Author: Babajanian Karo

TIGRAN HAMASYAN, MEC SYMPA .COURRIEL.PLUS
NATALIA WYSOCKA

Metro Montreal

7 fev 2012
QC

L’acclame pianiste Tigran Hamasyan se raconte. Sans stress. Degaine
de rockeur, chevelure ebouriffee, attitude relax… Tigran Hamasyan
est le genre de gars sympa, pas stresse, et ce, malgre sa renommee
internationale et son statut de virtuose.

Lorsqu’on le joint au telephone, l’hallucinant pianiste de 24 ans
rentre tout juste d’une tournee. “J’ai hâte de revenir a Montreal,
lance-t-il d’emblee. J’adore l’ambiance, le public, la ville… Ca
bouge. C’est genial.”

Feru de Led Zep et de Black Sabbath, dont il dit tirer son inspiration
rock, Tigran souligne qu’il n’aime pas trop mettre ses compositions
dans une case. “Je dis que c’est du jazz inde, ou tout simplement de
la musique inde. C’est plus simple.”

Ne en Armenie, Tigran a grandi dans une maison remplie de notes, de
chansons, de melodies. “Surtout de cassettes. Mon père et mon oncle
en avaient tout plein.” Pour ce qui est des spectacles live, l’offre
etait moins importante. “Disons qu’il n’y avait pas grand groupe qui
passait par chez nous!” rigole-t-il. “Un des seuls bands qui s’est
produit en Armenie quand j’etais petit, c’est Deep Purple. J’avais
deux ans et mon père m’a amene les voir… mais il a dû sortir vite
fait parce que je pleurais trop!”

À 16 ans, ses parents decident de demenager a Los Angeles. Quelque
temps plus tard, Tigran part suivre une formation classique a la
University of South California. “J’y ai rencontre des musiciens et
des profs extraordinaires”, fait-il remarquer.

Le dernier disque de ce New-Yorkais d’adoption, l’acclame A Fable,
paru sur etiquette Verve, comporte beaucoup d’influences armeniennes.

“J’ai veritablement decouvert la musique de mon pays a 13 ans. Avant
ca, j’apprenais, j’ecoutais et je jouais exclusivement du bebop. Quand
je me suis mis a la musique traditionnelle, tout un monde s’est ouvert
a moi. J’ai compris que j’avais un heritage qui m’etait propre. Et
que je devais le porter.”

Amoureux de l’improvisation, Tigran dit qu’il est toutefois plus
spontane au piano que dans sa vie de tous les jours. Et de quoi
a-t-elle l’air, cette vie? “Tout ce qu’il y a de plus normal. Quand
je ne joue pas, je compose. Et quand je ne compose pas, j’aime lire,
aller au cinema ou sortir avec des copains.” Tranquille, quoi.

Tigran Hamasyan – solo À l’Astral, mercredi a 20 h

AMBASSADOR: EU WANTS TO LAUNCH NEW IDEAS TO PROMOTE QUICKER SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

Trend
Feb 8 2012
Azerbaijan

The European Union would like as a request of parties to
launch new ideas in order to promote quicker settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Head of the EU
Delegation to Azerbaijan, Ambassador Roland Kobia told journalists
on Wednesday.

“We of course support all objectives of the Minsk Group and we would
like also as a request of parties to launch new ideas in order to
promote quicker settlement of the conflict,” he said.

According to Kobia, these ideas are still being tested with the
government of Azerbaijan and with the government of Armenia, and they
will be disclosed soon.

“But first, we would like to have concrete development of these ideas.

But it is really to try to enhance people-to-people contact and to
generate confidence between the parties,” he added.

Kobia said the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus
Philippe Lefort visited Azerbaijan yesterday and had meetings with the
President, with the foreign minister, with the minister of justice,
minister of internal security and other actors.

“The main topics of the meetings were the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno
Karabakh conflict,” he said.

According to Kobia, as the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton
confirmed when she came to Azerbaijan a few months ago, the EU wants to
have more active role in helping the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijan
Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

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 and the
surrounding regions.

