Author: Andres-Papazian

NUMEROUS ARMENIAN CHILDREN BORN IN 1990S GREW UP IN SHACKS – NEWSPAPER

December 07, 2012 | 09:17

YEREVAN. – Twenty-four years have passed since the earthquake that
destroyed many parts of northern Armenia, and especially Gyumri city,
but the disaster zone has not been fully recovered to this day. In
this connection, Iravunk daily interviewed the coalition government’s
junior partner Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law) Party (RLP) MP Hovhannes
Margaryan, who had experienced this disaster first hand.

“I, as an MP from Gyumri, find that there are two key matters in
Gyumri: homelessness and unemployment. After [capital city] Yerevan,
Gyumri was the second largest industrial city. There were tens of
thousands of jobs, which were lost. After the earthquake, 80-90
percent of the [city’s] large industrial enterprises were leveled to
the ground.

The children, who were born in shacks in the 1990s, sadly, are giving
birth to their children in the same shacks. Over the course of the
24 years, those children grew up in shacks, got married, and a second
generation is being born.

In this sense, I attach an importance that so much money was invested
[to eliminate the aftermath of the quake], and 3,000 homeless families
in Gyumri alone became homeowners in the past two years. [A total of]
420 apartments will be built in 2013, and this enables me to say that
this key issue will be resolved,” Iravunk quotes RLP MP Hovhannes
Margaryan as saying.

From: A. Papazian

BAKO SAHAKYAN VISITED STEPANAKERT GEOLOGICAL STATION

18:09, 7 December, 2012

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS: On 7 December Artsakh Republic
President Bako Sahakyan visited Artsakh geological station in the
capital Stepanakert.

As reports Armenpress referring to NKR presidential press service the
Head of State got acquainted with the construction activities carried
out there, the process of creation of material and technical basis,
providing with modern equipment as well as staffing the station with
qualified specialists.

Bako Sahakyan underlined the significance of stable and effective
work of the station, noting that it is one of the main factors of
development of the republic’s mining industry.

Adviser to the President Grigory Gabrielyants, minister of municipal
engineering Karen Shahramanyan accompanied the President.

From: A. Papazian

DAVUTOGLU SPOKE OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS IN TERMS OF PRECONDITIONS

15:49, 7 December, 2012

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Official Ankara continues linking the
development of the Armenian-Turkish relations with the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. As reports “Armenpress” citing Turkish Sabah daily, this
decision of the Turkish side was once more reaffirmed by Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu. To the reporter’s question
whether any progress can be expected in Armenian-Turkish relations
before 2015 Davutoglu declared once again that negotiations regarding
the regulation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can pave the way for
the development of the Armenian-Turkish relations.

Among other things Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Ahmet
Davutoglu stated: “We discussed the Nagorno Karabakh issue with
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov
in Istanbul. Presidential elections will be held in Armenia in the
beginning of the next year and in Azerbaijan in Autumn, 2013. There are
some difficulties, which may serve as an impediment for any progress
before the elections. On the other hand also the psychological
atmosphere is not suitable yet. As to the Nagorno Karabakh issue we
want the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue in
order to achieve distinct results.”

As per the Armenian-Turkish relations Turkey again speaks in terms of
preconditions taking no notice of the persuasions of the international
community about the regulation of relations with the neighbors and
opening the last closed boarder in Europe.

From: A. Papazian

IGOR KLIMKO: DUE TO INTEGRATED BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, ARMENTEL NOT ONLY RETAINS, BUT ALSO STRENGTHENS ITS POSITIONS
by Samvel Sarksyan

Interview of Igor Klimko, Director General of ArmenTel CJSC (Beeline
trademark), with ArmInfo News Agency

arminfo
Thursday, December 6, 23:49

Despite the analysts’ forecasts that the competition in the Internet
market of Armenia will reduce ArmenTel’s share, the company does
not weaken its positions. How does the company manage to hold its
positions? What new services will the company launch in the near
future?

