Saturday organized a bicycle ride in Yerevan dedicated to World No Tobacco Day.
The cyclists headed to the Republic Square and the City Hall from Yerevan's Liberty Square, intending to reach to the Sports and Concert Complex.
In an interview with the reporters, Alexander Bazarchyan, director of the National Healthcare Institute of Armenia’s Ministry of Health, noted that similar events aim at once again raising the public awareness of the issue and advocating a healthy lifestyle.
“The international experience shows that a ban on smoking in public places is one of the most effective methods [to fight smoking], which reduces the risk factor,” Mr. Bazarchyan added.
May 31 is marked as the World No Tobacco Day by the WHO every year.
PanARMENIAN.Net – The bust of prominent Canadian–Armenian photographer Yousuf Karsh was unveiled in front of the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, the Armenian Committee of Canada said in a Facebook post.
“The bust that is a gift from the Armenian people to the Canadian people stands as a lasting symbol of the strong friendship between Canada and Armenia,” the Committee said.
The event was attended by a number of guests, including Armenia’s ambassador to Canada Armen Yeganyan.
The bust is a gift from the Armenian people to the Canadian people on behalf of not only 150th of Canada's Confederation, but also the 25th anniversary of Canadian-Armenian diplomatic relations, Yeganyan said in a post of his own.
The choice of Chateau Laurier as the venue for the bust was not accidental. Karsh's first solo exhibition was in 1936 in the Drawing Room of the hotel. He moved his studio into the hotel in 1973, and it remained there until he retired in 1992.
Karsh has been recognized as one of the great portrait photographers of the 20th century by Time magazine and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the latter noting the "distinct style in his theatrical lighting."
Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia in Canada, His Excellency Armen Yeganian officially unveils the bust of world renowned Armenian-Canadian photographer, Yousuf Karsh in Ottawa on June 9, the Armenian Embassy in Canada reports.
The bust that is a gift from the Armenian people to the Canadian people stands as a lasting symbol of the strong friendship between Canada and Armenia.
The Promise review: Romantic saga told against backdrop of Armenian genocide
Sandra Hall
★★★ M, 134 minutes
It's old-fashioned. Terry George, director of The Promise, agrees with the film's critics on that point.
Christian Bale and Charlotte Le Bon play two sides of a love triangle in The Promise. Photo: Open Road Films
The difference is that he believes it's necessarily old-fashioned – a romantic saga built on the David Lean model by way of persuading audiences to see a film about the Armenian genocide. And it's an understandable argument. There is not only the horrific nature of the Turkish government's massacre of 1.5 million of its Armenian population between 1915 and 1922. There are also the difficulties presented by Turkey's persistence in denying it ever happened.
MGM tried and failed to make a film about the genocide in the 1930s. Clark Gable was to have starred in an adaptation of The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Austrian novelist Franz Wurfel until the Turkish government threatened an international campaign against the film. And the Canadian independent Atom Egoyan, who is of Armenian descent, also found himself in a fight with "the denialist lobby" over his 2002 film Ararat. According to Variety, Miramax, Ararat's distributors, were bombarded with so many negative responses that its website crashed.
Christian Bale (left) and Oscar Isaac star in the film that tackles the Armenian genocide, albeit from a distance. Photo: Open Road Films
With these precedents working against it, The Promise would not have been made if it hadn't been for Kirk Kerkorian, a former head of MGM, whose family fled the Ottoman pogroms. Shortly before his death in 2015, Kerkorian put up the finance for the film, which was budgeted at $100 million, quite a chunk of money for an independent production.
George, who told the story of another genocide in Hotel Rwanda (2004), plots a careful course between romance and history, with romance coming out on top. It's an international cast. The ever-adaptable Oscar Isaac, whose career has seen him play Mexican, French, Russian and Indonesian, is cast – quite credibly – as the Armenian hero Mikael Boghosian.
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French-Canadian Charlotte Le Bon is the Armenian girl he loves and Christian Bale supplies the American element that seems to be essential to any historical epic that comes out of the US, whether or not the Americans had a significant role to play. He's a hard-drinking, hot-headed yet gallant American correspondent who insists on staying in Turkey to report on the massacre.
The action begins in 1915 with a glimpse of paradise. Mikael leaves his poor but happy village in southern Turkey to study medicine, having promised his new fiancee (Angela Sarafyan) he will be back in two years to marry her. Arriving in Constantinople, he finds a luminous fairytale city rich in possibilities.
