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Iraq’s Mosul celebrates cultural comeback

September 9, 2018 By administrator

Music is back in Mosul, as are books and paintings. With the “Islamic State” group gone, locals are enjoying their newfound freedom and embracing culture. Will it last? Judit Neurink reports from Mosul.

In the park in Mosul where the “Islamic State” (IS) once trained child soldiers, thousands have now gathered for a book festival with plays, music and tables full of books donated to the people of the city. Culture is back with a bang in Iraq’s second city, and the “I am Iraqi — I read” festival is just one of many cultural events. The slogan refers to the traditional Arab saying: “Egypt writes, Lebanon publishes, and Iraq reads.”

“We don’t value things until we lose them,” says Ali al-Baroodi, an English teacher at Mosul University who has become the city’s unofficial chronicler, cycling around his liberated hometown taking pictures of the damage and the rebuilding process. “Last year’s liberation of eastern Mosul from Daesh was like a second birthday for me.”

Arts and culture suffered badly under IS, or Daesh [the group’s Arab acronym]. Statues of poets and writers were torn down, works of arts and musical instruments were also destroyed, and the university library burned along with many valuable books. Books were banned, non-religious art was taboo, musicians and artists were killed.

And not just by IS. The repression began soon after the US invasion in 2003, when radical Muslims began to gain more and more ground in the city. “IS is like a ghost — you don’t see it, but it’s there, secretly collecting data on us for when they return,” al-Baroodi told DW. “They ruled in the shadows from 2005, and openly after 2014. It is not easy to end their existence. Under Daesh, I died 1,000 times a day. So the first thing Mosul needs to do is lose its fear.”

And while his father keeps warning him to be more careful, the young photographer feels it’s his mission to record developments in his city. He compares the situation to the first years after 2003, when the Iraqis celebrated the change and the freedom they had longed for — until Muslim radicals appeared on the scene to fight the Americans, putting a rude end to the positive changes. But this time, many in Mosul feel that the change process must be allowed to continue.

‘Better than before IS’

Marwan Tariq, who teaches at Mosul University’s Arts Institute, agrees that progress has been made: “After Daesh, the situation is already better than before they arrived.”

Tariq was one of the first to enter the badly-bombed university campus after IS was chased out early last year. The damage to the Arts Institute was terrible. “Everything that had a connection to art was broken. Pianos, ouds, guitars, but also paintings and sculptures,” he told DW.

Together with his students he started to clean up the buildings that were still standing — without any support from the Iraqi government, which continues to treat anyone who stayed during the occupation with suspicion for possibly having collaborated with IS. At the same time, locals are still afraid of those IS members who went underground.

That’s why you hardly see anything relating to the occupation in the arts now,” Tariq said.

And the arts do not seem to be playing a role in helping people come to terms with what happened to them under IS, in contrast to the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where, for instance, a Yazidi artist has created paintings about the fate of his people.

Artists in Mosul found other ways to celebrate their renewed freedom. In May 2017, when the battle was still raging across the river Tigris, which divides the city in two, both al-Baroodi and Tariq were involved in staging an art exhibition in eastern Mosul. There, pictures and paintings were exhibited against the blackened remains of a university building to the sounds of long-banned music.

And then there was the action by students, teachers and volunteers to save the books that had survived the fire in the university library.

Books and music return to Mosul

In the wake of the fire at the university’s library, al-Baroodi, along with students and other volunteers, was there to document the salvaging of some 6,000 books from the ashes. Thousands of books would later arrive from abroad to replace those that were lost, thanks to an appeal by historian Omar Mohammed, who had garnered international attention for his work as the Mosul Eye blogger during the occupation.

Music has returned, too, with an oud player giving a concert at the art exhibition and a bass player performing at damaged heritage sites, like the Nouri Mosque with its famous Hadba minaret where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the Caliphate, which IS destroyed when they were forced out of the city.

Music also features prominently at the book café, the first one ever opened recently in Mosul. There, Fahad Sabah and his business partner Harith Yassin offer a platform for concerts and weekly debates about literature, and a quiet place for young and old, men and women, to read or work, enjoying a cup of coffee or tea. Sabah proudly announces that they are selling Shiite books now, too — another taboo broken in the conservative Sunni city.