Despite the growing competition, thanks to the complex approach to
business management, we manage to offer our customers such proposals
which are in the highest demand from the point of view of price
and quality, thereby not only retaining but also strengthening our
positions. In particular, ArmenTel has completed the construction
of the fiberglass rings, thanks to which the data transmission has
become more reliable. We have increased the capacity of external
channels and fulfilled a number of other projects that allowed
raising the communication stability and reducing the tariffs. Due
to the balanced investments and reasonable financial policy, we have
managed to offer affordable prices for high quality Internet to the
customers throughout Armenia.

Moreover, the company will go on working at covering the entire
territory of the country with the net of high speed Internet-access
by using the technologies of the company. Time has shown that we have
chosen the right way of development and today our services are the
most attractive from the point of view of price and quality.

Certainly, we are not going to stop and will continue introducing
innovation technologies, extending the net and taking all the needed
steps for our customers to use modern Internet services at reasonable
prices.

Now ArmenTel has two competitors in the sphere of voice fixed-line
telephony. How strong are the company’s positions in this market?

The fixed-line telephony network is a strategic infrastructure,
and its modernization is a priority for us. The digital network
provides big opportunities for development; therefore, since the
first days of our activity, we have focused on digitization of
the phone lines. In general, 85% of subscribers of the company in
Armenia use digital telephony; in particular, the two biggest cities –
Yerevan and Gyumri – are fully digitalized. Armenia is one of the CIS
leaders by the level of the fixed-line telephony digitalization. Many
services, which are traditionally considered to be prerogative of the
mobile communication – Internet-access, communication in the regime
of conference, sending and getting SMS – are now available to the
ArmenTel fixed-line telephony customers. By consistent upgrading of the
fixed-line telephony and offering the customers modern and solicited
services here, as well as in the Internet market, we shall be able
not only to preserve but also to consolidate the leading positions.

Has the company managed to attract private companies of Armenia to
cooperation after the free server provision campaign? In general,
how is this cooperation going on in terms of development of VPNs?

The company’s corporate customers show quite a big interest in the
service of free hosting provision: the customers receive centers
of data storage and processing without extra investments, and the
server uplink is 100 MB/sec. It is fair to note that ArmenTel is
the only company in Armenia that is capable to offer almost the
full spectrum of additional communication services to its corporate
and private customers, particularly, Hosting, Mail Hosting, Virtual
Dedicated Server service, Virtual Private Network. It is profitable
for the corporate customers to receive an access to their partners’
databases, traffic exchange, web hosting, mail service and traditional
communication services from one provider. This universality of
ArmenTel plays a positive role, as there are already many large
Armenian companies, as well as medium and small enterprises among
ArmenTel’s partners.

As regards the development of the service of unification of the
geographically-distributed customer offices into a virtual private
network, I’d like to say that this service is self-sufficient. To
develop it is to improve its components, for instance, to modernize
the equipment of data transmission and infrastructure, to increase
the speed, etc. ArmenTel CJSC will also shortly launch the “cloud
technologies” service. The relevant work with Microsoft Armenia will
soon be over and the customers in Armenia will receive an access to
the absolutely new and up-to-date service of cloud technologies.

How do you assess your work in terms of establishment of ArmenTel’s
image as a conscientious company?

First of all, the “conscientious company” notion includes honest and
responsible attitude towards the customers, care for their convenience
and satisfaction with the company’s services. The second aspect is
conscientious implementation of the license and tax obligations,
care for the prosperity and stability of the state, establishment of
honest and mutually beneficial business relations with contractors
and suppliers. And finally, it is the view of business development
prospects in the whole economic space of the country, i.e.

contribution to development of new high-tech sectors, establishment
of the whole sector of telecommunications as the engine of development
of highly effective economy.

From: A. Papazian

PREMIER: ARMENIA MAY HIT 7% ECONOMIC GROWTH TARGET BY END OF YEAR

YERAVAN, December 6. /ARKA/. Armenian government may hit the 7%
economic growth target by the end of the year, Armenian premier Tigran
Sargsyan said at a parliament briefing Wednesday.

On June 18, 2012, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan set a new 7%
economic growth target for the government, instead of the 4.2%
planned under the budget. Economic growth was 4.6% by the end of 2011.

The official statistical data available prove that the 7% target can
be achieved, the Premier told ARKA Agency.