His uncle, a prosperous Armenian merchant, welcomes him to his sunlit villa on the Bosphorus and five minutes later he's already regretting his engagement because he's fallen for Le Bon's Ana Khesarian. Paris-educated, she's working as tutor to his uncle's children but she also has a lover – Bale's Chris Myers. Wearing a moustache that is a performance in itself, he spots the couple's growing attraction to one another and morosely takes another hit of whisky.
But Turkey's entry into the war as Germany's ally soon puts an end to paradise, scattering the cast in various directions. Chris and Ana escape to the south so that he can get another angle on the war, while Mikael is shipped off to a labour camp. Death from starvation and overwork is imminent when he's saved by a series of niftily choreographed exploits of the "with one leap, Jack was free" variety.
Then he, too, heads south, speeding towards his inevitable reunion with Ana at such a rate you could be excused for imagining Turkey to be the size of Lord Howe Island, if it weren't for the effort that George's cameras put into evoking the country's desert flatlands, pine forests and rocky hillsides.
It's a handsome film and George manages to keep the genocide in focus with shots of the Turks herding long lines of refugees across the desert expanses. But the full horror is kept at one remove. Either it remains in the middle distance or we arrive for the aftermath – to be told rather than shown. And I can't pretend to be sorry about that, given the savagery with which the killings were carried out. At the same time, the facts of it all have been shoehorned so tightly – and tritely – into an over-familiar narrative formula that you don't feel a thing.
Starring Christian Bale, Oscaar Isaacs, Charlotte Le Bon
Rating M
Running time 133 minutes
VerdictHistorical drama delivers a powerful message
THE story behind this big budget epic, which has been the subject of IMDB vote-rigging allegations, is perhaps more interesting than the film itself.
Before he died, self-made billionaire Kirk Kerkorian funded The Promise to the tune of $US100 million to shine a light on systematic extermination of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between 1914 and 1923.
Turkish authorities have consistently refused to acknowledge the genocide. (As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged to officially do so. But when he gained office, “genocide” was dialled back to “mass atrocity” because the US needed Turkey’s help in fighting Islamic State.)
Oscar Isaac and Charlotte Le Bon are reunited in The Promise. Picture: Jose HaroSource:Supplied
In this context, it’s entirely plausible that the stream of one-star reviews that flooded the website prior to the film’s release were politically-motivated, as suggested by director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda).
But the response from named critics writing in influential publications has also been fairly tepid.
Oscar Isaac lends a sympathetic integrity to the role of Mickael Boghosian, an Armenian apothecary who betroths himself to a young woman from his village in Southern Turkey so he can use the dowry to put himself through medical school.
Christian Bale and Le Bon find themselves in the right place at the wrong time.Source:Supplied
This, presumably, is the promise of the title, but its potency peters out midway through the story. The ultimate commitment is one of survival.
In Constantinople, Boghosian meets the Paris-educated Ana (Charlotte Le Bon). The instant, mutual attraction is perhaps heightened by the pair’s shared Armenian heritage.
Further complicating matters is Christian Bale’s hard-drinking, heavy-hitting US war correspondent, with whom Ana is already in a relationship.
While the romantic rivalry plays out in a fairly predictable fashion, the horrendous events the three characters are caught up in during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire are little-canvassed enough to pack a real punch.
The Promise is no Dr Zhivago. But it delivers handsomely on Kerkorian’s original intent.
On June 15, a solo exhibition titled “Paper-Hand and Mind: Narrations in Art” by Swiss artist Therese Weber is set to launch at the National Gallery of Armenia. As the Gallery told Panorama.am, the exhibition features more than 50 works of the past 20 years of Weber’s artistic activity. The exhibition will last until 15 July.
Swiss artist Therese Weber got acquainted with Armenia for the first time in 2015. Starting from that time, the artist has regularly touched upon the Armenian culture and the spiritual heritage in her works.
The final round of European Individual Chess Championship 2017 will be held today in Minsk, Belarus, with the best 22 players being qualified for the next Chess World Cup.
As the National Olympic Committee of Armenia told Panorama.am, five representatives of Armenia – Arman Mikayelyan, Hrant Melkumyan, Arman Pashikian, Sergei Movsesian and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan have scored 7 points each and have a chance to be qualified for the World Cup.
Maxim Matlakov (Russia) and Baadur Jobava (Georgia) are leading the table with 8 points. Five more players gained 7.5 points.