Cultural comeback still at the beginning

In the café, where neatly stacked book cases and portraits of writers, musicians and artists contribute to the atmosphere, Sabah agrees that culture has returned to Mosul. “Even before Daesh, debate was impossible for fear of the extremists and their threats. Now society is far more open. Our place is just one example. Look at what we do and who comes in here. We run the first public space where both men and women feel at home,” he told DW.

He recounts how long segregation of the sexes has existed in the city. “Until the 1980s, the cinemas were still mixed. But then came the radicalization of society and village culture went into a downward spiral.”

Sabah wants to work hard to avoid the mistakes that were made after 2003 and build on the new openness — even though it’s estimated that at least a fifth of Mosul’s inhabitants agreed with IS ideology, if not the way it applied it. “That’s why we have to understand our problems and our boundaries. That’s the first step toward a solution. It won’t be easy, so we will have to work hard.”

Source: dw.com

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: celebrates, cultural comeback, Mosul

Last night Armenia celebrates the 100th anniversary of the First Republic of Armenia Video

May 28, 2018 By administrator

Armenia celebrates the 100th anniversary of the First Republic of Armenia. A festive concert took place at the Republic Square where Sirusho, Sevak Khanaghyan, Hasmik Karapetyan and other stars sang.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President Armen Sarkissian, other officials and many citizens were present at the concert.

 

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: 100th anniversary, Armenia, celebrates

Online media resource which has long-term plans with readers: Tert.am celebrates 10th anniversary

March 16, 2018 By administrator

Tert.am celebrates 10th anniversary

Tert.am celebrates 10th anniversary

Tert.am’s editorial staff on Wednesday celebrated the website’s 10th anniversary in a solemn event organized at Grand Hotel Yerevan.Politicians from both the pro-government and opposition circles, public figuress, lawyers and human rights activists, as well colleagues from different media outlets attended the event to congratulate the website’s leadership and staff.“Tert.am spares no effort in its everyday work to earn the reputation of a credible resource. We are already 10 years old, so the day is a good opportunity for me to first of all express my gratitude [to our loyal readers] rather than to accept congratulations. I want to thank everybody for starting their day with Tert.am, for working with us, and showing trust and loyalty which you developed over the course of years,” the website’s general manager, Aram Antinyan, said in a greeting address.

He said that the website’s long-term plans with readers make it adhere to the standards of high journalisms every day by providing credible information and avoiding misleading headlines in the news flow.

Tert.am’s incredibly successful track record has made it a leading news site, said Artak Aleksanyan, the head of the News Department at Armenia TV. In his words, the website’s editorial policies can be a guideline for many other media outlets in Armenia. “This is a kind of website which can offer and change an economic, political and public agenda in the country,” Aleksanyan said.

 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: 10th, anniversary, celebrates, Tert.am

Armenia celebrates 26th anniversary of independence

September 21, 2017 By administrator

Armenia celebrates the 26th anniversary of independence.

Armenia declared its independence on September 21, 1991, the day on which a referendum on freedom from the USSR took place across the country.

The Republic of Armenia was accepted as a full member of the international community as a sovereign state after that, joining the United Nations in 1992.

It was a dream come true for Armenians across the world to once again have Armenia on the map.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: 26th anniversary, Armenia, celebrates, independence

Armenian leadership celebrates First Republic Day at Sardarapat Memorial Complex

May 28, 2016 By administrator

Armenian first republicAccording to tradition, the Armenia leadership has visited Sardarapat Memorial Complex on May 28, where the May victories and 98th anniversary of the establishment of First Republic are celebrated

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, government members, Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MPs, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, Chief of the General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces Yuri Khachaturov, members of Yerkrapah Volunteer Union headed vy General Manvel Grigoryan amd foreign diplomats accredited in Armenia visited the Memorial Complex, as reported by Armenian News – NEWS.am correspondent.

A parade with the participation of different subdivisions of servicemen took place at the Memorial Complex. Those present laid a wreath at the Monument to the heroes of Sardarabat Battle and paid a tribute to them.

