Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Azerbaijan to be admitted to NATO – analyst
Sat 03 September 2011 07:07 GMT

News.Az interviews Vafa Guluzade, political scientist.

What can you say about reports that the Pentagon-assigned package of
military aid to Azerbaijan will be some $10m to go for improvement of
opportunities of marine forces on war on terror?

It is yet another proof that the United States views Azerbaijan as a
very important state with which it is developing the geostrategic
partnership in the region. Development of the US-Azerbaijani relations
meets the interest of both states. And the assignment of $10m to
Azerbaijan by Pentagon testifies to the US interest in deepening
military cooperation with our country. The logical outcome of this
cooperation will be Azerbaijan’s admission to NATO.

Could you specify terms of the announced admission of Azerbaijan to NATO?

I don’t want to specify terms but I would say that it is about a
middle term perspective. The matter is that at the current stage the
United States and their allies on NATO are facing the fast of
overthrow of Bashad Asad’s regime in Syria after which they will set
about Iran and then the CIS countries including Russia. For this
reason strengthening of ties with the countries, neighboring Iran and
Russia, meets the US interests.

In this case, can the military aid to Azerbaijan by the United States
raise concerns in Iran?

Undoubtedly, it can. But it will not affect the US plans, based on
their own interests, rather than the interests of Iran or any other
country. Openly speaking, Iran is well aware of the US plans to
conduct a military operation against it and it is preparing to resist
this military operation. As for Azerbaijan, we merely cannot stay
aside of US plans related to Iran.

Do the US plans envisage shift of powers in Armenia?

There are no doubts that they do. The United States is planning to
reduce Armenia’s dependence on Russia and Iran for which they seek to
bring their protégé to power in Armenia. The issue is about who it
will be and which events will promote implementation of the US plans.
Russia is unable to resist these US plans regarding Armenia, since it
has no serious resources in terms of army or economics. Additionally,
Russia will face the issue of resisting the plans of the United States
and their allies in NATO, while in these conditions, Russia will have
no time for Armenia.

How would that scenario, you are speaking of, influence the
resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh?

The impact will be the most positive one. The Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over Nagorno Karabakh will be settled in case the indicated
US plans come true. The main obstacle on the way to its settlement is
Russia, which has created this conflict to have a leverage of pressure
on both Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Akper Hasanov
News.Az

From: Baghdasarian

news.am, Armenia
Sept 3 2011

WikiLeaks on Armenian PM’s joining ruling party

September 03, 2011 | 13:32

Armenian Premier’s decision to join the ruling Republican Party (RPA)
in 2009 strengthened both his and President Serzh Sargsyan’s
positions. It was one of the most popular opinions in the Armenian
political circles, says one of the WikiLeaks-published cables.

`Some pundits view the unexpected development as a move taken by
President Serzh Sargsian, the leader of the RPA, to shore up his
political base and keep the ambitious Speaker of Parliament Hovik
Abrahamian at bay. Others view it as a necessary move by the PM to
keep competitors at bay and to secure his job. Some speculate that the
President is strengthening his defenses in anticipation of the
inevitable political assaults should his signature foreign policy move
– rapprochement with Turkey – fail,’ the cable reads.

In two ministers – Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsyan and Finance
Minister Tigran Davtyan also joined RPA.

`When President Sargsian chose the technocrat CBA governor to be his
prime minister, many predicted that PM Sargsian would not remain long
in office, given his lack of political affiliation and benefactors in
the rough-and-tumble world of Armenian politics.

We believe that by bringing the PM and his allies under the protective
`roof’ of the ruling RPA, and placing the PM on the party’s Executive
Committee, President Sargsyan has effectively signaled that an attempt
to undercut the PM is essentially an attempt to undercut the RPA —
which he leads — and thus himself,’ the document says.

From: Baghdasarian

Panorama, Armenia
Sept 3 2011

Armenian President delivered speech in Dushanbe-hosted CIS Summit

People of Nagorno-Karabakh must carry out his right to
self-determination, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan declared today
in Dushanbe-hosted CIS Summit. When making his remarks on CIS
celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, President Sargsyan noted
that Nagorno-Karabakh also celebrates its 20th anniversary, as in 1991
people of NK declared its independence.