From a vertiginous 1,476 feet, the almond-coloured cityscape of Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, looks bewitching. A 572-step stairway has transported me to the Mountain Terrace of Cascades, a contemporary art museum and sculpture garden, from where I am soaking in a panorama of terracotta-roofed houses, statuesque buildings and green pastures stretching out to snow-swathed mountains. Above it all soars Mount Ararat where Noah’s Ark is believed to have lande ..
Bucolic locations, monasteries set in tumbling landscapes, gurgling streams, lapis lazuli lakes — Armenia is picture-postcard turf. One of the cradles of civilisation, the pint-sized country was also the first in the world to officially adopt Christianity as the state religion in AD 301. With doughty neighbours (Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran) hemming it in, the nation is also at a geopolitical and cultural crossroads.
The History Museum at Republic Square in Yerevan
Much of that eclectic heritage is on view at the city’s numerous historic sights. At Matenadran, the museum of ancient manuscripts in Yerevan, we inspect fascinating memorabilia, including scroll upon scroll of medieval parchments and complex documents expounding on everything from geometry and cosmology to theology and poetry.
As the world wakes up to the charms of this Caucasian nation of 3 million people, tourism is galloping — at about 25% per year. Effervescent eateries, cafes and malls are mushrooming and stylish hotels are replacing vapid, Soviet inn-type accommodations.
Yerevan — located 12 km from Turkey — is where Armenia’s heart beats. It has street art-splashed alleys and leafy boulevards sprouting olive, cherry and mulberry trees. Cafés and wine bars remain open until early morning as punters hold chinwag over coffee and gelatos. Locals and tourists stroll along promenades or congregate around musical fountains prancing to classical tunes.
Buildings hewn from pinktuff (an igneous rock, formed from the debris ejected by a volcano) give Yerevan a pink glow as well as its moniker, the Pink City. The majestic Republic Square is studded with buildings. I take it all in one evening from a cafe on Abovyan Street while nursing my soorj ( in pic below ), the Armenian coffee prepared in a long-handled, bronze jezve coffee pot that derives its name from the sound of slurping made by a contented coffee drinker ..
Volatile Past Despite its cosmopolitan facelift, Armenia’s turbulent past still lingers. Roiled by bloody invasions by Romans, Persians, Ottomans and the Soviets, the scars of vicious ethnoterritorial conflicts and economic despair remain.
A visit to the Genocide Monument in Yerevan is a stark reminder of a mass extermination — the Armenian Genocide that killed 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
Set on a hilltop, the spot also houses an underground gallery recreating the horror. Outside, a Spartan memorial stands over an eternal flame. There’s also a garden of trees planted by representatives of various nations that recognise the genocide, including the UK, US, France and Russia.
Not all of Armenia's troubles are in the past.
The country is still bedevilled by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan that has left it with closed borders. Human rights issues and wrenching poverty add to its woes.
"Today, over two-thirds of Armenians live outside the country and have settled as diaspora communities," says our guide Sira. The country's most famous surname must be Kardashian – the socialite Kim Kardashian's family escaped from Armenia to America in 1913 but they still have strong ties to the country. In 2015, when the Kardashians went on an eight-day tour of Armenia, it created quite a kerfuffle in the tiny nation.
Magic Mountain The image of Mount Ararat is a leitmotif in Armenia. Though the mountain was ceded to nearby Turkey in 1923, it continues to be the country's cultural signature, adorning everything from chocolates to wine bottles to apparel as well as Yerevan's coat of arms.
The mount isn't the country's only enchantment though. As I travel through dramatic, photogenic gorges and canyons which carve their way across the Caucasus Mountains, monasteries hewn out of the tuff rock, pagan temples, glutinous lakes and churches nestling in desolate locations add to the visual delight. From the Khor Virap Monastery, on Turkey's border, I take in the view stretching from vineyards to Ararat's 5,137-m-high summit.
The monastery – lying 30 km south of Yerevan – is a popular, out-of-town retreat. It was in a snake-filled pit below this monastery, the story goes, that St. Gregory the Illuminator, who brought Christianity to the region, spent 12 years.
The Tatev monastery, a ninth century shrine located on a large basalt plateau, stands on the precipice of a deep gorge of the Vorotan River.
A UNESCO World Heritage site, it played a pivotal role in the region's spiritual, political, cultural and educational history. The trip to the monastery isn't for the faint-hearted though.
We huddle into the world's longest reversible cable car line, a 5.7-kilometre engineering feat that spans a spectacular gorge. The car line runs from Halidzor village, connecting Yerevan to the village of Tatev, within walking distance of the monastery.
