Armenia

Infant House, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia © EveryChild / Onnik Krikorian 2005
Just as I was starting to wonder what I’d be doing before the parliamentary elections are upon us, some good news. It might be that I’ll be returning to Georgia in the near future to do more work on social vulnerability there. Last time […]

Blogian carries news that the BBC Russian site says Borat’s Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan will not be shown in Russia. Unfortunately, Simon thinks Armenia will follow suit and I guess he’s right. However, I live in hope that it will at least make it here on DVD and […]

With the Armenian President scheduled to make an official visit to Kazakhstan tomorrow, PanArmenian.net says that it will coincide with the second meeting of the Kazakh-Armenian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation. However, Artyom at iArarat jokes that all might not be as it seems.
And so the rumor has it, that after meeting Premier George […]

Nothing to do with Armenia yet again, but as with music I like pointing local Armenians in the direction of those things that have defined my life entertainment wise. So, after being pleasantly surprised at the albeit small underground popularity of Da Ali G Show, and especially Kazakh journalist Borat, as well as the highly […]

Wow, one of the greatest films ever made has been translated and dubbed into Armenian. Apocalypse Now is showing on Armenian Public TV as I type this post. Given Armenian TV’s obsession with garbage, who’d have thunk it?
Apocalypse Now is a thematically rich film. The primary motif is the same as in Heart of […]

As 24 April, the date when Armenians worldwide remember the 1915-1917 Genocide, approaches, some startling news. A film by Canadian-Armenian Atom Egoyan based around the massacre and deportation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire has been broadcast in Turkey. The English-language Turkish Daily News has more and says in particular that the taboo placed upon discussion of this event in Armenia’s estranged neighbor has now been broken.

In my view, Tuncay Özkan’s Kanal Türk brought down a taboo on Thursday night. It aired ‘Ararat,’ the best-known propaganda film promoting the Armenian genocide allegations at the level of international public opinion.

Unfortunately, the film did not have the effect that most Armenians would hope for. However, and to be totally frank, it really is a lousy and very tedious film. I bought it on DVD and was so disappointed that I couldn’t get through more than half of it before sticking it back in the box and placing it on a shelf to gather dust. Even in the Soviet era there were better films on the Genocide than this, and Ararat was met with mixed reviews.

I am a person who believes that the events of 1915 cannot be characterized as genocide. I sometimes felt disturbed while watching the film; the events are distorted and facts are presented in an emotional and abstract manner. But it is not successful as a propaganda film, either. Its producer was criticized by the Armenian diaspora when the film was first released. In summary, “Ararat” is not impressive at all from the perspective of Armenian propaganda, either.

Still, I suppose we couldn’t expect a shift in the intrenched mentality of denial in Turkey, and it does have to be said that screening the movie is a positive first step. In particular, it has set a precedent.

Kanal Türk did the right thing. It proved that this film can be shown in a Turkey that has self-confidence and which does not believe the Armenian allegations of genocide. It showed that the airing of a propaganda film is received as a normal thing in the society, no matter how disturbing it is.

The full item can be read here, although you will need to register for free in order to do so. Of as much interest is how the Turkish Daily News reported the plan to show the film. I don’t think I’ve seen language in reports on the Genocide in Turkey used like this one.

A private television channel will broadcast a controversial movie on the deaths of Armenians during World War I, which Armenians describe as a “genocide” at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, for the first time in Turkey, where the subject still arouses nationalist feelings, a spokesman for the station said yesterday.

Kanaltürk decided to show “Ararat” by Canadian director Atom Egoyan, an ethnic Armenian, after a survey of viewers revealed that 72 percent of participants wanted to see the film, the spokesman said.

The showing of the film is particularly interesting given that it was originally banned from cinemas when it was released in 2002.

Kanaltürk decided to show “Ararat” by Canadian director Atom Egoyan, an ethnic Armenian, after a survey of viewers revealed that 72 percent of participants wanted to see the film, the spokesman said.

�We will air the movie with no cuts or censorship,� he added.

Even though the Turkish government gave the go-ahead for the showing the film, which was released in 2002, an Istanbul company was forced in 2004 to drop plans to screen the movie because of potential protests that would have required police presence in theaters.

Turkey categorically denies Armenian allegations that some 1.5 million Armenians were killed as part of a genocide campaign in eastern Anatolia during World War I and calls for an objective scientific study of the issue to refute the claims.

[…]

Egoyan’s film deals with the estranged members of a contemporary Armenian family who are faced with both Turkey’s denial of genocide and their own individual plight.

[…]

The parliaments of 18 countries have passed resolutions recognizing the alleged genocide, and those countries were informed of Ankara’s negative reaction through diplomatic channels.

