Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Panorama, Armenia
July 1 2011

FIDE rating list of world top players: Levon Aronian is the 3rd

FIDE has released July 2011 rating list of top players. Armenian GM
Levon Aronian (2808) is the third world top player. Aronian has left
behind Sergey Karjakin by 17 points, who occupies the fourth
horizontal.
The rating list is chaired by Norwegian Magnus Carlsen. He surpassed
world champion Anand. Anand didn’t have any games in May and June, and
Carlsen recorded victories in Romanian tournament.

1. Magnus Carlsen (Norway)-2821
2. Wisvanathan Anand (India)-2817
3. Levon Aronian (Armenia)-2805
4. Sergey Karjakin (Russia)-2788
5. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)-2781
6. Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)-2768
7. Ruslan Ponomarov (Ukraine)-2768
8. Vesselin Topalov (Bulgaria)-2768
9. Hikaru Nakamura (USA)-2766
10. Shahriyar Mamediarov (Azerbaijan)-2765

news.am, Armenia
July 1 2011

Armenia’s Narek Hakhnazaryan wins XIV International Tchaikovsky
Competition in Moscow

July 01, 2011 | 07:33

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Narek Hakhnazaryan won XIV International
Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Hakhnazaryan won a gold medal and a
prize of EUR 20,000.

Hakhnazaryan also took the audience award for an incredible
performance on the cello.

Edgar Moreau of France took the second place and received EUR 15,000,
while Ivan Karizna from Belarus took a bronze medal and EUR 10,000.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, conductor Mark Gorenstein
insulted Armenian cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan at the rehearsal of XIV
International Tchaikovsky Competition..

`It is none of your concern what this `talented’ boy, this aul plays,
you should play with me,’ conductor of State Academic Symphony
Orchestra of Russia, Mark Gorenstein told the orchestra at a rehearsal
on June 25. Gorenstein`s expression insulted journalists that were
present on the rehearsal and made the incident public. Later
Gorenstein apologized for his behavior and confessed he had no
intentions to make nationalistic speech

Courthouse News Service
July 1 2011

Defying Armenian Drug Lord May Foster Asylum
By TIM HULL

(CN) – Immigration officials should consider granting the asylum
petition of an Armenian woman fighting to bring down a violent,
politically connected drug dealer in her native land, the 9th Circuit
ruled.

Nune Antonyan had to flee Armenia after she testified against
Hovhannesyan Andranik, an alleged drug dealer with corrupt friends in
the highest levels of government. Antonyan and her husband had
received threats and endured “physical beatings, warnings to remain
silent, and death threats from Andranik and his henchmen, as well as
threats and intransigence from the government,” according to a ruling
published Wednesday.

Antonyan’s troubles began when she upbraided Andranik, not
knowing who he was, for cursing at her neighbor. After Andranik told
her to mind her own business, Antonyan called the police, but they
refused to follow up. Antonyan soon found out that Andranik was a
major drug dealer who worked as an informant for the police, and that
he did not appreciate her complaints. He warned her off, pushing her
to the ground and kicking her. Later, he beat up her husband in the
couple’s apartment.

Undeterred, Antonyan took her complaints to a national security
investigator, and eventually secured Andranik’s arrest with a promise
to testify against him. She did so, but he was soon released by his
friends in the government and resumed his threats, the ruling states.

Fearing for her life, Antonyan fled to the United States on a
visitor visa, leaving her husband and children behind in Armenia.

After she overstayed her visa, she requested asylum, claiming
that if she were sent back to Armenia she would not be protected from
Andranik’s wrath. While an immigration judge found Antonyan’s story
credible, he denied her petition, and the Board of Immigration Appeals
did the same. The board ruled that she had failed to show that her
whistle-blowing activities were linked to politics, finding instead
that she merely had a personal dispute with a criminal and a few
corrupt police officials.

The San Francisco-based federal appeals panel reversed that
finding on Wednesday, ruling that Antonyan’s petition should get
another look.

