Month: February 2012

US DOES NOT WANT TO INTERFERE IN SYRIA’S INTERNAL AFFAIRS – ARMENIAN ANALYST

news.am
February 25, 2012 | 05:44

YEREVAN. – The secret plan-by Washington, London, Paris, Rome, and
Ankara-to invade Syria is a part of the information war against Syria,
Arab Studies specialist Yervand Minasyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In his words, such information leak is beneficial for Israel and
US alike, since an information war is more convenient than military
operations.

“Military interference in Syria’s internal affairs is untimely for US.

[And] An information war in favor of Syria’s opposition would result
in a greater resistance. Syria’s strength will weaken, [and] at that
time the military intervention would follow,” the analyst argued.

According to Yervand Minasyan, a discourse between the Syrian
opposition and the authorities is ruled out. “There is virtually no
chance for commencing a dialogue,” he maintained.

And in response to the query as to whether the Syrian leader
Bashar al-Assad could consent to the opposition’s demand to open a
humanitarian corridor, Minasyan said: “If Assad agrees, that would
be the country’s death sentence. There are no guarantees that weapons
would not be supplied to the opposition through that corridor.”

ARAM I: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE INTEGRAL PART OF GLOBAL AGENDA

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 25, 2012 – 14:23 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The decision of U.S. House of Representatives to urge
Turkey to return confiscated churches and church properties to their
rightful owners, and the approval of a bill by the French Parliament
and the Senate making it a crime to deny the Armenian Genocide, along
with the Turkish government’s aggressive reaction, have, once again,
brought the Armenian Genocide to the fore of international headlines,
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia said
in his introductory remarks at the international conference on the
Armenian Genocide in Lebanon.

“The Armenian Genocide is no longer an exclusive concern of
Armenian-Turkish relations; it has become integral part of the global
agenda,” His Holiness said.

“The term “genocide” only became part of the vocabulary of
international law in 1944; however, the carefully planned and
systematically executed attempt of the Ottoman-Turkish government
in 1915, which aimed at the total extermination of the Armenian
Nation, fits the definition in the Genocide Convention. This act,
strongly substantiated by the historical evidence and eye-witness
accounts of Armenian and non-Armenian, including Turkish sources, was
unequivocally a genocide. The Turkish authorities may deny that it was
a crime against humanity; some nations or governments may still keep
silent about it for geopolitical reasons. But denial is a dead end.

Negationism will eventually fall short before the truth. The
retroactive application of the Convention is a critical issue which
will be certainly treated by the Conference. Since only a state that
has accepted the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice
may submit a case to it, I hope that the Republic of Armenia will
soon study this matter and take the necessary action,” he said.

“For decades we have focused on the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide by Turkey and the international community. In fact, the
recent Court cases against American, Turkish and French insurance
and private companies; the decision of US Congress to urge Turkey
to return churches and church-related properties to their owners,
and the Turkish government’s decision on 27 August 2011decided to
return to the minorities the properties confiscated since 1936, came to
re-emphasize the crucial importance of reparation. Indeed, recognition
of truth implies reparation; these acts are intimately interconnected.

This is at the heart of international law.”

“As Catholicosate of Cilicia, which was established in the 10th Century
in Cilicia, south-western part of present Turkey, and which was in 1915
forcefully uprooted from its historical seat, we claim the ownership
of our properties confiscated by the Turkish authorities. It is with
this objective in mind that we have set the agenda of this conference,”
His Holiness concluded.

From: Baghdasarian

DES CHANTEURS ARMENIENS APPELLENT A UN BOYCOTT DE L’EUROVISION 2012 A BAKOU
Ara

armenews.com
samedi 25 fevrier 2012

EREVAN, 24 fev 2012 – Un groupe de chanteurs armeniens a appele
vendredi a un boycott du concours de l’Eurovision 2012 en Azerbaïdjan,
ancienne republique sovietique en conflit avec Erevan au sujet du
Nagorny-Karabakh, une region separatiste azerbaïdjanaise peuplee
majoritairement d’Armeniens.

“Nous refusons de nous produire dans un pays qui est connu pour ses
meurtres de masse et ses massacres d’Armeniens, dans un pays où le
sentiment anti-armenien a ete eleve au niveau de politique d’Etat”,
indique un communique signe par 22 chanteurs, dont trois anciens
participants a l’Eurovision. Selon le site officiel de l’Eurovision,
l’Armenie s’est deja inscrite pour participer au concours mais doit
encore choisir un chanteur pour la representer.

