Author: Chatinian Lara

DOUBLE DREAM/LETTERS TO MILENA, KINGS PLACE, LONDON

Independent.co.uk
Tuesday, 24 February 2009

If classical improvisation is difficult, it’s doubly so when the goal
is transposition into jazz; how two pianists can combine together
in this way is hard to imagine. But for the Russian pianist Mikhail
Rudy, two heads have long been better than one. His defining infant
experience was hearing phrases which came through the wall from a
violinist who was practising next door, and finding he could answer
him on the piano. Later in life, rehearsals for Double Dream – in
which he and the Ukrainian pianist Misha Alperin would turn Bach,
Chopin, and Debussy into jazz – have had, for logistical reasons,
to take place over the telephone.

And with their Steinways interlocking in the perfect acoustic of
Kings Place, we heard the results. They started with the lights
down, opening with a rumination on Schumann’s "Prophet Bird" which
rang out gorgeously in the gloom, then, with twin video screens
focusing on hands and faces, they embarked on the most extraordinary
classical/jazz conversation I’ve ever heard. Sometimes the classical
pieces were first played straight, and then ingeniously messed with –
subverting a poised Chopin mazurka by suddenly dropping it a semitone,
letting a Debussy Etude with a walking bass suddenly run so fast that
it took off into space. Using a cross between a bagpipe and a mouth
organ, Alperin launched into an Armenian dance by Komitas, which Rudy
countered with mournful Arabic octaves; Stravinsky’s "Petrushka"
came in obliquely and stratospherically high, then found its feet
in a majestic full-dress performance. A dainty tune by Haydn seemed
to close the proceedings, was blown to smithereens by monumental
crashing chords, then resurfaced like a perfumed musical box amid
smoking ruins: in this interplay between seriousness and mockery,
nothing was what it seemed for very long.

The following night’s collaboration was between Rudy and the actor
Peter Guinness: in Letters to Milena, Kafka’s love letters to his young
paramour were accompanied by a selection of pieces from Janacek’s
In the Mists and On an Overgrown Path. The result was hauntingly
dramatic: the morose urgency with which Guinness infused the words
was answered by a kaleidoscope of emotions from the piano; each art
form was enriched by the other.

40% OF ELECTRICITY TO BE PRODUCED BY NUCLEAR POWER SECTOR IN ARMENIA BY 2025

ARKA
Feb 24, 2009

YEREVAN, February 24. /ARKA/. Armenia is to get 40% of its electricity
produced by the nuclear power sector by 2025, Armenian Deputy Minister
of Energy and Natural Resources Areg Galstyan said at a round-table
discussion with a Russian delegation from Sverdlovsk.

By the same time, renewable energy sector will be providing 30%
of energy produced in Armenia with the remaining share provided by
thermal radiation power sector, he said.

Galstyan reported that for this a number of strategic documents
were adopted based on four principles – nuclear power development,
maximal use of own renewable resources, diversification of routes of
energy resource supplies and maximal integration in regional energy
markets. He added that Armenia has also the obligation to close down
its current nuclear power plant (NPP).

Galstyan reported that a tender was announced for management of the
NPP closing-down process and a feasibility study was conducted.

The country is also taking measures to attract foreign investors in
its renewable energy sector, he said.

Midget power plants are expected to provide 5% of the overall volume
of energy produced in Armenia. Achievements in wind power sector are
less tangible, yet several licenses were issued for this activity,
Galstyan said.

The Deputy Minister said that Armenia is making attempts to move
forward also in=2 0development of geothermal power plants. In
particular, territory is assigned for construction of such a plant
and the issue is to be settled by the end of the year.

Armenian is underdeveloped in terms of biogas production, waste
recycling and wastewater treatment.

Energy savings field is also in its initial stage despite the
respective strategy developed by the government. Yet, use of energy
saving technologies will help Armenia save up to 15% of primary energy
resources, Galstyan said.

The Deputy Minister also reminded that Armenia had the most developed
export-orientated energy system in the South region and that it was
exporting 30% of its energy production. This structure is maintained
in Armenian energy sector despite the hard period.

