Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

AZERBAIJANI KARABAKH COMMUNITY AGAINST SEPARATISTS PARTICIPATION IN NEGOTIATIONS

news.az
Feb 26 2010
Azerbaijan

Safar Abiyev "Safar Abiyev is the Minister of Defense and we are
soldiers.

We will fulfill all instructions connected with the liberation of
the occupied territories.

If decision on fighting is passed, then people will fight. But in any
case this conflict must have an end," Chairman of the Public Union
"Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh" Bayram Safarov said while
expressing his view on Defense Minister Safar Abiyev’s statement on
the liberation of the occupied territories by military way.

Safarov noted that the limit of negotiations on the peaceful solution
to the conflict hadn’t come to an end and underlined that he was
against the participation of communities in the negotiations.

"It is a war between republics. War is in the format of
Azerbaijan-Armenia Nagorno Karabakh. Community can’t do the work of
the state. It can only be engaged in holding social negotiations and
returning of the people to their native lands," he said.

As regards the opportunities of peaceful living of Azerbaijani and
Armenian communities in Nagorno Karabakh, in case the conflict is
solved peacefully, Safarov said that any person living in Nagorno
Karabakh and having identity card of Azerbaijan Republic is considered
the citizen of Azerbaijan.

"These citizens also have the right to live respecting Azerbaijani
laws like other ethnic minorities in Azerbaijan. We are a democratic
state," he said.
From: Baghdasarian

WHY THE STATE DID NOT SUCCEED

hos16938.html
12:47:55 – 24/02/2010

Stepan Danielyan: head of "Cooperation for Democracy" center NGO

Mr. Danielyan, what is your assessment to the situation in Armenia?

I think, the situation in Zimbabwe is preferable because there a
young nation is forming, their stereotypes do not have a history of
thousand years consequently they will perceive new ideas easier. They
have another privilege- they do not suffer from national swaggering
and institutions based on it.

The main question is what kind of country we want to build. And the
second main issue is what to do to build it. The rest is to serve
this idea. In order to be able to answer these questions, we need to
study our history and to see what hindered us to form a country. We
need to realize that we are a failed nation and have to seek for the
reasons in ourselves.

In my opinion, there are three main causes for our historical failures
– feudal system which eliminated the central government, our clerical
institute which eliminated the temporal power and the contradiction
between high human ideas and those declared "national". Only relying
on high values, a state can be formed. Today the history is repeating.

We need to know our real history to be able to correct the situation.

What are we doing now? Are we making reforms or an operation? Or we
are not doing anything in general.

Now in Armenia, restoration of the feudal system is taking place. We
have territorial feudal lords, feudal lords of different state
institutions, as well as those of various goods and services. The
state reform must eliminate the feudal system. Paying attention we
will see that the influence of central government is little by little
limiting. Replacing feudal lords became a hard task. We see the other
institution inherited from the history, the church, reviving and now it
is even forbidden to be criticized. The third historical enemy of the
state is the refuse of human values which are proclaimed anti-national.

In each country, the most rational structure is the government. Here,
it is just the opposite- the prime minister is propagating some absurd
and irrational ideas which he calls "Armenian world".

The Armenian TV air does not dwell on being a modern and vivid
nation, but a regressed and old nation having traditions. This is a
self-eliminating world vision. From this point, a new political force
in Armenia has to do what once Ataturk did in Turkey. I do not see
a political force in Armenia which would propose new discourses, new
world vision, new thinking, state and public terms, new interpretation.

Is the need for a new political force mature within people?

For me, people are a false category. People form society, nation,
state which are already political categories. When people are based
on system of values, a vital and developing governmental system is
formed which gives birth to culture and nation. Those, who bear ideas,
can force. We have to be a modern country with modern thinking and
innovations. Finland has a population of about 4-5 million, but it
is one of the most developed countries of the world from the point
of technology. Innovation centers in Finland are in villages. Armenia
is a country which has potential for it. Merely, there are spiritual
and mental chains which we are forced through text-books and TV. We
need to get rid of them.

There seem to be tries to form ideas.

There are tries but we are short of time. We are lucky that the
Armenian government does not decide the fate of Armenia otherwise
Armenia would have stopped existing long ago. Armenia is needed
geopolitically.

Are our villages possible to become centers of innovations like those
of Finland?

There are many dictatorial countries, where scientific centers,
universities and other centers of ideas are independent. Entering
any university of Armenia, you find a cemetery of thought. Here,
universities became the most conservative places. This means we do
not have future. Lately, the Education Minister visited a Yerevan
university and said student councils are to serve the church, as if
it was not enough to serve the Republicans only. The minister broke
the law.

Everyone wants to become modern. But how?

It is impossible in clerical system. The solution is easy: the system
is to be changed.