“Comment peut-on chanter dans un pays qui nous a cause tant de
pertes”, a declare le directeur du Theâtre d’Etat de chant d’Erevan,
Artur Grigorian, qui a signe la petition appelant au boycott, selon
la television armenienne. “Je pense que l’Eurovision c’est de l’art,
c’est un spectacle et c’est politique”, a-t-il ajoute.

Rattache a l’Azerbaïdjan pendant la periode sovietique, le
Nagorny-Karabakh a proclame son independance, non reconnue par la
communaute internationale, après une guerre qui a fait 30.000 morts
et des centaines de milliers de refugies entre 1988 et 1994.

Un cessez-le-feu a ete signe en 1994, mais Bakou et Erevan n’arrivent
pas a se mettre d’accord sur le statut de la region, qui reste une
source de tension dans le Caucase du Sud, une zone strategique situee
entre l’Iran, la Russie et la Turquie.

Le duo azerbaïdjanais Ell et Niki a remporte en mai dernier la 56e
edition du concours Eurovision de la chanson en Allemagne. Comme le
veut la tradition, l’Azerbaïdjan accueillera en consequence l’edition
2012 du concours en mai prochain.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HRAPARAK: BITCH RUBO ARRESTED

Panorama.am
25/02/2012

Arrests of representatives of the criminal world continue. Robert
Arakelyan, more widely known under nickname Bitch Rubo, has been
arrested lately, Hraparak reports.

Drugs were found on him. Police searched his apartment and found
drugs and a gun there. Arakelyan was caught near the Narcological
Clinic in Yerevan, the daily writes.

Bitch Rubo has seven previous convictions.

RUBEN HAYRAPETYAN, SAMVEL ALEKSANYAN TO BE NOMINATED

Panorama.am
25/02/2012

The Republican Party of Armenia has already defined that Ruben
Hayrapetyan will submit his candidacy by majoritarian system.

“My party has decided that I should run in the first electoral
district by majoritarian system,” Chairman of Football Federation,
MP Ruben Hayrapetyan told Panorama.am.

As for Samvel Aleksanyan, Ruben Hayrapetyan said he would also offer
his candidacy by majoritarian system in district No 7.

HAK member Hovhannes Igityan is going to be Ruben Hayrapetyan’s rival
in the district No. 1, although, he told Panorama.am, he was not sure
he would win.

AKHTALA MINING PLANT WORKERS RECEIVE MISERABLE SALARIES

Panorama.am
25/02/2012

Hayatsk daily has carried out an investigation at Akhtala Mining Plant
which revealed that documents show plant workers receive a monthly
salary of around AMD 35 000-40 000, while they risk their lives every
minute. At the same time the director of the plant was trying to assure
the daily that the average salary of workers is AMD 122 000. By the
way, the salary of plant’s owner Madlen Tashchyan is AMD 6000000.

From: Baghdasarian

ANCA STATEMENT REGARDING US COURT VERDICT

Panorama.am
25/02/2012

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram
Hamparian issued the following statement regarding the 9th Circuit
Court ruling in the Movsesian v. Versicherung case, which would
effectively bar Americans of Armenian descent from seeking the return
of stolen Armenian Genocide era insurance assets through U.S. courts,
under California law, ANCA official website said.

“This ruling opens the door for foreign governments to try to roll
back the clock on human rights, potentially putting at peril American
grassroots efforts – along the lines of the anti-Apartheid, Darfur
Genocide, and Free Tibet movements – that so often start at the state
and local level, sometimes even against opposition at the federal
level, before winning broad acceptance by the American people and
the U.S. government,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

“Turkey has no right to hold all three branches of the U.S. government
hostage to its irrational and hateful denial of the Armenian Genocide,
a crime that has already been broadly recognized by American civil
society and government, once by a U.S. President, at least twice
by the House of Representatives, 42 times by separate U.S. states,
and hundreds of times by municipal governments in nearly every state
of our union.”

“There is nothing in this judgment – or in any court ruling – that
will stand in the way of our pursuit of a principled U.S. policy
in support of a truthful, just, and comprehensive resolution of the
Armenian Genocide.”

