Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN: I DO NOT MAKE PROMISES, I ASSUME OBLIGATIONS

Noyan Tapan
Jan 22, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The start of the pre-election
campaign of the ARF’s presidential candidate Vahan Hovhannisian was
celebrated at Yerevan’s Armenia-Marriott Hotel on January 21. "I do
not make promises, I assume obligations and sign under them," Vahan
Hovhannisian stated in his speech delivered before his supporters and
ARF members. According to him, restoration of justice through system
changes in Armenia forms the basis of his program.

V. Hovhannisian said that in case of becoming president, he guarantees
restoration of the system of free elections, elimination of the clan
system and monopolies, a take-off development of the country, promotion
of exports, increasing the role of the army, and involvement of the
NKR as a negotiation side in settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

The presidential candidate stated that he will do all this with the
support of his team rather than on his own. He presented members of
the ARF leadership, the ARF parliamentary faction and the government
standing next to him on the stage as members of his team.

In his words, trying to communicate directly with voters, he uses
the method of signing agreements with them. The agreement bears the
candidate’s signature put below the obligations assumed by him,
as well as the signature of the citizen trusting him – below the
personal data on this voter.

According to V. Hovhannisian, more than 125 thousand such agreements
have already been signed.
From: Baghdasarian

Library Journal Reviews
January 15, 2008

The Overwhelming: A Play

by Larry Schwartz
REVIEWS; Arts and Humanities; Pg. 101

Rogers, J.T. The Overwhelming: A Play. Faber & Faber . 2007. 158p.
ISBN 978-0-86547-974-6 . pap. $14.

The Theatre of Genocide: Four Plays About Mass Murder in Rwanda,
Bosnia, Cambodia, and Armenia. Univ. of Wisconsin . Feb. 2008.
c.232p. ed. by Robert Skloot . ISBN 978-0-299-22470-7 . $75; pap.
ISBN 978-0-299-22474-5 . $29.95. DRAMA

Artists and playwrights have the responsibility of reporting and
exposing the lies that accompany terrible things humans do to one
another. Theater, notes editor Skloot (The Theatre of the Holocaust )
in his introduction, is itself a strategy to prevent genocide.
Playwright Rogers, whose Madagascar won two awards, and Erik Ehn in
Maria Kizito (in Skloot’s anthology) each write about the Rwandan
massacres; The Overwhelming is the more conventional of the pair. The
stage action is more literal, though the setting is defined by the
lighting, a common feature of these five plays (which could all be
nicely produced in the barest of black-box theaters). It tells of
things beyond imagination and successfully brings the audience into
its time and (nether)world; its two hours’ traffic is as monstrous as
any Restoration tragedy. Ehn’s piece-a true story of Benedictine nuns
complicit in the deaths of thousands of refugees seeking shelter in
their convent-demands a more expressionistic production. Two of the
other plays in Skloot’s volume-Lorne Shirinian’s Exile in the Cradle
and Catherine Filloux’s Silence of God -would be hard to produce
outside of a large urban area or a widely diverse campus, simply
because of the demands of casting. Exile is less about the actual
events surrounding the Armenian-Turkish horror and more about how the
greater Armenian diaspora today responds to it. Silence conjures up
Pol Pot and the ruination of Cambodia. Its four actors take on 16
roles, and many shifts of scene and characters make it less striking
than the other plays in the collection. Kitty Felde’s A Patch of
Earth mixes actual trial transcripts with re-creations in its
depiction of the Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian conflict. Studying these
plays would benefit political science and history departments, as
well as theater departments. Both titles are recommended for large
academic and public libraries. [The U.S. premiere of The Overwhelming
ran off-Broadway October-December 2007.-Ed.]-Larry Schwartz,
Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead
From: Baghdasarian

Russia & CIS General Newswire
January 17, 2008 Thursday 5:06 PM MSK

Parties to Karabakh conflict discuss principles of settlement, not
treaty – OSCE Minsk Group

YEREVAN Jan 17

Parties to the conflict over Nagorno- Karabakh are discussing the
basic principles of a settlement and it is not a concrete treaty, Co
Enhanced Coverage Linkingtreaty, Co -Search using:
News, Most Recent 60 Days
-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group for Nagorno- Karabakh Yury
Merzlyakov of Russia announced Thursday.

"After these principles are coordinated, work on a treaty will
begin," he told reporters in Yerevan.

"No signing of any document should be expected for the moment. What
should be expected is public approval and instructions to foreign
ministers to begin drafting a treaty," the diplomat said.

