Author: Andres-Papazian

ARAVOT: RUSSIA VS. TURKEY

news.am
Aug 24 2010
Armenia

In an interview with the daily, Head of Republican parliamentary
group (RPA) Galust Sahakyan stated either Russia or Turkey must have
influence in the South Caucasus.

“Politics has its tasks. There are many people who think Russia’s
mediation is not in Armenia’s interests. These people are sadly
mistaken. In recent years, particularly after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, Turkey and Russia have been carrying on a struggle
to wield their influence in the South Caucasus. It is of benefit to
Armenia that Russia won it,” Sahakyan stressed.

From: A. Papazian

IRAVUNK: TURK-SPIES IN ARMENIA

news.am
Aug 24 2010
Armenia

According to information at Iravunk newspaper’s disposal, a
Turk or Azerbaijani was found in Armenia giving himself out to be
Iranian-Armenian. Supposedly he is one of the Turks who used to live
in Armenia and were urged to leave the country.

An official source of the newspaper close to security agencies
confirmed that there are serious doubts that the person is of Turkish
nationality. He promised that he would do everything for the adequate
measures to be taken and facts to be clarified, the newspaper reads.

“This case fully conforms to rumors that many Turks from other
countries who used to reside in Armenia with Armenian names are again
settling down in the country. The matter concerns hundreds or even
thousands,” the article says.

The newspaper mentions that in fact they are foreigners and can get
diplomatic assistance. Besides, a part of Turks living earlier in
Armenia are uncircumcised to hide their nationality.

From: A. Papazian

DAVUTOGLU PUTS HIMSELF RIGHT WITH NAKED HATER OF ARMENIAN NATION

news.am
Aug 24 2010
Armenia

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu responded to the written
request of the MP from the Republican People’s Party Janan Aritman,
what Turkish authorities undertook to stop the exhibition of the
“Aghet” documentary on a German TV channel on April 9, telling about
the Armenian Genocide.

Davutoglu stressed Turkish authorities constantly notified their
German partners of the anti-Turkish events, organized by the radical
Armenian circles in Germany and even a day before the film screening,
Turkish Ambassador to Berlin Eckart Kuntz attempted to take adequate
measures in the German Foreign Ministry, Milliyet daily reports.

According to him, on April 13, Kuntz was called to the Turkish
Foreign Ministry where he was told that Turkey expects inadequate and
biased events related to 1915 should be stopped in Germany, as these
activities may be fraught with negative consequences.

Davutoglu emphasized Turkey will never remain silent on these
allegations. According to him, they will do their utmost to prevent
propaganda of Armenian thesis, all sorts of initiatives and events.

Turkish authorities step up efforts for the resolutions with unfounded
allegations about history not to be adopted by the parliaments of
different countries, Turkish FM concluded.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJANI EMBASSY: ARMENIAN ATHLETE REPRESENTED ARMENIA, NOT SELF-PROCLAIMED KARABAKH REPUBLIC

Today

Aug 24 2010
Azerbaijan

Armenian sambo wrestler Ashot Danielyan, who won international
tournament in Kazakhstan, performed under the Armenian flag, not that
of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the Kazakh Sports
and Tourism Ministry told the Azerbaijani Embassy in the country.

Armenian mass media spread information about the victory of sambo
wrestler, allegedly a citizen of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic, in an international tournament in the city of Uralsk,
Kazakhstan.

The Kazakh Ministry reported that Danielyan acted under
the flag of Armenia, and the relevant information can be
found on the official Kazakh website at westkaz.kz and at link

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJANI DIPLOMAT: ARMENIAN SEPARATIST LEADER’S VISIT TO LEBANON IS OF PRIVATE NATURE

Today

Aug 24 2010
Azerbaijan

During a visit to Lebanon, a group of Armenian separatists headed by
self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Head Bako Saakyan did not
hold any meetings with the Lebanese official circles, Azerbaijani
Honorary Consul in Beirut Nazih Gassub said.

The delegation led by Saakyan held meetings with the Armenian
communities in the Lebanese village of Anchar, which is populated
mainly by Armenians and representatives of the Armenian Church,
Gassub added.

Earlier, Armenian media reported that Saakyan and his delegation met
with Lebanese ministers, deputies and heads of local self-government
of Armenian descent, as well as the Catholicos of Cilicia Aram I.

However, Gassub refuted the information about the official meetings
of Saakyan and his delegation with the Lebanese side, referring to
the Lebanese authorities’ response to the official request of the
Azerbaijani side.

Regarding Armenia’s information about presence of the official
representation of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in Beirut,
Gassub said that there is no agency, both private and official,
which would named Karabakh and represented the self-proclaimed
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in Lebanon.

“Lebanon officially recognizes the Nagorno-Karabakh as part of
Azerbaijan’s territory,” Gassub said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.