According to the statistics, a 4.9% economic growth was recorded in
October 2012 against the same period of the year before. -0-

From: A. Papazian

ARF-D PLATFORM PROMISING – ARMENIA-BASE HERITAGE PARTY LEADER

tert.am
06.12.12

At a debate on the political platform of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) on Thursday, Chairman of the
Heritage party Raffi Hovannisian fully agreed with all the seven
points of the platform as promising.

He believes that each president and premier must put the points
into practice.

With respect to the points dealing with foreign policy and
Armenia-Karabakh relations, Mr Hovannisian indicated the need for
clarifying the foreign-policy points, with a focus on recognition of
the Armenian Genocide and compensations.

“They are national tasks, and I hope we all will put the proposals
into practice,” Mr Hovannisian said.

He is sure that the political forces are able to create a really
democratic state.

Speaking at the debate, Armen Rustamyan, Head of the ARF-D
parliamentary group, said that the ARF-D is thus putting on the agenda
the priority issues the settlement of which will put an end to the
continuous stalemate.

“This united agenda is necessary; it includes comprehensive steps
that will bring the country out of this situation. It is a route to
broad opportunities, things we haven’t managed to do so far,” he said.

The ARF-D’s platform envisages an election system that would ensure
the formation and change of power through free expression of popular
will, an end to election bribes, influence peddling, and a switchover
to proportional representation.

The platform also envisages the drafting of amendments to Armenia’s
Constitution before 2015, with a view to switching over to
parliamentary government.

From: A. Papazian

YOUNG PIANIST’S LOVE OF MUSIC AND DEDICATION PUT HER ON PATH TO SUCCESS

ARTS | DECEMBER 6, 2012 9:59 AM

By Serena Hajjar

Special to the Mirror-Spectator

MONTREAL – At age 17, Alina Israilian has already accomplished what
most serious pianists only dream of: playing at Carnegie Hall –
at age 11, no less.

“It was everything I’d dreamed of in one place,” she recalled.

In addition, she has been a recipient of the McGill Conservatory
Vera Black Scholarship for the last two years. Yet despite these
accomplishments, Israilian’s warm, welcoming smile and jovial demeanor
have not changed.

Born in Toronto and raised in Laval, Montreal, Israilian attended
her first piano lesson at the age of 4, under the direction of
Tina Kakabedze. In 2003, at 7, she participated in her first piano
competition; two years later, she won the second place prize in the
9-year-old category at the Canada Music Competition. At the 2006 World
Piano Competition in Cincinnati, she placed second, and was awarded
the prize to play at Carnegie Hall. “It was very exciting. I don’t
think I was aware that I was playing at Carnegie Hall, but now that
I look back, it’s, ‘Oh my God, I played there,'” she recalls.

To top it all off, she has taken some master classes from renowned
pianist Anton Kuerti and Prof. Marc Durand.

Israilian’s musical heroes are pianists Vladimir Ashkenazy, Martha
Argerich and Jan Lisiecki. She enjoys playing pieces from the Romantic
Era, and says that she recently “started to expand my view on classical
music, from the Classical period” after playing Beethoven’s Third
Piano Concerto. While her favorite piece to play is Chopin’s Etude
No. 3, she noted she would love to learn Brahms’ First Piano Concerto.

Israilian says her parents are her inspiration, acknowledging the
invaluable role they have played in her career. “They encourage me a
lot. They’re great supporters. They just love music,” she says. “We
attend concerts together, we share opinions on concerts, everything.”

She says her father often reminds her to live in the moment and take
advantage of the time she has now: “When there’s an opportunity, I
have to open my eyes…if I really want something, I should go get it.”

Israilian hopes to inspire young musicians to commit to their goals
and remain optimistic. She adds more to the generic response of “try
your hardest and dream big.” She advises those seeking a career in
music to “always practice. After the practice there’s always something
good that comes out. … If they work hard when they’re young, when
they’re older they can look back and they’ll live the life they always
wanted.” In fact, she cites an anecdote from her own experience to
prove how much she values practicing. While preparing for the Canadian
Music Competition, Israilian, who was 12 at the time, began feeling
pain in her hands from playing the big chords in Rachmaninoff’s Second
Piano Concerto. After a visit to the doctor, Israilian was forced to
change her piece, with only two months left before the competition.