Serzh Sargsyan stressed that Azerbaijan has also declared its
independence with the borders of 1918-1920 – without NK. Hence, as the
President stated, the two peoples used their right to
self-determination, soon after which NK people have been aggressively
attacked.

President didn’t make any remarks on the situation occurred in the
beginning of 90s. He has just said that President of Kazakhstan
Nursultan Nazarbayev has himself witnessed it, who arrived in
Stepanakert in 1991 accompanying Boris Yeltsin.

Referring to the present days, President appreciated Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev’s efforts towards the peaceful resolution of NK
conflict and expressed hopefulness that those efforts would precede
and the issue would be resolved based on the norms and principles of
international law.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev refused to arrive in Dushanbe.
Experts say he expresses demarche against the Karabakh conflict
resolution process and Russian disposition in this respect.

From: Baghdasarian

Politkom.ru , Russia
Aug 14 2011

Dmitriy Medvedev’s status-quo and public opinion in the conflict countries

by Aleksandr Karavayev
[translated from Russian]

As we know, many questions of Karabakh regulation relate to acutely
debatable politological topics which not only do not have a synonymous
answer, but even a clearly unambiguous interpretation. This is what
happens when, instead of facts, observers are forced to operate with
mass media leaks and persistent public opinions, both in regard to the
positions of the parties, and to the sponsors of the regulation. For
example, in recent times, many have begun to share the opinion that
Dmitriy Medvedev has a different view of the role of Russia in the
Karabakh process than does Vladimir Putin. The author has also
repeatedly spoken out in favour of this view. Recently, such an
opinion – already in sublimated form – was heard from Baku. Our Ekho
Moskvy journalist brought back the statements of a local political
analyst, who believes that Putin is consciously blocking Medvedev’s
initiatives that are advantageous to Azerbaijan. But if the Russian
president had managed to bring the matter to signing of a peace
treaty, he could aspire to the Novel Peace Prize.

In principle, such political anecdotes become typical for many
long-drawn out conflicts. It is enough to read the Israeli press, for
example. But in fact, the discussion of the sympathies of the leaders
involved in the negotiations in essence becomes the only topic,
considering the rather closed nature of the negotiations. Commentators
deal only with mass media “leaks” and private discussions with
diplomats. Public opinion, in turn, tries to lay out this information
“on the shelves”: In whose favour the process is going. Thus, for
example, Moskovskiye Novosti reported on the eve of the Sochi meeting
on 9 August that Dmitriy Medvedev had agreed with a number of
revisions to the principles of regulation that had previously been
presented by Ilkham Aliyev. However, the public in Baku, on the whole
appraising the practice of Russian policy over the past 15 years,
looks at other facts and comes to the conclusion that Moscow is
speaking out “slightly” in favour of Armenia. The picture has been
formed of various elements. For example, Baku recalls the unlawful
arms deliveries to Armenia, sanctioned by the Russian Federation
Minoborona [Ministry of Defence] in 1993-1994. At one time, a
parliamentary investigation by General Lev Rokhlin shed light on the
impressive scope of these unlawful corrupt deals, as compared with the
low level of technical provision of Russian troops in the North
Caucasus. Another topic is the difference in the Russian and English
text of the G8 statement of 2010. The Russian version of the document
leaves out the word, “occupied,” as applied to the regions around
Nagornyy Karabakh (in Yereven, these territories are generally called
the “NKR security belt,” or even “liberated”), despite the fact that
they have an international-legal definition specifically as occupied,
which was reflected in the English language original of the document.

It is hard to say whether these facts are the result of a conscious
effort to play up to Armenia on the part of a number of high-level
officials in Moscow. But to the outside observer, and not only in
Azerbaijan, the result is clear.

