Month: November 2009

YNet, Israel
Nov 1 2009

2 protestors disrupt Turkish ambassador’s speech in Beersheba

Published: 11.01.09, 12:46 / Israel News

Two civilians disrupted a speech made by the Turkish ambassador at a
site marking the conquering of Beersheba 92 years ago, during the
First World War They carried signs saying, "Erdogan, remember the
Holocaust you cast on the Armenian people!"

Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol said prior to his speech that "there is
not nor was there ever anti-Semitism in Turkey, and every relationship
has its ups and downs. I am sure we can rehabilitate the relations
between us." (Ilana Curiel)

FightNews.com
Nov 1 2009

Martirosyan KOs Pena in thriller
By Alexey Sukachev

Russian middleweight slugger Gennady Martirosyan (19-2, 8 KOs) is
expected to make a return to the world rankings following his
all-action two-way knockout win over Spaniard Miguel Angel Pena
(28-15-4, 9 KOs) several hours ago at the Gladiator Fight Club in St.
Petersburg, Russia. Martirosyan vs. Pena for a vacant WBO European
160lb belt topped a huge local card, arranged by Jab Promotions.

After the tedious first round, Martirosyan brought some real heat to
the 36-years old Pyrenean guest and dropped him twice at the beginning
of the second stanza. After the latter knockdown, St. Petersburg-based
Armenian went to have the job done and was amazingly dropped down
himself after a short but powerful left hand by Pena. Martirosyan
survived till the end of the stanza and came back to the basics in the
next round. He was able to wobble the Spanish fighter with a strong
right hand at the end of the first minute of the round and sent him
down at the finish of the second for the third time in the contest.
Martirosyan went right after the Spaniard once again and was also once
again hurt by Pena not to capitalize on his previous success. Round
four was calmer until the end when the local hero rocked his foe with
a brutal left to the stomach. The end came during the fifth, when Pena
was down after a left-right one-two by Gennady, hardly got himself
upright only to be floored for the fifth time in the fight, prompting
referee to stop the bout inside the distance.

Los Angeles Times, CA
Nov 1 2009

The viola sings out
Reviews of recordings by Kim Kashkashian, Yuri Bashmet, David Aaron
Carpenter, Eliesha Nelson and others.

David Aaron Carpenter is an up-and-comer. (Aline Paley)

By MARK SWED

Music Critic

November 1, 2009
E-mail Print Share Text Size

Google "viola joke" and you’ll be rewarded with thousands, an
afternoon’s worth of hilarity at the expense of one of the most
expressive sound producing machines ever conjured up.

Here’s a popular example: What’s the difference between a viola and a
trampoline? You take your shoes off to jump on a trampoline.

I learned that one from a violist who, like many of his colleagues,
collects the jokes and posts them online. Why shouldn’t he? He lives a
charmed life with a string instrument mellower than a violin and more
agile than a cello, a mechanism of magic, under his chin every day. He
has no need for insecurity.

Even so, violists have traditionally fought for the limelight and
seldom won, which may explain why the viola world has had its share of
unstable characters as well. Covered by the higher and lower strings,
the viola easily gets lost in the orchestra or a string quartet. The
instrument lacks the stellar solo repertoire for violin or cello. For
some inexplicable reason, such accomplished viola players as Mozart,
Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Dvorák seldom featured the instrument in
their scores. Of the handful of viola soloists who became famous, none
has been a household name to rival the great violinists and cellists.

That doesn’t mean we need pity the poor violist. Things began looking
up for the viola in the 20th century when notable viola concertos
began being written. Things are looking up even more in the 21st. We
now have several fine soloists on the scene, much new viola music
being written for them, and neglected earlier viola music is being
rediscovered. The viola has even become hip in the twentysomething new
music club crowd. And many recent CDs have come out to prove all of
this.

A strong contender for classical CD of the year and one that early
Christmas shoppers should begin stocking up on is the latest ECM
release featuring the extraordinary Armenian American violist Kim
Kashkashian. The disc is titled "Neharót," after a stunningly
beautiful and profoundly moving piece written for her by the Israeli
composer Betty Olivero.

