Month: May 2017

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Website: www.agbu.org

PRESS RELEASE

Tuesday, 

THE AGBU PERFORMING ARTS DEPARTMENT INTRODUCES ARMENIAN MUSIC TO NEW YORK CITY 
STUDENTS THROUGH CARNEGIE HALL’S MUSICAL EXPLORERS PROGRAM

This spring, the AGBU Performing Arts Department collaborated with Carnegie 
Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) to have Armenia represented for the first 
time as part of WMI’s Musical Explorers program. The program is designed to 
connect students in grades K-2 to New York City’s rich and diverse musical 
community as they build fundamental music skills through listening, singing and 
moving to songs from all over the world. For four days, hundreds of New York 
City students and teachers sang traditional Armenian songs together with the 
acapella folk trio Zulal, the oud player Ara Dinkjian, and the clarinetist 
Martin Haroutunian, who showed the students several traditional Armenian 
instruments. 

Zulal takes Armenia’s village folk melodies and weaves intricate arrangements 
that pay tribute to the rural roots of the music, while introducing a 
sophisticated lyricism and energy. The trio’s singers—Teni Apelian, Yeraz 
Markarian, and Anaïs Tekerian—have been singing together since 2002 and have 
performed at the Getty Museum, Berklee College of Music, Carnegie Hall, The 
Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage and New York’s Symphony Space, along with 
performances for Cirque du Soleil and the Silk Road Project. Ara Dinkjian is an 
Armenian American oud player who has appeared in 22 countries and continues to 
compose, perform, record and teach. Martin Haroutunian, an accomplished 
clarinetist, is the director of the Arev Ensemble in Boston, which uses folk 
and modern instruments to recreate Armenian music.

The Musical Explorers program introduces New York City students and teachers to 
songs and dances from around the world, which they eventually perform along 
with the artists during the interactive concerts. As part of the program, Zulal 
led workshops with New York City public school K-2 teachers and advised on the 
creation of a full curriculum, including an accompanying CD, featuring lessons 
and creative extensions for semester-long coursework. In the 2016-17 season, 
along with Armenian folk music, students also learned about bluegrass, Chinese 
traditional music, Sudanese celebration songs, calypso, and hip-hop, exploring 
a diverse range of musical genres found in their New York City neighborhoods.

“At one moment during the concert, the host asked Ara Dinkjian to play his oud 
together with the steel pan of the calypso musician and the beats of the 
hip-hop DJ, displaying how diversity can be unified in one piece of music. This 
concept aligns perfectly with the mission of AGBU PAD: to present our unique 
culture to the diverse audiences of New York. Hearing hundreds of children from 
the five boroughs of New York sing Armenian folk songs is the most touching 
symbol of unity in this immensely multicultural city,” said Hayk Arsenyan, the 
director of the AGBU Performing Arts Department.

For more information about AGBU PAD, please visit 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.agbuperformingarts.org_&d=DwIF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=3oLTFdM56cJV9TJs5OKNwWc42zUFtW-3eYG5kY0zH0M&s=YHpiHjdQgAsr2d4IP-yC4T0xTURU0GYPaicz9anH_TY&e=
 . 

For more information about the Weill Music Institute’s Musical Explorers: 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.carnegiehall.org_Education_Musical-2DExplorers_&d=DwIF-g&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=3oLTFdM56cJV9TJs5OKNwWc42zUFtW-3eYG5kY0zH0M&s=mzEv66PolCMUBP25Vusse_js3bzmptsBDZdCAQVtQjo&e=
 .

Established in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org) is the world's largest non-profit 
Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU preserves and 
promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural and 
humanitarian programs, annually touching the lives of some 500,000 Armenians 
around the world.
 
For more information about AGBU and its worldwide programs, please visit 
www.agbu.org.

                                        Tuesday, 

Tsarukian Allies Quit Parliament


 . Tatevik Lazarian


Armenia - The newly elected National Assembly holds its first sitting
in Yerevan, 18May2017.

Three members of Armenia's new parliament, who effectively revolted
against businessman Gagik Tsarukian shortly after recent elections,
have ceded their parliament seats to other members of his alliance.

The Tsarukian Bloc won 31 of the 105 seats in the new National
Assembly elected on April 2. Shortly after the vote, it submitted to
the Central Election Commission (CEC) letters of resignation
supposedly signed by 23 of its mostly successful election candidates.

Twelve of those candidates told the CEC, however, that they did not
sign the letters and would still like to become parliament
deputies. The commission handed parliamentary mandates to eight of
them.

Tsarukian said through a spokeswoman last month that that all of those
men had formally pledged ahead of the elections not to take up
parliament seats if they fail to get a particular number of votes in
various constituencies across Armenia.