Let us look at what specifically has changed in the policy of the
Russian leaders? We should remember the well-known “professional”
sympathy, established between Vladimir Putin and Geydar Aliyev from
the very first meetings of the two leaders. This made it possible not
simply to normalize Russian-Azerbaijani relations, but also to open a
new page in them. But, on the other hand, the trusting relations of
these figures practically had no effect on the dynamics of the
Karabakh process, and did not tangibly increase Moscow’s pressure on
Yerevan, or Baku. What is happening today? Dmitriy Medvedev is
demonstrating a sincere predisposition to the Azerbaijani president.
We will note that the support of Baku on the part of the incumbent
Russian president in the Karabakh negotiations publicly appears much
more emphatic, than that of Putin. Medvedev is deeply submerged in the
situation and, aside from that, Russian-Azerbaijani relations have
reached a new level and have become more multi-layered, despite
various foreign crises. But what has been the result? There are
practically no substantial changes in the Karabakh process, just as
there were none 5-7 years ago.

Moreover, we cannot say that Moscow does not have an intelligible
programme regarding the Karabakh process. The trilateral discussions
rest on the “Madrid principles” as the basic platform for regulation.
Moscow is still placing the main stake on internationally coordinated
actions (we may recall the statements of the OSCE MG [Minsk Group] and
G8 summits), and this is in a certain degree synchronized with the
position of Moscow in the Dniester process, where a similar attempt at
coordinated actions with Brussels may be seen. But here too, an
invisible barrier arises. If we judge by the unofficial statements of
high-level advisers on the staff of the Russian leadership, in the
corridors of the White House and the Kremlin they have a sceptical
attitude towards these projects. And this position is growing
stronger. It is believed that the only valuable achievement in
Karabakh regulation from 1994 to the present day has been the
suspension of combat actions. After a series of attempts by Medvedev
to “pump through” the negotiations with new impetus, the achieved
state of so-called status-quo is once again becoming a goal in itself
in Moscow policy. We are wandering in a circle. Moscow cannot invest
too much effort and energy into promoting the strategy of peaceful
regulation. At the same time, observing and fearing an exacerbation in
the negotiations, it is returning the course of negotiations to the
previous round, preserving its main achievement – keeping the
situation in a peaceful channel. This conclusion is confirmed also in
Medvedev’s symbolic interview, devoted to the anniversary of the
Russian-Georgian conflict. In it, the Russian president mentions the
reaction of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia to the conflict
that occurred.

“You know, when this happened, both leaders (both President Aliyev and
President Sargsyan) came here, to Sochi. Do you know what they told
me? They said: ‘It is too bad, of course, that all this happened. This
is a hard thing for the Caucasus.’ I said: ‘Very bad.’ But you know,
for us this is a certain lesson, that it is better to conduct endless
negotiations on what the fate of Nagornyy Karabach will be, whether
there will ever be a referendum there, how we should prepare the peace
treaty, than to spend these five days in war.” This was a very serious
lesson for them. It seems to me that this is a very indicative thing.
Why? Because, if we return to what happened then, if our Georgian
colleague had had even a little bit more sense, perhaps we too would
be meeting in exactly this way in Sochi, in Kazan, or somewhere else,
and thinking about how we can seek a compromise in mutual relations
between the parts of what was once a single state, but what is now
Georgia and the parts that have split away.”

Strictly speaking, it is hard to declare “endless negotiations” as a
positive strategy. This is sooner manoeuvring, preservation of the
tactical balance. Therefore, Dmitriy Medvedev’s activity in this
direction may be welcomed, but we must also understand that it does
not stem from some other “new” understanding of the situation.

Medvedev’s style lies in the greater amplitude of public actions,
unlike Putin’s. Medvedev has breathed new life into the trilateral
format of negotiations. He has given Armenia guarantees of security by
agreeing to prolong the discussion about the Russian base until 2044.
He has strengthened the multi-level -including military-tactical
-relations with Azerbaijan. But Moscow is not trying to “tie in” the
results of this process of drawing Armenia and Azerbaijan closer
together with the tasks of Karabakh regulation. In this plane,
Medvedev has not surpassed Putin, although he had perhaps tried to do
something.

