Turkish Forum

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  • Armenian Genocide Film Takes Top Awards at Moondance Film Festival

    Armenian Genocide Film Takes Top Awards at Moondance Film Festival

    LOS ANGELES-The ANC-WR announced today that the Genocide documentary titled “A Road Less Traveled” (The Handjian Story) won the Best Feature Documentary as well as best Film Score awards at the internationally renowned Moondance Film Festival on May 18. The film which documents the eyewitness accounts of two Armenian Genocide survivors Kourken Handjian of Erzinga, and Malvine (Papazian) Handjian of Izmir, was selected the winner-among 5 finalists in the Feature Documentary category. It also won in the film score category amongst eight final competitors. The film’s producer Denise Gentilini was on hand, with her special guest Malvine Handjian who is featured in the film, to accept the awards at the Boulder Colorado Awards Gala.
    Gentilini stated that while she is thankful to be honored for her talents she, nevertheless, believes that the wound of the Armenian Genocide still continues today by Turkey’s ongoing campaign to deny that it ever happened-and is hopeful that films such as this will continue to educate people about the truth, and the need to act firmly to prevent and punish those who commit such great crimes against humanity.ANC-WR Board member Steven Dadaian hailed the awards as “a validation, not only of the fine fimmaking and musical talents of Denise Gentilini, but as yet another example as to how Genocide affirmation is not just fought in the halls of Congress but also in the realm of American culture and public consciousness. The film joins the works of Peter Balakian, Samantha Power, Carol Edgarian, J. Michael Hagopian, and Atom Egoyan in educating the public about the evil of genocide in general and the particular pain felt by Armenians. I am hopeful that the film will find its way onto PBS and other broadcast outlets nationwide”

    About 2,500 screenwriters, film directors and producers from around the world participated in the festival. The festival, voted the third most important film festival in the world after Cannes and Sundance in the Filmmakers Alliance online poll of over 150,000 international film industry professionals, has garnered the attention of film studios and producers from Los Angeles and New York including Jodie Foster and Francis Ford Coppola.

  • “A Road Less Traveled” (The Handjian Story)

    “A Road Less Traveled” (The Handjian Story)

    Armenian Genocide Film Takes Top Awards at Moondance Film Festival
    LOS ANGELES—The ANC-WR announced today that the Genocide documentary titled “A Road Less Traveled” (The Handjian Story) won the Best Feature Documentary as well as best Film Score awards at the internationally renowned Moondance Film Festival on May 18. The film which documents the eyewitness accounts of two Armenian Genocide survivors Kourken Handjian of Erzinga, and Malvine (Papazian) Handjian of Izmir, was selected the winner—among 5 finalists in the Feature Documentary category. It also won in the film score category amongst eight final competitors. The film’s producer Denise Gentilini was on hand, with her special guest Malvine Handjian who is featured in the film, to accept the awards at the Boulder Colorado Awards Gala.

    Gentilini stated that while she is thankful to be honored for her talents she, nevertheless, believes that the wound of the Armenian Genocide still continues today by Turkey’s ongoing campaign to deny that it ever happened—and is hopeful that films such as this will continue to educate people about the truth, and the need to act firmly to prevent and punish those who commit such great crimes against humanity.

    ANC-WR Board member Steven Dadaian hailed the awards as “a validation, not only of the fine fimmaking and musical talents of Denise Gentilini, but as yet another example as to how Genocide affirmation is not just fought in the halls of Congress but also in the realm of American culture and public consciousness. The film joins the works of Peter Balakian, Samantha Power, Carol Edgarian, J. Michael Hagopian, and Atom Egoyan in educating the public about the evil of genocide in general and the particular pain felt by Armenians. I am hopeful that the film will find its way onto PBS and other broadcast outlets nationwide”

    About 2,500 screenwriters, film directors and producers from around the world participated in the festival. The festival, voted the third most important film festival in the world after Cannes and Sundance in the Filmmakers Alliance online poll of over 150,000 international film industry professionals, has garnered the attention of film studios and producers from Los Angeles and New York including Jodie Foster and Francis Ford Coppola.

  • Book Tells the Story of Armenians in New Britain

    Book Tells the Story of Armenians in New Britain

    By Ken Byron
     October 3, 2008

    To many, New Britain is synonymous with Polish jokes and it’s easy to forget that there are more that just Polish people in New Britain and that the city has a long and rich history as a cultural melting pot. I was reminded of this when an advance copy of a book entitled “New Britain’s Armenian Community” came across my desk on Friday. Thls volume is published by Arcadia Publishing as part of its Images of America series.

    I’ve worked in New Britain for years now and I’ve gotten used to seeing Armenian names from time to time. But to say I know little about their history is an understatement. According to this new volume, the first Armenians who came to New Britain were five men who arrived in 1892 to work in the city’s factories. By 1940, there were 2,700 Armenians in New Britain.