"Neharót Neharót" was written in 2006 in the midst of Israel’s war
with Hezbollah in Lebanon. The title is Hebrew for "Rivers Rivers," an
allusion to the tears of women but also to nehar, which means ray of
hope. For viola, accordion, percussion, two string ensembles and tape,
it melds many sad songs, not only Jewish but Kurdish and North
African, into a rapturous whole; the viola (which has a range common
to the voices of women and men) is here the great healer.

Olivero’s piece is followed on Kashkashian’s CD by Tigran Mansurian’s
"Three Arias (Sung out the window facing Mount Ararat)," resplendent
works for solo viola and chamber orchestra by Armenia’s leading
composer. This disc concludes with another beautiful Israeli work —
Eitan Steinberg’s "Rava Deravin" for viola and string quartet — a
haunting prayer in muted but glowing colors that finds common
spiritual ground in Hasidic and Armenian song, the song of
Holocaust-scarred peoples.

A warning: Do not download this recording. Buy the CD and play it
through loudspeakers. This is music that embraces the world, and it
needs to radiate in a space far more expansive than your cranium.

A star violist may be on the horizon. David Aaron Carpenter is a young
American who makes his disc debut with recordings of a viola
arrangement of Elgar’s Cello Concerto and of Alfred Schnittke’s Viola
Concerto. Christoph Eschenbach, a champion of Carpenter, conducts the
Philharmonia Orchestra.

Elgar’s autumnal concerto floats on air in its viola arrangement, and
Carpenter has a robust sound and mercurial personality. Schnittke’s
concerto, which obsesses over cadences and short motifs while making
radical stylist shifts, was written for the Russian virtuoso Yuri
Bashmet, perhaps the most celebrated violist of our day. Carpenter
goes to town with the score.

Bashmet himself makes an appearance on a collection of Bartók
concertos on Deutsche Grammophon with Pierre Boulez conducting the
Berlin Philharmonic. This instant classic has Gidon Kremer playing the
First Violin Concerto and Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich
tackling the Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra.

The real highlight is the Viola Concerto. It is a problem piece, since
Bartók died before completing it and the final score was put together
by Tibor Serly from extensive sketches. For that reason — and just
violists’ luck — what surely would have been the greatest viola
concerto up to that time never fully materialized. But Bartók left
material enough for an eloquent score to be realized, and the three Bs
(Bashmet, Boulez and Berlin) elevate the composer’s final thoughts
probably as high as they can go.

Quincy Porter, an American composer who died in 1966, probably is
better known as an educator. He was also a violist, and if you are
viola conspiracy theorist, you might suspect that the instrument was
the reason for his being overlooked. Maybe it was. Much terrific
American viola music, including Morton Feldman’s "The Viola in My
Life" and John Harbison’s Viola Concerto, doesn’t get the attention it
deserves. But the viola revival and a splendid new generation of
American violists are about to change all that.

So all hail to Eliesha Nelson, a young African American violist from
North Pole, Alaska (really), who has taken a fancy to Porter and
recorded his complete works for viola on Dorian. She is a marvelous
player, and Porter’s is marvelous music.

Porter’s Viola Concerto, written in 1948, seems to flow and flow. Its
four movements are slow, fast, slow, fast, but the piece inhabits a
middle path, where slow feels ever moving and fast feels like there is
always time to stop and smell the roses. "Rivers, Rivers" could be a
Quincy Porter title as well, except he stayed away from poetic titles.
"Blues Lontains" for viola and piano was about as fancy as he got.

Nelson is a ravishing violist, and she is joined on the disc by an
impressively multitalented John McLaughlin Williams, who conducts
Northwest Sinfonia in the concerto, and he accompanies Nelson on viola
duos for piano, harpsichord and violin. This disc is a real find.