Thus, in the strategic plane, the position of the Kremlin-White House
remains essentially unchanged. The public reaction to the topical
fluctuations of the Moscow pendulum is changing in the conflict
countries themselves. The public sentiment in Azerbaijan is sensing a
certain stagnation, and this leads to the increased level of
scepticism regarding the Russian president’s initiative. Naturally,
ultimately Yerevan will perceive this with a plus sign, even though it
understands the impossibility of getting the desired result by
remaining in a suspended state. The data of a Gallup poll confirm this
picture. According to polls conducted in 104 world countries in 2010,
Armenia holds fifth place on the list of the most pro-Russian
countries: 75 per cent of its citizens support the Russian course (7
per cent of the residents of Armenia have a negative attitude towards
the policies of the Russian leadership, and 17 per cent refused to
answer the posed question). In Azerbaijan, only 54 per cent of the
population has pro-Russian sympathies, but this is also a high level
of support, despite the fact that 19 per cent have a negative attitude
towards Moscow’s policy.

A uniquely paradoxical picture has been formed. The results of the
poll show that, on the whole, the volume of Russian sympathies in
Azerbaijan and in Armenia is rather high (compare with 6 per cent
support of Moscow in Georgia), and the local elites are also closely
tied to Russia by their interests. Therefore, Moscow may play the game
of “endless negotiations” for a long time, utilizing the resources of
pro-Russian sympathies, without doing any particular harm to its
prestige. Which is actually what is happening in practice.

From: Baghdasarian

WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 17, 2011 Wednesday

CSTO TURNED INTO A BLOC

by Alexander Gabuev
Source: Kommersant, August 13, 2011, p. 1

CSTO PATRONIZED BY RUSSIA TURNS INTO A COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY
ORGANIZATION; President Dmitry Medvedev visited an informal summit of
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

President Dmitry Medvedev visited an informal summit of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Unlike the formal CSTO summits organized once a year in December, the
informal meetings of the leaders of the member states of the
organization do not imply adoption of any resolutions and signing of
documents.

In any case, according to results of the summit in Astana, presidents
of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan
reached agreements that might transform the CSTO significantly. From
the amorphous organization that Moscow tried to pose as a Russian
counterpart of NATO for a long time unsuccessfully it might turn into
a strong bloc for combating of the threat being the most important for
all its participants now. This is the ghost of Arab revolutions that
roams the world.

Nursultan Nazarbayev who opened the summit with the rights of the host
announced immediately that “matters of global and regional risks for
security and stability of the CSTO countries connected with the latest
events in the world” would become the main topic of the meeting. After
the six leaders spent three hours behind the closed doors, President
of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko (Minsk is the acting chair of CSTO)
confirmed that for the major part of this time the leaders discussed
the ways in which the CSTO could help them to avoid experience of
their colleagues from Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Lukashenko said, “The fact that we should strengthen the CSTO became
the leitmotif of the event.” He explained why he understood the
importance of the organization the post of the chair of which he
rejected so actively throughout the full last year so suddenly, “Many
lines of activities in connection with the latest events in the world
appeared for us. Including those taking place along the perimeter of
the Arabic arch, the African north.”

Diplomats from several CSTO member states who prepared the meeting
reported that the topic of prevention of possible revolutions in the
responsibility zone of the CSTO was dominating during all preparatory
meetings. One of the sources said, “Whereas formerly some countries
perceived membership in the organization nearly as a burden, the
events in Africa sobered them up seriously and forced them to
understand that we were united by a wish to counteract to such
destructive trends.”