"Our energy sector is one of the most developed ones both in
institutional and export terms on the post-Soviet area," Galstyan said.

Energy production totaled 6,114.3mln kilowatt-hours in Armenia in 2008,
which is a 3.7% increase against the level of 2007. Energy yield of
Armenian NPP was 2,461.6mln kilowatt-hours in January-December 2008,
which constituted 40.3% of the overall volume of energy production
over the period under period.

Heat stations produced 1,831.9mln kilowatt-hours or 30% of overall
production. Midget power plants generated 1,818.9mln kilowatt-hours
of electricity or 29.8% of the overall yield in the country.

ARMENIA ANNOUNCES TENDER FOR NUCLEAR REACTOR

RIA Novosti
18:32 | 23/ 02/ 2009

YEREVAN, February 23 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia announced on Monday a
tender for the construction of a new reactor for the country’s sole
nuclear power plant.

Armenia seeks a new 1,000 MW reactor for the nuclear power plant,
built in 1980 about 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of the capital,
Yerevan, which was shut down after a devastating earthquake in 1988
but reactivated in 1995 due to energy shortages caused by blockades
imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The ex-Soviet Caucasus state’s energy and natural resources ministry
estimated the project at about $5 billion.

"Individuals and firms are welcome to take part in the tender,"
ministry spokesperson Lusina Arutyunyan said. "The deadline for filing
bids is April 1."

Armenia’s parliament abolished state monopoly on the ownership of new
reactors at the plant in 2006 in a bid to attract foreign investment.

Russia, the United States and France have shown interest in the
project.

One of the plant’s two VVER-440 Model V230 reactors has been shut
down. The other generates 40-50% of the country’s electricity.

The plant has been operated by Russia’s Inter RAO UES since 2003, as
part of a 10-year deal to help pay off Armenia’s debts. The facility
will reach the end of its operational life by 2016.

BRAIN DRAIN FROM ARMENIA CONTINUES

Panorama.am
18:01 20/02/2009

"Today very little money is disposed from the state budget to
the science, I have been stressing it for many times," said in a
press conference the President of the National Academy of Sciences,
Academician Radik Martirosyan.

He says that the scientists participate in many international projects
to earn money. In 2008 the scientists of the Academy participated in
52 international projects, said R. Martirosyan.

"20% of the international grants are spent to buy to equipments,
and the rest forms the salaries," he said and added that not all the
scientists have opportunities to be involved into those projects.

Regarding the "brain drain" the Academician said that in 1990
the Academy had more than 7000 employees and 60% of them were
scientists. Today this figured is halved, but not necessarily all
of them left the country. But Martirosyan has also mentioned that
"brain drain" has been and will continue in the future.

43 EXTRA DETAINEES AT "VARDASHEN"

A1+
[04:47 pm] 19 February, 2009

With the assignment of the RA Ombudsman, Ombudsman’s office officials
paid a visit to the RA Justice Ministry’s "Nubarashen" penitentiary
and met with prisoners M. H., V. S. and also visited the "Vardashen"
penitentiary to meet with prisoners and investigate the conditions.

Prisoner of the RA Justice Ministry’s "Nubarashen" penitentiary
M. H. had already ended his hunger strike at the start of the visit.

M. H. informed Ombudsman’s officials that he has been at the
penitentiary for five months and he has never left the building, has
not ate breakfast for two months and his food is less than usual. He
also said that he is in poor health conditions. The officials met with
the penitentiary’s doctor Hrant Muradyan who informed that the prisoner
is diagnosed with heart illness and is receiving the needed medicine.

Another prisoner V.A. who had declared a hunger strike at the
"Nubarashen" penitentiary also ended his hunger strike when the
officials stopped by.

V.A. informed officials that he has no complaints against the
penitentiary and had declared a hunger strike because they had
sentenced him from a period of a year and a half for committing an
act foreseen by the 1st part of article 362 of the RA Criminal Code
without taking into account the motives for that. He also said that
he has no demands.

