Month: October 2006

The Daily Telegraph (LONDON)
October 13, 2006 Friday

Sergey’s sonatas skim the surface

by Geoffrey Norris

classical
Sergey Khachatryan
WIGMORE HALL

SERGEY Khachatryan marked all three of this year’s key anniversaries
with a recital of sonatas by Mozart, Schumann and Shostakovich. The
21-year-old Armenian violinist has been making great waves with his
performances of the Shostakovich concertos, and here it was the same
composer’s Violin Sonata Op 134 that drew from him the most
arresting, focused and sharply characterised playing.

Accompanied by his pianist sister Lusine, Khachatryan emphasised the
bleached starkness of the opening andante movement, colouring the
more active second subject with wry tinges, and striking out boldly
and vibrantly in a propulsive account of the sonata’s central
scherzo. The finale’s essential seriousness and introspection were
strongly underlined.

That strange passage where the piano is let off the leash for a
display of wild virtuosity could have been articulated more crisply,
but the brother and sister duo were as one, in coordination and in
probing the music’s spiritual core.

Khachatryan has a dazzling, seemingly effortless technique, and in
the Shostakovich applied it to musical ends with impressive
concentration and maturity of insight. Elsewhere, however, the
playing did not always display the same stylistic acumen. Two years
ago, he included Schumann’s A minor Sonata Op 105 in another recital
he gave at the Wigmore Hall, and his interpretation of it does not
seem to have deepened appreciably since then. On the plus side, there
were beguiling subtleties of expression, and, in the central
allegretto, a violin line of full, malleable tone.

But, as yet, Khachatryan’s temperament does not seem to warm to the
music’s more passionate outpourings. Both in the piano part and in
the violin’s, there was a certain reticence about yielding to the
music’s great turbulent surges, leaving something of an emotional
void in a performance that was certainly well-controlled and expertly
played but slightly underpowered.

Mozart’s B flat major Sonata K378, with which the Khachatryans began
their recital, suddenly came alive in the final rondeau, where both
artists tackled the music with spirit and drive. Up until then, the
interpretation had sounded rather wan, with pretty, limpid playing
from the piano, and a great deal of finesse from the violin, but
little to scratch the music’s surface. There was something cool and
unaffecting about this Mozart, which seemed to suggest that it was
not yet these young performers’ true metier, but the Shostakovich
decisively remedied things.

Birmingham Post, UK
October 13, 2006, Friday
First Edition

Armenia genocide bill approved

French politicians yesterday approved a bill making it a crime to
deny that mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during and after the
First World War amounted to genocide.

Deputies in the National Assembly voted 106-19 for the bill, which
has prompted out-rage in Turkey and

embarrassed the French government.

The bill, which was introduced by the opposition Socialists, must
still be passed by the Senate and be signed by President Jacques
Chirac.

The French bill would recognise the killings of up to 1.5 million
Armenians from 1915 to 1919 as genocide, and those

who contest a genocide would risk up to a year in prison and fines of
up to 45,000 euros (pounds 30,400).

Armenia accuses Turkey of massacring Armenians during the First World
War, when Armenia was under the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says Armenians
were killed in civil unrest.

Day.az, Azerbaijan
13 Oct 06

POLICE DISPERSE ANTI-FRENCH PROTEST IN AZERI CAPITAL

13 October: The United People’s Front of Azerbaijan Party attempted
to stage a picket outside the French embassy at 1300 [0900 gmt] today
[protesting against Armenian genocide bill].

Officers of the police department No 39 dispersed about 15 active
party members. Two party members Samil Mahmudov and Bazer Isayev were
detained during the incident.

Despite police pressure, the protesters could read out a resolution
which called on the Azerbaijani population to boycott French goods,
urged the Milli Maclis [parliament] to recognize the genocide of
300,000 Algerians committed by France in 1954-61 and reject Paris’s
mediation in the resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict as part
of the OSCE Minsk Group. The resolution also urged the government to
cease all economic ties with France.

Anatolia news agency, Ankara,
13 Oct 06

TURKISH CONSUMERS UNION BOYCOTTS FRENCH PRODUCTS OVER GENOCIDE LAW

Istanbul, 13 October: "We start to boycott goods and services of
French origin with the products of Total company," Bulent Deniz,
Chairman of Consumers Union, said on Friday [13 October].

