Month: February 2012

ARMENIAN INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION TO PARTICIPATE IN UN PANEL SESSION

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 15, 2012 – 16:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The United Nations Commission on the Status of
Women (CSW) will hold its 56th session this year on the theme “The
Empowerment of Rural Women and Their Role in Poverty and Hunger
Eradication: Development and Current Challenges.”

According to The Armenian Mirror-Spectator, the Armenian International
Women’s Association will participate in the meeting by sponsoring
a workshop on the opening day of the session on February 27. CSW
sessions attract hundreds of women annually to New York from all
parts of the world.

The AIWA workshop will focus on issues relating to the position of
rural women in Armenia, enhanced by perspectives gained from programs
developed in other nations.

Illustrated presentations by two professionals experienced in working
with rural women will evaluate various strategies used to address
the empowerment of women.

The first presenter, Sara Anjargolian, is a photographer and attorney
in Los Angeles who has documented the lives of the Zulu people in South
Africa, the plight of the extreme poor in Armenia, and the status of
refugees living along the border with Azerbaijan in Armenia’s rural
areas. She will speak about the power of images to inform and inspire
social change and about her personal transformation while spending
time with these groups of people.

Anjargolian will also address the benefits of partnering documentary
photographers and media professionals with aid organizations, focusing
specifically on how narrative imagery can empower the individuals
depicted and help contextualize their unique challenges and triumphs.

The second presenter, Ana Cristina Schirinian, divides her time between
Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Yerevan, Armenia (and often places in
between). An attorney by profession, she is special assistant to
Eduardo Eurnekian, head of Corporacion America, an Argentine holding
company active in a number of diverse industries, including airport
construction and management.

As president of Tierras de Armenia, an agricultural project in Armavir
province that specializes in offering the latest technology for growing
fruit, and as executive director of Fruitful Armenia, Shirinian is
familiar with the life of rural women in Armenia. She will compare
her observations regarding agricultural conditions in Armenia with
her experiences stemming from similar programs in Argentina, Morocco
and Italy.

From: A. Papazian

VIOLIST KIM KASHKASHIAN IN PEAK FORM

Philadelphia Inquirer

Feb 13 2012

by David Patrick Stearns, Inquirer Classical Music Critic

The music world is crawling with hot young violists (Maxim Rysanov,
Lawrence Power, and David Aaron Carpenter) but they all have a ways
to go before they’re as interesting as Kim Kashkashian. At age 59,
she is playing in peak form, and more than most, expanding the
viola repertoire in numerous directions. But rather than probing
some meditative new works by Baltic Republic composers or exploring
her Armenian roots, Kashkashian played nothing but her own Schumann
adaptations Friday at her Philadelphia Chamber Music Society recital.

Why not?

Adagio and Allegro Op. 70, Funf Stucke im Volkston Op. 102,
Fantasiestucke, Op. 73 were refitted with success. Violin Sonata in D
minor Op. 121 was not – an enterprise that told you a lot about what
was right with the other transcriptions and why such things aren’t
widely attempted.

Though the sonata was composed in 1851 and only two years after the
rest of the works on the program (all were written within weeks of
one another in 1849), it is from a different creative period: The
composer was knocking out works faster (and perhaps more carelessly)
than before, often spending little more than a week on each one,
almost as if he knew that, amid encroaching mental illness, his
creative days were numbered.

The sonata’s third movement is among the composer’s most original,
with an Italianate melody that’s plucked out of the instrument with
charmingly rustic effect, in what feels like Schumann’s answer to the
Act II serenade in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. But the final movement shows
the composer at his most obsessive, with a five-note motif arriving
somewhere about 50 times in less than eight minutes. Much of the rest
feels dense to the point of claustrophobia.

Without the brighter sound of the violin, such passages became
murkier. Accompanist Robert D. Levin seemed to compensate by bringing
a Bachlike sense of definition to the piano part, but the effect felt
relentless in stretches where the music so energetically goes nowhere.

Elsewhere, the recital was fairly magical – and attracted a full house
at the American Philosophical Society – if only because Kashkashian
was so immersed in the music’s world that it did not really matter
what instrument she was playing. Schumann’s songful brand of lyricism
emerged as if she was drawing on some secret text as the inspiration
for her color and phrasing. And that is important, since all of the
1849 works are considered to be minor, but through Kashkashian’s
depth of empathy and Levin’s sense of what the music needed, seemed
as major as can be.

