Author: Babajanian Karo

GAGOSIAN GALLERY TO PRESENT DAMIEN HIRST’S EXHIBITION

PanARMENIAN.Net
August 8, 2011 – 13:28 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Gagosian Gallery will present “The Complete Spot
Paintings 1986-2011” by Damien Hirst.

According to artdaily, the exhibition has been conceived to take place
simultaneously across each of Gagosian Gallery’s eleven locations
in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva, and
Hong Kong. It will include loans from public institutions and private
collections as well as from the artist. The exhibition will open in
every city on January 12th and continue through February 18th, 2012.

This is the first time Gagosian Gallery has dedicated all locations
at once to a body of work by one artist.

Hirst’s spot paintings are among the most distinctive in contemporary
art, a symbol that is recognized universally, cutting across boundaries
of culture and language. Beginning with the first spot painting
created in 1986, to monumental canvases where no single color is ever
repeated, to the most recent works, some of which comprise spots of
just 1 millimeter in diameter, this exhibition will present Hirst’s
“world of spots” in a truly global context.

The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011, a fully illustrated, complete
and definitive reference to all spot paintings made by Hirst from 1986
to the present will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.

“Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011” precedes the
first major museum retrospective of Hirst’s work, which opens at Tate
Modern in London in April, 2012.

Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol, England. Hirst lives and
works in London and Devon, United Kingdom. His work is included in
important public and private collections throughout the world.

ETCHMIADZIN OR MINISTRY OF CULTURE? SOMEONE’S LYING

hetq
12:23, August 8, 2011

It seems that there is a breakdown in communication between the Holy
See of Etchmiadzin and the Ministry of Culture when it comes to the
preservation of historical monuments in Armenia.

This is the view of the civic organization “We will not be silent”.

The group has issued a statement saying that while Etchmiadzin claims
that the Catholicos directed the Ministry’s Monuments’ Preservation
Agency to compile a list of endangered monuments, the Ministry now
says it never received any such request in writing.

Is someone passing the proverbial buck, asks the group in its
statement.

“It appears that cultural sites in Armenia remain neglected and
destined to self-destruction,” says the group.

The young activists have prepared a slideshow of monasteries and
churches in Armenia that are on the brink of ruin.

LA COMPAGNIE DU CHEMIN DE FER DU SUD CAUCASE ET LA SOCIETE GEORGIENNE DU CHEMIN DE FER VONT INSTALLER UN SYSTÈME DE VENTES DE BILLET ET DE RESERVATION UNIFIE
[email protected]

Armenews.com
lundi 8 aout 2011
CAUCASE

La compagnie du chemin de fer du Sud Caucase et la societe georgienne
du chemin de fer vont installer un systeme de ventes de billet et de
reservation unifie a annonce , le service de presse de la compagnie
du Chemin de fer du Sud Caucase.

Le communique indique qu’un accord a ete signe. Le systeme unifie a
ete developpe conjointement par les programmeurs des deux societes
sur la base de la plate-forme informatique Orion. Le systeme de
reservation et de vente devrait etre completement installe au cours
des sept prochains mois.

ARMENIAN, 74, KILLED IN TURKEY

Lragir.am

12:53:40 – 06/08/2011

The Turkish Dogan News Agency informed that on July 30 Arman Azak,
a U.S.-based Armenian, called the police from the residential area
of Bodrum at around 7 pm and told he was assaulted with a knife. The
police and doctors found Arman~Rs dead body in the house.

Forensic examination found out that the 74-year-old Armenian was
severely beaten with a stick and stabbed 30 times. There was a lot
of money and precious things in his pockets and in the house, which
allow supposing that the murder could have another motive.

126 FOOD FACILITIES TO CREATE SPECIAL PLACES FOR SMOKERS

Tert.am
15:10 06.08.11

Special places have been created for smoker customers in 126 food
serving facilities following a decision by the Yerevan Municipality.

