JAF Paris | Ֆրանսահայ Երիտասարդաց Միութիւն

La Jeunesse Arménienne de France est une association loi 1901 ayant pour but le développement culturel et artistique des jeunes Français d'origine arménienne.

[FONDS ARMENIEN DE FRANCE @fondsArmenienF]

🐮 René Kazandjian en visite à la ferme de Lussadzor (Tavush)

Vétérinaire expert, il poursuit son engagement aux côtés du Fonds Arménien de France. À Gyumri, il a mené une mission de détection des maladies bovines 🧬

[Zartonk Media @ZartonkMedia]

Kurdish Filmmaker Faces Trial in Turkey for Screening Armenian Genocide Film, Charged with “Insulting the Turkish Nation”
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A Kurdish filmmaker has gone on trial in Turkey on charges of “publicly insulting the Turkish nation and state institutions” after organizing a screening in Diyarbakır of Aurora’s Sunrise, the acclaimed animated documentary about the Armenian Genocide. The court has already adjourned the case and set the next hearing for April 6 at 10:15 a.m.

The Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against Rojhilat Aksoy under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code following the screening of the animated documentary Aurora’s Sunrise on December 17, 2024.

At the time, Aksoy served as vice president of the Middle East Cinema Academy Association and had submitted the petition requesting permission to screen the film at the Sezai Karakoç Culture Center in Diyarbakır.

Because Aksoy’s name appeared on the official application for the screening, prosecutors argued that she should be punished for “publicly insulting the Turkish nation, the Republic of Turkey, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the judicial organs of the state.”

The case is being heard at the Diyarbakır 22nd Criminal Court of First Instance. The court adjourned the proceedings and scheduled the second hearing for April 6 at 10:15 a.m.

The indictment prepared after the investigation cited several scenes and lines of dialogue from the film as evidence.

According to prosecutors, the documentary portrays the events of 1915 as genocide, depicts Armenian resistance as “the justified struggle of freedom fighters,” and shows Armenians living in the region being forced to change their names and religion while being subjected to inhumane treatment.

The prosecutor’s office also objected to depictions suggesting that Armenian men conscripted into the Ottoman army never returned, arguing that such claims contradict historical reality and therefore constitute a crime.

Another scene cited in the indictment describes bodies found in a river and soldiers separating children from their mothers. Prosecutors alleged that the film falsely attributes such acts to Turkish soldiers and argued that the animation describes “a non-existent event as if it had occurred.”

Aksoy rejected the accusations during the hearing, stating in her defense that the film falls within the scope of freedom of expression and that she does not accept the charges against her.

Turkish courts have previously ruled that the use of the term “Armenian genocide” can fall within the scope of freedom of expression. On July 2, 2024, journalists Haluk Kalafat and Elif Akgül were acquitted of similar charges of “publicly insulting the Turkish nation” over articles published on the Bianet news website.

Directed by Armenian filmmaker Inna Sahakyan, the animated documentary tells the story of the Armenian Genocide through the perspective of Aurora Mardiganian, also known as Arshaluys Mardiganyan, who survived the Armenian Genocide as a teenager. Arshaluys witnessed the killing of her father and one of her brothers and was forced, along with her mother and sisters, to join the mass deportations of Armenian women to the deserts of Syria.

The film combines animation with historical material, including surviving fragments of the 1919 silent film Auction of Souls, in which Mardiganian portrayed herself shortly after arriving in the United States. It also incorporates archival footage from the 1910s and 1920s, as well as Mardiganian’s recorded testimony from the 1980s.

Aurora’s Sunrise premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2022 and was later submitted by Armenia as its official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2023 Academy Awards. It has since received numerous awards at festivals across Europe and the United States.

On Saturday, the film’s producer, Bars Media, issued a statement expressing concern over the prosecution.

“We are deeply concerned by the recent legal charges against filmmaker Rojhilat Aksoy for organizing a screening of our film Aurora’s Sunrise in Diyarbakır, Turkey,” the company said.

Bars Media emphasized that Aksoy “is in no way affiliated with the production of the film” and is facing what it called “groundless prosecution” under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.