Deniz said: "As of today, we are going to boycott one French product
every week and show our reaction".

"By adopting the bill on making the denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide a crime, the French National Assembly expressed its
opposition to freedom of thought," Deniz said. He indicated that
"Consumers Union considered boycott as the last alternative, however
it had to be applied upon the developments".

"The boycott will continue increasingly until the law on the
so-called Armenian genocide is annulled," noted Deniz. "We will not
purchase fuel oil, lube oil, and LPG from the Total Company.

France will be the party that loses unless this unfortunate process
ends," Deniz said.

Deniz said: "A survey will be carried out on Saturday and Sunday to
assess the dimensions of the boycott and it will be made public."

Anatolia news agency, Ankara,
13 Oct 06

FRENCH LAW ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE UNACCEPTABLE – TURKISH CYPRIOT HEAD

Istanbul, 12 October: "Adoption of such a draft law (in the French
National Assembly, criminalizing denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide) cannot be accepted and believed," said President Mehmet Ali
Talat of [self-declared] Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC),
who arrived in Istanbul after completing his meetings in Brussels.

Regarding the French draft law, Talat said that a very strange law
was adopted in the French National Assembly, adding that it is not a
believable decision while France is claiming championship in the
so-called freedom of thought.

"France acted by believing that it will make the whole world accept
the so-called Armenian genocide. Moreover, they made this by banning
freedom of expression and thought," he added.

Regarding Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk’s winning Nobel Prize for
literature, Talat said that it is pleasing news. Talat congratulated
the Turkish literature world and Turkey for this success.

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku,
13 Oct 06

AZERI MPS URGE FRENCH SENATE TO REJECT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

[Presenter] The Azerbaijani parliament has expressed its protest at
the law adopted by the French National Assembly criminalizing the
denial of the so-called Armenian genocide. The Milli Maclis adopted a
statement criticizing the French parliament for believing false
Armenian propaganda and demanding that the Senate reject the law.

[Correspondent] The so-called Armenian genocide is a figment of one’s
diseased imagination and is based on false documents, the Milli
Maclis says in a statement issued in protest at the law adopted by
the French National Assembly criminalizing the denial of the
so-called Armenian genocide. The statement says that the Armenians
have been conducting their reviled policy against Turks for centuries
and have always tried to take advantage of the so-called Armenian
genocide.

Although a proposal has been made to open the archives of the Ottoman
Empire, the Armenian side have always refused a healthy scientific
dispute. In fact, using covert and overt support from Tsarist Russia
beginning from the end of the 19th century, Armenian nationalists
have carried out acts of terror against Turks in Turkey and in the
South Caucasus and violently wiped out hundreds of thousands of Turks
and razed villages and monuments to the ground.

[Passage omitted: Historical background]

The statement said that by falling for Armenian lies and adopting
such a law, the French National Assembly is dealing a heavy blow to
the mediatory mission of the French government to establish peace and
stability in the South Caucasus.

[Passage omitted: Deputy Speaker Bahar Muradova read out the
statement from the rostrum]

The Azerbaijani Milli Maclis, which expresses the will of the
Azerbaijani people, voices its strong protest at the adoption of the
unfair law by the French parliament and expects the French Senate to
take urgent measures to prevent it from taking force.

Namiq Aliyev, Emin Aliyarli, "Son Xabar".

Anatolia news agency, Ankara,
13 Oct 06

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER TO ADDRESS MPS ON FRANCE’S ARMENIA BILL ON
17 OCTOBER

Ankara, 13 October: "This is a big shame for France, and it has
betrayed its own values if it has any… [ellipsis as published] It
made this decision, violating all its principles," said Turkish
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc.

Regarding the resolution criminalizing denial of the so-called
Armenian genocide allegations adopted by the French parliament
yesterday, Arinc noted that Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
will brief the MPs on this matter on Tuesday (17 October). "We will
try to pass a resolution that criticizes the decision of the French
national assembly," he pointed out, calling on Turkish people to show
moderate reactions.

Cyprus News Agency, Nicosia,
13 Oct 06

CYPRUS CRITICAL OF TURKEY, FRANCE OVER GENOCIDE LAW

Nicosia, 13 October: Cypriot government spokesman Khristodhoulos
Pashiardhis said on Friday [13 October] that historical events and
historical truth cannot be distorted, no matter how apt to such
behaviour contemporary Turkey is.