The Irish violist Garth Knox, formerly a member of the adventurous
Arditti Quartet, is now an adventurous soloist and composer in his own
right. Although he has long been associated with hard-core European
Modernism, he has branched out into early music playing the Baroque
viola d’amore, which has sympathetic vibrating strings, as well as
more folk-based new music. He put out a stunning solo CD last year
that was all over the map. He has followed that with a new one, "Viola
Spaces," on Mode that is also all over the map even though this time
he composed all the music.

In a series of eight etudes, he explores ways of producing sound on
the viola, using up to four different instruments. He then follows
that up with a series of variations on the music of Marin Marais, a
Baroque French composer. In addition he offers an entertaining viola
and tuba duet and a lovely fantasy for viola d’amore and five violas
based on Johannes Ockegham’s 15th century music.

The hipster in the bunch is Nadia Serota, who plays solo viola music
by fashionable young New York composers on "First Things First." The
disc is on New Amsterdam Records. At least I think they are
fashionable young New Yorkers. There are no program notes, which are
considered passé in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn new music clubs
these days. The drink menu is thought the place for description and
intellectual rigor.

Nico Muhly is the featured composer on Serota’s program, and there are
additional works by Judd Greenstein and Marcos Balter. All the music
is facile, the products of composers in love with a few good ideas
worked into the ground. But there is a good time to be had, what with
these cocksure composers and Serota, who is an engagingly bouncy
violist, obviously in no mood to let a little lamentation wreck their
party.

The viola, they’re no doubt saying, is the future.

/arts/la-ca-viola1-2009nov01,0,4256543.story

Assyrian International News Agency AINA
Nov 1 2009

Main Swedish Party Recognizes Turkish Genocide of Assyrians

Stockholm (AINA) — Sweden’s largest political party took a decision
on Thursday during its annual convention to acknowledge the genocide
of Assyrians, Greeks and Armenians during World War one. The genocide,
called Seyfo in Assyrian, occurred between the years 1914-1918.

"I was very moved when the decision was taken," said Yilmaz Kerimo,
who is an Assyrian and a prominent member of the Social democratic
party. "It is a positive standpoint and a great step forward. The
party will now work for the recognition of the genocide within Sweden,
in the European Union and the United Nations."

The recognition by the Social Democrats has raised hopes in the
Assyrian community in Sweden of recognition in the Swedish parliament
as well. The issue will be voted on in the parliament during spring
2010.

Sweden’s left party, Vänsterpartiet, and the green party,
Miljöpartiet, both recognized the genocide more than a year ago.

The work to have the genocide recognized has been long for the
Assyrians of Sweden. The Assyrian Federation of Sweden welcomed the
decision of the Social democrats on Thursday, saying "It’s the result
of years of lobbying, both by Assyrians and non-Assyrians," said Ilan
de Basso, chairman of the Federation. "We have learnt to never give
up. The ultimate goal is to have recognition from Turkey itself."

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Nov 1 2009

[Unconventional Warfare and International Relations]
Political assassinations and biological attacks as a means to
destabilize Turkey

by MEHMET KALYONCU*

A remembrance card for Ahmet Taner KıÅ?lalı, a professor who was
murdered in 1999.
Turkey’s relations with its neighbors have been rapidly evolving over
the last few years. Some are improving unexpectedly well, and some are
deteriorating unexpectedly fast.

One can argue that Turkey’s relations overall as such are evolving for
the better. However, the historical characteristics of some of the
neighbors which Turkey has been severing ties with requires Ankara to
be extremely vigilant and to prepare accordingly against the damage
that those particular neighbors may inflict upon it.
In line with the Justice and Development (AK Party) government’s `zero
problems with neighbors’ principle, Ankara has improved in a very
short span of time its relations with Damascus, from the brink of
waging war to the level of removing visa requirements between the two
countries and holding joint ministerial meetings. Similarly, it
secured Baghdad’s substantial cooperation in dealing with the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the terrorist group that has long used
Iraqi territory to launch attacks on Turkey. Moreover, Ankara gained
Baku’s critical support in fulfilling the Nabucco pipeline project,
which many critics used to view as a pipedream named after an opera.
In addition, Ankara has become a champion for an immediate and
sustainable solution in Nagorno-Karabakh, where Armenia’s continuing
occupation has turned 1 million Azerbaijanis into homeless refugees.
Finally, Ankara has managed to accomplish the unthinkable and recently
signed the protocols that officially started the process for the
normalization of its relations with Yerevan.