From: A. Papazian

CAUCASUS MUSLIMS OFFICE: PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF KARABAKH CONFLICT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR AZERBAIJANI PEOPLE AND ALL MUSLIMS

Today

Aug 24 2010
Azerbaijan

Peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is of crucial
importance to the Azerbaijani people and all Muslims, Chairman of
the Caucasian Muslims Office (CMO), Sheikh-ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur
Pashazade said at the meeting with Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Cyril, ITAR-TASS reported.

The sides discussed prospects of interfaith cooperation throughout
the CIS today.

Pashazade paid tribute to the Patriarch’s activities, stressing that
he has “great authority” “not only in the Russian Orthodox world,
but also in the Muslim”.

Pashazade said he noted this at the recent summit on the 50th
anniversary of the League of Arab States held in Saudi Arabia. “Our
joint work in this direction is evaluated not only in the religious
world, but also by the leaders of nations. Not only the leaders of CIS
countries, but also other states’ leaders want to join our dialogue,”
he said.

“I am personally grateful for the support to our ideas on resolution
of the Karabakh problem by peaceful means. It is very important for
our people and our Muslims,” Pashazade stressed. He highlighted the
importance of the fact that the Catholicos of all Armenians took part
in the World Religious Summit in Baku.

“Sign of great love for your personality is that my closest friends
and my son attend today’s meeting. You will remain a great friend of
our people, our Muslims, and it is very important for resolution of
problems that we may face in the future,” Pashazade said.

“The relations between the Orthodox and Muslims, between
representatives of different religions, including the CIS, always
remain the focus of our meetings. I hope that this time also we will
talk about our plans for joint activities in Russia, Azerbaijan, the
Caucasus and the CIS,” Cyril said at the beginning of the meeting,
which took place in his working residence in Moscow.

He thanked Pashazade for the great work he is doing “as the supreme
Islamic leader of the Caucasus, as a man who has very great authority
in the Islamic world.”

“Inter-religious peace not only in Azerbaijan, but also in entire
CIS largely depends on your words and life position,” Cyril said.

He recalled the successful holding of the World Summit of Religious
Leaders in Baku in April.

“This meeting had a great positive impact on the work of the
CIS Inter-religious Council and also provided an opportunity to
transfer inter-religious dialogue from the purely religious to the
religious-state level,” Cyril added.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN: MILITARY AGREEMENT MUST NOT AFFECT KARABAKH CONFLICT

Today
Aug 24 2010
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan hopes that the recently renewed leasing agreement between
Russia and Armenia on the Gumri military base will not negatively
impact the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

“Official Russian circles argue that the treaty signed in Armenia will
not adversely affect the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,”
ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) Deputy Chairman, Executive Secretary
Ali Ahmadov told journalists today.

Russia and Armenia recently signed a protocol amending a 1995 bilateral
agreement on the Russian military base in Gumri, extending the lease
by 24 years, RIA Novosti reported. The document was undersigned by
the Armenian and Russian defense ministers.

The Azerbaijani government hopes to discuss the agreement with
President Dmitry Medvedev during his upcoming visit to the country
in September, Ahmadov said.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJANI RULING PARTY NOT BELIEVES IN OPENING OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN BORDER DURING NATO MILITARY EXERCISES

Today

Aug 24 2010
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani ruling party doesn’t believe in opening of the
Turkish-Armenian border during the NATO exercises.

“Both the Azerbaijani and Turkish societies have expressed their
views on this issue which is great importance for both peoples.

Opening the border between Turkey and Armenia is impossible until
Armenia liberates Azerbaijan’s occupied territories,” New Azerbaijan
Party Deputy Chairman Ali Ahmadov told journalists today.

Earlier, it was reported that Turkey does not exclude possibility
of a partial and temporary opening of the Turkish-Armenian border in
Sept.11- 17 as part of NATO military exercises planned in Armenia.

However, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu denied these reports.

Ahmadov said Armenia pursues a deliberate policy to harm the
Azerbaijani-Turkish friendship.

“To this end, false news constantly leak about opening of the
Turkish-Armenian border. I believe that the Azerbaijani society should
show respect and confidence to the Turkish ruling circles’ statements
that border with Armenia will open only after Azerbaijan’s occupied
lands are liberated,” Ahmadov noted.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the United
States – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN’S FORMER PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO UN ON WHAT RUSSIA WILL DO IN EVENT OF RESUMED HOSTILITIES IN KARABAKH

Today

Aug 24 2010
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with Azerbaijan’s permanent representative to UN in
1994-2001, Executive Director of the All-Russia Congress of Azerbaijan
Eldar Guliyev.

In your opinion, will Russia side with Armenia as a CSTO ally in
event of resumed hostilities in Karabakh?