According to the website of the municipality, it offered about 750 such
facilities based on May 17 decision about restrictions on smoking in
public areas to install special places for smoker clients, but only
126 responded to the offer.

Thirty-eight such facilities are located in Yerevan’s Kentron (Centre)
administrative district, 29 in Arabkir, nine in Shengavit, eight in
Norq-Marash, and seven in Avan.

CBC INTERVIEWS WILLIAM SCHABAS ABOUT GENOCIDE & HUMAN RIGHTS UNIVERSITY PROGRAM

Noyan Tapan
06.08.2011 | 12:47
Social

Featured this week on CBC’s Metro Morning radio program was
Prof. William Schabas, who spoke with host Matt Galloway to discuss the
Genocide & Human Rights University Program (GHRUP), and broader issues
of genocide in the world today. As Metro Morning is a program that
cuts through the heart of the city and beyond; connecting people,
neighborhoods, communities, diverse pockets and populations, it
comes as no surprise that they were interested to learn more about
the GHRUP, what it’s about, who attends, what will be taught and why
it’s important.

Schabas is Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the
National University of Ireland, Galway, where he also holds the
Chair in Human Rights Law. He is the immediate past president of
the International Association of Genocide Scholars and has been a
long-time faculty member of the GHRUP where he teaches Genocide and
International Law.

The GHRUP, designed and organized by the International Institute for
Genocide & Human Rights Studies, (IIGHRS), a Division of the Zoryan
Institute, is held annually in partnership with the University of
Toronto. The Program kicked off its 10th year at the beginning of
August, welcoming 23 students from 8 different countries.

For host Matt Galloway it came as somewhat of a surprise to learn that
a course on genocide held in the summer, when students are usually
trying to get their mind off some of the serious issues the world
is facing, has such a high demand and draws in such an international
crowd. To this end, Prof. Schabas commented, “It’s kind of a flagship
course; there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world. Students
do in fact come from around the world. I think that there are a lot
of students who are looking for a way to spend maybe not their whole
summer but a couple weeks in the summer to boost their knowledge and
maybe target them for a particular field that then they will develop
in their postgraduate studies…Here they are moving into what is a
very big, and growing interdisciplinary field that we call Genocide
Studies.”

Responding to why a course like this is important, especially
in the world we live in now, Prof. Schabas stated, “There is the
constant threat of genocide, and there are also the issues relating
to understanding the genocides of the past. Lurking within the whole
issues of genocide are broader questions about human rights in general
and about the various kind of atrocity crimes that, while they might
not technically meet the definition of genocide, are all things that
we ought to give attention to.”

During the interview, Prof. Schabas highlighted that while the course
does study the after-effects of genocide it also deals with genocide
as a preventative measure, “We are in the History Department, so in
a way we are looking backward. We’re looking at the past, but as its
often been said, the idea of studying history is so that it doesn’t
repeat itself, and that’s a big, big part of it.”

Discussing the future of genocide prevention and the reluctance of
world powers to step in and prevent it in the past, Prof. Schabas
explains that while Rwanda taught us that there is an obligation to
take action, the authorization for the action and the muscle to carry
it out still come from the leading military powers in the world,
who will intervene when they feel that they have to, will take the
appropriate action when they feel that they have to, but they won’t
intervene when it crosses their own national interest. This is where
Schabas hopes to see the holes in the protective net get filled in
the coming years.

The Zoryan Institute is the parent organization of the International
Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, which runs an annual,
accredited university program on the subject and is co-publisher
of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal in
partnership with the International Association of Genocide Scholars
and the University of Toronto Press. It is the first non-profit,
international center devoted to the research and documentation of
contemporary issues with a focus on Genocide, Diaspora and Armenia.

KOMITAS’ WORK TO BE FEATURED IN LOS ANGELES THEATRE CENTER FALL SEASON

PanARMENIAN.Net
August 6, 2011 – 11:51 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Komitas’ 10 Commandments and Colors by MIHR Theatre
and Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance will be represented at the Los
Angeles Theatre Center’s fall season, entitled Face of the World 2011,
to be held September 8-11, citfestival.org reported.