AZERBAIJANI DIASPORA SENTS HUNDREDS OF PROTEST LETTERS TO THE CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS

APA

Feb 8 2012
Azerbaijan

Baku-APA. The Azerbaijani Diaspora in the US strongly opposed
California Assemblymen Fuentes, Gatto and Achadjian’s resolution to
designate February 27, 2012, as “California Day of Remembrance for
the Massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku”

The Diaspora members have sent the hundreds of letters to the
California lawmakers, expressing their indignation over the draft
and called it “a real outrage, especially considering the date it
chooses to designate for remembrance”.

“It’s appalling that the California legislature will serve as a venue
to celebrate the killing of 30,000 Azerbaijani people by the Armenian
army, the ethnic cleansing of up to 800,000 Azeris that are unable to
return to their homes and live as refugees in their own country for
20 years now. This is a consequence of irredentist claims and campaign
of aggression by Armenia against Azerbaijan”, wrote the authors.

The Azeri Diaspora members also mention that the facts about the
Sumgait events of 1988 were distorted and obscured by the propaganda
and greater tragedies that followed, such as dozens of Azerbaijanis
massacred in Armenia throughout 1988, the terrible massacre of over 400
Azerbaijanis in Baku during the Black January of 1990, a genocidal act
of mutilating well over 600 Azerbaijanis during the Khojaly Massacre
in February 1992 – the largest massacre in the region to date. All
these tragedies caused considerable and irreparable damage to the
Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, and should be carefully examined,
with their masterminds brought to justice.

“The Sumgait tragedy, which killed people on all sides, should be
considered only in the larger historic context of the occupation
of NK and other Azerbaijani regions by the armed forces of Armenia,
displacement of over 800,000 Azerbaijanis, killing of a total of over
20,000 Azeris, and of course the gerrymandering of the Soviet Communist
regime with the lives of millions of people on their periphery”,
say the letters.

The authors also mention that Azerbaijan is a country with
well-recognized positive record of tolerance, where Jews and Christians
of all denominations, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Bahais and Agnostics,
have lived side by side for centuries. “Meanwhile, Armenia is a
mono-ethnic state that regularly jails Jehovah Witnesses”.

TURKISH MINISTER SLAMS SWITZERLAND OVER GENOCIDE DENIAL PROBE

Anadolu Agency
Feb 7 2012
Turkey

Istanbul, 7 February: Turkey’s European Union (EU) minister and
chief negotiator said on Tuesday that incidents of 1915 were “not
a genocide.”

Egemen Bagis said Swiss prosecutor should not lose time and investigate
himself when commenting on a preliminary investigation launched
against himself by the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office.

“I said that day the incidents of 1915 were not a genocide. And, I
am repeating it here today and I am basing my words on our documents
and archives,” Bagis told reporters before flying to Brussels, Belgium.

Bagis said Turkey’s history was always cleaner than that of countries
which dared to question Turkey. “Nobody should try to give us lessons
about human rights, freedom of expression or agonies experienced in
the past,” he said.

Egemen Bagis said Turkey had no hesitations or nothing to worry about,
and Turkey considered such initiatives non-existent.

Bagis called on Germany, United States, France, Armenia, Russia and
Britain to open their archives, and asked all historians to make
academic studies on the issue.

“Then, we, the politicians, can get the reports about history and
take some steps for the future,” Bagis also said.

Bagis later left for Brussels, Belgium.

Egemen Bagis will meet European Parliament President Martin Schulz,
Socialist Group’s leader Hannes Swoboda, Turkey Rapporteur Ria
Oomen-Ruijten and members of Committee on Foreign Affairs in Brussels.

Bagis is also expected to have a meeting with European Commissioner
for enlargement Stefan Fule and European Commissioner for Competition
Joaquin Almunia.

‘FRANCE TURNS FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION INTO HANDICAP OF EXPRESSION’

Today’s Zaman
Feb 8 2012
Turkey

Turkey’s Minister of European Union Affairs Egemen BagıÅ~_ said on
Wednesday that France has turned freedom of expression into a handicap
of expression.BagıÅ~_ said at a press conference in Brussels that
Europe has a dilemma within itself. “On one side there is an EU that
cares about freedom of expression in Turkey, and on the other side
we face EU members that turn freedom of expression into a handicap
of expression,” he said.