During the visit to the RA Justice Ministry’s "Vardashen" penitentiary
the Ombudsman’s representatives studied the conditions of the doctor’s
room, the kitchen, laundry home, library and the cells.

The doctor’s room was equipped with the necessary equipment, medicine
and there was a dentist’s office as well. In general, the conditions
of the kitchen and laundry room were satisfactory.

The Ombudsman’s representatives expressed serious concern about the
fact that there are 67 detainees and 130 sentenced prisoners instead
of the foreseen 154, meaning that there are 43 more people and as a
result, there are more prisoners in a number of cells. Officials say
that they were forced to turn the hospital rooms into cells.

After studying the general conditions, the officials met with the
people who wanted to visit the detainees and sentenced. Sentenced
prisoner, Russian citizen R.V. told officials that the preliminary
and current investigation officials have violated his judicial and
material rights. He also said that he has not been able to contact
his wife and son living in Russia for the past three weeks. He asked
the officials to call them and tell them about him.

Detainee S. H. informed that his right to create is being violated
because police officers are not giving him his laptop computer.

Detainee V.T. asked for the copies of the RA laws on "Ombudsman" and
"State and Service confidentiality".

Detainee A. H. said that he was subjected to a cruel beating on 2008
August 21 at the moment of his arrest and at the Lori Marz department
of the RA Police, but his protests have remained unanswered. He also
informed that he suffers from diabetes. Head of the medical service
of the penitentiary Manucharyan informed officials that the RA Justice
Ministry’s penitentiary department has appealed to the RA Ministry of
Healthcare to provide the detainee with necessary medical treatment
within the framework of the order.

After having separate talks with all detainees and sentenced, the
officials registered that the majority of them have not expressed
complaints and most of the complaints refer to the disproportions of
charges and period for penalties, according to the press release of
the Ombudsman’s office.

FILM INSPIRED BY A COLUMN BY HRANT DINK

Hurriyet
lifestyle/11009358.asp?scr=1
Feb 16 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – Volunteer artists have gathered to adapt Agos’ late
editor-in-chief Hrant Dink’s article ‘Kertenkele,’ published in
daily Birgun in October 2004 to the silver screen. The film has been
directed by national and international award-winning documentary
maker Ozgur Arık

Volunteer actors and actresses coming together under the slogan, "Our
struggle is until this country becomes the land of brotherhoodÃ~I,"
have shot a 32-minute short film in honor of slain journalist Hrant
Dink.

The product of months of work the film, "Kertenkel" (Lizard), was
inspired by a column published in daily Birgun in October 2004 written
by Agos editor-in-chief Dink, who was assassinated on Jan. 19, 2007.

Ozgur Arık, a documentary maker who holds many national and
international awards, directed the film. The film’s budget was 40,000
Turkish liras, provided by the Green Agency and it was shot in the
Mediterranean city of Antalya.

Although the film cannot find a movie theater that will screen it,
there are plans to show it to audiences this year in many national and
international film festivals, including the International Istanbul
Film Festival that will be organized by the Istanbul Foundation for
Culture and Arts, or IKSV, in April. One of the most important planned
destinations for the film is the International Golden Apricot Film
Festival to be organized in Armenian capital, Yerevan in July. From
Feb. 17, the film will be screened with English and Turkish subtitles
at the Nazım Hikmet Culture Center on Istanbul’s Asian side in
Kadıköy.

"Being inspired by the painful events Armenians went through and
with the words of Dink, this film aims to draw attention to the
pain people are experiencing throughout the world. Unfortunately,
we fight to live in an environment in which people are moving away
from each other and becoming enemies," said Arık.

Arık said the film was based around a character named Abdullah. "A
lizard, when it feels danger, it shelters in the smallest hole it
can find, just like Abdullah." He said the content of the story was
traumatic, "Yes, there is violence in the story but it is based on
causality. We wanted to highlight once again the cost of excess in
this film."

"I have read almost all articles written by Dink," said Arık. He
said "Lizard" was very important to him, "As soon as I took the paper
and started reading the article, scenes from the film took shape in
my mind."