MIHR Theatre’s work has been seen around the globe in Czech Republic,
Latvia, Georgia, Russia (Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Tyumen), Egypt and Iran.

TURQUIE : ERDOGAN FAIT DE LA PUBLICITE AUX REVENDICATIONS TERRITORIALES ARMENIENNES
Par Harut Sassounian

The California Courier
Publie le : 04-08-2011

Info Collectif VAN – – ” La crise d’hysterie du
Premier ministre turc Recep Erdogan, dirigee contre le president de
l’Armenie la semaine dernière, a eu pour effet salutaire de faire une
publicite mondiale aux revendications territoriales armeniennes envers
la Turquie ! ” Un simple echange entre le President armenien et un
jeune etudiant d’Armenie ” a genere une tempete disproportionnee chez
les officiels azerbaïdjanais et turcs. Les journalistes des deux pays
ont essaye de se surpasser les uns les autres dans leurs attaques
hysteriques contre l’Armenie, accusant le President Sarkissian
d'”exhorter la jeunesse armenienne a occuper le Mt. Ararat et la
Turquie orientale.” ” Le journaliste armeno-americain Harut Sassounian
revient ici sur cette enième colère du Premier ministre turc Erdogan
qui demande des excuses a l’Armenie, après en avoir demande a Israël
et a l’Allemagne. Le Collectif VAN vous propose la traduction de cet
editorial paru le 4 août 2011 dans The California Courier.

Par inadvertance, Erdogan fait de la publicite aux revendications
territoriales armeniennes envers la Turquie

La crise d’hysterie du Premier ministre turc Recep Erdogan, dirigee
contre le president de l’Armenie la semaine dernière, a eu pour
effet salutaire de faire une publicite mondiale aux revendications
territoriales armeniennes envers la Turquie !

En deformant et en exagerant les remarques que Serge Sarkissian a
faites le 23 juillet a un groupe d’elèves a Dsaghgatsor, en Armenie,
M. Erdogan a cree une montagne gigantesque a partir d’une taupinière!

Quiconque lirait les mots reels du president armenien aurait du mal a
croire que ceux-ci peuvent etre la cause de la bave aux lèvres de M.
Erdogan!

Krikor Hampartsumian, un elève du collège de l’Ecole Chahoumian de la
region de l’Ararat, a demande au President Sarkissian: “… J’aimerais
savoir si notre avenir tiendra compte de la description du Traite
de Batoum emanant d’un diplomate allemand – ils nous ont donne
suffisamment d’espace pour nager dans le lac Sevan, mais pas assez
de place pour secher – ou si un futur verra le retour de l’Armenie
occidentale avec l’Ararat? ”

Le President Sarkissian a repondu calmement: “Tout depend de vous et de
votre generation, je crois que ma generation a rempli sa tâche quand
il a ete necessaire, au debut des annees 1990, de defendre, face aux
ennemis, une partie de notre patrie – le Karabagh -, nous avons ete
capables de le faire… Mon point de vue est que chaque generation a
sa propre tâche, et elle doit etre capable de la realiser, et de la
faire bien. Si vous et vos pairs ne menagez aucun effort, et si ceux
plus âges et plus jeunes que vous, agissent de la meme facon, nous
aurons l’un des meilleurs pays au monde. Croyez-moi, le poids d’un
pays ne se mesure pas toujours en fonction de sa superficie terrestre.

Le pays doit etre moderne, en securite et prospère. Ce sont les
conditions prealables qui permettent a une nation de s’asseoir
avec les nations du monde de premier plan, fortes et reputees. Nous
devons tous nous acquitter de nos devoirs, etre actifs, travailleurs,
et nous engager dans de bonnes actions. Et nous pouvons accomplir
cela très facilement. Ce ne serait pas la première fois dans notre
histoire que nous y parviendrions. Je n’ai aucun doute a ce sujet,
et je ne veux pas que vous ayez le moindre doute non plus. Nous sommes
une nation comme le Phenix qui renaît toujours de ses cendres. ”

Ce simple echange entre le President et le jeune etudiant a genere une
tempete disproportionnee chez les officiels azerbaïdjanais et turcs.