As we glide over an eye-popping landscape – misty mountains, bridges and glittering rivers – the guide explains that the $18 million cable car was mostly funded by private donations.
"It is part of a $50 million public-private project to develop tourism at Tatev and in the surrounding region, one of the 15 provinces of the ancient kingdom of Armenia," she adds.
From Tatev, we drive through a mountain bowl at an altitude of about 2 kilometres above sea level to Sevan. The Alpine Lake is one of the largest in the Caucasus region and located 1,897 metres above sea level. Its pristine beauty and powdery beaches are a big lure for tourists, especially the Russian oligarchs who land here discreetly in private jets. Also known as the Armenian Riviera, the lake's chameleon-like transformation – from Azure to mystic dark blue in the span of a few hours – is mesmerizing.
From the seaside promenade, merely gazing at the waters and beyond is a meditative experience.
Cradle of Wine
You know you are in wine country the moment you land at the Yerevan airport where a 20-feet-tall inflatable wine bottle greets you outside the terminal ( in pic ). Armenia, along with Georgia, Azerbaijan, northern Iran and eastern Turkey constitute what is called the Cradle of Wine in the Caucasus Mountains. Wine-making supposedly originated here in biblical times.)
The meticulous Armenians have kept records of viticulture since Noah's time when the biblical patriarch planted the first vineyard at the foothills of Mount Ararat. Some of the highest wine-growing regions in the northern hemisphere, diverse microclimate and rich, volcanic soils lend distinct flavours to an array of indigenous grape varietals.
Armenia is also known for brandy production.
Driving around the country, the advertisements for Ararat brandy are everywhere. I take a tour of its factory located in an imposing brick building on a hill overlooking Yerevan.
Here, I learn all about the production of the country's favourite tipple. Though fruit brandies from apricot, black plums, apples and other fruits, grown in orchards, are quite popular, seasoned Armenian vintners stick to grapes, the guide explains, as we amble down Charles Aznavour Alley stocked with "President's Barrels" dedicated to Presidents of various countries who had visited the factory, and which were being aged until a President asked for them.
The guide goes on to narrate an apocryphal story about Armenian brandy: during the Yalta Conference in February 1945, after dinner, the host and Russian leader Josef Stalin asked British Prime Minister Winston Churchill if he wished to have a drink. "I'd like a brandy with my cigar," boomed Churchill.
Stalin then offered his guest Ararat Dvin, the best Armenian brandy. So enamoured was Churchill of the honey-hued liquor that Stalin instructed that Churchill is presented with a case of Ararat every month. Thereafter, Armenians say, Churchill swore by the three Cs that made his life worth living – cognac (Armenian), cigar (Cuban) and coffee!
Montenegrins to kick-start the selection by dialing just seven points, but after balkantsy lost two games in a row and allowed the competitors to get close to him. Will Jovetic and the company retain the second place? Football. 2018. Qualification. Europe. Group E. Montenegro – Armenia , 21-45 GMT
Montenegro Indeed, Montenegrins very cheerfully started the tournament – after visiting a draw with Romania (0: 0) followed by a victory over Kazakhstan (5: 0) and Denmark (1: 0). But after the game balkantsev something went wrong – leading 2: 0 in the away match against Armenia, they managed to lose 2: 3, followed by home yielded Poland (1: 2). In the table until the second team, but the fight is very dense, the same Armenian team loses only one point, ranking fifth.
Armenia Armenia started the cycle with three consecutive defeats, Poland, Denmark and Romania chance Caucasian team left little winning with a total score of 8: 1. There was a coaching castling, under the direction of Artur Petrosyan changed the game, in addition to the already mentioned strong-willed victory over Montenegro, and was winning Kazakhstan (2: 0). The Armenians until the fifth table, but only the beginning.
Statistics and personal meetings Internal meeting of the teams until one victory 3: 2 it got to Armenia.
Montenegro home team won just one of five recent matches.
Forecast Before recommissioning a full-time match, the team played a friendly game – Montenegrins at home lost to Iran (1: 2), Armenia defeated St. Kitts and Nevis (5: 0). Of course, the level of the national team of the island is not too good, but the final score showed that Armenia has finally found the optimal combination, began to score Mkhitaryan, who in the past held the coach rather strange position on the field. We believe that to fight the Montenegrins again, that does not ideal in defense Armenia is able. We offer to play this pair of goals on both sides.