During that time, Israilian practiced diligently. “I was determined,
I was motivated, and I got the piece, it was ready… I played it at
the competition and I really liked my performance. That just proved
that if I practice and if I set my mind to something, I could really
get some good results. And anything is possible if you practice

hard,” she said. A recent graduate of Ecole Internationale (high
school) in Laval, Israilian is currently pursuing a double major
in university. She studies music at the Conservatoire de Musique
de Montreal under the guidance of Andre Laplante and business at
Marianopolis – an odd combination indeed. Israilian is not interested
solely in the performance aspect of being a pianist. She is curious
about the “behind-the-scenes” portion of staging a concert, and
believes a business degree will enable her to do her own marketing
and managing. Although the business studies are usually completed in
two years, Israilian has opted to spend three years on the program
“so that I can focus more on music.”

When she is not at the piano – she anticipates spending up to 5 hours
a day practicing this year – Israilian enjoys traveling, hiking and
reading. She windsurfs, too, when on vacation in a tropical island. On
top of that, she plays another instrument – a vocal one. She sings
in the Nor Dzaghig (New Flower) Armenian choir.

Israilian has also been a member of the Garni Armenian dance group
for the past five years.

For Israilian, the best part of being a pianist is playing both solo
and with an orchestra. “When I play with the orchestra, I feel like
I’m guiding this music and there are 40, 50 musicians following my
lead…Playing solo, I get into my own bubble, my own world … and
make the best music I can. I just love it.” She only wishes that more
people would appreciate the beauty of classical music. “I just find
it too bad, you know. It’s a great thing, classical music.”

Israilian plans to participate in more competitions this coming year,
including international ones. She hopes to have the opportunity to play
at a concert with her younger sisters, who play the piano and violin.

In the meantime, Israilian is living by the wise words of her father.

“I’m never going to be, say, 17 again. I have to take advantage of
the time I have now. It’s a great age; I can accomplish a lot.”

From: A. Papazian

NOVEL PORTRAYS ARMENIAN FAMILY IN NAZI-OCCUPIED PARIS

ARTS | DECEMBER 6, 2012 10:09 AM

All the Light There Was by Nancy Kricorian. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

2013. 288 pp. $24. ISBN-978-0-547-93994-0

By Daphne Abeel

Special to the Mirror-Spectator

Novelist Nancy Kricorian has chosen a somewhat unusual setting for
her newest novel. Her story focuses on the plight of the Pegorian
family and their Armenian community – all refugees from the Armenian
Genocide – who have sought a better and safer life in Paris. But
history and violence catch up with them again as they struggle to
survive the Nazi invasion and occupation of France during World War II.

Kricorian, a fluid writer, has researched the background for her story
with great care and bases her plot on those Armenians who joined
the French Communist Resistance, inspired by Missak Manouchian,
an Armenian poet, who was ultimately killed with 22 members of his
group by the Germans in 1944. To document her fiction, Kricorian
traveled to Paris several times and interviewed Armenians who had
lived through the Occupation. She was even able to contact one of
the few surviving members of the Manouchian group.

Her protagonist is a teenaged girl, Maral Pegorian, the daughter of a
shoemaker, and his wife, Azniv, the latter struggling to contribute
to the family income with her sewing. The rest of the household is
composed of Maral’s aunt, Shakeh, and Maral’s somewhat older brother,
Missak, who soon involves himself in Resistance activities with his
activist friend, Zaven Kacherian.

Kricorian vividly paints the circumstances of Paris at the time,
especially the constant struggle to obtain food. The family exists
to a large degree on a diet of turnips and rutabagas, supplemented
occasionally by other vegetables or perhaps a chicken. The streets
are flooded with German soldiers and officers who attempt to opportune
Maral and her friends.

An important strand in the novel’s plot is the developing romance
between Maral and Zaven, as he becomes more and more deeply involved
in the activities of the Resistance. He and Maral’s brother, Missak,
take many risks, joining demonstrations, scribbling anti-Nazi graffiti
on walls and distributing pamphlets.