A half of participants of the meeting is also united by another trait,
a long stay in power, which makes them similar to President Ben Ali
who have fled Syria, Hosni Mubarak put to trial and Colonel Qaddafi
hiding in a bunker. Nursultan Nazarbayev has been the president of
Kazakhstan for 20 years (he has actually headed the republic since
1989 having the post of senior secretary of the Central Committee).
Emomali Rakhmon has been the head of Tajikistan for 17 years.
Lukashenko has had the power in Belarus for the same period. In any
case, the topic obviously rubbed President Medvedev on the raw. After
the beginning of the war in Libya in February he said at a meeting of
the National Antiterrorist Committee that “Such scenario has been
prepared for us earlier and now they will try to implement it.”

According to the sources, participants of the summit also outlined
directions of the priority measures for transformation of the CSTO
into a broad counterrevolutionary front. Some of them were voiced by
Lukashenko. He announced, “We agreed that we would work out
counteraction to the threats, primarily in the information and cyber
space by joint efforts.”

If we bear in mind the role played by Internet services like Twitter
and Facebook in the Middle Eastern revolutions, the wish of the CSTO
members to struggle against cyber threats in cooperation is
explainable. For instance, Nazarbaev raised this matter at the SCO
summit in June offering erection of the walls of “national cyber
borders” on the path of the “destructive web forces.” Some CSTO member
stated already accumulated a significant experience of blocking of
destructive resources like sites of the opposition or disconnection of
social networks and would definitely be glad to share this experience
with the partners.

Actions of the CSTO will not be confined to the cyber space alone.
Lukashenko announced that because of the difficult situation in the
world participants of the block “are ready to complete the process of
manning and arming of the collective forces of the CSTO.”
Interestingly, in 2009 Minsk refused to sign the agreement on
establishment of collective rapid-response forces and objected to the
principle of a possibility to use these forces for enforcement of
order in case of destabilization in one of the member states lobbied
by Moscow.

Thus, the collective rapid-response forces may become a powerful tool
for protection of order in the CSTO member states including protection
of ruling regimes. However, it is necessary to ratify the agreement on
such forces adopted in 2009. If all documents are ratified by December
like it is promised by Lukashenko, CSTO will receive a new
configuration.

Along with this, experts, doubt that CSTO member states will manage to
organize a really strong counterrevolutionary bloc. Editor-in-Chief of
Rossiya v Globalnoy Politike magazine Fedor Lukyanov says, “If the
collective rapid-response forces receive a possibility to interfere
into internal conflicts, CSTO will become a counterpart of the council
of the Persian Gulf states headed by Saudi Arabia that acts in the
role of the main extinguisher of the revolutionary fire. However, this
is a two-side weapon and many countries of Central Asia and Belarus
will hardly wish to give a possibility to Russia to interfere into
their internal affairs. It would be sufficient to recall the
revolution in Kyrgyzstan when the CSTO could not do anything in April
when Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown or in June when the slaughter in
Osh began.”

From: Baghdasarian

Boxing: Raging Bull dazzles home crowd as Armenia beats `The World’

Boxing | 04.09.11 | 01:22

Photolure

By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow Deputy Editor

Current IBO bantamweight champion Vic Darchinyan (37-3, 27 KOs) fought
vigorously in front of a home crowd in Yerevan on Saturday night to
retain his title by judges’ unanimous decision against challenger
Evans Mbamba (18-2, 9 KOs) from South Africa.

The first professional boxing bout ever to be held in Armenia was part
of the `Armenia Against the World’ international boxing competition
that went 4-0 in favor of the host nation.

In the presence of thousands of spectators at the Karen Demirchyan
Sport and Concert Complex, including Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan, National Olympic Committee President Gagik Tsarukyan and
other senior guests Darchinyan, 35, dubbed `The Raging Bull’,
dominated throughout the 12-round bout against his less experienced
challenger Mbamba, 29.

The Vanadzor-born southpaw revealed his great ambition early on by
knocking his opponent down seconds into the fight. He kept punching
Mbamba hard all the way to the final ring of the bell, making it a
119-107, 120-107, 120-107 decision by the three judges.

Speaking to the audience after the fight, Darchinyan dedicated his
latest victory to the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s independence,
which is to be marked on September 21, and presented his belt to
President Sargsyan.

