Turkish officials and ultra-nationalist groups have become furious over the cancellation of the “Ataturk” series on Disney+. The six-part series was set to be released on the streaming service on Oct. 29 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.

Omer Celik, the spokesperson for President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP Party, along with other figures in Turkey, condemned the decision, labeling it “shameful” and “disrespectful.” Meanwhile, Ebubekir Sahin, the head of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, announced an investigation into reports suggesting that the decision resulted from lobbying efforts by various Armenian groups, including the ANCA and 301. As a response, a group of ultra-nationalist Turks went to the extent of hacking our http://301.am website and Twitter account shortly after our coverage of the cancellation. This hack led to our website displaying a landing page with a photo of Ataturk and details of the hacking group. Additionally, thousands of racist comments and tweets from Turks have been incessant for the past 48 hours under posts concerning the cancellation of the “Ataturk” series. Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, was a genocidal dictator who continued the same anti-Armenian policies of his predecessors, who orchestrated the Armenian Genocide.

During WWI, he served as a commander in the Ottoman military and closely collaborated with Talaat and Enver Pasha, two of the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. Subsequently, Ataturk founded the Turkish Nationalist Movement with the aim of creating a Turkey exclusively for Turks. In pursuit of this vision, Ataturk orchestrated the killing of up to 250,000 Armenians in Turkey in less than three months. His anti-Armenian policies persisted, evident in his writings as he tried to justify the mass killings of Armenians during WWI. Ataturk’s vision for Turkey not only excluded Armenians but also demanded the murder and systematic erasure from the memory of every other ethnic minority that stood in his way.

“Desire rapid wealth? Join the Pashinyan Club for quick riches!”

Hetq. writes: “Vahe Makunts 2023 became a participant in four companies in January and April. The companies are engaged in sand extraction and sale in the Armavir region.

One of them, “X Mining” LLC, received a sand mining permit about 2 months ago but has been illegally mining sand from time to time since January. This is evidenced by the administrative proceedings initiated by the mayor of Metsamor. However, the last administrative proceedings were terminated when V. became a participant in the company.

Makunts. Those companies were established in 2018. after the change of power. Vahe Makunts is not the founder of the companies, but “entered a share” in them, “leaving out” some persons related to the former authorities. Makunts’ business partners are not random people either.

One of them is the brother-in-law of Gagik Jhangiryan, the other is the former deputy minister of trade and economic development. Vahe Makunts is the brother of Lilit Makunts, who held various government positions after the 2018 power change. In 2018-2019, Lilit Makunts was the Minister of Culture, in 2021 during the extraordinary parliamentary elections, he was elected a deputy of the National Assembly by the alliance of “My step” parties and held the position of the head of the ruling faction. 2021 In August, he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the United States of America for a period of 4 years.

Vahe Makunts also held public positions during that period. In particular, in 2021 In August, Deputy Prime Minister Suren Papikyan’s assistant was appointed. Because S. Papikyan was released from that position in November of the same year and was appointed Minister of Defense, Vahe Makunts worked for a short time as Deputy Prime Minister, now he is an assistant to Hambardzum Matevosyan, the Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister. He was released from that position in 2021.

on December 10. After that V. Makunts was transferred to the Ministry of Defense, occupying the position of Minister Papikyan’s assistant. The Ministry of Defense reports that Vahe Makunts was dismissed in 2022. in December. After leaving in 2023 in January, has already become a participant of two companies and will further expand the business.

Ruben Vardanyan

In his interview with “Euronews,” Aliyev openly admits that his life’s mission is to win the war. This statement is of significant importance as it indicates that Azerbaijan never wanted a peaceful solution to the problem. Aliyev suggests that the Karabakh Armenians, who now constitute 99.9% of the population, must either become Azerbaijani citizens or leave the land.

This amounts to an announcement of genocide, which he had planned long ago and is currently executing through the blockade of Artsakh. Aliyev labels the November 9 declaration as an act of capitulation by Armenia and calls for “realizing the balance of power,” implying that his army is stronger. This is the rationale behind Azerbaijan’s so-called peace treaty.

Despite appearing to engage in the peace process, the reality on the ground has nothing to do with peace. By adopting this policy, Aliyev challenges the entire European system of values and international law, as he seeks to resolve issues through force, disregarding international law and moral norms. The problem of Artsakh goes beyond mere food. By depriving us of food and medicine, Azerbaijan aims to create conditions that force us to abandon our homeland. This clearly constitutes a policy of ethnic cleansing and forced deportation. How many times must Azerbaijan demonstrate its criminal intentions before the international community acts to prevent the human tragedy in Artsakh? We will not abandon our struggle, but we need the acknowledgement of the situation and real actions to avert this dangerous scenario.

Political scientist Ruben Hakobyan wrote on his Facebook page.

“Yerevan is Erivan Turkish Name and that’s it…

Yesterday’s speech of the main mover about the upcoming elections of the Yerevan Council of Elders reminded me of the famous anti-Artsakh slogan “Artsakh is Armenia and that’s the end” that was uttered four years ago in Stepanakert with a particularly anti-hygienic tone…

After just one year, after shedding the blood of five thousand victims “for nothing”, the same biped, together with the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem, reformulated it: “Karabakh is Azerbaijan and that’s it”, recording an already established fact, as a result of which Artsakh turned into a bleeding wound.. .