President Sargsyan welcomed the participants of the parade, congratulating them on the Republic Day.  Thereafter the President watched the festive cultural program held at the Complex.

In May 1918, the regular Armenian troops and volunteers were able to come off with flying colors against the Turkish forces in the battles of life of death, not allowing them to move to Yerevan.

The victory allowed the Armenian people to regain the statehood lost centuries ago. The Armenian National Council declared in Tbilisi the independence of Armenia and establishment of First Republic.

Unfortunately, the independence of Republic of Armenian didn’t last long, and Armenia lost its independence on December 2, 1920, as a result of the invasion of the 11th Red Army of Soviet Russia.

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: Armenia, celebrates, day, First Republic, Sardarapat

As Armenia celebrates victory, Azerbaijan mourns losses – defense official

May 9, 2016 By administrator

f573087c0194cf_573087c019506.thumbWhile the Armenians today are celebrating the anniversary of the liberation of Shushi as a landmark gain in the Nagorno-Karabakh war, the general mood in Azerbaijan is not absolutely festive, says an Armenian defense official.
“The war in April demonstrated yet another time that they only suffered losses in the [1990’s] battle,” Movses Hakobyan, the chief of the Armenian Armed Forces General Headquarters, told reporters in Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital, Stepanaket.
A high-ranking Armenian delegation including President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan are in Karabakh today to attend the celebrations marking the Shushi liberation, and the Peace and Victory Day.

#Armenian Victory Day celebrations kick off in Yerevan pic.twitter.com/dNbjV1hnI2

— Wally Sarkeesian (@gagrulenet) May 9, 2016

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Armenia, Azerbaijan, celebrates, losses, mourns, victory

The Armenian genocide: Glendale celebrates a small step in the fight for recognition

April 23, 2016 By administrator

la-amjarmenianmarch-la0028355632-20160423

Jake Svadjian gets a lift from his father, Jack Svadjian, during last year’s march in L.A. to remember the Armenian genocide. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

By Sarah Parvini,

Taline Arsenian walked through the doors of her Glendale middle school classroom 16 years ago expecting to teach her usual math class of 35 students.

When the bell rang, she saw nearly half of the class was absent. Then she remembered the date: April 24, a day observed in recognition of the Armenian genocide.

As the years went by, more students, both Armenians and non-Armenians, began missing school on that date.

Arsenian’s family came from an Armenian village that is now part of Turkey. Her grandparents were survivors of an event that left more than 1 million Armenians dead. As a teenager, she shared a bedroom with her grandmother, who told her stories of how her ancestors were deported and her homeland was taken over. And for decades, Armenians struggled for recognition around the globe that a genocide had been perpetrated against their people.

“It hits very close to home,” said Arsenian, 49. “When you hear that denial and it’s part of your family tree, it’s very personal. All I have to do is follow my family tree to see it’s interrupted by genocide.”

All I have to do is follow my family tree to see it’s interrupted by genocide. — Taline Arsenian, middle school teacher

This year, Glendale Unified became the first school district in the country to establish a day in remembrance of the genocide, which began in 1915 and resulted in the death of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Schools will now close on any weekday when it’s April 24 in memory of the Armenian genocide.

Southern California is home to the largest Armenian community outside of Armenia, and Glendale has long been seen as a kind of Armenian cultural mecca. People of Armenian descent make up about 40% of Glendale’s 210,000 residents. The city remains a point of entry for Armenian immigrants and each year, as April 24 approaches, locals drape Armenian flags over the hoods of their cars, wave them from their car windows and hang them from their businesses. Most stores post signs in both English and Armenian telling customers they will be closed in remembrance of the genocide.

Establishing the holiday in the schools is part of a larger effort in the heavily Armenian city to keep the memory of the genocide alive at a time when few survivors remain. Armenian Americans are hoping to make progress on the local level after losing an emotional bid last year to have the U.S. government officially recognize the genocide.

More than 20 countries have recognized the genocide, according to a list maintained by the Armenian National Institute. President Obama has not called the massacre a “genocide” since he took office, despite campaign trail promises to do so and heavy lobbying by the Armenian community. Administration officials have said Obama made a necessary decision, crucial to the U.S. alliance with Turkey. Despite this, more than 40 states.