    Armenians began arriving a great numbers in the 1920s. Unfortunately, they had a really good reason for coming. Most of them were fleeing what is called the Armenian Genocide of 1915, in which Turkey uprooted, deported and killed many Armenians. Many historians consider this to be the first modern, systematic genocide and the book’s author, Jennie Gerabedian, prominently mentions the suffering that many Armenian immigrants to New Britain endured. She also highlights the stories of many of them who came to New Britain and prospered.

    The book is not a history in the regular sense of the word but instead tries to tell the story of New Britain’s Armenians through pictures. Arcadia has published a great many other local histories through its Images of America series and all of the ones I’ve seen are like this, page after page of pictures with sometimes very lengthy captions. 

  • U.S. presidential candidates no longer need to say Genocide

    U.S. presidential candidates no longer need to say Genocide

    Harut Sassounian:

    The visit of Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Yerevan stirred up a wave of comments both in Armenia and abroad. There was certainly a feedback from American Armenians, who are mostly the heirs of Genocide survivors. Harut Sassounian, the publisher of The California Courier, the oldest independent English-language Armenian newspaper in the United States, presents his view to PanARMENIAN.Net.
    30.09.2008 GMT+04:00
    Do you think that the Armenian-Turkish border can be opened after Gul’s visit?
    Since it was Turkey that closed the border, it is up to Turkey to open it. Turkey has no right to make any demands from Armenians in return for the opening of the border.

    Furthermore, Armenia’s economy could be damaged by the opening of the Turkish border. The Armenian parliament should urgently pass a law prohibiting foreign entities from leasing or buying lands located in strategic areas of Armenia or containing strategic resources. Such a law would ensure the economic and strategic security of the Republic.

    How do you assess the possibility of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations?
    It would be naпve to suppose that soccer matches, cultural exchange programs or meetings of Armenian and Turkish NGO’s could lead to reconciliation between the two countries period. Serious issues like the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, recognition of the Armenian Genocide and its consequences, and territorial demands can not be resolved by singing and dancing together. Pres. Gul came to Yerevan to support his country’s soccer team. Turkey would have looked bad in front of the West if he had turned down the Armenian President’s invitation.
    Russian political scientists suppose that to normalize relations with Turkey, Armenia will have to choose between Karabakh and Genocide recognition…
    I don’t think that the President of Armenia needs to choose between Karabakh (Artsakh) and the Armenian Genocide. These two issues are separate, but equally important for Armenia. Turkey should not expect any concessions from Armenia in return for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide which is a historical fact. It is in Turkey’s interest to find the courage to face this shameful episode of its history.

    The Nagorno Karabakh Republic is an established state and Azerbaijan has to accept this reality.

    The Armenian community of the United States supports those Congressmen who sponsored the resolution of the Armenian Genocide in Congress. What’s your opinion about this issue?
    I would like to remind the readers that the U.S. House of Representatives has already adopted two congressional resolutions on the Armenian Genocide — the first was in 1975 and the second in 1984. Armenians do not need to demand that every newly-elected Congress recognize this fact which has already been recognized twice. The same thing is true for U.S. Presidents. Pres. Reagan issued a Presidential Proclamation back in 1981 which mentioned the Armenian Genocide. In my opinion, another presidential statement or congressional resolution is unnecessary. Armenians do not need to beg U.S. Presidential candidates to say Genocide again and again.
    What should the Armenian community of the United States press for?
    The United States should be an impartial mediator in the Karabakh conflict, render greater assistance to Armenia and Artsakh, urge Turkey to protect the rights of its Armenian minority, and return historic Armenian churches to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople (Istanbul).

    «PanARMENIAN.Net», 30.09.2008
    !  Reproduction in full or in part is prohibited without reference to «PanARMENIAN.Net».
  • Cypriot president seeks end to military exercises

    Cypriot president seeks end to military exercises

    STRASBOURG, France: President Dimitris Christofias of Cyprus urged the U.N. and Turkish Cypriot leaders on Tuesday to support his call to abolish annual military exercises and to demilitarize Cyprus’ divided capital city.

    Christofias said the moves would “improve the climate” and increase the chances of success in reunification talks with his Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

    The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to a coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. Turkey keeps 35,000 troops in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north, and a small number of Greek troops are stationed in the south. A U.N.-patrolled buffer zone separates the two communities.

    Cypriot president seeks end to military exercises – International Herald Tribune.

  • Turkey hopes to finish Cyprus water pipeline by 2009

    Turkey hopes to finish Cyprus water pipeline by 2009

    Turkey hopes to complete construction of an undersea water pipeline to northern Cyprus by June 2009 to help it battle droughts, Anatolian Agency reported Tuesday.

    The project, which was launched in 2000 following a severe water shortage on the parched island, aims to pump 75 million cubic metres (2.65 billion cubic feet) into the Northern Cyprus every year.

    Anatolia, citing sources in Turkey’s hydraulic works authority, said the plan is to finish the 110-kilometer (70-mile) Mediterranean pipeline by June 14.

    Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had said in July that the government wanted the project to be completed within three years.

    Source : Hurriyet