Les journalistes des deux pays ont essaye de se surpasser les uns les
autres dans leurs attaques hysteriques contre l’Armenie, accusant le
President Sarkissian d'”exhorter la jeunesse armenienne a occuper le
Mt. Ararat et la Turquie orientale.” Des adjectifs insultants ont ete
lances a l’encontre du president de l’Armenie par le Premier ministre
de la Turquie Erdogan, le vice-Premier ministre Bulent Arinch, le
ministre Egemen Bagis, le President d’Azerbaïdjan Ilham Aliyev, et
les ministères des Affaires etrangères des deux pays. Pour inciter
les masses, des manifestations ont ete organisees dans les villes
turques où des portraits du President Sarkissian ont ete brûles!

Incroyablement, Erdogan a eu l’audace d’exiger des excuses du President
Sarkissian. Le score du Premier ministre turc concernant les demandes
d’excuses rejetees, adressees aux dirigeants d’Israël, d’Allemagne,
et d’Armenie, s’elève desormais a 3 a 0. Erdogan ne devrait pas
retenir son souffle en attendant que l’Armenie s’excuse !

Avant de faire une telle demande scandaleuse, les dirigeants turcs
doivent d’abord presenter des excuses pour les 1,5 millions de victimes
du genocide armenien, et rendre tous les biens armeniens confisques,
y compris l’Armenie occidentale et le mont Ararat, comme suggere par
cet etudiant erudit qui merite d’etre honore par les organisations
armeniennes comme un modèle pour la jeune generation.

Quelle etait la vraie cause de l’hysterie turque et azerie? Erdogan
avait-il un mauvais traducteur ou tout simplement de mauvaises
intentions ? C’est probablement la dernière hypothèse. Il a prononce
ses remarques injurieuses la semaine dernière lorsqu’il se tenait a
côte du President Aliev lors d’une conference de presse a Bakou.

Erdogan a sans doute voulu impressionner son “petit frère” par
son zèle anti-armenien et fournir une fausse justification a la
communaute internationale sur le fait de ne pas tenir sa parole sur
les protocoles armeno-turcs et son refus d’ouvrir la frontière avec
l’Armenie. Il peut avoir aussi eu pour but d’etre excessivement dur
afin qu’aucun officiel armenien ne fasse plus jamais allusion a des
revendications territoriales envers la Turquie.

Cet episode montre que recouvrir d’un tapis les injustices historiques
en faisant pression sur l’Armenie pour qu’elle signe des protocoles
defaitistes, n’eliminera pas les griefs profondement ancres chez un
peuple victime. La confrontation armeno-turque ne sera pas resolue
jusqu’a ce que justice ne soit faite a la nation armenienne. Exiger
justice est la tâche de tous les Armeniens, ceux de cette generation et
de la suivante. Il n’y aura pas de paix pour la Turquie sans justice
pour les Armeniens!

En plus de leur gratitude envers cet impressionnant jeune homme et
le President Sarkissian, les Armeniens devraient etre reconnaissants
envers le Premier ministre Erdogan pour son hysterique reaction
excessive qui a contribue a porter les revendications territoriales
armeniennes a l’attention des medias internationaux et de la communaute
internationale!

Traduction de l’anglais Collectif VAN 4 août 2011 – 07:20 –

Retour a la rubrique

Washington Examiner
Aug 6 2011

Credo: Aaron Sherinian

By: Liz Essley | Examiner Staff Writer | 08/06/11 8:05 PM

According to the advertisement about his life, Aaron Sherinian lives
in Arlington, manages public relations for the United Nations
Foundation, speaks Italian, French, Armenian, Spanish and “English
when things are working,” teaches high school students every morning
in a Scripture study class and is a husband and father of three. He’s
also — as the ad says — a Mormon. Sherinian is the subject of a
video for the “I’m a Mormon” ad campaign run by the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before settling in the Washington area,
he spent a decade as a Foreign Service Officer and diplomat for the
U.S. State Department.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?