After decapitating Artsakh, continuing cooperation with the same tandem, yesterday in “Dvin” (Dvin?…) announced the beginning of the end of the next script, “Yerevan is Erivan and that’s the end” of the script…

And we still continue to tolerate the authoritarian existence of this anti-national abortion…

P.S. And Lao, who was woken up by our own call a year ago, deeply disappointed by us, continues to suffer from insomnia at night…”.

By Harut Sassounian,

In recent months, I have been contacted by many readers who asked me to write about the controversy regarding the Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate’s lease of around 25% of the Armenian Quarter to a Jewish investor for 98 years. However, as the details of the lease contract were not made public, I was unable to write about it.

 Trying to learn the facts, I called the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian twice, asking him for a copy of the contract. He did not respond. I spoke with now-defrocked Fr. Baret Yeretzian, one of the signatories of the contract, who said he did not have a copy of the contract. I made several unsuccessful attempts to contact some of the lawyers who went on a fact-finding mission to Jerusalem and prepared a 184-page report. I was told that the report has not been made public because it had some sensitive information. I also contacted an Armenian activist in Jerusalem and one of the sponsors of the fact-finding mission.

Even though I still have not seen a copy of either the report or contract, I just read a revealing article in the Keghart website which posted an interview with a Jerusalem Armenian activist who had a copy of the 184-page report, including the contract with one of the pages missing. I decided to write about what I have learned so far, even though I prefer to review personally copies of the contract and report.

For those who have been following the various scandals involving the Jerusalem Armenian Patriarchate, there is nothing surprising: sad, but not surprising. Such covert land leases and sales of precious items owned by the Patriarchate have been going on for decades.

This current scandal is not just a questionable business transaction. It has political repercussions given the controversy between Palestinians and the State of Israel over Jerusalem. It has also consequences for the survival of the dwindling Armenian community in Jerusalem.

The contract for the lease has been signed by three clergymen: Patriarch Nourhan Manoughian, now defrocked Father Baret Yeretzian, and Archbishop Sevan Gharibian. As Fr. Baret, the former director of the Patriarchate’s Real Estate Office, has come under intense criticism, many feel that the Patriarch has attempted to shift the blame on Fr. Baret, making him the scapegoat. Nevertheless, King Abdullah II of Jordan, historically the custodian of Holy Sites in Jerusalem, and Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian National Authority, in a joint announcement, blamed the Patriarch and suspended their recognition of Archbishop Manougian as the Patriarch of the Armenian Church in Jerusalem, the Holy Land and Jordan.

Hagop Djernazian, an Armenian activist in Jerusalem, told Keghart that the Australian-Jewish investor, Rubinstein/Rothman, plans to build a seven-star hotel on ‘Goverou Bardez’ (Cows’ Garden), the land leased from the Armenian Patriarchate. The size of the property leased is 11,500 square meters or 123,785 square feet. The annual payment to the Patriarchate is $300,000. However, Fr. Baret told me that the income will be 5% of the hotel’s profits which can vary from year to year. Djernazian said that the leased land currently includes five Armenian homes, the Patriarch’s Garden, the Patriarch’s private parking as well as the hall of the seminary. At the end of the first 49 years, the buyer has the option to renew the lease for another 49 years.

Djernazian also explained that the lawyers obtained a copy of the contract from an unknown third party, not the Patriarchate nor the municipality of Jerusalem, but he insists that the contract is genuine, as “we were able to confirm it with the Patriarchate.”

Patriarch Manougian, under pressure from Armenians worldwide, has promised to cancel the contract, but a unilateral cancelation may result in legal challenges and financial penalties. A representative of the Palestinian Authority stated that it would be willing to pay the penalty for cancellation. However, Djernazian does not seem to be aware of that pledge, as he told Keghart: “If money is needed, I’m sure the Patriarchate, the community and the Armenian nation will work together to raise the required amount to pay the cancellation penalty.”

According to Djernazian, there are a couple of problems with the contract:

1)  It violates the by-laws of the Patriarchate;

2)  The date on the contract is altered from July 7 to July 8, 2021, to reflect the date that the investor’s company, Xana Gardens Limited, was registered in Israel. Fr. Baret explained the discrepancy as a simple typing error.

It is not clear what the next steps are to resolve this thorny issue. One way would be for the Jerusalem Armenian community to hire Israeli lawyers to sue the Patriarch or the Jewish Investor, however, no one else other than the Patriarch and the Jewish investor have legal standing in court.

Given the prominence of Jerusalem in the world and importance of the Armenian presence in the Holy City starting from the fourth century, this lease is of interest to all Armenians worldwide as well as Palestinians, the State of Israel, and the King of Jordan.

However, one party we have not heard from is the Government of Armenia which could officially contact the State of Israel to make its wishes known. However, Armenia’s leaders have their hands full right now, given the precarious situation in Artsakh and Armenia.

At the request of the President of the Republic of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan, Former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, will prepare in 7 days a report on the genocidal policy implemented by Azerbaijan in Artsakh.

Source: https://artsakhpress.am/eng/news/184956/former-chief-prosecutor-of-the-international-criminal-court-will-prepare-a-report-on-the-situation-in-artsakh.html