“In pursuing Andranik’s prosecution, Antonyan sought more than
an end to his drug-dealing and violence in her community; she also
hoped to expose his crooked ties to law enforcement agencies who
refused to protect the citizenry,” Judge Sidney Thomas wrote for the
unanimous three-judge panel. “The record belies the government’s
suggestion that Antonyan aimed at only a private criminal or a few
public officials. To be sure, when she first contacted police,
Antonyan did not know of Andranik’s ‘very influential protectors.’
That her initial reports stemmed from a ‘personal dispute’ does not
render her later acts any less ‘political,’ however.”

Thomas added that Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) had “failed
to credit evidence that [Andranik’s] motives were not exclusively
‘personal.'”

“While the BIA correctly found that ‘revenge’ motivated
Andranik, significant credible evidence establishes that he also acted
because Antyonyan sought to expose his corrupt relationships to the
government,” Thomas wrote. “Andranik’s bribes, drug business, and work
as an informant made him ‘valuable’ to the police and prosecutors, and
won him protection from high-ranking officials.”

AZERI LAWMAKER ON GIVING UP KARABAKH TO MAKE “OBAMA HAPPY”
Armen Hareyan

HULIQ.com

July 1 2011
SC

A top lawmaker from Azerbaijan Rasim Musabayev, speaking to Hyrriyet,
made a revealing statement about president Barack Obama’s position on
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, while Armenia points out to concessions
it is already making to Azerbaijan to reach peace and harmony in
the region.

Speaking to Turkey’s English-language Hyrriyet’s Fulya Ozerkan,
Musabayev said EU may emerge as a new mediator in Karabakh talks and
that the issue may appear appear on the agenda of the U.N. Security
Council in the event of no solution because Azerbaijan does not want
to give up land to make the president of the United States “happy.”

Musabayev also added that despite refusing to recognize Karabakh’s
independence, Azerbaijan will back Palestine’s independence.

“Will we give up on our land just to make U.S. President [Barack]
Obama happy?” asked the lawmaker. “Azerbaijan can never bow to this
demand,” Musabayev added, referring to Armenia’s call for an immediate
referendum in the region letting the local population to decide the
final political status of Nagonor Karabakh. What is revealing in his
remark is that the U.S. president Barack Obama supports this call
as Musabayev thinks agreeing to the referendum and giving up on land
will make Obama happy.

The point of referendum is one of the key principles included by
the mediators (Russia, France and U.S.) Basic Principles on which
the Karabakh problem is suggested to be solved. Azerbaijan does
not support the idea of referendum fearing the Armenian majority of
Nagorno Karabakh will vote for full independence. Instead Azerbaijan
wants Armenians to withdraw forces from regions surrounding Nagorno
Karabakh. Armenia, Karabakh’s Army can’t withdraw without resolution
to the conflict and without agreeing on the region’s final political
status.

Armenia is concerned that it won’t have any leverage in talks if it
agrees to the withdrawal. Those surrounding regions are liberated
by the forces of Nagorno Karabakh, not by Armenian Army. In 2009
Azerbaijan acted similarly by fiercely opposing Turkish Armenian
reconciliation and the opening of the border on Turkey’s part,
fearing it won’t have any leverage in talks with Armenia.

Armenia made 3 serious concessions that Azerbaijan does not see

Yesterday, Armenian presidential aid Garnik Isagulyan told a press
conference in Yerevan, saying his country, despite being the winner,
has made serious concessions to Azerbaijan, which the latter does not
appreciate. Isagulyan pointed out to three concessions: non-recognition
of Karabakh’s independence as a respect to Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity, non-participation of Karabakh people in elections in
Armenia, and that the representatives of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic
are not involved in negotiations. Armenia represents Karabakh’s
interest in negotiations with Azerbaijan.

Isagulyan added that his country can’t make any further concessions
if Azerbaijan is not responding positively to those currently on
the table. Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan told the
journalist last Saturday, day after the Kazan Summit that the sides
failed to reach an agreement because Azerbaijan brought to the table
new proposals. Nalbandyan says his country’s position is that the
core of the problem is the final status of Nagorno Karabakh and calls
on tackling that problem first to open door for solving the other
symptoms of the conflict.

QUANTITY OF MEETINGS DOES NOT NECESSARILY GIVE QUALITATIVE EFFECT – ANALYST

nes.az
July 1 2011
Azerbaijan

News.Az interviews Andrey Makarychev, Professor, Institute for East
European studies, Free University of Berlin.