The Genocide surfaces, in some respects, by its absence. It is present
in Maral’s father’s tight-lipped silence about the past and in her

Aunt Shakeh’s depression. Another strand of plot involves the help
the Pegorians extend to a Jewish family, the Lipskis, who have a
3-year-old daughter. When the Lipskis are swept up by the Nazis and
sent to a concentration camp, the Pegorians manage to save the child
and to smuggle her, with the help of Resistance members, out of Paris
to live with an aunt in the country.

An aspect of Armenia’s involvement in the war is represented by the
character of Andon Shirvanian, an Armenian, persuaded by General Dro
to join the German army in order to escape death by starvation in
a Soviet POW camp. Handsome and eager to connect with the Armenian
community in Paris, he is drawn into Maral’s circle with some
surprising consequences.

There are tragedies for both the Pegorian and Kacherian families.

However, Kricorian skillfully weaves the strands of the story to
downplay, to a large extent, the tragic circumstances that affect many
of the characters. It must be said she never digs very deep, but she
keeps the story moving in such a way that the reader cannot fail to
be engrossed in spite of some clumsy deus ex machina plot twists.

The real Missak Manouchian appears in these pages only peripherally
and, basically, off stage. Instead, Kricorian has created two fictional
Armenian families whose stories present a credible portrait of life
for this immigrant Armenian community as it strives for survival in
the midst of war and occupation.

After graduation from Dartmouth College, Kricorian lived in Paris and
subsequently earned an MFA in writing from Columbia University. She
is the author of two previous novels, Zabelle and Dreams of Bread
and Fire. She makes her home in New York.

From: A. Papazian

CONDITION OF TWO ARMENIANS WOUNDED IN ALEPPO IS NOT SERIOUS: REISIAN

17:13, 6 December, 2012

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Two Armenians were wounded in the
explosions in the Armenian district New Village in Aleppo on December
5. Press Secretary of the Armenian National Prelacy of Aleppo Jirayr
Reisian informed “Armenpress” about this. In addition he said that
they have been taken to the hospital. Fortunately their condition are
not serious. Also Reisian stated that the explosions damaged several
houses belonging to the Armenians.

According to Press Secretary of the Armenian National Prelacy of Aleppo
Jirayr Reisian nothing has changed in the city, notwithstanding the
people has to face with new difficulties. There is no electricity
in Aleppo since yesterday and nobody knows the reasons. Telephone
connection is not functioning properly. The absence of fuel has become
a big problem, as due to this the bakehouses do not work.

Clashes in Syrian lasting more than 20 months caused the death of about
40 thousand people. Unfortunately this number is increasing day by day.

From: A. Papazian

RULING OVER ARMENIAN UNIVERSITY RECTOR CASE DUE ON DEC. 1

TERT.AM
06.12.12

The dispute between the head of a major Armenian University and the
Ministry of Education and Science seems to be nearing its end, with
a new court hearing scheduled for December 17.

The Unifree organization, which supports Rector of the Yerevan State
Linguistic University (YSLU) Suren Zolyan, has said in a statement
that the Ministry has not so far provided an exhaustive answer to an
earlier question whether decision to declare Zolyan’s participation
in the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages (which
served as grounds for sacking Zolyan earlier this year) can be
considered proportional.

According to the statement, the previous hearing was held on December
5, Gohar Avetisyan, a coordinator for Unifree, told Tert.am.

Zolyan’s lawyer, Liana Grigoryan, reiterated the plaintiff’s claim,
i.e. to reinstate Zolyan as a rector, reimburse him for the outage
and declare Education Minister Armen Ashotyan’s decree null and void.

But the respondent objected to the proposal, as well as a commission
act for launching inspections at the university. The hearing revealed,
however, that the limitation period had expired for the violations
observed earlier.

Though the December 5 court session was expected to be the last, the
judge had to appoint another hearing before making the ruling public.

Speaking to Tert.am, Narek Samsonyan, an activist student campaigning
for Zolyan’s reinstatement said, “The proceeding shows that the things
move towards restoring justice, but I don’t know whether the ruling
will reflect that.”

Ashotyan signed the decree on sacking Zolyan as the YSLU rector on
April 17, 2012.

From: A. Papazian