In the Adagio and Allegro, pianist Levin produced some mesmerizing
colors I had not previously heard from him. And in the opening of Funf
Stucke, Kashkashian’s vibrant viola tone was such a pleasure, the music
seemed made for her. So it seemed, too, in the encore, a transcription
of the song “Widmung” with its famously soaring melody – that was much
needed after going ’round in circles with the sonata. No surprise that
in this transcription, the words were not missed. That is the highest
compliment to be paid – when a transcription feels thoroughly right
and not secondhand. Then again, the skill of the transcription is,
in this case, inseparable from the charisma of the performers.

From: Baghdasarian

COURT ACQUITS Ä°GCI IN DINK MURDER CASE

Today’s Zaman
Feb 13 2012
Turkey

A court has acquitted CoÅ~_kun Ä°gci, one of 19 defendants in the
murder case of Hrant Dink, the founder and former editor-in-chief
of the Armenian-Turkish Agos weekly who was assassinated in 2007 in
front of his office in Ä°stanbul, after forgetting to include him in
the final verdict in January.

Ä°gci, who allegedly called on Yasin Hayal to buy a gun with which
to shoot Dink, was accidentally left out of the final verdict and
the judge issued a ruling separately for him on Monday.

On Sept. 19, 2011, the prosecution recommended his acquittal on the
grounds that there was no substantial evidence to suggest he took
part in the crime.

Ä°gci’s lawyer said at the court on Monday that his client has no
ties to the murder except for being the uncle of Hayal, one of the
main suspects.

Ä°gci said at the court that he had informed gendarmerie intelligence
officers in Trabzon that a plan to assassinate Dink was in place four
months prior to the murder.

“I am not guilty. The people I reported about were tried in Trabzon and
they were punished because they neglected their duties. Those people
are Col. Ali Oz, Capt. Metin Yıldız, non-commissioned officer Orhan
Å~^imÅ~_ek and Sgt. Veysel Å~^ahin,” he said.

When a judge at the court asked Ä°gci if he had been in contact with
those four people, Ä°gci replied that he had contacted Å~^imÅ~_ek
and Å~^ahin.

The Ä°stanbul 14th High Criminal Court hearing issued its ruling on
Jan. 17 in the 25th hearing of the case. Hayal and Erhan Tuncel,
the main suspects, who were accused of being instigators, and all
other suspects, were cleared of charges of membership in a terrorist
organization.

The prosecutor and the Dink family’s lawyers accused them of acting
under the orders of a clandestine criminal network suspected of having
ties with senior state officials and military and police officers.

The court handed down a life sentence to Hayal, while Tuncel was given
10 years and six months in prison for his involvement in the bombing
of a McDonald’s restaurant in 2004. Gunman Ogun Samast was sentenced
last July to nearly 23 years in prison by a separate juvenile court.

Tuncel was released.

TURKEY HALTS PARACHUTE TENDER TO FRENCH FIRM

Hurriyet
Feb 13 2012
Turkey

Turkey’s civil aviation association has decided not to buy French
parachutes.

The Turkish Aviation Board (THK) has suspended a parachute tender,
awarded to a French company, the head of THK Osman Yıldırım
said Feb. 11.

“We launched a tender to purchase 150 parachutes some time ago, and
a French company won the tender, but we suspended the tender after
the French Senate adopted a resolution on the denial of Armenian
allegations regarding the incidents of 1915,” Yıldırım told an
Anatolia news agency reporter.

Yıldırım said THK would make public the result of the 500,000 Euro
tender if France took a step backward.

The French Senate adopted a law that penalizes the denial of Armenian
allegations regarding the 1915 incidents during the Ottoman Empire
period. Under the law, anyone who denies the Armenian allegations
may be sentenced to one year in prison and a 45,000 euro fine.

On Feb. 7, 77 French senators and 65 parliamentarians applied to
the French Constitutional Council to annul the law. The council is
expected to announce its decision within one month.

From: Baghdasarian

TURKISH COURT ACQUITS SUSPECT OVER DINK MURDER CASE

Feb 13 2012
Turkey

Ýðci said at the court that he had informed gendarmerie intelligence
officers in Trabzon that a plan to assassinate Dink was in place four
months prior to the murder.

A court has acquitted Coþkun Ýðci, one of 19 defendants in the murder
case of Hrant Dink, the founder and former editor-in-chief of the
Armenian-Turkish Agos weekly who was assassinated in 2007 in front
of his office in Ýstanbul, after forgetting to include him in the
final verdict in January.

Ýðci, who allegedly called on Yasin Hayal to buy a gun with which to
shoot Dink, was accidentally left out of the final verdict and the
judge issued a ruling separately for him on Monday.

On Sept. 19, 2011, the prosecution recommended his acquittal on the
grounds that there was no substantial evidence to suggest he took
part in the crime.

Ýðci’s lawyer said at the court on Monday that his client has no
ties to the murder except for being the uncle of Hayal, one of the
main suspects.