The Charter of the Collective Security Treaty Organization has no
paragraph which would tell how to fight against any country outside the
Union and to do so on its territory. The Charter clearly stipulates
that the CSTO member states can help each other in repelling attacks
from third countries. Thus, the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which
Azerbaijan intends to return under its control as its historical land
in event of renewed hostilities, do not fall under the organization’s
charter. Azerbaijan is not going to attack Armenia. This means that
Russia and other members of the CSTO will never enter into a possible
war on the side of Armenia.

And what are your comments on the protocol signed a couple of days
ago to extend presence of Russian military base in Gyumri?

With regard to the protocols extending deployment of Russian military
base in Gyumri, we know perfectly that the base has remained in
Armenia since the Soviet times and there is nothing new there.

Armenians could only prolong the stay of the Russian armed forces,
nothing more. This should be taken calmly. Armenia uses it solely for
propaganda purposes, pretending that something will change after term
of deployment expires.

In fact, nothing has changed. The parties originally signed the treaty
for 25 years, and extended it for another 25 years after it expired.

And does this change essence of stationing Russian forces in Armenia?

Not, of course.

You just have to take account traditional Armenian-Russian relations.

And returning to miliyary base, I must say that it is somewhat isolated
and unlikely to be a striking force.

If you look at the issue more broadly, the development of
Azerbaijani-Russian and Turkish-Russian relations do not allow consider
extending the deployment of a military base in Armenia as some kind of
danger. Today, the economic interests of Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan
simply do not allow to change the balance of forces in the region in
favor of Armenia.

And I very much hope that Dmitry Medvedev’s upcoming visit to Baku
will clarify some issues, and everything will eventually fall into
place. And everything that Azerbaijani leadership does towards peaceful
settlement of the conflict are most correct steps. This policy brings
some fruit albeit slowly, due to the fault of the Armenian side. And
nervousness of Armenia, which is trying to create myths about the
Russian military bases in the country out of nothing, once again
confirms the course taken by the leadership of Azerbaijan is correct.

During his visit to Armenia, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
discussed settlement of the Karabakh conflict with his Armenian
counterpart. So, can we expect some progress in the settlement process
in the near future?

Given the rumors ahead of his visit that Russian president will bring a
plan to Armenia to resolve the conflict and put pressure the Armenian
leadership to make it begin to take positive steps towards Baku, we
can expect some changes. However, we should not think that everything
will be solved in coming months. Obviously, the negotiations are slow
and difficult. And the fact that Russia has his own game along with
advice from the U.S. can eventually lead to some progress.

And can Dmitry Medvedev’s autumn visit to Baku become a landmark in
this regard?

Once in Yerevan he signed the protocol to extend the deployment of
military bases in Armenia, Medvedev cannot come to Baku empty-handed.

For sure, he wil bring something interesting to us. And, in the first
place, we are interested in what is connected with the settlement of
the Karabakh conflict.

From: A. Papazian

TAMAR KAPRELIAN INTERVIEW

Beatweek Magazine

Aug 24 2010

“I’ve worked eight years on this record,” says the twenty-three year
old rising pop star in reference to her new album Sinner or a Saint,
which sees the light of day today. The singer-songwriter with the
unusual name was first thrust into the spotlight with a OneRepublic
cover, but her new material is all hers, and it stretches in more
directions than one might be expecting…

We’ve reached an era where there are a million different ways you
can get noticed, and yet here you are, you covered a OneRepublic song
and the next thing you know you’re hanging out with Ryan Tedder and
making an album?

I was working a couple months on just getting a bunch of material ready
for this EP that I wanted to do, I ended up doing this four song EP,
and my producer said to me when we were finished, “YouTube’s really
blowing up, why don’t you do a cover of a song that you really like,
put it up on YouTube, see what happens.” And I said sure, that’s a
great idea. And he was like, “OneRepublic has a great song out right
now, Apologize. I know that you love Ryan Tedder’s songwriting, why
don’t you just do that and change the key, make it fit with your voice,
do a different little piano thing. It’ll take you five minutes.”

So I did, not realizing that simultaneously, OneRepublic was holding a
“Do your own cover of apologize and put it on YouTube, and if you win
we’ll do an introduction to your video.” I had no idea that was going
on. So I did my video, I checked out their YouTube site, saw that they
were doing a contest and thought it was very strange that I had just
done a cover randomly. I posted it up on their page and two weeks later
I got an email from Interscope saying that I won the contest, the band
picked my video, and they were going to do an introduction to it, and
they did. A couple weeks after that I had a meeting with Interscope,
and they told me that they wanted to sign me. So long story short,
although the entire process has taken a little bit longer than that,
it’s taken about eight years.

Of all the songs that made it onto the record, what was the first
one that you wrote?