Supporting characters from local to general Even though Arık
sticks to the original story in the film, he also backs it up with
supporting characters. "Rather than localizing the story, we wanted to
draw attention to pain in the world by showing incidents in our own
land. Materiality is what lies behind pain all around the world. I
think economic worries nourish nationalism," Arık said. Arık
added a hodja character to the film. He said the character, hiding
behind religion, behaves cruelly toward people and confiscates their
land. "The hodja prays five times a day but all he thinks about is
owning more."

Arık said the film was set in the time of World War I, "While watching
the film, viewers will be able to see events that happened during the
war and the effect on people’s psychology." He said he intentionally
shot a short film and that its message was very short and certain. He
added the film had a mission in addition to commemorating Dink. "With
this film, rather than agitate, we try to highlight once again that
everyone who shares this land is a brother."

The End of the World War The film depicts the end of World War I. A
young Armenian person, who survived the painful events of 1915,
shelters in a village in the slopes of Mount Suphan in eastern
Anatolia. He does not play on the streets like the other young
people. He lives in the shed of a villager named Ismail and tells
people nothing except that his name is Abdullah. One day when he is
in the toilet, other children see he is uncircumcised, and start
throwing stones at him. With fear, Abdullah shelters in the shed
and circumcises himself with a sharp tool and then throws the bloody
piece of skin at the people.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT STRESSED THE IMPORTANCE OF FURTHER ENHANCEMENT OF ARMENIAN-ISRAELI COOPERATION IN DIFFERENT SPHERES

ARMENPRESS
Feb 13, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS: Newly appointed Israeli ambassador
to Armenia Shemi Tsur handed today his credentials to the Armenian
President Serzh Sargsian.

Presidential press service told Armenpress that the President of the
republic expressed gratification on the present level of the political
dialogue between the two countries and congratulated the ambassador
on the parliamentary elections which took place lately in Israel
expressing confidence that the Armenian-Israeli friendly relations
which have a rich tradition will continue to develop in the same way.

Serzh Sargsian stressed the importance of further enhancement of
relations in different levels and spheres, including the in different
international organizations, and stressed the existence of all the
prerequisites important for that.

The official ceremony of handing credentials was followed by the face
to face talk during which the diplomat noted that it is a great honor
for him to be the ambassador of Israel to Armenia and that he will
exert all possible efforts to enhance the further cooperation between
the two states and develop the further relations with the two peoples.

During the meeting the Armenian president and Israeli ambassador
exchanged thoughts on the regulation of Middle East situation, the
negotiation process over Karabakh conflict and the Armenian-Turkish
dialogue.

Ambassador Shemi Tsur greeted the current Armenian-Turkish dialogue
and expressed hope on the regulation of relations.

Considering the military regulation of the conflicts inadmissible the
interlocutors emphasized that the regulation of the existing issues
through peaceful negotiations has no alternative and that the peace
and stability are the values that can present many advantages to all
the nations.

EXPLOSIVE CLAIMS FROM KEY ERGENEKON SUSPECT

Hurriyet
Feb 12 2009
Turkey

ANKARA – Ergenekon suspect Ä°brahim Å~^ahin named the Chief of Staff
General Ä°lker BaÅ~_bug as the man behind the new anti-terror unit he
would be asked to head, according to details of his testimony revealed
yesterday. Air force command proceeded with its own investigation

A former police special operations officer caught in a recent Ergenekon
raid has claimed that Chief of General Staff Gen. Ä°lker BaÅ~_bug was
aware the ex-police officer was asked to head up a new anti-terror
unit, daily Radikal reported yesterday.

Soon after ex-police special operations deputy chief, Ä°brahim Å~^ahin,
was arrested police found a map in his house that led them to a hidden
weapons cache. They also discovered a list containing names of many
police and military officers, some also indicted in the Ergenekon case,
which police have used to connect Å~^ahin to the alleged gang. Å~^ahin
has maintained the list was in relation to the new clandestine unit
he was instructed to form. Military officials have consistently
denied any such instructions were given.Å~^ahin’s text messages,
electronically monitored by police, mentioned a "Bug Pasha."