Do you share the opinion of some observers that the negotiations on
Karabakh entered a deadlock after the meeting in Kazan during which
the documents on basic principles of the settlement process have not
been signed?

The trilateral summit on Nagorno-Karabakh held a few days ago in
Kazan’, seems to be another confirmation of Russia’s desperate lack
of effective means for influencing the conflict resolution in one of
hottest point in CIS, the area which – ironically – Russia considers
to constitute the sphere of its vital interest.

The only sign of change this time was mostly rhetorical: Russian
comments after the summit were a bit more explicit in pointing to
Armenia as a conflict party that prevents the implementation of the
Madrid proposals.

Is there a need to review the format of mediators in process
of settlement, if the current format of co-chairs does not give
necessary results?

The Kazan summit clearly confirmed that quantity of meetings does
not necessarily give qualitative effect. Seen from a more general
perspective, this situation raises the pivotal issues of efficacy of
the international society (as exemplified by either mediators like
Russia or institutions as the Minsk group) in regional conflicts
marked by persisting relations of mutual enmity.

Perhaps, the time is ripe for searching more creative solutions: if
the Minsk group fails to effectively perform its functions, how about
trying other possible institutional arrangements that might give a
stronger voice for countries like Turkey or, perhaps, even China?

Aspirants for “alternative” world leadership abound, but unfortunately
by now neither of them appears to be keen to contributing to conflict
resolutions in Eurasia – a task much more significant than playing
the balancing games against the West.

What do you think about prospects of further active, I would say,
a sole mediation in Karabakh settlement?

As far as Russia is concerned, the question Moscow has to bear in
mind is whether it may stay militarily aloof in an unfortunate yet
not completely unthinkable case of the eruption of armed conflict
over Nagorno Karabakh.

Perhaps, the key argument for Russian neutrality could be the fact
that this territory is not even recognized by Armenia – thus why
Russia has to commit its resources and risk the life of its soldiers
for the sake of protecting the legally non-existing unit?

BRITISH COUNCIL ESTABLISHED A SPECIAL AWARD WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF GOLDEN APRICOT VIII YEREVAN FILM FESTIVAL

arminfo
Friday, July 1, 23:51

The British Council has established a special award within the
framework of VIII Golden Apricot International Film Festival

British Council Armenia Director Arevik Saribekyan said that “The
New Name of the Festival” award will be conferred on the active and
promising participant. The award- winning Armenian participant will
participate in the Encounters 17th International Film Festival on
16-20 November 2011 in Bristol, UK.

Saribekyan pointed out that “The New Name of the Festival” is not the
only surprise from the British Council. Cultural Management Workshops
will be held from 11 to12 July 2011 within the framework of Cultural
Leadership International programme. During this two-day workshop the
participants will study business strategy and planning of cultural
projects, marketing and audience development and the tools available
to reach different groups of the community. The workshops will be run
by Roger McCann and Hussain Currimbhoy (UK). oger McCann is Visiting
Lecturer in Arts Management for London Metropolitan University where
he teaches the arts management module for the MA in Arts and Heritage
Management, and for London’s South Bank University, where he teaches
two undergraduate courses on Arts Management and Theatre Production.

Hussain Currimbhoy has been the programmer for the Sheffield Doc/Fest
since 2007, and lives and works in Sheffield, UK. With the support of
British Council famous film critic and historian Derek Malcolm (UK)
and BAFTA award-winning Pawel Pawlikowski will arrive in Armenia. They
will conduct master classes for the Armenian students. “We are glad
to announce that our cooperation with Golden Apricot is developing
with every passing year”, she said.

Saakashvili to become Georgia’s prime minister – reports

14:32 – 29.06.11

After the 2012 presidential election in Georgia, incumbent President
Mikheil Saakashvili may become the country’s prime minister, reports
suggest.

The Georgian newspaper Kvella Siakhle says it has learned from sources
that the authorities are planning to nominate Tbilisi Mayor Gigi
Ugalava for presidency next year.

An opposition activist, David Berdzenashvili, has told the paper that
the country’s ruling party might re-elect a former parliament speaker,
David Bakradze.

“The opposition has to win in the parliamentary election, otherwise,
it has to persuade the West not to recognize their outcome,” the
Georgian oppositionist was quoted as saying.