The first song that I wrote actually on this record was a song called
Raw. It’s actually my one relationship song on the album. The rest of
the record’s really about life experiences and growing up and being
comfortable in your skin and overcoming trouble and being a stronger
person out of a negative situation. Raw was definitely me one angry,
“I don’t like men” song. I do like men, but I don’t like men in that
song. And then New Day came after that. New Day was the second song
that I wrote for the record.

I heard New Day first, it’s an inspirational song, and I thought okay,
I know where this record is going. Then I heard Sinner or a Saint,
and I thought wow, there’s a couple of different things going on here.

When you write your own material and when you play an instrument,
you never know where the creative process is going to take you. That’s
the beautiful thing about making an album, you get to kind of explore
all areas of your emotions and your personality. Sinner or a Saint,
for example, is a song about having kind of a dual personality and
just having fun with it and playing with the fact that it’s okay to be
crazy sometimes (laughs). It’s definitely the edgier, kind of sexier
song on the record. But I’m proud of that one.

It’s interesting that you didn’t put any version of Apologize on this
record. I’m sure some of your earlier fans might have been expecting
you go to back and cover that. Was that something you considered?

I didn’t really consider doing that. Maybe it’s just something that
I’ll do an acoustic version of. I actually never really perform it
live, either. I kind of had a vision of where I wanted this record to
go, and each song kind of flows into the next. Very early on I mapped
out song one through ten and what I kind of wanted each song to mean
to me. I think it’s different when you release your first debut album,
you want to make a stamp for yourself.

I like that you’ve kept your real name. You could have branded
yourself as “Tammy” or something. Did you ever think about that,
or did you always know you wanted to use your real name?

I always knew that I wanted to stay true to it. My name is Armenian.

I’m Armenian and Irish, so I wanted to stay true to my culture and my
heritage, and I’m very proud of it. I was very close to my grandfather
who passed away three or four years ago, and I ended up dedicating
this record to him, and Kaprelian is his last name. So I wanted to
do something in ode to him. And something that he instilled in me is
always stay true to your ground and stay true to who you are. So I
wanted to make sure that I did that.

I keep thinking, how is it that a twenty-three year old pop singer has
a list of influences that are almost uniformly over the age of fifty?

I’m very lucky because my dad is the person who introduced me to
Billy Joel and Sting and Queen and Paul McCartney when I was two. My
dad plays guitar and piano, so he would play these songs to me as a
kid, and I grew up wanting to emulate my dad. I seriously wanted to
be Billy Joel. When I picked up the piano, I was like “I want to be
Billy Joel.” His songwriting, his ability to tell stories, I think
it’s amazing and I wish more people were doing that now.

A lot of times, when someone looks to the past for influences, they’re
kind of an older soul. Even if they’re still chronologically young,
they tend to be the type that would rather cuddle up with a good book
than go out partying. Is that accurate about you?

That’s so accurate (laughs). Honestly, I would much rather do that
than go out to a club, ever. That’s definitely not my scene in any way.

When I got to the last song on your album, I had to look up the word
“aleatory” to find out what it meant.

Aleatory is a song that’s basically by chance, and I wanted something
that kind of ended the record on a very positive note. And when you
listen, New Day is the next song, the record turns over and you have
New Day right after Aleatory, I just wanted something that flowed
into New Day beautifully. And eventually, I think I want to take that
instrumental and turn it into a full song, maybe on my next record,
and reintroduce that theme of things sometimes just happen. I feel
like a lot of what I’ve been through, I can’t really explain all
the people that I’ve met in the past eight years and how one person
introduces you to another person, and things sometimes just happen by
chance. I just thought that would be a great note to end my record on.

The design of your website, where you have to click on whether you’re a
“sinner” or a “saint”, where did that come from?

I love being able to play with the dual sides of the personality. I
think everybody has a little piece of that in them. It’s funny,
because Ryan Tedder listened to the full record, and he was like,
“Tamar, one song is missing off this.” He was like, “You are not
exploring your personality as deep as you should.” And I’m like wow,
that’s a very bold, deep statement. But he was like, “I think you
have two sides of your personality. I think you’re either a sinner
or a saint, and you’re in between most of the time.” And I thought
that’s an amazing song idea, that’s what we should work on. That’s
how the song got its legs. But I love how creative we can be with that
title, and even if you open the booklet, the photo shoot that we did,
there are pictures that sway both ways. I just think we can do a lot
of cool things with it.

Sinner or a Saint is going to be my second single, so it’s going to be
amazing to shoot a video for that. The concept of the New Day video was
wearing flowing dresses in a beautiful meadow, and it was definitely
exploring the saintly side of me personally and artistically. The
video that we’re gonna do for Sinner or a Saint is gonna be fun and
edgy, and a little more raw.

From: A. Papazian