`I was going for a big punch…, but I was a little in a rush,’ the
champion said in an interview, making it clear that it was yet early
for him to call it a career in professional boxing.

Earlier, Darchinyan’s fellow Team Armenia members Azat Hovhannisyan
(w/c 55.5 kg), Hovhannes Zhamkochyan (w/c 60 kg) and Gabriel Tolmajyan
(w/c 59 kg) beat Sergei Tassimov (Estonia), Mikhail Gogolashvili
(Georgia) and Evgeny Fedorov (Latvia), respectively, in six-round
bouts. Hovhannisyan and Zhamkochyan ended their fights in knockouts,
while Tolmajyan won on points.

From: Baghdasarian

Russia to host informal CIS summit late 2011

September 3, 2011 – 16:28 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Russia will host a CIS informal summit devoted to
the 20th anniversary of the Commonwealth at the end of the year,
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday, September 3 in
Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

`I’ll be glad to see all CIS leaders in Moscow at an informal summit
devoted to the 20th anniversary of the Commonwealth at the end of the
current year. Official invitations will be sent through diplomatic
channels in the near future,’ he said during CIS leaders summit,
Itar-Tass reported.

At September 3 summit, CIS leaders discussed further development of
Commonwealth states as well as urgent international issues. The summit
was headed by Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon.

From: Baghdasarian

EGLISE ARMENIENNE
L’église arménienne Saint Guiragos de Diyarbakir célèbrera une messe
le 23 octobre

Selon des informations parvenues de la communauté arménienne
d’Istanbul, une messe sera célébrée le 23 octobre en l’église
arménienne Saint Guirgos de Diyarbakir (Turquie) dont la rénovation
est terminée. Après la messe de l’église Sainte Croix d’Akhtamar,
celle de Saint Guiragos de Diyarbakir sera célébrée également en
présence de nombreux fidèles et les médias. Des Arméniens d’Istanbul
et de la diaspora seront présents à la cérémonie. Le projet de la
rénovation de l’église Saint Guiragos de Diyarbakir est né en 1980 au
sein des Arméniens originaires de Diyarbakir et vivant à Istanbul. Le
coût des travaux, d’un montant de 2,5 millions de dollars est pris en
charge à 70% par le « Fonds Saint Guiragos » crée à cette occasion et
les 30% restant étant assurés par la municipalité de Diyarbakir.
Rappelons, que Diyarbakir n’est autre que Dikranakert la ville
arménienne fondée par Tigrane le Grand au Ier siècle avant J.-C.
Dikranakert fait partie de l’Arménie occidentale. Turquifiée, elle est
devenue Diyarbakir. Peuplée en majorité par les Kurdes, elle est
aujourd’hui en Turquie la capitale du Kurdistan turc.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 3 septembre 2011,
Krikor [email protected]

From: Baghdasarian

INTERNATIONAL THEATER FEST HITS DOWNTOWN
by Richard Guzman

LA Downtown News Online

Sept 2 2011

International Theatre Festival Debuts at LATC

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – Shakespeare wrote that “all the world’s a
stage,” but in Downtown starting Sept. 8, the world is instead coming
to two stages as the California International Theatre Festival makes
its debut in the central city.

Companies from Armenia, Ukraine, Germany, Canada and France are among
those taking part in the third annual festival that focuses on bringing
international productions to American audiences.

“This is a way to explore other cultures, to see all these cultures
in one building,” said Joe Peracchio, the founding artistic director
for the festival. “Theater is a good way to do that because it’s a
passionate exchange of ideas.”

The festival will run through Sept. 18 at several locations including
Calabasas and Ventura. In Downtown more than a dozen performances
and panel discussions are scheduled mostly at the Los Angeles Theater
Center with one show at the KUSC AT&T Center Theatre through Sept. 11.

The festival will launch in Downtown with the world premier of Komitas’
10 Commandments & Colors by MIHR Theatre from Armenia.