Interview by SIRNUYSH PAPYAN
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN CHESS PLAYERS IN MASHHAD TOURNAMENT

Panorama.am
14:14 23/02/2010

Sport

Armenian chess players Suren Poghosian, Levon Babujian, Gevorg
Harutyunyan have scored 4 points each out of 4 and are sharing the
1st-9th places among 226 participants in Mashhad tournament underway
in Iran, Armenian Chess Federation reported.
From: Baghdasarian

YEREVAN IN PREPARATION OF GIUSEPPE VERDI’S AIDA PRODUCTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.02.2010 15:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Last year was rich for the National Academic Opera
and Ballet Theatre after Alexander Spendiaryan in terms of creativity
and repertoire, Spartacus ballet staged Russian choreographer Yuri
Grigorovich being the main event.

"Spartacus became the brand for Armenia," Kamo Hovhannisyan , director
of the National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet after Spendiaryan
told a news conference in Yerevan.

"In 2010 Alexander Harutyunyan’s Sayat-Nova and Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida
by will also be presented to the audience," he said.

"For Aida we have invited famous Italian stage director Mario Corradi.

I hope this year will be also successful like the previous one,"
Kamo Hovhannisyan concluded.

Currently, two ballets based on works of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
and Johann Sebastian Bach are under preparation.
From: Baghdasarian

IRAN, ARMENIA TO CONSTRUCT OIL PIPLELINE, TERMINAL

Press TV
Feb 24 2010
Iran

Iran plans to construct an oil pipeline and terminal on its border
with Armenia to increase exports of oil products to the country.

Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Noureddin Shahnazi-Zadeh said the two sides
agreed on a contract for a 350-km pipeline that carries oil products
to Armenia.

Armenia will receive 70,000 barrels of oil products through the
proposed pipeline, he said.

Shahnazi-Zadeh added that the construction of the joint pipeline
needs a 350-million-dollar investment.

"The construction of the pipeline and oil terminal would increase the
exports of oil products to this northern neighboring country," he said.

Armenia hopes the pipeline help diversify its energy resources.
From: Baghdasarian

NSC SECRETARY MEETS WITH U.S. UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE

/arthur-baghdasaryan
05:45 pm | February 22, 2010

Official

Secretary of the National Security Council of Armenia Arthur
Baghdasaryan received Ann K. Ganzer, US Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State.

Issues related to the modernization of border infrastructures of
Armenia and ensuring border security were discussed.

At the request of the guest, Arthur Baghdasaryan presented the work
done in the direction of modernization of border infrastructures and
ensuring border security.

The parties attached importance to the development and implementation
of the border security strategy in line with international standards.

The issue is included in the Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership
Action Plan.
From: Baghdasarian

"JEWS IN ARMENIA: MIDDLE AGES" BOOK PRESENTED IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.02.2010 19:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Jews in Armenia: Middle ages" book presented in
Yerevan. According to Rimma Varzhapetyan, President of the Jewish
Community of Armenia, the book is based on the materials of symposium
held on May 11-12, 2009 in Yeghegnadzor, Vayots Dzor region of Armenia.

"Scientific researches were possible due to the Jewish cemetery
preserved in Eghegis village of Vayots Dzor region. The fact, that
the cemetery has remained for centuries, is the evidence of mutual
understanding between the two nations," she said, adding that the
RA government and Jewish specialists have supported to carry out
archeological excavations in the cemetery.

While commenting on the possible suppression of Jews in Armenia,
Rimma Varzhapetyan said that Armenia is a country, where neither
Jews, nor Jewish culture were annihilate. "Today also Jewish people
peacefully live in Armenia, " she emphasized.

According to her, the Jewish Community intends to publish a book
about modern Jewish Community of Armenia.
From: Baghdasarian

NATURAL GAS PRICE HIKE A NECESSITY: PSRC MEMBER

ARKA
Feb 23, 2010

YEREVAN, February 23, /ARKA/. A member of the Armenian Public Services
Regulatory Commission (PSRC) backed Monday an application of the
national gas operator, ArmRosgazprom (ARG), seeking an upward revision
of the price of gas sold to households and industrial enterprises.

Speaking at a news conference at Novosti international press
center Samvel Abajanian said a gas price hike for end consumers is
a necessity. He said the PSRC will consider ARG’s application on
February 26.

ARG press office said earlier its application calls for upward revision
of prices for consumers which use up to 10,000 cubic meters of gas
a month and suggests a new pricing formula for consumers that use
10,000 cubic meters and more. The application calls also for revision
of prices for ARG’s services, distribution and transportation.

According to the application, ARG wants households to pay 136,000
Drams per one thousand cubic meters of gas, up from the current
96,000 Drams, VAT included. The company has also proposed to change
the pricing formula for consumers that use 10,000 and more cubic
meters of gas a month.

Samvel Abajanian said the PSRC suggests that the price for households
rise to 132,000 Drams. He said the proposed price is based on a series
of investigations and an analysis of how much the ARG proposed price
is grounded.