BagıÅ~_ slammed France, which adopted a bill that criminalizes the
denial of Armenian genocide allegations. “What France does is to carry
Europe back to the Middle Ages. An EU that is afraid of talking and
discussing does not have much to give to humanity. The EU, the most
extensive peace project in the history of humanity, must be braver.”

Speaking at a press conference after his talks in Brussels, BagıÅ~_
said that if the EU regarded freedom of expression highly, it would
then have to open two related chapters to negotiations. BagıÅ~_
criticized chapter 23 of Turkey’s EU negotiations deals with the
judiciary and fundamental rights, and chapter 24 covers justice and
freedom and security. The chapters cannot be opened because of a veto
by an EU member — the Greek Cypriot administration.

Asked what Turkey’s attitude would happen if the foreign minister of
the EU term president Greek Cypriot administration wanted to visit
Turkey for a meeting of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission as
a representative of the European Council in the second half of 2012,
BagıÅ~_ said: “If a comprehensive solution is reached in Cyprus,
we would be in a close working relationship with the term presidency.

If a comprehensive solution is not reached, Turkey will not sit down
at the table with a half state.”

“The Greek Cypriot foreign minister can come to Turkey as a tourist.

Turkey’s doors are open to everyone. Our businesses and shops would
be pleased to serve the Greek Cypriot foreign minister,” he added.

Meanwhile, BagıÅ~_ has asked German authorities to open up archives
about Armenians so that historians can investigate Armenian genocide
claims.

BagıÅ~_ said in an interview that appeared on Welt Online, that the
Germans and Armenians were close allies in 1915 when Armenians claim
the genocide happened. “I wonder what lies in the German archives. The
Germans should open their archives, and historians must evaluate them,”
he said.

RUSSIAN,ARMENIAN SECURITY HEADS TO DISCUSS COOPERATION IN YEREVAN

Vestnik Kavkaza
Feb 8 2012
Russia

Secretary of the Russian National Security Council Nikolai Patrushev
is on a two-day visit to Armenia where he will meet his counterpart
Artur Bagdasaryan, ITAR-TASS reports.

Patrushev will visit Gyumri, the second largest city in Armenia
(former Leninakan) and observe the 102nd Russian military base and
the Krasnoznamenny Border Group of Russia’s FSB.

The Russian military base in Gyumri operates according to the
Russian-Armenian deal. It has some 5,000 servicemen.

The Russian security chief will lay flowers at the Honour Hill, a
memorial for Russian officers who died in Russian-Turkish wars in the
19th century. The complex was opened in 2010, attended by Russian and
Armenian President Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Srgsyan. The Heroes of
Kars Complex will have a monument set, reconstructed by the Russian
Orthodox Chapel of Saint Archistratig Mikhail. Patrushev will visit
Matenadaran, a research institute for ancient manuscripts in Yerevan.

He will conclude the visit meeting Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

AZERI STATE OIL FUND ASSETS GREW 31% IN 2011 TO $29.8 BILLION
By Zulfugar Agayev

Bloomberg / Business Week

Feb 8 2012

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) — State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan’s assets grew
31 percent last year to $29.8 billion, the fund known as Sofaz said
today in an e-mailed statement.

Sofaz, which was established in 1999 to manage state income from oil
and natural gas, had revenue of 15.6 billion manat ($19.8 billion) in
2011, of which 9.6 billion manat was transferred to the state budget.

The fund spent $179 million building houses for refugees from the war
with neighboring Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and $256
million on reconstruction of the Samur-Absheron irrigation system,
it said.

–Editors: Alex Devine, Amanda Jordan

ISRAELI PARLIAMENT TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT RELATIONS WITH AZERBAIJAN WHEN CONSIDERING ISSUE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Trend
Feb 7 2012
Azerbaijan

Not wanting to offend Turkey, the Parliament of Israel has never
recognized the controversial events related to the Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire in 1915, which Armenia describes as “genocide.” Today,
Israel should not accept it because of relations with Azerbaijan,
conflictologist expert Tim Judah wrote in an article in the Jewish
Chronicle Online.