In the event, three of the deputies representing the Tsarukian Bloc --
Harutyun Gharagyozian, Khachik Manukian and Artyom Tsarukian (no
relation) -- agreed to resign from the parliament. They formally
ceased to be members of the National Assembly on Tuesday.

The five other lawmakers refused to follow suit, while remaining
affiliated with the second largest parliamentary force.

Tsarukian's press secretary, Iveta Tonoyan, downplayed the three
resignations, denying that there are disagreements within the
bloc. "There were political agreements," she told reporters. "This is
a political process."

Tonoyan also did not confirm reports that Tsarukian has fallen out
with Ishkhan Zakarian, the man who managed the bloc's election
campaign and was also elected to the National Assembly. Asked to
comment on rumors that Zakarian too will resign from the parliament,
she said: "I have never heard about such an intention from Ishkhan
Zakarian."



OSCE Vows Continued Engagement In Armenia After Office Closure


 . Sargis Harutyunyan


Armenia - OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier speaks at a news
conference in Yerevan, 30May2017.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will continue
to promote wide-ranging reforms in Armenia despite the closure of its
Yerevan office forced by Azerbaijan, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto
Zannier said on Tuesday.

"The closure of the office does not mean that we will conclude our
cooperation with Armenia," Zannier said during a visit to
Yerevan. "There are many important issues on our agenda."

"We will therefore try to find various ways of working together and
ensuring that the closure of the office only means that one chapter of
our cooperation has been closed but other avenues of joint work have
opened up," he told a joint news conference with Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian.

The OSCE office has implemented projects relating, among other things,
to human rights, tax and police reforms, gender equality and press
freedom ever since it was opened in 2000. Azerbaijan vetoed late last
year a further extension of its mandate, objecting to a humanitarian
demining program sponsored by it in Armenia. It claimed that the
program could "strengthen" the Armenian military in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenia has repeatedly shrugged off those allegations. It says that
Baku is simply keen to force the closure of the Yerevan office after
having a similar OSCE office in Baku shut down in 2015 in line with
its poor human rights record.

OSCE decisions on opening such missions and extending their activities
have to be unanimously approved by all 57 member states of the
organization.

Baku did not drop its objections even after the Armenian government
agreed in January to exclude demining from the wide range of OSCE
activities in Armenia. Its uncompromising stance prompted a stern
warning from the United States, with a senior U.S. diplomat saying in
February that the office closure would "reflect poorly on Azerbaijan."

A representative of Austria, the current holder of the OSCE
presidency, told the OSCE's Permanent Council in Vienna on May 4 that
the Azerbaijani government remains adamant in demanding the shutdown.

The issue seems to have dominated Zannier's separate meetings with
Nalbandian and President Serzh Sarkisian. The OSCE secretary general
described the talks as "useful" in a written statement issued later in
the day. "I would like to see the achievements of the Office preserved
and built upon as far as possible," he added.



Armenian-Azeri Summit `Unlikely For Now'


 . Sargis Harutyunyan


Armenia - Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian at a news conference in
Yerevan, 30May2017.

A fresh meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents is still
not on the cards despite international mediators' efforts to
reinvigorate the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian indicated on Tuesday.

"Armenia has never objected to meetings at the level of [foreign]
ministers or presidents," he said. "If conditions are ripe, such
meetings are possible. But this kind of meetings, especially at the
high, presidential level, have to be properly prepared
for. Ministerial meetings are aimed at ensuring that as well."

"For the time being, we can only talk about a meeting at the
ministerial level," Nalbandian told a joint news conference with
Lamberto Zannier, the visiting secretary general of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev most recently met in Saint
Petersburg last July for talks hosted by their Russian counterpart
Vladimir Putin. The Karabakh peace process has remained essentially
deadlocked since then.

Richard Hoagland, the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, expressed
hope in March that Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov will "prepare the ground" for a fresh Aliyev-Sarkisian
encounter. The two ministers met in Moscow in late April. A Russian
Foreign Ministry statement on their talks said nothing about the
possibility of an Armenian-Azerbaijani summit.

Nalbandian also announced on Tuesday that Hoagland and his fellow
Minsk Group co-chairs from Russia and France will visit Yerevan and
Stepanakert next week.



Press Review



"Zhoghovurd" says the opposition Yerkir Tsirani party's decision to
take up its five seats in Yerevan's newly elected municipal council
means that its sessions are promising to be dramatic and heated. The
paper says that Yerkir Tsirani leader Zaruhi Postanjian's presence in
the council may have a "somewhat positive impact" on the work of the
legislature and make life harder for Mayor Taron Markarian and his
aides. But, it says, the party's decision not to boycott the council
is not consistent with its tough anti-government stance.