"My Bug pasha knows, they must be hundred percent reliable," read
one message sent to another detained Ergenekon suspect, Lt. Taylan
Ozgur Kırmızı. "I was told that the president, as well as the
Interior Minister BeÅ~_ir Atalay, signed the order to create a new
unit," Å~^ahin told the prosecutor, Zekeriya Oz. Å~^ahin said he was
to be appointed head of "S-1" on Jan. 12 in a ceremony had he not
been detained.

A document titled "to my honorable Chief of Staff" was also recovered
from Å~^ahin’s house, which according to Å~^ahin was to be offered
to the General Staff during the ceremony.

The General Staff has denied Å~^ahin’s testimony, with a written
statement released Jan. 12. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek has
also denied any offer to Å~^ahin was ever made.

Meanwhile, the Air Force Command has denied that six of the seven
people arrested yesterday and Tuesday were active duty officers,
contrary to first reports.

The Workers’ Party, or Ä°P’s, deputy leader, Mehmet Bedri Gultekin,
was among those arrested after the Air Force Command began an
investigation into claims of "Headquarter Houses" that brought
together Ä°P members and military officers on duty, according to
the Ergenekon indictment. Ä°P vice-chair, Hasan Basri Ozbey, said
the military prosecutor merely wanted to consult Gultekin and said
"Headquarter Houses" was a sheer lie.

Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Å~^ahin rejected that the courts were
divided in their allegiance, commenting on voice recordings attributed
to the wife of retired Gen. Å~^ener Eruygur, Mukaddes Eruygur, who
said the 12th and 14th courts were "on their side." The 12th Court
took the decision to release retired Gen. HurÅ~_it Tolon, who had
been under arrest in the Ergenekon case for seven months."Such an
impression casts a shadow on justice," Minister Å~^ahin said, but
added that he was not sure whether the voice recording was real or not.

In the voice recordings, Mrs. Eruygur is heard speaking to Col. Nusret
Demircan, the head of GATA Military Hospital Brain Surgery unit,
and asking the military doctor whether her husband would be arrested
again if he were released. A part of the record reveals that retired
Gen. Eruygur, arrested but released due to health problems, was indeed
in good health.

Arrested in January, ex-police officer Å~^ahin gave detailed
information to prosecutor Zekeriya Oz about the proposal, according
to details of his testimony. Å~^ahin, who suffered brain damage
after a traffic accident in 2000, had pointed the finger at the
General Staff’s press information chief, Brig. Gen. Metin Gurak, as
the general who gave him orders to designate personnel for the new
"S-1" anti-terror unit and said he was told to select trustworthy
military men and police.

A list titled "S-1" was found during a search of Å~^ahin’s house and
featured several hundred policemen and soldiers already under arrest
in the Ergenekon case.

Å~^ahin also said he participated in regular meetings with the General
Staff. "Metin Gurak, whom I refer to as BaÅ~_bug Pasha’s number one,
called me from an unknown number," he said.

The organization Å~^ahin was setting up would be responsible for
"cleaning out the interior of Turkey," according to Å~^ahin’s own
voice in a conversation recorded by police.

"The interior and exterior, relating to northern Iraq. Metin Gurak
told me that all members would be Turks," Å~^ahin had told Oz.

Å~^ahin left a bulk of questions unanswered about death lists,
indexes and house plans of non-Muslim and Alevi religious leaders’
houses. He did not give information on the "Safir," which was referred
to as an organization within the military in his conversations with
Cengiz. In most of the conversations, Oz asked Å~^ahin about Fatma
Cengiz, an officer at the Kayseri Airborne Infantry Command who was
sent to jail after a later wave of Ergenekon arrests.

"Asena sit. A duty arrives. The Armenian must be killed," read a text
message he sent to Cengiz, presumably against the Armenian community
leader in Sivas, Minas Duran Guler, whom Å~^ahin tracked. Å~^ahin
did not elaborate on frequent hate speeches against non-Muslims in
his conversations.