However, at the same time, Ankara’s relations with Israel have been
dramatically worsened over a series of issues, which included, as the
American journalist Seymour Hersh revealed, Israel’s clandestine
military assistance to the Kurds in northern Iraq; Israel’s apparently
intentional delay in delivering the `Heron’ unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAV) Ankara agreed to buy from it in 2005; Israel’s recent military
operation against Gaza where some 1,400 Palestinians, mostly women and
children, died; the Davos incident in which Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip ErdoÄ?an walked out of a panel discussion after he had fiery
quarrel with the Israeli president, Shimon Peres; and finally the
Turkish TV series called `Ayrılık’ which depicts the Israeli
occupation of Gaza and which Israel is not so comfortable with.

In light of these developments, Turkey’s increasingly active posture
in regional affairs brings to the fore an urgent need for Ankara to
improve its ability to counter possible threats that such prominence
may engender, especially when it challenges the regional status quo.
Turkey’s military might and strategic importance for global energy
security minimizes the prospects of it facing any threat of
conventional warfare waged by its neighbors. However, unconventional
warfare by those states which are not so fond of Ankara’s regional
policies is always likely to be waged against Turkey. As a matter of
fact, Turkey may have already been exposed to such warfare, especially
by those states that are so used to manipulating Ankara through their
influence over a small number of the ultra-secularist elite, be they
businessmen, judges or generals.

Unconventional warfare: Bringing a nation to its knees

The US Department of Defense defines unconventional warfare as `a
broad spectrum of military and paramilitary operations, normally of
long duration, predominantly conducted through, with, or by indigenous
or surrogate forces who are organized, trained, equipped, supported,
and directed in varying degrees by an external source. It includes,
but is not limited to, guerilla warfare, subversion, sabotage,
intelligence activities, and unconventional assisted recovery.’ More
practically, unlike the conventional warfare where the parties
involved aim to maximize the damage inflicted on each other’s military
capabilities, unconventional warfare targets the civilian population
and political bodies, thereby making the military might of the enemy
irrelevant in due process.

The state waging the unconventional warfare tries to propagate the
belief within the targeted country that the deteriorating
socio-economic, political and security conditions are merely caused by
the sitting government and that everything will be better once the
government is replaced by another, or agrees to make concessions in
certain policy areas. In a way, the perpetrator of the unconventional
warfare (UW) manipulates the fears and sensitivities of the society to
affect the political dynamics in the targeted country. In order to do
that, the UW perpetrator may utilize both military and non-military
means. By definition, it may provide military assistance, training and
funds to groups within the targeted country which would in turn create
military and security problems. Similarly, the UW perpetrator may seek
to destabilize the targeted country by playing one or more groups
against each other by exploiting the fears and sensitivities of those
groups. The most efficient means of doing this is certainly through
the exploitation of the mass media, and the best example of this is to
mobilize the so-called secular military against the so-called Islamist
civilian groups or civilian government.

Turkey at war

>From this point of view, a quick look into Turkey’s republican history
may suggest that the country has always been a target and victim of a
never-ending unconventional warfare waged against it. The country has
long suffered from the ultra-secular center versus traditional
periphery divide, the military’s dominance over politics, the paradigm
of being surrounded by sea on three sides and by enemies on four, the
idea that the Turks are not capable of accomplishing anything and that
the only way to prosperity is through an unconditional mimicking of
the West and finally the fear that Kurdishness or the manifestation of
any other ethno-religious identity poses an existential threat to
Turkishness. Improvements in areas from the legal system to
domestic/foreign policy and to the economy throughout the past seven
years indicate that Turkey has learned quite a bit about how to
counter these types of unconventional warfare tactics.