Bars Media described the documentary as a factual film based on the testimony of Aurora Mardiganian, blending animation with rare archival footage from Auction of Souls and interviews with Mardiganian herself.

According to the statement, the film was created to foster dialogue and to highlight resilience and compassion even in the darkest periods of history. While portraying documented crimes, the producers noted that the film also depicts acts of kindness by Turks and Kurds who helped save Mardiganian’s life.

“Art and history should be met with critical engagement, not with the threat of prison,” the statement said. Bars Media added that it stands in solidarity with Aksoy ahead of the next hearing on April 6 and called on the international film community and human rights organizations to support her and the right to tell stories about shared history.

[Artsakh Monuments @ArtsakhMon]

Today is the anniversary of the genocide committed against Armenians in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait. And Azerbaijan has still not been held accountable. That's why it continued in Akhtsakh and ended in ethnic cleansing.
#stop_genoside

[FONDS ARMENIEN DE FRANCE @fondsArmenienF]

🖼️ « Trésors arméniens 1512-1828 » à Marseille 🇫🇷
Au musée de Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, une expo exceptionnelle retrace 3 siècles d’histoire arménienne à travers objets rares et manuscrits.
📍 Marseille |
🗓 5 déc. 2025 – 1er mai 2026 |
🎟️ 3€ (gratuit -12 ans)

[Hov Nazaretyan @HovhanNaz]

in Turkey's Kars province, just across the border with Armenia, like Ani, are two outstanding monuments of medieval Armenia: Mren from the 7th century and Hormos from the 11–13th.
Both are “threatened with collapse as there are no local authorities interested in saving them”.

[Siranush Sargsyan @SiranushSargsy1]

Armenians in Baku faced three pogroms: 1905, Sept 1918, Jan 13-19 1990.
Today honors the last—hundreds killed, mutilated, disappeared; entire community driven out in forcible displacement & ethnic cleansing from Azerbaijani SSR. Half a million became refugees

[FONDS ARMENIEN DE FRANCE @fondsArmenienF]

👌 À lire dans L’Humanité

Un bel article est consacré à Astrig Siranossian, violoncelliste engagée.
Elle est aussi marraine, avec sa sœur Chouchane, du Phonéthon 2025 du Fonds Arménien de France🎶

[FONDS ARMENIEN DE FRANCE @fondsArmenienF]

👌Une réussite à Nrnadzor
Dans la région du Syunik, les investissements de la coopérative portent leurs fruits : récoltes abondantes, résultats concrets et fonctionnement exemplaire.
✨Une belle démonstration de l’impact positif de la coopération et de l’engagement sur le terrain

[Marut Vanyan @marutvanian]

Good morning from Khndzoresk, Syunik, Armenia.

[Olivier Decottignies @O_Decottignies]

« Չլինել ժամանակից դուրս, բայց լինել ժամանակից վեր… »

Բանաստեղծ Պարույր Սևակի գերեզմանը նրա Զանգակատան այգում։

[Artsakh Monuments @ArtsakhMon]

Azerbaijani nomadic groups have intentionally toppled and shattered this medieval khachkar, subsequently attempting to recast it as an ‘Albanian’ artifact, in a broader pattern of cultural appropriation and heritage distortion.”
#Artsakh_is_Armenia

[FONDS ARMENIEN DE FRANCE @fondsArmenienF]

🍎🍏Mission dans la région du Tavush pour rencontrer quatre nouvelles coopératives fruitières (Chorotan, Parakavar, Devedavan, Koghb), créées grâce aux milliers de plants distribués depuis 2018 avec le soutien des Hauts-de-Seine @hautsdeseinefr

[Artsakh Monuments @ArtsakhMon]

Armenians from Shushi, 1891

[FONDS ARMENIEN DE FRANCE @fondsArmenienF]

Phonéthon J-3
Tout ce qui a été accompli, c’est grâce à vous !
En 33 ans : plus de 2 000 projets — routes, écoles, hôpitaux, logements, agriculture — soit 550 M$ (1,1 Md$ aujourd’hui).
Du 20 au 23 novembre, le Phonéthon 2025 revient.
Agissons ensemble !
👉 https://t.co/UYSTvSZ57P

[Marseille infos ℹ️ @Marseille_Infos]

23 parlementaires internationaux rappellent que la question des Arméniens d’Artsakh relève des droits humains, pas des frontières. Sans retour des déplacés et protection du patrimoine, aucun accord de paix n’est légitime.
#Arménie #Artsakh #Justice
https://t.co/fksxejqEc3

[François DEVEDJIAN @fdevedjian]

Le rappel des amabilités de @datirachida à l’égard du dictateur #Aliyev 🇦🇿 constitue un « portrait peu flatteur » mais pas diffamatoire selon le tribunal judiciaire de Paris…

Les faits sont souvent têtus !