— including California — have recognized the genocide, according to the institute.

As ethnic Armenians worldwide mark the 101st anniversary of the genocide, Glendale’s Armenians are celebrating the school district’s decision as a small step in the decades-long battle for recognition. Since the 2013-2014 school year, students and teachers in Glendale have been given the day off on April 24, an unofficial acknowledgment that so many would be out anyway.

“Glendale has been my home for 25 years, and to know that an elected body in my city has acknowledged an Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day is very significant,” Arsenian said.

Glendale Unified school board member Greg Krikorian said that when he was growing up in Hartford, Conn., people would ask him who the Armenian people were. They hadn’t heard of Armenia, let alone the genocide.

“It brings relevance to it,” said Krikorian, whose grandparents became orphans after the killings. “It is a victory if we can educate more students and children and faculty on what really happened.”

He added: “My personal family is very small because of what the Ottoman Turks did.”

Armenians regard the tragedy that took place in 1915 as part of an organized, orchestrated effort by the Ottoman Turkish government. Historians have characterized what happened as a precursor of — and even a model for — genocides that followed, including Adolf Hitler’s systematic slaughter of European Jews and other groups decades later.

Turkey disputes that a genocide happened, but other countries, including Canada, France and Italy, use the term. In recent years, the Armenian community’s goal has shifted from mere recognition to a call for reparations.

Outside Glendale High School on Friday morning, many Armenian American students wore shirts commemorating the genocide that read: “Our wounds are still open. 1915.”

Arpi Badlians’ father was born in Armenia, she said, and he taught her to stand in solidarity with the community at an early age. She said she’s been marching in remembrance rallies since she was 10. The 17-year-old said she’s grateful for the district’s decision to commemorate the day on the calendar.

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide Tagged With: armenian genocide, celebrates, fight, Glendale, Recognition, small step

Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates Feast of Glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ

March 27, 2016 By administrator

f56f7916847803_56f791684781d.thumbThe Feast of the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ or the Easter Feast is one of the five major feasts of the Armenian Church, the qahana.am website reports.

The main origin of the feast is the following:

The king of Egypt didn’t agree to allow the Hebrews to travel into the desert to offer sacrifices to Lord the God, and the last punishment of God on the king of Egypt that should force the king to let the Hebrews out of the country was the death of every first-born son and every first-born of all cattle in Egypt. In order to save the Hebrews from that punishment the Lord spoke to Moses and by means of Moses ordered the Hebrews to kill a lamb and taking some of the blood and put it on the doorposts and above the doors of the houses. On the night when He would go through the land of Egypt to kill every first-born male, both human and animal, He would see the blood on the doors and would not let the Angel of Death enter the house. He would pass over and wouldn’t harm the Hebrews when punishing the Egyptians. Finally, after that punishment, the king allowed the Hebrews to leave the country, and the Hebrews left Egypt. So, mankind obtained life thanks to the Blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, in order to reach the Christians’ blessed land – the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Mystery of Easter is the mystery of Jesus Christ, His Salutary Holy Blood shed for mankind and His Rising from the dead for mankind. The Son of God should incarnate, be subjected to tortures, be crucified, buried and the third day raise from death (Ps 15:9-11, 29:4, 40:11-13, 117:16-17, Ho 6:2-3).

Following the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ His body was taken off the cross and placed into the tomb and the entrance to the tomb was closed by a large stone and the soldiers were ordered to control the entrance to the tomb. After three days the three women, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the Mother of James and Joseph, and the wife of Zebedee brought spices and perfumes to anoint the body of Jesus. They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, so they went in but they didn’t the body of the Lord. They stood there puzzled about this, when suddenly two angels dressed in white appeared and said to them, “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? He is not here, ha has been raised” (Lk 24:5-6). The women returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven disciples and the rest. According to Peter more than 500 people saw Christ who had risen from the dead. So, this is the evangelical tiding of the fact of Easter or Holy Resurrection.

Resurrection of Christ became the basis of the Christian doctrine and faith. “If that is true, it means that Christ has been raised from death, then we have nothing to preach and you have nothing to believe” (1 Co 15:13-14).