However, with the advancement of technology comes new ways and means
of unconventional warfare, and therefore it becomes ever more urgent
for Turkey to improve itself in order to cope with the evolving
threats. Two of the most effective tactics of contemporary
unconventional warfare are political assassinations and biological
attacks, which can be disguised as accidents and as natural disasters
or pandemics, respectively. In the recent past, Turkey has experienced
the seemingly `natural deaths’ of a number of its political leaders.
For instance, former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, whose coming to
office marked Turkey’s transition to multiparty democracy, was
sentenced to death and duly executed after a seemingly normal judicial
process. Former Prime Minister and President Turgut Ã-zal, whose dream
was the unification of the Turkic world, is believed to have passed
away because of a heart attack, although there has been speculation
that he had been gradually poisoned over a long period of time, which
led to the heart attack. Former Governor Recep YazıcıoÄ?lu, who stood
against the foreign corporations that sought to explore for uranium in
Denizli province, was seemingly killed in a tragic car accident while
on his way to Ankara to investigate the deaths of engineers who had
been killed in mysterious car accidents as well. In addition to these
political figures, many journalists and academics such as UÄ?ur Mumcu,
Ahmet Taner KıÅ?lalı and Hrant Dink have also been killed in such
mysterious ways that these deaths eventually fanned the animosities
between different segments of society.

Similarly, the deliberate spread of certain infectious diseases and
viruses constitutes another dimension of unconventional warfare. One
historic example of that is the mass death of the American Indians in
the 17th century caused by the Europeans who migrated to the New World
and considered the spread of smallpox among the American Indians as an
effective way to vacate the land where they intended to settle. Today,
although they are not nearly as deadly, the outbreak of such
contagious diseases as bird flu, swine flu and many others yet to come
poses a grave danger to the countries that are not capable of
producing their own vaccines against these diseases, but instead are
dependent on the mercy of the other states that are able to produce
these vaccines. This exemplifies the current situation that Turkey
finds itself in. Although Turkey recently secured the purchase of
500,000 doses of the swine flu vaccine, it does not eliminate the
country’s vulnerability to the threat posed by swine flu or other such
pandemics that are likely to emerge in the near future. Accordingly,
the fate of a government that may seem unable to protect the
population against epidemic diseases would also be at stake.

As Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an becomes openly critical of a particular
state in the neighborhood, and as such, Ankara defies an almost
century-long status quo that its relations are built upon with this
unconventional neighbor, the AK Party government is likely to be
challenged time and time again in the near future by the ever evolving
tactics of unconventional warfare. It is not something to be afraid of
in itself, but a critical challenge to be prepared for as Turkey
gradually rises to become a regional leader.

*Mehmet Kalyoncu is an international relations analyst and author of
the book `A Civilian
Response to Ethno-Religious Conflict: The Gülen Movement in Southeast Turkey.’

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Nov 1 2009

Foreign policy making and Ankara: a juggling act

By definition, journalism has a lot do with taking note of certain
moments that will, in the end, probably be etched in history. A
journalist writing on foreign policy issues and living in Turkey is
most of the time required to do more than that — particularly
recently, via analyzing what each move in Ankara’s hectic foreign
policy activity actually means.

Some key sentences covering only just the last week’s agenda may give
a clue as to why journalists in Ankara eventually settle for solely
taking note of certain moments rather than making analyses: The
leadership of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(KKTC) gather to draw up a roadmap in the run-up to a critical
threshold on the Cyprus issue; the prime minister visits Iran, where
he calls the latter’s controversial nuclear program humanitarian and
peaceful, ahead of an upcoming visit to Washington; the president
visits Serbia with the aim of establishing strategic relations between
Serbia and Turkey; and the foreign minister visits northern Iraq,
holding high-level talks with Iraqi Kurdish leaders.