Using modern dance and live painting on stage, the piece is based
on the work of Komitas Vardapet, an Armenian composer, priest and
musicologist who is considered the founder of Armenian classical
music and is credited with helping to preserve Armenia’s culture
through its art during the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

“He’s like the Beethoven or Shakespeare of Armenian history. He held
everyone together through his work” Peracchio said. “And the company
is an edgy young dance theater company coming out of Armenia working
with a traditional subject matter, mixing ancient music with modern
theater and live action painting on stage.”

The company has performed in the Czech Republic, Latvia, Georgia,
Russia and the Middle East, but this will be their first time on an
American stage.

Feel It

In an email interview with Los Angeles Downtown News, Tsolak
Mlke-Galstyan, the company’s artistic director, said they are looking
forward to sharing their work with an audience that may not be as
familiar with their culture.

“By presenting something new to the people we create a dialogue
with them, which presents us new creative horizons and the audience
discovers new emotional horizons,” he said. “For example the audience
does not know Vardapet Komitas, but through our performance they can
become closer to him emotionally.”

However, Mlke-Galstyan said they are less interested in putting on a
history lesson and more concerned about reaching the audience on an
emotional level.

“We want them to feel,” he said. “I can say that the audience will
feel our country. They will feel the art which was created in Armenia
and at the same time they will feel that the art has no borders.”

Peracchio invited companies like MIHR based not only on their
availability, but also on what they could teach an American audience
and performances that would connect with people here.

“We’re looking for some sort of connection to another culture and also
the kinds of shows that have not been seen in the L.A. area before,
that would otherwise never reach this community,” he said.

Also having its US premier on Sept. 8 will be a performance from a
company that is closer to home. The Canadian-based Contrary Company
will perform The Cure for Everything.

The one woman show is written and performed by Maja Ardal and tells
the story of Elsa, a teenager growing up in 1962 who is discovering
the worlds of sex and rock and roll. Growing up in the nuclear age
under the threat of global war, she decides to speed up her lifestyle
before the world ends.

The sole Downtown performance outside the LATC will be at the KUSC
AT&T Center Theater on Sept. 10 with a musical story called El Canguro
(the Kangaroo). The piece is the story of a poverty-stricken Guatemalan
girl living in the rainforest of Tikal that touches on topics of child
trafficking and is told from the point of view of a mixed-race woman.

International Moves

On Sept. 9 the festival offers another US premier with Roadway Closed
to Pedestrians, by French company Macadames Theatre Corporal.

Based on street art, and with elements of mime, clown, dance and
acrobatics, the physical language of the piece, which looks at the
sentiments of love, is something audiences throughout the world will
likely understand.

“It is a story of an encounter soothed by poetry told through stills
from which the audience can find familiar situations,” said company
member Clement Chaboche in a translated email to Downtown News. “Our
goal was never to revolutionize the art of mime or performance in
general, but rather to transport feelings that will, I hope, reach
the greatest amount of people.”

One of the group’s other goals with physical theater is to be able
to travel and tell stories. The festival is an ideal venue for that,
Chaboche said.

“We find that the various audiences for which we perform are very
different depending on regions and countries they’re in,” he said. “It
will be a very enriching and rewarding experience to be able to
perform in front of a California audience. Also, our work is based
on street art, which makes it even more interesting to be bringing
our show from the street to the theatre’s stage.”

Downtown also seems like an ideal stage to launch the International
Festival, said Tammy Taylor, the festival’s executive producer.

“This year is very exciting,” Taylor said. “It’s a growth year for us
and Downtown is just one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in L.A. It
has so much diversity, so much art diversity, demographic diversity.

So for a cultural festival that is dedicated to bringing the world
together, it just seemed like a perfect fit.”

To further encourage dialogue, the LATC lobby will be turned into a
sort of festival within the festival with the event’s “Street Team,”
a collection of performers engaging in live music and art with dancers
and clowns.

“We hope people will hang out and start a conversion, talk about the
show they just saw from Armenia, from France and realize that the
world is a very small place,” Taylor said. “We’re all living on this
planet and there’s more about us that is similar than is different.”