Christ rose from the dead, by means of His Death He destroyed Death and granted eternal life. “I am the Resurrection and I am the Life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (Jn 11:25).

Christ died for the salvation of mankind and by His Blood took away the sin in the world, so that we should inherit eternal life.

On the day of the Easter feast people dye eggs red as a symbol of fruitful life, salvation and joy. St. Gregory of Datev considers the egg to be the symbol of the world, the shell of which is the sky, the membrane is the air, the white is the water and the yolk is the earth. Dyeing eggs red symbolizes the salvation of the world by means of Blood of Christ.

The Armenian Church celebrates the Easter Feast on the first Sunday following the full moon of the vernal equinox, with 35 days moveability, during the period from March 21–April 26.

The Armenian Church traditionally celebrates evening Divine Liturgy on the evening prior to Jesus Christ’s Glorious Resurrection (Easter). Following the conclusion of the Liturgy, the assembled faithful take lit candles home, symbolizing the Light that Christ brought into the world. The Divine Liturgy celebrated on the eve is the start of the festive ceremonies.

On Sunday, the day of the feast, a morning service is conducted the Andastan Service is performed wherein the four corners of the world are blessed, afterwards the Divine Liturgy is celebrated. That day the faithful welcome each other on the occasion of the Glorious Resurrection of Christ conveying the great tiding:  “Christ is Risen from the dead” and receive the answer: “Blessed is the Resurrection of Christ.”

Fifty-day period beginning from the Easter Feast – the Holy Feast of the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ – and lasting till Pentecost in the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church is called Hinounk or Hinants period. That period is dedicated to the mystery of Resurrection of the Lord, and that is why it is Dominical period.

The name “Hinounk” comes from the word hisuonk (fifty). The first forty days of the period are dedicated to the appearings of Rosen Christ: “For forty days after his death he appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive. They saw him, and he talked with them about the Kingdom of God” (Ac 1:3).

The last ten days of the Hinants period are dedicated to the Ascension of Christ.

Hianats period is concluded with the Feast of Ascension. According to the Church laws there are no fasting days during all fifty days of Hinants period, which means that all people can eat everything during that period.

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: Armenian Apostolic, celebrates, Church, Feast

Armenia: Trndez bonfire made in Yerevan church backyards: Yerevan celebrates Feast of Purification

February 14, 2016 By administrator

diantrageYEREVAN. – Araratian Patriarchal Diocese today made a “Trndez” bonfire in the backyard of Yerevan’s Surb Zoravor Astvatsatsin church on occasion of the Feast of Purification, a holiday symbolizing the coming of spring and fertility.

The celebration was mainly attended by fellows and girls, who hoped to find love by jumping over the fire. Newly-weds also took part in it dreaming of creating a strong family.

Being pagan by origin, Trndez is a holiday dedicated to the newly-weds. Some specialists think the word “Trndez” means “heaped up fired”. With the adoption of Christianity in Armenia, the name and essence of the holiday also changed.

One of the key constituents of the holiday is the bonfire. Loving couples jump over it, and if they manage to jump without leaving each other’s hand, they say the family will be strong and their love will be eternal.

The couples are followed by childless women who believe the fire will help them get pregnant. At the end, everyone dances in a circle.

The holiday symbolized the 40-day birth of pagan God Vahagn, who was born through flames. The priest took fire from those flames and made a bonfire for the pagan community. During the pagan celebration, the brides jumped over the fire to be able to give birth to male children like Vahagn.

According to another thesis, the holiday was dedicated to God Mihr and has to do with fire worship.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: celebrates, Feast, Purification, Yerevan

Google Doodle celebrates Independence Day of Armenia

September 21, 2015 By administrator

google-doodleToday’s Google Doodle is dedicated to the Independence Day of Armenia celebrated on September 21. The Doodle available on the Armenian service of Google (google.am) depicts Mount Ararat symbolizing Armenia and the waving national flag of Armenia.

A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google’s homepage that is intended to celebrate holidays, events, achievements and people.

Armenia celebrates Independence Day today, on September 21. On this day in 1991, the Armenian people in a national referendum voted for the declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Armenia, celebrates, Google Doodle, independence

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