Ýðci said at the court that he had informed gendarmerie intelligence
officers in Trabzon that a plan to assassinate Dink was in place four
months prior to the murder.

“I am not guilty. The people I reported about were tried in Trabzon
and they were punished because they neglected their duties. Those
people are Col. Ali Oz, Capt. Metin Yýldýz, non-commissioned officer
Orhan Þimþek and Sgt. Veysel Þahin,” he said.

When a judge at the court asked Ýðci if he had been in contact with
those four people, Ýðci replied that he had contacted Þimþek and Þahin.

The Ýstanbul 14th High Criminal Court hearing issued its ruling on
Jan. 17 in the 25th hearing of the case. Hayal and Erhan Tuncel,
the main suspects, who were accused of being instigators, and all
other suspects, were cleared of charges of membership in an outlawed
organization.

The prosecutor and the Dink family’s lawyers accused them of acting
under the orders of a clandestine criminal network suspected of having
ties with senior state officials and military and police officers.

The court handed down a life sentence to Hayal, while Tuncel was given
10 years and six months in prison for his involvement in the bombing
of a McDonald’s restaurant in 2004. Gunman Ogun Samast was sentenced
last July to nearly 23 years in prison by a separate juvenile court.

Tuncel was released.

From: A. Papazian

TURKISH MINISTER SAYS HE CAN REPEAT HIS WORDS ABOUT 1915 EVENTS ELSEWHERE

Anadolu Agency
Feb 13 2012
Turkey

Turkey’s European Union (EU) minister and chief negotiator said on
Saturday that it was illogical to call the 1915 events a genocide.

Egemen Bagis said the fact that some EU members had to pass a series of
laws that restrict freedom of speech was illogical, this was contrary
to the principles of the EU constitution that the members had adopted.

“I said in Zurich, I repeat here, and I will repeat elsewhere, that
with our information, according to our records and our sources, it
makes no sense- it-s illogical to call the 1915 events a genocide,”
Bagis told an interview with the Euronews TV channel.

Bagis said Turkey challenged Armenia and other countries to open
their archives, that Turkey created an independent commission in
which they found Armenian historians, Russian, Turkish, European and
American historians.

“That all these countries open their archives so that we can analyse
what really happened in 1915. Thereafter we can assess the situation.

This is an execution without trial. Calling the 1915 events a genocide
based solely on information we have right now, comes from a lobby
that nurtures malicious hatred. We refuse to enter into their games,”
he said.

ERDOGAN CALLS FRANCE TO WITHDRAW FROM OSCE MG

Anadolu Agency
Feb 13 2012
Turkey

Turkish premier has called on France to quit as a member of a group
aimed at securing a settlement to the conflict between Azerbaijan
and Armenia over Upper Karabakh.

“France has clearly shown that it is a side [in the Upper Karabakh
dispute] after adopting a law penalizing denial of Armenian allegations
on Ottoman era incidents of 1915, which is why it has to step down
from the Minsk Group,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an interview on the
Azeri national TV network, ANS.

Erdogan said French President Nicolas Sarkozy had never been fair and
sincere in his relations with Armenians, adding that his judgement
as a Minsk member could not be trusted.

Upper house of the French parliament adopted last month a law that
makes denial of Armenian allegations punishable with a prison term
of one year and a fine of 45 thousand euros.

Minsk Group, with the U.S., Russia and France as members, is an OSCE
initiative aimed at encouraging a peaceful, negotiated resolution to
the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Upper Karabakh region.

Erdogan said Turkey fiercely rejected allegations of the Armenian
diaspora and he reiterated Turkey’s proposal to open archives to
scientific research by a group of independent historians into the
incidents of 1915.

The Turkish premier said Turkey awaited a prospective decision by a
French constitutional council on the fate of the denial law, which
could be annulled by the council.

Syria Crisis

Responding to a question over the ongoing popular uprising in Syria,
Erdogan said that it was high time for President Bashar al Assad to
step down as the number of casualties in the country had exceeded
7 thousand.

“Bashar has to quit his post immediately. Syrian people have no more
confidence in this leadership,” Erdogan said. “They are killing
children, women and elderly people. And all of this is happening
right before our eyes yet some remain silent to the tragedy.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH PREMIER SAYS FRANCE CAN NO MORE ACT AS A MEDIATOR IN UPPER KARABAKH ISSUE

Cumhuriyet
Feb 13 2012
Turkey

Turkish premier has called on France to quit as a member of a group
aimed at securing a settlement to the conflict between Azerbaijan
and Armenia over Upper Karabakh.