The Minsk Group co-chairmen will set out for Baku on Friday to spell
out Armenia’s position on OSCE group’s proposals for the Nagorno-
Karabakh settlement to Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.
From: Baghdasarian

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Jan 18 2008

Co-chairs say in Azerbaijan all their statements misreported in
Armenia

[ 18 Jan 2008 12:41 ]

The co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group have today arrived in Baku, APA
reports.The American co-chair Matthew Bryza told journalists that
they had discussions with Armenian President Robert Kocharian and
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan.

Noting that the discussions were constructive, the co-chair said
there is still much to be done.
`Hard to say whether any agreement will be reached by the
presidential elections in Armenia in February. The meeting of
Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers has not been planned yet.
The main thing is that the co-chairs and the parties have time to
continue the discussions,’ the co-chair said.
Taking a stance on his statements in Armenian media about the
relations of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Matthew Bryza said that he had
not made such a statement.
`My opinion was misreported,’ he said.
As to the co-chairs’ visiting Khankendi through Armenia, not through
Azerbaijan, Matthew Bryza said this route was more favorable.
`It was a little bit difficult to do it through Azerbaijan. We always
get Azerbaijan’s consent, when we visit Khankendi through Armenia. We
will never visit Khankendi without Azerbaijan’s consent,’ he said.
Matthew Bryza said Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents and Foreign
Ministers are aware of the details of the negotiations.
`Only the parties have the right to share this information. Armenian
side may have informed the representatives of Nagorno Karabakh about
it,’ he said.
French co-chair Bernard Fassier stated that discussions carried out
in Yerevan and Khankendi were interesting and constructive.
`I am sure that, we can continue our work. This work will be based on
proposals presented to sides in Madrid. These proposals were
explained to sides and we have learned the position of the sides. We
stressed that, we need a time to consider position of the sides,’ he
said. Co-chair compared this situation with looking painting at a
short distance.
`For example, you can see only one of the details of painting when
you looked from short distance. But when you looked from long
distance you can see everything. We want to look at the results of
negotiations from that point of view,’ he said.
Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov took stance on Armenian media’s
reports that sides agreed with the core principles.
`I have not said such word. If it was so, we should not come here.
Position of Armenia and Azerbaijan does not coincide. We have not
proposed the meeting of Foreign Ministers of both countries yet,’ he
said. Merzlyakov took stance on reports about participation of
Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiations and noted that his opinions on
this issue have already been distorted.
`We said many times that all sides should participate in the talks.
When? It will be when core principles are coordinated,’ he said. Ask
whether participation of Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh is
possible or not he said that this is Azerbaijan’s domestic problem.
If Azerbaijan wants, Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh may
participate in the debates./APA/
From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJAN’S DEFENSE MINISTRY: "THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DEFENSE MINISTER OF THE SO-CALLED "NAGORNO GARABAGH REPUBLIC" IS MERELY A PROPAGANDA TRICK"

Today
cs/42456.html
Jan 18 2008
Azerbaijan

Spokesman for the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan Eldar Sabiroglu
commented on the announcement about the intention of the so-called
"Nagorno Garabagh Republic" to purchase new air defense systems.

"The announcement of the Defense Minister of the so-called "Nagorno
Garabagh Republic" is merely a propaganda trick", he announced.

"I consider the announcement of the so-called Minister of Defense
of Nagorno Garabagh about the intention to acquire new air defense
systems to resist attacks of Azerbaijani airñrafts, to be merely a
propaganda trick, which we hear almost every month", E.Sabiroglu said.

"This statement was made for internal propaganda, to influence the
local public opinion and therefore, it is not difficult to guess
the real cause of the statement, made by the so-called "Minister"",
the spokesman said.

Notably, "the Defense Minister" of the so-called "Nagorno Garabagh
Republic" Movses Akopyan announced that "each square meters of sky
over Garabagh is protected and three fire points will operate in case
of threat".

–Boundary_(ID_gfWr67Tj9Qk/caE5sm+K ag)–
From: Baghdasarian

LOCAL TV COMPANIES REFUSE TO PROVIDE TV AIR TO OYP CHAIRMAN

Noyan Tapan
Jan 16 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The preelection headquarters of Artur
Baghdasarian, the Chairman of the Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law)
party, a candidate for presidency, have been already formed in the
whole territory of Armenia. Heghine Bisharian, the head of the central
preelection headquarters of the latter, the OYP Vice-Chairwoman,
said at the January 16 press conference. She said that they also
attach importance to existence of public offices, the main function of
which is giving high-quality legal consultation to voters. Besides,
according to H. Bisharian, boxes of suggestions have been placed in
all populated areas, through which voters can make suggestions and
statements addressed to A. Baghdasarian.