"Zhamanak" is highly skeptical about a new anti-corruption body that
will be set up soon by the Armenian government. The paper predicts
that the authorities will use the body to get rid of "undesirable"
officials that will fall from their grace. "In other words, what is
being created in Armenia is not a truly independent anti-corruption
body # but an institution of, so to speak, intra-governmental
inquisition," it claims. "The authorities will thus solve two
issues. On one hand, the new structure will enable them to elevate
their anti-corruption dialogue with international bodies to a new
level # On the other hand, the intra-governmental inquisition will
allow them to make the [government] system more manageable in the
current period of transition."

Interviewed by "168 Zham," Vadim Dubnov, a Russian political analyst,
plays down the significance of a recent statement by the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs that essentially held Azerbaijan responsible for the
latest escalation of tensions in the Karabakh conflict zone. Dubnov
argues that just a few months ago the Russian, U.S. and French
co-chairs issued another statement that was more favorable to
Azerbaijan. "I think that in or two or two weeks it will be forgotten
in both Baku and Yerevan," he says. Dubnov also believes that the
Azerbaijani leadership is presently "not quite interested in a
de-escalation of the conflict." "And I am not fully convinced that
Yerevan is interested in that," he adds.

"Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" comments on the Karabakh Armenian military's
decision to issue statements on truce violations on a weekly, rather
than daily, basis from now on. General Movses Hakobian, the chief of
the Armenian army's General Staff, is quoted as defending the decision
on security grounds. The paper dismisses this speculation, saying that
daily reports on the situation along the Karabakh "line of contact"
would not reveal any military secrets to Baku.

(Tigran Avetisian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

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Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
 Sunday


99th anniversary of Aparan's heroic battle celebrated with festive events



YEREVAN, MAY 28, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of the First Armenian
Republic Day on May 28, ‘Revival’ Memorial complex of Aparan town of
Aragatsotn province became the main ceremony place.

The ceremony was attended by the leadership of the province and town,
guests from neighboring communities and Yerevan, the local people.

One of the major events of the Armenian history – the Battle of
Bash-Aparan, took place on this part of Aparan which played a
significant role for the establishment of the first Armenian
independent statehood.

During the ceremony wreaths were laid at the busts of commanders
Drastamat Kanayan and Sedrak Jalalyan.

The Aragatsotn Governorate told Armenpress Governor Gabriel Gyozalyan
congratulated the participants, stating that the Armenian people
celebrate the Republic Day with great pride and enthusiasm. “This
significant holiday symbolizes the greatest will to establish and
maintain the statehood and desire to live with dignity of the Armenian
people who passed numerous ways of struggle and achieved key victories
on that path”, Gyozalyan said.

The festive ceremony was followed by an exposition by militaries and a
concert with participation of famous artists, musicians.

 Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
 Sunday


Awarding ceremony held at Presidential Palace on occasion of Republic Day



YEREVAN, MAY 28, ARMENPRESS. The awards and honorary titles bestowing
ceremony took place at the Presidential Palace on the occasion of
Republic Day on May 28, press service of the President’s office told
Armenpress.

A group of individuals were awarded by the President of Armenia
withhigh state awards and honorary titlesfor their contribution in the
fields of science, education, healthcare, economy, arts, culture, and
sports, efficient work, patriotism, boundless dedication, deepening
and expansion of the Fatherland-Diaspora ties. Serzh Sargsyan
congratulated the awardees on the occasion of Republic Day and on
receiving high state awards and honorary titles.

President’s Sargsyan addressed congratulatory remarks at the awarding ceremony:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Guests, I cordially congratulate
you all on the occasion of Republic Day, and on receiving awards and
honorary titles of our state. Armenia has entered a phase of critical
changes. These changes rest first of all on the principle of justice.
To change the image of our country, we have to always reveal and honor
those worthy. That’s the way to tell good from bad, truth from lie,
decent from indecent. Societies reach success only if they rely on
true values. I have no doubt that the good, right, and decent are the
values which bind together members of our society. That’s the way to
solidify the foundation of our statehood and move forward with
confidence. Today we celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the
First Republic of Armenia. In the last 99 years, many values have been
created – material, spiritual, technological. They are the results of
the labor of dedicated and professional individuals, of their talent
and purposefulness. Nowadays, you have come to take their place, and
our society takes pride in your efforts and dedication. Reforms going
on in our country will continue, becoming large-scale and structural,
and the results will not linger. Moreover, the results will be
noticeable and tangible for every citizen of Armenia. The next two or
three years are critical. I expect that you too, with all your vigor
and knowledge will partake in that gratifying undertaking. I am
confident that our citizens’ lives will be improving day by day. I am
confident that Armenia will be a strong and prosperous country. I am
confident that to achieve that we all have to work diligently and
consistently. I congratulate you once again, dear friends, on this
momentous holiday and on receiving awards. I thank you for your honest
work”.

Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
 Sunday


President Sargsyan awards Henrikh Mkhitaryan with 1st degree Order for
"Services to the Motherland"



YEREVAN, MAY 28, ARMENPRESS. President Serzh Sargsyan awarded Armenian
National Football Team and Manchester United midfielder Henrikh
Mkhitaryan with 1st degree Order for “Services to the Motherland” on
the occasion of the Republic Day on May 28, reports Armenpress.

Mkhitaryan was awarded for his contribution to the development of
Armenian sport and presenting Armenia throughout the world.

After the awarding ceremony, Mkhitaryan told reporters he is very
proud of being awarded by the President, and expressed hope this will
contribute to the development of Armenian sport in future as well.

Asked which of his goals can be compared with the President’s Order,
Mkhitaryan said: “I will not compare it with any of the goals, they
are incomparable”.

Asked what the President told him while awarding the Order, Mkhitaryan
said the President thanked for presenting Armenia at best in the world
and congratulated on being awarded with the Order.

Commenting on his decision to raise the Armenian flag after Europe
League Final, Mkhtaryan said it is everyone’s duty to raise the
Armenian flag. “It’s always an honor for me to raise the Armenian flag
in different places. I had that idea long ago and finally I managed to
do it as we won the Europe League”, Mkhitaryan said.

Associated Press International
 Sunday 8:17 PM GMT


American doctor in Sudan awarded Aurora humanitarian prize

YEREVAN, Armenia

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) - An American doctor who has spent years working
in a fighting-ravaged region of Sudan has been awarded the
$1.1-million Aurora Prize for exceptional humanitarianism.

Dr. Tom Catena was presented the prize Sunday in Armenia's capital,
Yerevan. The prize was established in remembrance of the Armenian
survivors of a mass killing by Ottoman Turks.

An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915-23 in what many
historians regard as the first genocide of the 20th century, a claim
that Turkey rejects.

Catena, based in Sudan's Nuba Mountains, "is a role model to us all,"
said American actor George Clooney, co-chairman of the prize selection
committee and a prominent advocate of recognizing the killings as
genocide.

The prize includes $100,000 for Catena and $1 million for him to
donate to organizations of his choice.

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Belfast Telegraph Online
 Sunday 8:16 PM GMT


We need to do more good for humanity, says George Clooney

The Hollywood actor was honouring humanitarian workers in war-ravaged countries.


Hollywood actor George Clooney has said the world needs to become more
engaged in doing good for humanity.

He chairs the selection committee for the Aurora Prize for Awakening
Humanity, awarded in Armenia to an outstanding humanitarian worker.

The accolade marks the memory of survivors of what citizens of the
mountainous Caucasus region country describe as a genocide on their
land a century ago.

George said: "We all have a role in addressing these global challenges.

"We all have a responsibility, each of us individually.

"We have to be engaged."

The ceremony was attended by the country's president and named after
one of the survivors of the First World War era eight-year slaughter
and alleged ethnic cleansing suffered by Armenians as the Ottoman
Empire disintegrated.

Armenia estimates that 1.5 million countrymen died in the pogroms.
Turkey does not recognise it as genocide and estimates the number of
deaths in the thousands. George is an outspoken human rights advocate.

Dr Tom Catena, who has worked in Sudan's war-ravaged Nuba Mountains
for more than a decade, was awarded the prize.

George said the Aurora finalists were "modern day heroes" who had put
themselves at risk.

 Cyprus News Agency
 Sunday


Armenian Defence Minister to hold contacts in Cyprus and sign agreements



Armenian Minister of Defence Vigen Sargsyan will carry out an official
visit to Cyprus on Monday, during which he will hold contacts and sign
Agreements for the Exchange and Mutual Protection of Classified
Information, as well as a Bilateral Military Cooperation programme.

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Defence,
Sargsyan will be officially welcomed by Cypriot Defence Minister
Christoforos Fokaides at the National Guard Chief of Staff, followed
by a private meeting between the two Ministers, and broader talks with
the participation of the delegations of the two countries.

Sargsyan will also be received by President of the Republic Nicos
Anastasiades and will visit sites of interest.

Furthermore, he will meet with President of the House of
Representatives Demetris Syllouris, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ioannis Kasoulides, and Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus
Chrysostomos II.