#ParisSansDati

[Olivier Decottignies @O_Decottignies]

🇪🇺🇦🇲 Pour les habitants des zones frontalières, la présence de la Mission d'observation européenne EUMA est le signe tangible que l'Europe est à leurs côtés.

[Marut Vanyan @marutvanian]

During the Karabakh/Artsakh exodus in 2023, grandma Yevgenia did not want to leave her home there. "Give me a blanket, I'm going to sit by my mother's gravestone, I'm not going anywhere", she said. Her daughter Gayane somehow convinced her to leave. Their house was on the 1st floor in Stepanakert, but now she has moved down 1 floor and lives in a rented basement in Goris, Armenia, with her mother and daughter Ina. Grandmother, daughter and granddaughter, three of them.

"I can't even save some 20,000 drams ($52) to restore my mother's documents. She is an old woman with paralysis, she doesn't remember anything. My salary is only enough to buy bread", says Gayane, who works as a cleaner in Goris.

[Zartonk Media @ZartonkMedia]

On November 5, 2025, Ruben Vardanyan, in a phone call with his son David from Baku prison, asked to share three of his thoughts:

“Artsakh was, is, and will be.”

“Believe in yourself — as a part of God, in goodness, and in light.”

“A true hero is one who can ignite hope where none remains; one who becomes a support for others when they have lost faith.”

Ruben Vardanyan — businessman, philanthropist, and Artsakh’s former State Minister — has been unjustly imprisoned in Baku, Azerbaijan for 2 years and 1 month as of today.

After the devastating aftermath of Azerbaijan’s 2020 war against Armenia and Artsakh, between December 2022 and September 2023 Azerbaijan imposed a nine-month blockade of the Lachin Corridor — Artsakh’s only humanitarian lifeline — defying an International Court of Justice order to keep the road open and depriving the Armenian population of food, medicine, and essential supplies. In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a final military assault on Artsakh, resulting in the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of over 100,000 indigenous Armenians from their ancestral homeland.

In the days that followed, Azerbaijani authorities illegally arrested Artsakh’s top political and military leadership and transported them to Baku. Detainees include former Presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan; former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan; Parliament Speaker Davit Ishkhanyan; former Foreign Minister Davit Babayan; former Defense Minister Levon Mnatsakanyan; and former Deputy Commander of the Defense Army Davit Manukyan, among others. They face fabricated charges that could lead to life imprisonment.

Their sham trials began in Baku in January 2024 following months of pre-trial detention. As of October 31, 2025, the court hearings against the military-political leadership of Artsakh (with the exception of the case of Ruben Vardanyan) have concluded; the next step is the prosecution’s closing statement, followed by final arguments, after which verdicts are expected — though none have yet been announced.

In the meantime, at least 23 confirmed Armenian prisoners of war and civilian detainees remain unlawfully imprisoned in Azerbaijan, including 16 captured during the September 2023 forced exodus. These individuals have now spent over two years in Baku prisons as hostages of Azerbaijan’s ongoing campaign of military aggression and ethnic cleansing. Independent reports also document the systematic destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage in territories under Azerbaijani control.

FREE ALL ARMENIAN HOSTAGES! 🇦🇲

[FONDS ARMENIEN DE FRANCE @fondsArmenienF]

🇦🇲Phonéthon 2025 — Ensemble pour l’Arménie

📷Du 20 au 23 nov., nous lanceons une nouvelle édition, parrainée par Astrig & Chouchane Siranossian

Objectif : réhabiliter le canal de Spandaryan (32 km) pour irriguer 2 800 ha de terres au Syunik.

📷https://t.co/YYuJoRjgjv