Å~^ahin was convicted in 2000 as he was hospitalized for breach of duty
that led to the disappearance of weapons in the Susurluk scandal. He
was pardoned by former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in 2002 when he
was diagnosed with memory loss.

Release Ozbek say unions

Ergenekon drew widespread international reaction yesterday. Industry
workers’ unions from Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Macedonia, Kyrgyzstan and the semi-autonomous regions of Gagauzia and
Bashkortostan, as well as the International Eurasian Metal Workers’
Union, presided by an Ergenekon suspect currently under arrest,
Mustafa Ozbek, asked "independent Turkish courts" to release the
"patriotic and well-known" union leader.

The Ergenekon case officially started when police discovered 27
grenades in a shanty house belonging to a retired noncommissioned
officer in Istanbul in June 2007.

Prosecutors have alleged there is a secret ultra-nationalist group
made up of retired and active military officers, writers, unionists
and journalists who want to spread nationalist violence and overthrow
the government by provoking a coup.

Most of the Ergenekon indictment, some 2,500 pages long, is based
on six sacks of documents about an organization called "Ergenekon"
discovered in 2001 at the house of Tuncay Guney, a controversial figure
arrested for petty fraud but released soon afterward. Guney now lives
in Canada. The Ergenekon case is shrouded in a mist of controversy with
opposition parties claiming the ruling Justice and Development Party,
or AKP, is exploiting the case to suppress secular opposition. Serious
criticism abounds concerning the arrests and detentions that violate
the code of criminal procedure, according to some jurists.
–Boundary_(ID_HrTrI/om2lPJR8HzP/aeOQ)–

ARMENIAN LOBBY HIGHLY MOTIVATED FOR GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.02.2009 19:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian lobby in Washington is fully mobilized
and highly motivated to re-launch its attempts to have recognized the
1915 incidents as Genocide, but that does not mean that the White
House will justify their hopes, a former ambassador of the U.S. to
Ankara said.

"The bad news is that the Armenian lobby is fully mobilized, highly
motivated and in possession of unprecedentedly clear and unqualified
commitments from leading members of the new Administration that
the events of 1915 will be termed Genocide," Mark Parris, retired
U.S. Ambassador to Ankara said late on Wednesday at a dinner in
Istanbul hosted by Turkey’s International Investors Association.

Parris, who is currently a consultant to the Washington-based
Brookings Institute, said he does not think it necessarily means
either a resolution or a statement by the White House can be a reality.

"It is not a pretty picture from where we sit tonight… At the end
of the day someone in Washington will calculate where the American
interest lies and make the case. I think there are strong and
potentially compelling arguments that can be made that this is not
the time and there never be a proper time to approach this issue in
this way," he said, Hurriyet daily reports.

MARCH 1 RALLY BANNED

A1+
[04:02 pm] 12 February, 2009

They prohibited Ter-Petrosyan and allowed Karapetyan The Yerevan
municipality banned the rally and the march of the opposition on March
1 near the Matenadaran or the Northern Avenue square, according to
the information on the website of the Yerevan municipality. It is
not stated why the rally has been banned in the site chosen by the
opposition, that is, the area near the Matenadaran or the Northern
Avenue square. The municipality simply proposes to hold the rally on
the day and hour stated in the notice at the area near the "Dinamo"
stadium. In fact, the notice was discussed without head of the
political council of the "Republic" political party and authorized
representative of the Armenian National Congress Artak Zeynalyan
who had sent the appeal to the Yerevan municipality. Although
Zeynalyan told "A1+" that they were not notified about the day and
hour of the discussion, the information of the municipality states:
"Although the organizer was notified about the day and hour of the
discussion, he didn’t participate and the discussion was held in his
absence. According to the 3rd section of article 12 of the RA law on
"Meetings, rallies, marches and demonstrations", "discussion of the
notice is implemented regardless of the presence of the organizers." In
fact, the Yerevan municipality allowed leader of the People’s Party
Tigran Karapetyan to hold a candle-lighting event near the Miasnikyan
statue on February 28 at 5 p.m. in memory of the victims of March 1.