“Today’s court ruling highlights the ongoing human costs of the White
House’s complicity in Turkey’s denials of the Armenian Genocide,
and underscores the urgency of President Obama honoring his pledge to
properly recognize this crime against humanity,” concluded Hamparian.

ARMENIA TAKES PART IN WORKS OF INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RELATIVISTIC ASTROPHYSICS

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS: The regular annual sitting of
the board of directors of International Center for Relativistic
Astrophysics (ICRA) was held February 20 in Pescara, Italy. The results
of the center’s activity over 2011, the budget 2012 and tendencies
for further development were discussed. Representatives of ICRA
member states Italy, Vatican, Armenia, Brazil and U.S. Stanford and
Arizona Universities participated in the sitting, an official from
the Armenian Astronomical Society (AAS) told Armenpress. From Armenia
Director of NAS Byurakan Observatory Hayk Harutyunyan participated.

For the first time 10000 euros was intended to provide to ICRA
Yerevan Office from ICRA annual budget for obtaining engineering. In
general, presence of small countries like Armenia, is of importance
in international structures, as they always get more from these
organizations than they invest. In the given case the circumstance is
continuously highlighted that being a country of advanced science,
Armenia is also a bearer of European and Christian cultures in
our region. Besides that, the branch of Armenia is of strategic
significance: Armenia is considered a regional center of ICRA for
connecting it with states of Middle East and Middle Asia.

ISTANBUL’S ARMENIAN COMMUNITY INTIMIDATED

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 25, 2012 – 13:54 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenians living in Turkey are concerned over
preparations for the procession on the 20th anniversary of the
so-called “Khojalu genocide” to be held on Taksim square in Istanbul
on February 26, Istanbul-based Agos weekly reports.

According to the paper, during the past days all central squares,
subway stations, trade centers in Istanbul have been spreading the
message “Do not be indifferent to the Armenian lie”.

The posters in Istanbul are of anti-Armenian character. Organizers
use the posters as well to urge those not indifferent to the alleged
“Khojalu genocide” to gather at Taksim square at 2pm on February 26.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN CELLIST NAREK HAKHNAZARYAN CAPTIVATES AT STRATHMORE MANSION

armradio.am
25.02.2012 14:29

The Strathmore Mansion on Thursday was chock full of patrons (including
cellists and other string players) to hear the 23-year-old Armenian
cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan give a phenomenal account of some musical
thrillers by Cesar Franck, Frederic Chopin, Dmitri Shostakovich and
Mstislav Rostropovich. Franck’s late Sonata in A, the evening’s opener,
and Shostakovich’s Sonata in D minor, Op. 40, call on every dimension
of a performer’s technique and expressive means.

Hakhnazaryan impresses you with a degree of freedom that comes
hard-won from discipline of the highest order. And he had a brilliant
pianist, Noreen Cassidy-Polera, to support that level of artistry,
The Washington Post writes.

The cellist won first prize at last year’s International Tchaikovsky
Competition in Moscow. He is already a seasoned performer in first-rate
concert halls with major orchestras around the world.

“Hakhnazaryan’s talent was obvious from the opening phrase of
Franck’s late Sonata (originally for violin). Whether pianissimo or
triple forte, his bow was ever emphatic, and his emotive power and
subjective intensity captured the listener immediately, never letting
go. The whole thrust of the piece – especially the third movement –
is a monumental fantasia, requiring the cellist to hurl through its
wavering thematic transformations while seeming to improvise.

Shostakovich’s Op. 40 demands control and fortitude from both players.

On Thursday it was all there with both players evenly matched. Op. 40
is a marvel of alternating passages of sublime, liquid lyricism with
depths of astringent harmony and textures. Throughout the sonata, the
musicians underscored the music’s overwhelming sense of inevitability.

This was most obviously felt in the driving pulse of the outer Allegros
and most subtly in the Largo, charging forward with the epic breadth
of the Russian steppes. The finale’s jaunty contrapuntal interplay
erupted into a blazing firestorm, as if endlessly toying with a
listener’s expectations.

Chopin’s Introduction and Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3, and
Rostropovich’s Humoresque, Op. 5, aren’t simply display pieces,
though they both leave the performers to tackle every technical trick
of the trade at a whirlwind pace,” the paper writes.

Hakhnazaryan’s two blazing encores weren’t enough for the audience,
who clamored for more.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress