Author: Andres-Papazian

FAREWELL OSVANNA
Our oldest is gone

Christian V. Artin of the Association for Research and Archiving of
Armenian Memory (ARAM), we learned the sad news of the death of the
Dean of the Armenians of France, dearest Osvanna Kaloustian at the
dawn of its 107 years.

Daughter of a hairdresser, cafe, born in November 1907 in Adabazar,
she was one of the last survivors of the Armenian Genocide.

In an article in Le Monde (January 2014), signed Guillaume Perrier,
Frederick the grand-son of Osvanna said that on that day in 1915 ” It
was a Sunday, the mother of Osvanna came home from church. The priest
had just announced that the city had to be evacuated in three days,
neighborhood by neighborhood , “We know the infamous sequel when
thousands of our ancestors will be sent to the deserts of Syria.

Arrival in December 1928 in Marseille, she will marry Zaven for a
lifetime.Osvanna leaves a collection of poems that she had begun at
the age of 65.

In one of his stories, which will be for all events in Marseille, says
” God let me live so long, so I can tell this story . ” Frederick
added, ” Denying genocide is to deny the words of my grandmother ”

Mission 2015 CCAF had wanted to do everything possible so that in
2015, on the occasion of the centenary of the genocide, a special
place is given to Ovsanna and that the French government at the
highest level, be able to meet this unusual woman.

“During dedication ceremonies, April 24, 2010 in Paris, she, along
with Shamiram Sevag, another genocide survivor, restored strength and
vigor to all present and took time with us to be present in 2015 Fate
may otherwise agree, depriving us of his physical presence at our
side, even if his mark, his example and his memory will be with us
permanently. ”

Our sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.

May she rest in peace

Watch the video testimony on YouTube HERE

Saturday, September 13, 2014,
Jean Eckian © armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

Diplomatie
Aznavour devrait rencontrer l’ambassadeur de Turquie ?

Dans une interview accordée à un envoyé spécial du Hollywood Reporter
réalisé cet été en Provence, Charles Aznavour qui doit se produire ce
soir au thétre grec à Hollywwood, a déclaré :

From: A. Papazian

WHY WEREN’T THE LEADERS OF ARF AND “HERITAGE” PRESENT?

September 12 2014

Yesterday, the meeting of PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan and ANC leader
Levon Ter-Petrosyan was held in the PAP central office. According to
official release, during the meeting the collaboration results of the
Quartet were discussed, as well as rally organization and preparation
related issues. “Both political parties reaffirmed their stance about
unacceptability of changing the government regime of the country via
constitutional amendments in the current situation, and consider the
implementation of reforms aimed at putting the country on the path of
development a priority. The sides also emphasized the importance of
joint visits to the marzes prior to the rally to inform people about
the items of joint agenda and to mobilize them,” says the release
after the meeting. Previously, it was announced that the meeting
of the leaders would be held prior to the rally. But yesterday, the
meeting of two out of the four forces took place. To the question of
Aravot why ARF and “Heritage” leaders were not present at the meeting,
the leader of the “Heritage” faction, Ruben Hakobyan, said that it is
accepted with them that bipartite and tripartite meetings may also take
place. “It is normal that such a meeting can be held. But, ultimately,
any issue related to the joint rally should be discussed within the
Quartet,” said our interlocutor. It was impossible to determine the
ARF’s attitude to Tsarukyan-Ter-Petrosyan meeting.

N. G.

Read more at:

From: A. Papazian

“AGHVAN HOVSEPYAN FALSIFIES THE “MARCH 1ST STORY”

September 12 2014

“Aghvan Hovsepyan continues to be within the frames of the directives,
which once Robert Kocharyan had issued. Saying convicted by the trial,
he basically means political prisoners. These criminal cases are
political persecution against the opposition, which resulted in arrest
of more than a hundred people, stayed in detention facilities, in
other words, Robert Kocharyan’s famous directive was implemented that
a lot of people were in the prison for a long time”, said Mr. Sakunts
to Aravot.am, referring to Mr. Hovsepyan’s allegations that numerous
episodes on “March 1â~@³ event were disclosed, a number of people
were convicted and the verdict of none of them has been reviewed by
court instances. According to Mr. Sakunts, the March 1 crime is not
an ordinary crime, but a state crime. “It is a crime against the
constitution, which involves government officials, oligarchs with
their bodyguards, as well as, in some cases, with their relatives,
and they were headed by the then President Robert Kocharyan. Only
the trial against the victims of this crime cannot be considered
complete and objective. The then officials, those who give orders,
General Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepyan, Chief Police Hayk Harutyunyan,
Defense Minister Mikael Harutyunyan, Head of General Detachment Seyran
Ohanyan and others should be interrogated under this lawsuit. I look
at some lawsuits of the victims and there is no document on these
criminal lawsuits where my mentioned officials were interrogated… if
they were not interrogated, and no legal score was given to their
actions, then it is pointless to speak about the disclosure of March
1 event. Aghvan Hovsepyan and other officials were dreaming of not
having a position then, and were saying, we wish we didn’t hold a
position, because he was involved in a crime and given a tribute to
Robert Kocharyan’s obvious illegal actions.”

Arpine SIMONYAN

Read more at:

From: A. Papazian

SPIVAKOV RATHER A COMPATRIOT THAN GUEST TO ARMENIANS – PRESIDENT

YEREVAN, September 12. /ARKA/. Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan
sent a congratulatory message to internationally famous conductor and
violinist Vladimir Spivakov, the head of Russia’s National Philharmonic
and chief conductor of The Moscow Virtuosos chamber orchestra, on
the 70 anniversary of the maestro, the press office of the Armenian
president reports.

“Your art is widely praised also in our country where you have been
rather a compatriot than a guest for long years, you were with us
through the hard times”, the presidential message says.

Sargsyan wished the maestro sound health and prosperity and expressed
his gratitude for continuous support to young Armenian talents through
Vladmir Spivakov International Charity Foundation. -0–

From: A. Papazian

SENATE TO DISCUSS ROBERT CEKUTA’S NOMINATION AS U.S. AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN

APA, Azerbaijan
Sept 12 2014

[ 12 September 2014 15:10 ]

Baku. Anakhanum Hidayatova – APA. The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations will hold a hearing on Robert Francis Cekuta’s nomination
as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan. The hearing was
scheduled for September 17, APA reports quoting the official website
of the Senate.

The appointment of nominees as ambassadors to several countries,
including to Armenia will be also discussed. The hearings will be
presided over by Senate Chris Murphy.

US President Barack Obama nominated Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Energy, Robert Francis Cekuta to a key administration post as
the Ambassador to Azerbaijan on July 8. If the Senate confirms his
nomination, he will replace Richard Morningstar.

From: A. Papazian

DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS STAND TOGETHER AGAINST THE ISLAMIC STATE AT INAUGURAL CHRISTIAN SUMMIT

Catholic Online
Sept 12 2014

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – “In June, at least a half a million
people were forced from Mosul, including every Christian in the city,”
she said. “And mass, for the first time in thousands of years, could
not be celebrated.”

This genocide must be stopped! Help your brothers and sisters in
Iraq today!

She continued to tell how the Islamic State was killing men and boys,
and kidnapping and raping women and girls in Iraq and Syria.

“The genocide of Christians-and that’s what it is – it is a genocide-it
is genocide,” she said before she was interrupted by applause from the
audience made up of religious leaders and advocates from the Middle
East and across the U.S. “The genocide that’s taking place in the
Middle East today is a repeat of the history of my family.”

Eshoo’s mother was Armenian and her father was Assyrian, and she
recalled the Armenian genocide in the early 20th century, where
the Ottoman Empire killed more than a million religious and ethnic
minorities in the region of Turkey.

“They were being slaughtered because they were Christians,” she said.

Eshoo did say that she is encouraged by a growing “willingness” in
the United States to protect religious and ethnic minorities in the
Middle East.

Back in August, a bill designed to establish a special envoy at the
State Department to oversee religious liberty in the Middle East was
sponsored by Eshoo and Virginian representative Frank Wolf (R.). The
bill was passed by Congress, and signed into law by President Barack
Obama.

Eshoo ended her time saying that action should be taken to “prevent
further violence.”

“We have to keep our resolve in order to prevent further violence
against religious and ethnic minorities, because the genocide of
these vulnerable populations is still taking place, and we know that.”

Eshoo was joined by four Democrats and 12 Republicans who spoke at
the first IDC summit at Washington D.C.

From: A. Papazian

“I WILL ANSWER ARTHUR HAKOBYAN’S QUESTIONS LOOKING INTO HIS EYES”

Pastinfo, News Agency
Law – 12 September 2014, 21:38

Unlike the several previous hearings, the successors of the victims,
the parents of one of the kids who died from the car accident showed
up in court.

The representative of the French embassy to Armenia who is following
the trial of Vardan Petrosyan, as well as some public and political
personalities were attending the hearing.

The hearing began with the statement of Vardan Petrosyan’s defender
Nikolay Baghdasaryan regarding the insulting expression by the
representative of the aggrieved party Arthur Hakobyan addressed to him.