The price of Russian gas for Armenia rose from $110 to $154 per one
thousand cubic meters in 2009 April and is expected to rise to $180
from April 1, 2010 under a Russian-Armenian accord. ARG is the sole
gas supplier to Armenia. Russian Gazprom owns 80% in it, the rest is
held by the Armenian government. ($1 – 381.75 Drams).
From: Baghdasarian

Watertown TAB & Press , MA
Feb 20 2010

Watertown Armenian dance group Sayat Nova closes longtime show

By Jen Thomas, staff writer
Wicked Local Watertown

WATERTOWN ‘ Louisa Ouzounian hasn’t always been a dancer.

But the 29-year-old Watertown resident walked into the Sayat Nova
dance studio 11 years ago, and she’s never looked back.

`I was really intimidated at first,’ said Ouzounian of the dance
company, which mostly performs traditional Armenian folk dance. `But
eventually the steps come along, and it became a passion.’

Sayat Nova will perform their show ` `Dances of Armenia: Journey to
the Regions’ ` next weekend at the Arsenal Center for the Arts. The
14-piece show will mark the end of the program the company has run for
the last six years.

According to Apo Ashjian, the nonprofit group’s director and
choreographer, the 70-member troupe has performed the program ` called
`Power in Rhythm’ across the U.S. and Canada, in Armenia and even on a
Caribbean cruise earlier this year.

`We’re putting the show to a close, and we get to do it in our
hometown,’ said Ashjian, who founded Sayat Nova Dance Company in 1986.

The show will feature 16 men and 24 women performing to traditional
Armenian music that combines elements of Armenian ethnographic dance
and poetic storytelling.

`Armenian music talks to me, and I turn stories about our historical
past into dance,’ Ashjian said. `I love to tell my stories to
non-Armenians, because I like to share our history.’

Many of the dances are meant not only to weave tales about Armenian
history, but also to lead the audience on a journey through the
regions of the company’s beloved country. Other numbers detail what
Ashjian calls the tragic nature of Armenians’ past; one recounts the
painful story of Armenians forced to march through the desert during
the genocide in 1915.

`These dances symbolize something. They say something,’ said Jack
Keverian, 23, a financial advisor and six-year member of the group.

Even after members leave the area, they return for Sayat Nova. For the
Arsenal performance, eight dancers will travel from as far as
California, Pennsylvania and Montreal to be a part of the show.

`It’s not just the footwork or the handwork. It’s the energy,’ said
Garen Avetissyan, the group’s general manager. `It’s powerful. It’s
energetic. You feel really great after you’ve danced.’

When Ouzounian spent two years living in Berlin, she would sometimes
fly in for the weekend just to perform with the company.

`It’s like a family,’ she said. `No matter what, even if you left, if
your family needed you, you would come back. You can’t let go.’

Nancy Maserejian, a 33-year-old epidemiologist from Waltham, has been
dancing with Sayat Nova since 1998 and is a last-minute addition to
the Arsenal show’s cast. And the mother of toddler twins would never
consider giving up her membership in the dance group.

`You find time for it, because you love it,’ she said.

The group makes it a priority to maintain close ties with Armenia.
Their music is composed and recorded in Armenia, and each of the 1,500
costumes the company owns were designed and tailored in the country.

As the final performance of `Power in Rhythm’ nears, Ashjian said he
is already looking ahead and has choreographed most of the next
program, which will make its debut to coincide with the group’s 25th
anniversary in 2011.

Ouzounian called the closing of a chapter `bittersweet.’

`It’s good to move onto something else, but I’ll miss [the old
project], because it was always dynamic and powerful,’ she said.

tertainment/arts/x640757112/Watertown-Armenian-dan ce-group-Sayat-Nova-closes-longtime-show
From: Baghdasarian

news.am, Armenia
Feb 20 2010

Iran to stress its mediatory claims in Karabakh peace process: Expert

14:49 / 02/20/2010Statement by Iranian Ambassador to RA Seyed Ali
Saghaeyan that Iran is the only country having a border with
Nagorno-Karabakh, thereby recognizing liberated territories part of
NKR, is either stipulation or pursues particular purpose, expert of
the Armenian Center of National and International Studies, Manvel
Sargsyan told NEWS.am.

According to him, the high-ranking official could hardly missay. `Most
probably, Iranian Ambassador’s statement should be considered as a
message not to the conflicting sides, but rather to the interested
countries to increase their role in Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation
process, Sargsyan said naming Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey. According
to him, the Ambassador’s statement aims at stressing Tehran’s
participation in Karabakh peace process.

As NEWS.am reported previously, at the Feb. 19 meeting with
journalists Iranian Ambassador to RA Seyed Ali Saghaeyan said that
Iran is the only country having common border with Nagorno-Karabakh,
thereby recognizing liberated territories part of NKR. Considering
that Iran is the only country with common border with Karabakh, we
have clear stand on deployment of peacekeeping forces.’

L.A.
From: Baghdasarian