I can enthusiastically tell people I am a Mormon — exclamation point!
I most appreciate about my faith the fact that it is a faith of action
that encourages people to take their faith in relation to Jesus Christ
and put it into practice every day, not just on Sunday, and not just
when they’re on their knees praying, but in how they approach their
communities and workplace and how they can make relationships better.

Two Republican presidential candidates, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman,
are Mormon. Do you feel pressure to vote for them because of their
religion?

I don’t feel pressure to vote for any particular candidate, but I feel
pressured to be a smart, informed and active voter. I just feel like I
have to be smarter and savvier because of what’s going on. There’s so
much discussion about ‘Who are the Mormons and what does it mean to be
Mormon?’ It’s very exciting to be in Washington right now when people
are asking these questions. The last few months have made for the most
interesting conversations at dinner parties, Metro stops and on
Facebook. I think that it’s done nothing but help people realize that
we have a lot of getting to know each other to do, as Americans and as
people.

June’s Gallup poll shows 22 percent of Americans say they wouldn’t
vote for a Mormon. Have you experienced any sort of stigma associated
with Mormonism?

I’ve had to do a lot of explaining, but it’s always ended with more
understanding. Every time I see a poll like that I think, ‘Gosh, I
need to be a better neighbor and better citizen and a better friend.’

What do you say to people who have questions about Mormonism’s origins
or polygamy?

There’s so much of the Mormon experience that’s part of American
history that it’s interesting to talk to people about it. But the
reality is that the story of the church is really a global story. We
are a global people. More Mormons speak Spanish than any other
language. There’s tremendous growth happening in Africa. Mormonism’s
origins may be American, but our history and future is about the
world.

How much do you feel you have in common with evangelical Christians or
Catholics, for example?

When you have a conversation with someone about what their
relationship looks like with Christ, those are so valuable, because
there are different ways people understand to him to have a role in
your life. There are more commonalities than differences.

Evangelicals often say Mormons believe in legalism — that people are
saved by works, not faith. I’ve heard disagreement in the Mormon
community about this. Are people saved by works or by faith?

It’s not an either-or question. I’ll quote my wife on this: “People
can see your faith by what you do.” You’ve got to believe, but by
golly you better be sweating and proving you believe it at the same
time. Faith has got to be accompanied by a lot of sweat, or it’s not
doing anyone, or you, much good.

At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?

Faith is an action word. You need to have, cultivate and develop
faith, but faith is something you do as much as you feel or think. I
think service to people in your community and family is key to being a
follower of Christ. I think putting family relationships at the top of
everything and accepting everyone as a child of God are other keys.

– Liz Essley

news.am, Armenia
Aug 6 2011

Preventing new war in Karabakh is priority – Russian expert

August 06, 2011 | 01:21

MOSCOW. – There is little possibility of war in Nagorno-Karabakh in
near future, the head of Information and Analytical Center for the
Study of Socio-Political Processes in the Post-Soviet Space of Moscow
State University Alexander Karavayev told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“Although we do not have optimistic news following Kazan meeting,
Moscow is trying to support the process of diplomatic contacts between
Baku and Yerevan. Negotiations are in process, mediators are trying to
bring closer the positions of Yerevan and Baku,” said the political
scientist, adding that it is still unknown whether the parties have
agreed to new proposals put forward by Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev and how these proposals differ from the Madrid principles.
“In regard to future development of negotiation process, we might
witness a rather long stagnation that could end up with practically
everything.”

The expert noted that the most important task for today is to prevent new war.

“We should try to limit the possibility of war, so that it would not
become last argument of the conflicting parties. We must organize a
dialogue. The conflict can be solved on the basis of Madrid
Principles. We must create conditions for coexistence of the two
communities and then determine the status through a referendum,”
concluded Karavayev.