The defender of the victim’s successor Ruben Baloyan filed a motion for
another examination of Vardan Petrosyan because he did not attend the
previous hearing and did not have an opportunity to ask him questions.

Vardan Petrosyan’s advocate objected, announcing that his client does
not want to make a testimony.

Vardan Petrosyan himself announced: “I have nothing to say in the
court room, I will answer Arthur Hakobyan’s questions looking into
his eyes, sooner or later I will be set free and I will go to them.”

“How should we understand this, he killed two kids, I was not here, he
came and told lies and now he does not want to answer our questions,”
Arthur Hakobyan said.

Listening to the opinions of the sides, the court granted the motion
of the aggrieved party and allowed them to ask questions to Vardan
Petrosyan.

However, the latter refused to answer Arthur Hakobyan’s questions,
promising to answer all the questions outside the court.

“Arthur, I will answer your questions but outside here. Your questions
asked in court will be different from the ones you will ask be asking
outside,” Vardan Petrosyan said.

Afterwards the forensic expert who carried out the forensic study
of the crashed cars spoke. The expert said the Niva car was fully
examined on the police penalty ground.

Answering the questions of Vardan Petrosyan’s advocate Nikolay
Baghdasaryan, he said according to the findings of the forensic study,
the reverse lights of Niva car were on during the accident. He also
confirmed that the Niva car did not have side mirrors. In this respect,
the expert said the investigative body did not ask a question to
the expert on mirrors. Vardan Petrosyan’s defender said, however,
the expert had to find out whether the mirrors had been in place
irrespective of all because it could have caused an accident.

“And they did not find it out, and later I will say why,” the defender
announced.

It became known from the expert’s examination that the forensic study
did not cover the technical safety of the autogas container installed
in the trunk of the Niva car. And since the gas container had not been
covered by the forensic study, the court dismissed all the questions
of the defender.

Ruben Baloyan suggested that the court ban questions regarding the
gas container.

“We all understand very well that the gas container had nothing to do
with the death of the kids, this issue is brought up for reporters,”
the advocate of the aggrieved party announced.

Nikolay Baghdasaryan smiled in answer to his colleague’s observation,
which angered the father of one of the kids, Arthur Hakobyan. He asked
the court to forbid Nikolay Baghdasaryan to smile during the trial,
reminding that the case of death of two children is being heard. And
the behavior of the accused intends to drive him mad.

“I will not swear, Nikolay, Vardan, I will not swear. I lost two
16-year-old kids,” said the aggrieved party, adding that he can hardly
keep myself from bursting.

From: A. Papazian

KOKTEBEL JAZZ PARTY SET TO BE AMONG CRIMEA’S MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS THIS YEAR

The Koktebel Jazz Party is a festival devoted to supporting the
development of the Crimea region and will be the largest international
cultural event to be held in the Crimea

(c) Photo Koktebel Jazz Party 00:00 12/09/2014 Tags: Festival, music,
Culture, Jazz, Russian Ministry of Culture, Rossiya Segodnya, Dmitry
Kiselev,Koktebel, UK, Armenia, Germany, India, United States, Israel,
Brazil, Belgium, Netherlands, Russia

Related News

Rossiya Segodnya Hosts Koktebel Jazz Pre-Party Koktebel Jazz Festival
Pre-Party to take place in Moscow REVIEW: Koktebel Jazz Party to Draw
Music Lover Around the World to Crimea

MOSCOW, September 12 (RIA Novosti) – The Koktebel Jazz Party, a
festival that is being organized by the news agency Rossiya Segodnya
with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation,
will be the first major international cultural event to be held
in Crimea.

The festival will be held from September 12-15, and the best jazz
groups from across Russia, as well as artists from Brazil, the United
States, Israel, Britain, India, Armenia, Germany, Belgium and the
Netherlands will perform at multiple venues. Tickets will be sold
to the concert which will take place on the main stage; the proceeds
will go to support the development of the Crimea region.

A breath of new life for jazz in Koktebel.

“I took part in organizing the Koktebel Jazz Festival along with my
Ukrainian friends in 2003; jazz has been popular in the city ever
since,” noted Dmitri Kiselev, Director General of Rossiya Segodnya.

“The 12th annual festival was set to take place this year, but due
to the recent events, the guys were forced to move it to the Odessa
region. Koktebel cannot be left without jazz, and so the Koktebel Jazz
Party will take place to give jazz in the city a breath of new life,”
Kiselev said.

Kiselev recalled that the first Koktebel Jazz Festival in 2003 was
dedicated to the reconstruction of Voloshin’s House, the museum devoted
to the Russian poet Maksim Voloshin. “At that time we had organized
the festival on a single stage; everyone liked it, and we decided to
continue the tradition. As a result it has become a huge festival,
probably one of the largest in the former Soviet Union. Our task
right now is to pick up the baton. We wish our Ukrainian friends and
colleagues all the best in carrying out the Koktebel Jazz Festival
being held in the Odessa Region,” Kiselev said.

Kiselev noted that the Koktebel Jazz Party will be the largest
international cultural event to be held in the Crimea. The event
will take place in several venues, where the audience will be able
to enjoy high-quality music, get acquainted with contemporary jazz
trends, and hear some of their all-time favorite artists.

Each day between 6 and 11 p.m., the main stage, an open air venue
located on the beach, will gather the brightest stars of jazz,
including Peter Vostokov’s Big Jazz Orchestra, Anton Gorbunov’s jazz
quintet, Andrei Kondakov and the Brazil All-Stars, Denis Shvytov and
his program “Silver Woman,” Huun-Huur-Tu, Anna Klesun and the group
Esh, Vladimir Ivanov and the group Ornithology, the Ivan Farmakovsky
Quartet, the Alex Hutchings Band, the Vahagn Hayrapteyan and Anna
Buturlina Quartet, Club des Belugas, JVL Big Band, Sergei Kolovnya
and Karina Kozhevnikova. Particularly noteworthy headliners for the
festival are Yakov Okun and the Deborah Brown International Jazz
Quintet, Valery Ponomarev, the We Remember Art Blakey sextet, Tom
Harrell, and the Jamal Thomas Band.

Opportunities for young talent

The Koktebel Jazz Party will not only allow audiences to enjoy
world-renowned musicians, but will also offer opportunities for
young talent to be heard. One of the sites at the festival will
be devoted to young musicians. A competition for the selection of
participants took place earlier, and a jury determined who would go
to the festival. Audiences can enjoy the performances of the winners
on the open stage on September 13 and 14 between 2:30 and 5:30 in
the afternoon.

Additionally, another stage will be open on the courtyard of Voloshin’s
House, especially for lovers of classic blues and jazz. In addition to
the performance of the Korvin and Fagot duet, the stage will host the
opening and closing ceremonies of the festival, as well as a lecture
on the topic, ‘Today he plays jazz -A History of Soviet, Russian,
and International Jazz’, accompanied by the Sergei Golovnya Quintet.

One of the Koktebel Jazz Party’s main objectives is to change people’s
attitudes toward jazz, and to show that it is not an outdated trend
of music, as believed by some. Golovnya, the lead art director of
the festival, noted: “We have tried to create a real jazz festival,
to get people in a real jazz mood.”

JSC Rossetti is the general partner of the Koktebel Jazz Party. JSC
Russian Railways is an official partner. The official air carrier is
Transaero. The official ticket partner isParter.ru

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA FRIGHTENED BY WEST-RUSSIA RELATIONS ESCALATION

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 11 2014

11 September 2014, 11:00 (GMT+05:00)
By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Escalation of West-Russia relations poses a real threat to Armenia
which depends on its giant northern neighbor politically and
economically.

West’s sanctions against Russian would fire back. Russia changed its
state of the market, attracting new investors. Tension is on therise
and no one can predict the possible results.

This has put the Caucasus country in a great panic. Armenia made
its final decision to join the Eurasian Economic Union and quite
obviously the economic difficulties facing Russia will affect the
Armenian economy as well.

MP from the Republican Party of Armenia, Co-Chairman of the Commission
for Armenia-EU Cooperation, is sure that the growing tension in
Russia-West relations is bad for Armenia.

Samvel Farmanyan referred to the current political turbulences in the
Middle East and Ukraine as sign of the new cold war. And Armenia will
have to experience tough conditions due to its undecided position
between Russia and Europe.

Farmanyan added that Armenia has always suffered from the escalation
of ties between Russia and the West, as each time, the small Caucasus
state felt itself at the junction of conflicting interests of the
world’s superpowers.

“In this context, I urge the political forces to stop dividing the
Armenian society into pro-Russian and pro-Western groups,” he stressed.

The government’s decision to join the Customs Union has divided the
society into two groups, one supporting the prospective membership
at the Russia-led alliance and the other one calling for proximity
to Europe.

Armenia pursues economic interests in the EEU and regards it as a way
out of the its current crisis. This comes as analysts predict a high
inflation rate following the membership at the union.

Still there is no unanimous opinion in Armenia regarding the EEU
membership. Some hail it as an advantageous step, while othersview
it as a step backwards.

From: A. Papazian