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Israel, Syria and the upcoming EU summit could
well be added to the above list, with a footnote indicating that the
foreign policy agenda in the Turkish capital is not limited to its
immediate neighborhood.

This situation sometimes prompts foreign diplomats based in Ankara to
question either Ankara’s sincerity in its multidimensional foreign
policy or its eventual success in finalizing these moves. Those
raising the first question indicate that Turkey is doing this to show
off and that it has no intention of making a substantive change to the
status quo in which it was once positioned, while others raising the
second question are doubtful concerning Turkey’s eventual performance.

The askers of both questions are, meanwhile, assumed to have been
aware of the fact that their countries are not located in such a
unique place in the world — at a point where the three continents
making up the old world, Asia, Africa and Europe, are closest to each
other.

`They are wrong in posing those questions,’ Bülent Aras, a professor
of international relations in the department of humanities and social
sciences at Ä°stanbul Technical University, briefly replied when
reminded by Sunday’s Zaman of those questions floating around the
diplomatic community in Ankara.

`They are wrong because they are not aware that Turkey has expanded
its scale in the foreign policy arena. They must still have been
looking at it through clichés such as `the bridge’ between Asia and
Europe or the West’s [outpost] in the East,’ Aras continued, referring
to the fact that during the Cold War Turkey was the only member of
NATO bordering the then-Soviet Union.

`Or maybe they cannot accept the potential behind Turkey’s expanded
scale, thus preferring to act like fortunetellers by saying that those
foreign policy moves will not yield any result in the end,’ Aras said,
when reminded of an example of such a lack of confidence in Turkey’s
actions — the normalization process with Armenia.

Two protocols announced in late August and signed on Oct. 10 between
Armenia and Turkey for re-establishing ties and reopening their mutual
border were recently sent to Parliament for ratification. Yet, it is
not clear when they will be voted on as there is no exact timetable
for the ratification other than `within a reasonable timeframe.’ That
expression was used in the joint announcement on Aug. 31 when it said,
`The two protocols provide for a framework for the normalization of
their bilateral relations within a reasonable timeframe.’

Such a formulization, which can be potentially labeled as
`open-ended,’ led to doubts within the diplomatic community over
Turkey’s sincerity in its intention to normalize relations with
Armenia, with some suggesting that Turkey’s move was `just for display
purposes.’

Probably aware of the existence of such doubts, the Foreign Ministry
spokesperson this week told reporters that Turkey was sincerely
committed to normalizing relations with Armenia, nonetheless
emphasizing that what Ankara aimed at with this process was not solely
confined to progress in Turkish-Armenian ties. `Our purpose is also to
pave the way for momentum in relations between Azerbaijan and
Armenia,’ he said. `Everyone sees that peace and stability will not
come to the Caucasus if the wheels do not all revolve at the same
time.’

`Such critics are not fair; nobody can guarantee 100 percent success
in these kinds of painful processes such as the normalization of ties
between Armenia and Turkey. Just look at Bosnia and Herzegovina; the
fundamental process is still continuing with the Dayton Peace Accords,
which ended the 1992-95 war,’ Aras said, referring to ongoing
international efforts for making changes to the Dayton Accords.

`What they miss here is the fact the decision for normalizing
relations with Armenia was not just made yesterday. Or take the
improved relations with Syria; the ground for such improvement is
based on the Adana Protocol,’ Aras said, referring to a protocol
signed in 1998 which paved the way for a quick process of improvement
in bilateral relations between Ankara and Damascus.

`There are grounds for all foreign policy moves by Turkey; the EU’s
recommendation for maintaining good-neighborly relations is just one
of them. Those among the diplomatic community must have never lived in
a difficult `district’ like the one in which the Turks have been
living. This is a district that is the center of international
security; assuming an intense and multidimensional foreign policy
style on an expanded scale is imposed on Turkey by its geography.’