Asked about the law passed by the French National Assembly on the
Armenian genocide, Pashiardhis said this was a matter that
"exclusively concerns Turkey, Ottoman Turkey".

"Historical events and the historical truth can neither be violated
nor distorted, no matter how apt to such violations and distortions
contemporary Turkey is," he said.

The French National Assembly approved a resolution making the denial
of the Armenian genocide a criminal offence, a move that caused
Ankara’s reaction.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday 7:22 AM GMT

French vote won’t hurt Turkey’s EU membership bid: EU commissioner

The French parliament’s adoption of a bill making it a crime to deny
that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks
constituted genocide will not affect Turkey’s EU membership bid, a
senior EU official said Friday.

"One thing is what happens in France, (a) second thing is what we are
doing as (the) European Union with a candidate country," External
Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner told Finnish television
YLE.

"In France … (the issue of the Armenian genocide) has come up from
time to time because there is a strong community there that always
very strongly comes up with this issue," she said.

The French parliament on Thursday approved a bill that would make it
a crime to deny that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians was
genocide.

The crime would carry a prison sentence of up to one year and a fine
of up to 45,000 euros.

The French vote provoked protests from Turkey and dissent from the
European Union.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were slaughtered
in orchestrated killings that they say can only be seen as genocide,
while Turkey says 300,000 Armenians died when the Ottoman Empire fell
apart during World War I.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday

France’s ‘genocide’ bill a ‘booby trap’ against Turkey’s EU bid: press

France has blackened its name as a country of freedom by voting a
controversial bill Thursday on the World War I massacres of
Armenians, Turkish newspapers said Friday, denouncing the draft as a
bid to block Turkey’s struggling bid to join the European Union.

"Genocide of thought," the mass-circulation Hurriyet said on its
front page, one day after the French National Assembly adopted a bill
— by 106 votes to 19 in the 577-seat house — making it a jailable
offence to deny that Armenians were the victims of genocide by
Ottoman Turks betwen 1915-17.

"106 stupid men," the popular daily Vatan blared, describing the
lawmakers who voted for the bill as "Les Miserables", after French
author Victor Hugo’s classic novel.

The mass-circulation Sabah ran, in French, the headline "J’accuse" —
after the title of another French author’s, Emile Zola’s, landmark
1898 article in favor of human rights — and described the bill as
"an unjustified decision that has hurt all Turks".

"France has guillotined democracy," the popular Aksam newspaper said.

Many commentators said the bill aimed to thwart Ankara’s membership
talks with the European Union, which began last year amid widespread
scepticim on whether this mainly Muslim country has a place in
Europe.

"The bill aims to booby trap Turkey’s path to EU membership rather
than touch our sore spot concerning the allegations of Armenian
genocide," a commentator in Sabah said.

"Turkey’s opponents… will now watch from the sidelines to see if we
fall for the trap and, if we do, they will create pandemonium,
arguing that Turkey has failed to adapt to European culture," he
wrote.

"Arrogant France does not want to become equals in the EU with the
Turks it despises," wrote the popular Vatan. "It is trying with this
unjust act to anger Turkey and make it feel insecure in order to sap
its will and determination" to join the EU.

A commentator in the liberal Radikal described the bill as a "blow
below the belt" to discourage Turkey from EU membership, an
alternative to coming up with concrete reasons to oppose Ankara’s
European aspirations.

Milliyet, another liberal daily, said the bill could result in a drop
of already waning public support in Turkey for EU membership.

It said the EU too should oppose the bill, which it described as
"indefensible anywhere in the world."

"This (bill) is a legal freak that the EU should oppose as firmly as
Ankara," it said. "The EU should remind France of the Copenhagen
criteria," the bloc’s basic tenets on human rights and freedoms.

Turkey has threatened retaliatory measures for the bill, which must
be approved by the French Senate and the president before it becomes
law, including barring French companies from potentially lucrative
projects.

Civic groups have said they are considering calling for a public
boycott of French goods.

But many commentators argued that Ankara should think twice before
going down that road and opt for legal action rather than economic
sanctions, which could have a bruising effect on Turkey.

"What we need to do is take steps that will deliver the biggest blow
to France without inflaming the public," a commentator in Sabah said.
"I hope we handle this well, because irrational xenophobia is the
last thing a country financing a… 30 billion dollar current
accounts deficit with foreign investment needs."