From: Baghdasarian

THE CHRISTIAN GOSPELS AND THE FOUR EVANGELISTS COME ALIVE IN GETTY MUSEUM MANUSCRIPT EXHIBITION

States News Service
August 4, 2011 Thursday

MEDIEVAL GOSPEL ILLUMINATION AT THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM, GETTY CENTER
AUGUST 30NOVEMBER 27, 2011

The following information was released by the J. Paul Getty Trust:

The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, among the most
well-known texts in the Bible, offer powerful accounts of the life of
Christ and form the basis of the religion that his disciples founded.

Drawing primarily from the Getty Museum’s permanent collection,
“In the Beginning Was the Word”: Medieval Gospel Illumination ,
on display August 30November 27, 2011, at the J. Paul Getty Museum,
Getty Center, examines the decoration associated with the Gospels,
including portraits of the four Evangelists, and explores the varied
approaches to illustrating the life of Christ.

“The Gospels were considered of paramount importance and were
richly decorated throughout the Middle Ages,” says Kristen Collins,
associate curator of manuscripts. “With examples ranging from England
to Ethiopia, Byzantium, and Armenia, this exhibition traces the
tradition of Gospel illumination in Christian art and worship.”

Spreading the teachings of the Gospels was an important feature
of early Christianity and, as a result, the Gospels were quickly
translated from Greek into the many spoken languages of the world.

This exhibition includes manuscripts produced between the ninth
century through the seventeenth century and in Western Europe,
Byzantium, Armenia, and Ethiopia. In spite of this vast chronological
and geographical breadth, the main aspects of illumination remained
relatively uniform. Gospels typically contained a portrait of each
of the four evangelists as well as decorated canon tables. In each
manuscript, however, subtle variations are clear, revealing distinct
regional inflections and hints of the visual cultures that produced
them. For example, on display in the exhibition is a canon table
illuminated in Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman
(Byzantine) Empire, which combines architectural motifs inherited
from Greco-Roman antiquity with a rich vegetal design inspired by
Islamic art. Ethiopian Gospel books often opened with images of the
Virgin and Child accompanied by rows of Old Testament prophets and
New Testament apostles, reflecting the importance of these figures
within Ethiopian Christian worship.

In the first two centuries, public reading of religious texts formed
the core of both Jewish and Christian worship. This tradition
persisted in the Medieval Christian church. Books made for this
purpose were venerated as sacred, along with the other furnishings of
a church’s altar. Since few people in the Middle Ages were literate,
listening was the way most people received the information in the
Gospels. Excerpts from the Gospels were read aloud during daily
services and for particular feast days. Elaborately decorated and
embellished with gold, the manuscripts containing these important
texts had a ceremonial as well as a functional role in the services.

Later in the Middle Ages, with the rise of literacy, private prayer
books came to include readings from the Gospels.

In addition to portraits of their authors, Gospel books were often
illustrated with scenes from the life of Christ. Such pictures were
meant to make the books’ text more easily understandable and to
emphasize its importance. Because the New Testament story was widely
familiar, people were normally able to follow a cycle of pictures
even without reading the accompanying text. For this reason, Gospel
picture cycles came to appear also in illustrated books other than
the Gospels proper, such as books for the Mass and personal prayer
books. On loan from the Young Research Library at UCLA is the Armenian
manuscript The Gladzor Gospels, which displays a suite of stunning and
unusual images illustrating the genealogy of Christ. Although Matthew
and Luke list the names of the ancestors of Christ in their Gospels,
this theme was rarely seen in manuscript illumination outside of the
Armenian tradition.

“In the Beginning Was the Word”: Medieval Gospel Illumination is
curated by Kristen Collins, associate curator of manuscripts at the J.

Paul Getty Museum.

IMAGE AT TOP: Master of Sir John Fastolf (French, active before about
1420-about 1450). The Crucifixion and The Seven Last Words of Christ,
about 1430-1440. Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink on parchment. The
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. 5, fol. 16v.

From: Baghdasarian