The OYP Vice-Chairwoman said that they have some problems with
informing society about the OYP candidate’s program: for instance,
local TV companies refuse to provide even paid TV air to Artur
Baghdasarian and his co-thinkers. "I am surprised why private TV
companies do not wish to gain money, besides, do not wish to carry
out their information function," H. Bisharian stated.
From: Baghdasarian

DOCTORS OF KARABAKH WILL GET QUALIFICATION ABROAD

KarabakhOpen
15-01-2008 17:33:31

Dr. Karen Baziyan, surgeon at the Republic Hospital of Stepanakert,
will take a course of qualification at the scientific center of
surgery of the Academy of Medicine of Russia, and traumatic surgeon
Karen Davtyan will be trained in Poland.

Today the NKR government decided to provide 1 million dollars to the
ministry of health to finance the expenses of training.
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENPRESS

ARMENIAN PM CONGRATULATES RUSSIAN ARMENIAN SCIENTIST

YEREVAN, JANUARY 14, ARMENPRESS: Prime Minister
Serzh Sarkisian sent a congratulatory message to
Arthur Chilingarov on his having been conferred upon
the title of Hero of Russia, which reads as follows,
in particular:
"Dear Arthur Nikolayevich, Please accept my
heartfelt congratulations on your conferment upon the
high title of Hero of Russia, which in fact symbolizes
the appreciation of your significant contribution to
the exploration and mastering of the Arctic.
Having been granted the title of Hero for the
second time at an interval of twenty years, you keep
on acting not only as a polar explorer, but also as a
statesman and a public figure. Your determination and
heroism set a good example to the rising generation.
Our pleasure is a twofold one for the activities
and the bravery of our compatriot were assessed at
their true value, and we are sincerely proud of your
achievements.
I wish you, Dear Arthur Nikolayevich, robust health
and further success in your multifaceted activity."
Arthur Chilingarov was among three other Russian
scientists whom Russian president Vladimir Putin
granted "hero" awards for backing Russia’s claim to a
mountain range under the Arctic Ocean that is believed
to contain huge oil and gas reserves.
The scientists planted a Russian flag under the
North Pole ice in August as part of an Arctic
expedition that heated up the controversy over an area
that a U.S. study suggests may contain as much as 25
percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas.
Russia is one of several countries that have laid
claims to the area.
Chilingarov, a renowned polar scientist, was named
a Hero of the Soviet Union in the 1980s after leading
an expedition aboard a research vessel that was
trapped for a time in Antarctic sea ice.
From: Baghdasarian

Chairman of RA CEC and EU Special Representative to South Caucasus met

2008-01-15 11:29:00

ArmInfo. Chairman of Armenia’s Central Election Committee Garegin
Azaryan met EU Special Representative to South Caucasus Peter Semneby.
As spokeswoman of RA CEC Tatev Ohanyan told ArmInfo, the issues of the
forthcoming presidential election in Armenia were discussed during the
meeting, in particular, the recent alterations made to the Election
Code, the order of appeal of the voting results, marking of passports,
printing of the ballot papers, the order of filling of and the final
protocols. G. Azaryan said that at the meeting that a training film has
been shot within the frames of the programme of training of the
election committee members carried out under support of OSCE Office in
Yerevan, that will enable to prepare for the election and hold them
more efficiently.

For his part, Peter Semneby said that a notable progress of the
election process in the country was marked especially during the past
parliamentary election in Armenia in May, 2007. he expressed hope that
this progress will be maintained also during the forthcoming February
19 presidential election in Armenia.
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENPRESS

EXHIBITION OF PHOTOS OF ARMENIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS KICKED
OFF IN LONDON

LONDON, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS: `Armenia through
the Eyes of Photographers’ exhibition of photos of
Armenian photographers kicked off in one of the halls
of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the
United Kingdom organized by the Armenian embassy in
London and British Armenian Multi-partition
parliamentary group.
The collection includes works of Martin Shahbazian,
German Avagian, Karen Mirzoyan, Nazik Armenakian,
Felix Arustamian, Karen Minasian, Hayk Bianjian,
Alexander Khachunts, Suren Hovsepian.
The exhibition presents Armenian historic cultural
monuments and sightseeing, events which took place
during the years of independence and notable episodes
from everyday life. At the opening present were
Armenian ambassador to Great Britain Vahe Gabrielian,
officials of the Armenian embassy, representatives of
the Armenian community, British guests. The exhibition
will last from January 14-17.
The exhibition is known to the Armenian audience
from the exhibition organized by `Armenpress’ news
agency in Yerevan entitled `Independence Through the
Eyes of Photographers.’ The exhibition was also shown
in Moscow and Paris within the framework of year of
Armenia in France and Russia.
From: Baghdasarian