01 November 2009, Sunday
EMÄ°NE KART ANKARA

UEFA.com
Nov 1 2009

Nine straight titles for dominant Pyunik

Sunday 1 November 2009
by Khachik Chakhoyan from Yerevan

FC Pyunik won 3-1 at FC Shirak in their penultimate Bardzraguyn khumb
game to preserve a four-point lead over second-placed FC Mika and
clinch their ninth consecutive Armenian title.

Tadevosyan treble

The Yerevan side were in danger of being taken to their final fixture
when Shirak levelled the scores on 47 minutes through Felix Khojoyan,
after Albert Tadevosyan had given Pyunik the lead shortly before the
break. The 19-year-old striker scored again on 52 and 66 minutes to
make it 62 points from 27 matches, leaving Mika to settle for second
place with FC Ulis Yerevan in third. "I am happy with our victory
because it is always difficult for us to play at Shirak," said Pyunik
coach Vardan Minasyan. "The lads were committed and proved their
excellence. Despite that win and our new league title we will not
celebrate anything now. We still have one match to play at a high
level and it is only after that that we will have some rest."

Ulis landmark
Mika won 2-1 against FC Kilikia to secure the runners-up spot for the
third time, after 2004 and 2005, while Ulis were 3-2 victors at FC
Banants to earn a top-three finish for the first time in their
history. Sevada Arzumanyan’s charges flew out of the blocks and were
two up before the break as Artyom Adamyan and Armen Tigranyan punished
Banants for defensive lapses. Norayr Gyozalyan got one back only for
Aleksandr Petrosyan to restore the two-goal margin. "I am happy for
the players, for myself and I congratulate all our fans," said
Arzumanyan. "This is our first big success and I hope it will not be
the last one."

s/kind=2/newsid`2621.html

International Crisis Group
Nov 1 2009

CrisisWatch N°75, 1 November 2009
CrisisWatch N°75
1 November 2009

Three actual or potential conflict situations around the world
deteriorated and four improved in October 2009, according to the new
issue of the International Crisis Group’s monthly bulletin
CrisisWatch, released today.

In Pakistan, a military ground operation against Taliban strongholds
in South Waziristan triggered a new wave of displacement and was
surrounded by a brutal escalation in militant attacks across the
country. At least 200,000 have been forced to flee fighting in the
northwest region amid reports the military is impeding humanitarian
access. Attacks elsewhere left hundreds dead, with over 100 killed in
bombings targeting a market in Peshawar on 28 October.

In Iraq, over 150 were killed when several massive explosions struck
government buildings in heavily-guarded central Baghdad for the second
time in three months. Progress towards national elections scheduled
for January 2010 also faltered, as parliamentarians failed to reach
agreement on a crucial electoral law. The situation also deteriorated
in Zimbabwe, as Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai disengaged from the
unity government to protest stalled implementation of September 2008’s
power-sharing deal. While Tsvangirai has stopped short of withdrawing
from the government, the move has underscored risks attendant to the
current political impasse between the power-sharing partners.

Hopes for peace in Nigeria’s Niger Delta increased, as thousands of
militants laid down arms in response to the government’s three-month
amnesty program and the dominant militant group MEND announced a new
indefinite ceasefire. Whilst these are significant steps forward,
concerns for stability in the region remain, including the
government’s capacity to deliver reintegration programs and prospects
for much-needed development.

In Honduras, a late month deal between the de facto government and
ousted President Zelaya increased chances for an end to the political
crisis that has gripped the country since the 28 June coup. The deal
awaits approval by the country’s Supreme Court and Congress, and would
see Zelaya reinstated as president under an interim power-sharing
government. A new peace agreement between Tuareg rebels and the
government in Mali consolidated progress towards an end to the
long-running conflict in the north and resulted in agreement from
elusive rebel leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga to disarm.

Armenia and Turkey took a further step towards normalizing relations,
following the signing of draft protocols on 10 October restoring
diplomatic ties and opening their common border. Both parliaments now
need to ratify the accord, and Crisis Group identifies the situation
as a conflict resolution opportunity.