Several parliaments, including those of France, Canada and Poland, have passed resolutions backing Armenian genocide claims. There has been strong pressure from Armenians worldwide for the U.S. Congress to recognize their allegations as well.

Yes, I know it’s still all “alleged,” but it appears to be discussed in a far more moderate way than before. Is something changing in Turkey, or am I hoping for too much?

A1 Plus Anniversary Protest Rally, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2004

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the closure of the independent TV station A1 Plus. On 2 April the station was deprived of its frequency in a deeply flawed tender, the loss of A1 Plus marked the start of the presidential election campaign the following year. Armenia has been suffering ever since. Last December, the BBC reported on the case before the European Court of Human Rights.

The European Court of Human Rights is studying an appeal by an Armenian TV station against a government decision to close it down.

The court’s judgement could have far-reaching implications for freedom of expression and human rights in Armenia and across the southern Caucasus.

In April 2002, the Armenian government took A1+ off the air.

The TV station, which was the most popular independent news channel at the time, has since reapplied ten times for a licence to broadcast. Each time it has been refused.

Usually, some kind of demonstration by journalists in support of A1 Plus takes place in Yerevan, but I’m told that this year there is none. Nontheless, others haven’t forgotten the station, and not least because while A1 Plus does produce a web site and newspaper now, what is believed to be a concerted campaign by the authorities to disrupt their work continues. The Institute of War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) has more.

Four years ago, Armenia’s A1+ independent TV station was forced off the air in what its journalists maintain was a government-inspired vendetta.

Now, A1+ says the authorities are behind moves to force the TV station out of its offices.

For 15 years, A1+ has rented space on Grigor Lusavorich Street in downtown Yerevan.

But the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, which owns the building, is suddenly demanding that A1+ leave.

“The academy is just a tool. I am deeply convinced that had it not received ‘instructions’, [the academy] would not have resorted to such a step,” human rights activist Avetik Ishkhanian told IWPR.

“All this is aimed at creating new obstacles for A1+, in order to complete the process started four years ago of closing the TV station down.”

[…]

“Providing suitable new premises for A1+ would be a positive step which would demonstrate a commitment to enhance media freedom and pluralism in Armenia,” said Bojana Urumova, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to Armenia.

“Any move from one place to another creates additional problems for any organisation. Although A1+ is not broadcasting now, it continues to be an active player in the information field that produces serious products,” said Navasardian.

The station continues to produce TV shows, and publishes a weekly edition and daily news through the internet.

Last week the issue of A1 Plus was also raised at a round table on “Armenia’s Information Crisis” organized by Raffi Hovannisian’s National Citizens’ Initiative (NCI). No wonder it’s believed that the authorities are out to break Hovannisian in time for the 2007 parliamentary and 2008 presidential elections. More information is available on the NCI web site.

NCI coordinator Hovsep Khurshudian welcomed the audience with opening remarks: “Today, when some politicians of the opposition and independent analysts are hopeful that a real opportunity has emerged for the upcoming parliamentary elections to be held freely and in compliance with the standards of democracy, even without the restoration of the right of the A1+ and Noyan Tapan independent television companies to broadcast, reminds me of the year 2002. Following the closing down of these stations, a number of people were then confident that the rule of law would be established in the country as the result of the upcoming presidential elections and that the violated rights would be restored. We recall all to well what occurred then, and it appears that every condition now exists for a repetition of the whole scenario.”

In his intervention on “The Effects of Shutting Down A1+ and Noyan Tapan on the Right of Armenia’s Citizens to Receive Information and the Means for Overcoming These Effects,” president of the A1+ Television Company Mesrop Movsisian briefly presented the history of this matter. In his words, the 19 media organizations which after the notorious contest in 2002 signed a joint declaration deeming the contest as legitimate, in fact signed the verdict not only against their own freedom of speech but on that of the entire country. Movsisian finds that the shutting down of A1+ and Noyan Tapan is a concern not for television stations alone but for the entire population of Armenia. He stated that his television company’s petition submitted to the European Court of Human Rights was now in the process of examination. According to Movsisian, liberal competition among electronic media has come to an end in Armenia and as a result there is a setback not only in terms of unimpeded dissemination of information but also in the appraisal of journalistic professionalism. And all of this in its turn has brought forth a severe limitation on Armenian citizens’ right to receive information.

A1 Plus also covered the conference as well as attending it in the form of its Director Mesrop Movsesian, who I interviewed a day after the station was closed in April 2002. Thankfully, almost everyone now understands what a loss A1 Plus was and that without it, the chances for democratization in Armenia are fairly slim. No surprise that most of us are awaiting the ruling of the European Court with baited breath. A1 Plus has more on that too.