“After the worsening of relations between Israel and Turkey, the
Parliament Committee has publicly discussed the issue in December.

But, more than likely that Israel will consider this issue in the
context of the impact on relations with Azerbaijan when it comes to
making a final decision on this issue” Judah writes.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of the
Turkey – Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the
Armenians living in Anadolu and have achieved recognition of the
“Armenian Genocide” by the parliaments of several countries.

Trade and economic cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan is on the
rise due to deliveries of Azerbaijani oil and gas production supply
and the activity of Israeli companies in Azerbaijan, the Judah writes.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Armenians started a brutal war
against Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis, Judah said. Thousands of people
were killed and more than a million have fled their homes. Today,
however, Armenia is a poor country with a population of about three
million people, which declined sharply over the past 20 years, mainly
due to emigration.

The situation in Azerbaijan, which has been known as the country of
oil boom for more than a hundred years ago, is radically different,
Judah writes. Azerbaijan is on the rise again. GDP grew from $ 5.2
billion in 2000 to $ 51 billion in 2010. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov noted that Israel purchases 30 percent of required
oil from Azerbaijan.

It is not surprising that Israel consider Azerbaijan as a strategic
ally, Judah writes.

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 and the
surrounding regions.

LES RELATIONS AU SEIN DE LA COALITION SONT DE PLUS EN PLUS TENDUES
Laetitia

armenews.com
mercredi 8 fevrier 2012

Les relations entre les deux principaux membres de la coalition au
pouvoir sont de plus en plus tendues après le blocage de l’adoption
d’une loi majeure du gouvernement.

Le BHK (26 factions sur 131 membres a l’Assemblee nationale) a
annonce qu’il boycotterait les sessions du Parlement, en reponse
aux critiques du porte-parole Samvel Nikoyan du Parti republicain du
president Serge Sarkissian a l’Armenie(HHK).

La deputee Naira Zohrabian (BHK) a declare que l’atmosphère au
Parlement ” n’est pas constructive “. Naira Zohrabian n’a pas pu
terminer son discours, car son micro a ete coupe. Le plus important
des amendements porte sur l’interdiction des transactions en espèces
au sein des entreprises de plus de 3 millions de drams (7770 $). Le
gouvernement affirme que la mesure est importante pour la lutte contre
l’evasion fiscale.

Les deputes du BHK, dont le chef Gagik Tsarukian- un des plus riches
hommes d’affaires du pays-, ont rejete cette explication. Ils ne
prendront pas part au vote au Parlement.

Galust Sahakian, le leader parlementaire du HHK, a precise que le HHK
va pousser le projet de loi au parlement sans le soutien du BHK. ”
Je pense que cette loi anti-corruption, qui est aussi necessaire a
notre image internationale, va passer si elle est presentee devant
le nouveau parlement “,a-t-il dit.

La faction du HHK a l’Assemblee nationale a officiellement 63 membres
et est egalement soutenue par une douzaine de deputes theoriquement
independants. Le parti presidentiel peut aussi compter sur le soutien
de huit autres parlementaires affilies a Orinats Yerkir.

DIRECTOR OF TESTING AND ASSESSMENT CENTER (TAC) OF ARMENIA REPLACED

arminfo
Tuesday, February 7, 13:05

Head of the Armenian Government Administration has appointed Arsen
Baghdasaryan, Deputy Director of the Testing and Assessment Center
(TAC), Doctor’s degree in Medical and Physical Sciences, Professor,
to the post of ACT Director, ACT spokesperson Gayane Manykyan told
ArmInfo.

A. Baghdasaryan replaced Gurgen Khachatryan on the post of the
ACT Director. Khachatryan resigned voluntarily to take his previous
office, specifically, to head the ACT Department for Task Development
and Methodology.

Manukyan recalled that earlier Khachatyan said he had been appointed
Head of the Electoral Commission at the polling station No2 and had
to choose between the two responsible positions.

Gurgen Khachatryan was appointed ACT Director in 2010.