Crisis Group identifies a conflict risk alert for Afghanistan, as the
country heads towards a crucial second-round run-off scheduled for 7
November following highly flawed presidential polls in August.
Political uncertainty increased considerably as CrisisWatch went to
press, as incumbent president Hamid Karzai’s opponent Abdullah
Abdullah withdrew from the race over risks of electoral malpractice. A
second disputed election risks further eroding confidence in
Afghanistan’s electoral process and strengthening the hand of Taliban
insurgents. Urgent action is required to ensure accountability for
electoral fraud during the first round and to push forward key
governance reforms.

October 2009 TRENDS

Deteriorated Situations
Iraq, Pakistan, Zimbabwe

Improved Situations
Armenia/Turkey, Honduras, Mali, Nigeria

Unchanged Situations
Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Armenia/Turkey, Azerbaijan, Bahrain,
Bangladesh, Basque Country (Spain), Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia, Burundi,
Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Chechnya (Russia), China
(internal), Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Georgia,
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, India (non-Kashmir),
Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories,
Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Macedonia,
Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Moldova, Myanmar/Burma, Nagorno-Karabakh
(Azerbaijan), Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Caucasus (non-Chechnya),
Northern Ireland, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Saudi
Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan
Strait, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Turkmenistan,
Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Western Sahara, Yemen,
Zimbabwe

November 2009 OUTLOOK

Conflict Risk Alert
Afghanistan

Conflict Resolution Opportunity
Armenia/Turkey

*NOTE: CrisisWatch indicators – up and down arrows, conflict risk
alerts, and conflict resolution opportunities – are intended to
reflect changes within countries or situations from month to month,
not comparisons between countries. For example, no "conflict risk
alert" is given for a country where violence has been occurring and is
expected to continue in the coming month: such an indicator is given
only where new or significantly escalated violence is feared.

Search current and all past editions of CrisisWatch by using the
CrisisWatch database.

fm?id=6372&l=1

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

president.am, Armenia
Nov 1 2009

President Serzh Sargsyan visited the Presidium building of the Academy
of Sciences

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan visited the Presidium building of the
Academy of Sciences. Serzh Sargsyan toured the renovated structure and
observed the accomplished works.

The renovation of the Presidium building was realized through the
donation of the Tashir benevolent Fund. The building is equipped with
a modern heating system, electrical and technical devises.

For their contribution the founder of the Tashir benevolent Fund the
Karapetian family was awarded Gold Medal of the Armenian Academy of
Sciences.

President Sargsyan met with the members of the Presidium of the
Academy. He informed that all agreements reached during the annual
meeting of the Academy were being implemented. Noting, that science
remains a priority area for the Government, the President of Armenia
said, `Our aim is to develop a science and knowledge based economy and
that undertaking requires serious attention.’ In his words, in the
state budget for 2009 as well as for 2010 the apportionments for the
area of science have not been decreased even in the face of the
difficulties posed by the global financial and economic crisis.

Serzh Sargsyan also answered the questions raised by the scientists.

Interfax, Russia
Oct 30 2009

Armenia cuts ferromolybdenum output 8.7% in 9 mths

YEREVAN Oct 30

Armenia reduced ferromolybdenum production 8.7% year-on-year in
January-September to 3,704 tonnes, the National Statistics Service
said.

Molybdenum concentrate production fell 4.7% to 6,320 tonnes.

Copper concentrate production grew, by 18.2% year-on-year to 61,641
tonnes. Converter copper production rose 7.6% to 5,198 tonnes but zinc
concentrate production fell 27.5% to 4,203 tonnes.

Armenia boosted aluminum foil production 78% year-on-year in
January-September to 15,478 tonnes. The Yerevan-based RUSAL-Armenal
plant, which is owned by Russian aluminum giant UC RUSAL, produced the
foil. It also produced 35.1 tonnes of other aluminum products, down
80.8% year-on-year.

Foil production fell 4.6% to 11,694 tonnes in 2008.

The foil mill was shut for an overhaul between 2004 and 2006. It
achieved full capacity for 25,000 tonnes of foil per year at the start
of 2009.