BAKU- “France has clearly shown that it is a side [in the Upper
Karabakh dispute] after adopting a law penalizing denial of Armenian
allegations on Ottoman era incidents of 1915, which is why it has
to step down from the Minsk Group,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an
interview on the Azeri national TV network, ANS.

Erdogan said French President Nicolas Sarkozy had never been fair and
sincere in his relations with Armenians, adding that his judgement
as a Minsk member could not be trusted.

Upper house of the French parliament adopted last month a law that
makes denial of Armenian allegations punishable with a prison term
of one year and a fine of 45 thousand euros.

Minsk Group, with the U.S., Russia and France as members, is an OSCE
initiative aimed at encouraging a peaceful, negotiated resolution to
the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Upper Karabakh region.

Erdogan said Turkey fiercely rejected allegations of the Armenian
diaspora and he reiterated Turkey’s proposal to open archives to
scientific research by a group of independent historians into the
incidents of 1915.

The Turkish premier said Turkey awaited a prospective decision by a
French constitutional council on the fate of the denial law, which
could be annulled by the council.

ARMENIE : L’ECOLOGIE POURRA-T-ELLE RESISTER FACE AU PROFIT ?

Affaires strategiques

13 fev 2012

13 fevrier Chaque annee en Armenie, quelque 5000 touristes se rendent
dans la station thermale de Jermuk, pour profiter de ses spas a ciel
ouvert et de son eau minerale. Mais a une dizaine de kilomètres
de la se trouve la montagne d’Amulsar, qui regorge de ressources
aurifères, dont le gouvernement a autorise l’extraction. Celle-ci
devrait debuter en 2014. Une decision contestee par les ecologistes,
mais aussi par certains economistes, pour qui ce tourisme represente
une force incontestable pour le developpement economique du pays.

Conscient de ce potentiel, le gouvernement a devoile il y a quatre
ans un projet d’expansion du tourisme dans la region de Jermuk, qui
pourrait a terme generer près de 100 millions de recettes fiscales
annuelles. Pour le ministre de l’Economie, le plan d’extraction de 2,5
millions d’onces d’or ne vient en aucun cas remettre en question ce
dernier. Il soutient que meme si les deux sites ne sont situes qu’a
treize kilomètres de distance, les nouvelles techniques permettront
d’eviter toute propagation de particules nuisibles.

Pourtant, la montagne d’Amulsar detient d’abondantes quantites de zinc,
de cuivre, de selenium et de tellure, des materiaux qui pourraient
se rependre sur une trentaine de kilomètres autour de la zone
d’extraction, et infecter la station thermale de Jermuk, mais aussi
deux reservoirs d’eau (dont le deuxième plus important du pays) ainsi
que cinq villages alentours. L’air contamine pourrait aussi se repandre
dans les vegetaux, et atteindre l’Homme via la chaîne alimentaire.

L’ancien ministre armenien de la Protection environnementale lui-meme
s’est prononce contre l’ouverture de cette mine d’extraction aurifère
a ciel ouvert, qui selon lui va sans aucun doute possible ” detruire
Jermuk “.

Ce dilemme pose aujourd’hui une question plus large sur les choix de
l’Armenie pour assurer son developpement economique. Car ce petit pays
de moins de 30.000 kilomètres carres n’a pas la capacite de developper
conjointement l’extraction de ses 500 mines ainsi que le tourisme
thermal. D’autant plus que cette dernière, si elle semble etre l’une
des principales forces de l’economie armenienne, n’a contribue au cours
de la dernière decennie qu’a 2,5% du PIB, contre 6% pour le tourisme.

ARMENIAN LIBRARY AND MUSEUM OF AMERICA TO HOST LOCAL ARTIST’S EXHIBITION
Jaclyn Reiss

Boston Globe

Feb 13 2012
MA

The Armenian Library and Museum of America in Watertown will host
an exhibition and opening reception of local Armenian artist Hope
Ricciardi’s work this Sunday, according to the organization.

Ricciardi, whose work has also been showcased at the Galatea Fine
Art Gallery in Boston, serves to inform and honor the history and
numerous contributions of the Armenian people through her work.

She began researching her grandfather’s Armenian heritage and the
history of the Armenian diaspora in 2010, according to a prepared
statement.

Her work for the exhibition, “History Ignored,” is based on
photographic transfer and plaster gesso on various surfaces including
canvas, linen and panels.

Ricciardi currently maintains a studio in Boston and is preparing a
major exhibit for 2015, the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Her exhibition at the Armenian Library and Museum of America will
run through April 29.

The museum is at 65 Main St. The reception will take place at the
museum’s Contemporary Art Gallery on the third floor at 2 p.m.

Admission is free and open to the public.

From: A. Papazian