The amended Georgian Constitution gives the prime minister precedence
over the president. After the 2012 presidential election, prime
minister will be considered the country’s top figure.

Tert.am

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
June 30, 2011 Thursday

Karabakh stamps issues in US

Baku 30 June

Karabakh Foundation has issued stamps dedicated to Karabakh for first
time in US. The post stamps meant for sale are part of the project
“Karabakh: A look at past and future.”

The stamps depict historical monuments of Karabakh, ancient Albanian
churches and Shusha castle.

Karabakh Foundation will also present them to famous stamp collectors
in the US One can place an order to buy these stamps via the following
link:

The proceeds from the sale of stamps will be spent on cultural
projects of the Karabakh Foundation.

The Karabakh Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit
organization that aims to research, publish, educate and present more
facts about the Azerbaijani and Caucasus region`s history, especially
in regards to the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Founded and
headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Karabakh Foundation strives to
work with all scholars, academics, fellows, educators, teachers,
students, museums and other relevant expert communities to enrich the
knowledge and appreciation for the Azerbaijani culture, music, arts
and history from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

NI

JazzTimes Magazine
July 2 2011

Day Three in Montreal: Gretchen Parlato and Tigran Hamasyan

Radio programmer and host Russ Davis reports on performances by
vocalist Gretchen Parlato and pianist Tigran Hamasyan during the 2011
Montreal International Jazz Festival
My favorite way to begin each day while attending the Festival
International de Jazz de Montreal is to take a morning walk through
the streets of the city and walk ever upward until I come to the
corner of Rue Peel and Rue Pins where the steps lead up through the
woods to the top of the mountain that gives the city its name, Mont
Royal. There, after what can be a nice little workout if you want to
walk, run or bike up through the trails, is quite a nice payoff and
that’s the beautiful view overlooking the city center below and the
curves of the St. Lawrence River. When you get there you’ll know why
Jacques Cartier named this place `The Royal Mountain.’ Wander through
the beautiful open spaces and wooded trails of the Parc du Mont-Royal,
designed by a certain Mr. Fredrick Law Olmsted who also did a similar
favor for New York City called Central Park, and make your way down
again for breakfast and you have the recipe for the beginning of
another fabulous day in Montreal! On my third day here at the 32nd
Montreal Jazz Fest I had the occasion to hear performances by a couple
of artists who are fairly new upon the scene and who are making their
way up the mountain too, and they are certainly headed to the very
top!

Gretchen Parlato has an absolutely unique voice, really unlike anyone
I’ve ever heard. It is so perfectly imperfect in the mold of Billie
Holiday in that she emotes in such a wonderfully real, natural and
human way as she slides above and below the notes finally arriving at
the perfect point. At times she is not exactly articulating the lyrics
as much as communicating the words in moans and sighs. It’s as if
Gretchen is singing in English but with an accent that sounds
somewhere between Portuguese and French, or maybe Martian. I imagined
she was performing for us in the bar scene in Star Wars, remember
that? So it was totally appropriate that she was performing in the
club L’Astral for this years’ festival appearance.

L’Astral, opened just a couple of years ago on the street level of the
multi-floor building that is the `Maison du Festival,’ the fulltime
home of the Festival offices. It’s a true jazz club created just for
this glorious purpose, not like so many funky, little jazz joints that
are created out of an old storefront. It’s cool, classy and intimate
with a nice balcony and two bars on either side of the room that’s
filled with tables and chairs loosely arranged in front of the stage.
Gretchen walked on stage sporting an asymmetrical little black dress
and her now-signature asymmetrical hairstyle, all a perfect complement
to her unconventional vocal style that has enthralled audiences
worldwide. Her latest release, The Lost And Found, has topped the jazz
charts and much of the set was filled with songs from this album which
shows more and more what a fine writer she is as well an interpreter
of the tunes of others as varied as Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder and
Wayne Shorter. Her band includes the perfect keyboardist for her,
Aaron Parks, who has a gentle touch that blends well with Gretchen’s
softer side. He has enough dynamics in his playing to help the music
groove when it needs to and the rest of the band, who Gretchen calls
`just like her brothers,’ is as solid as a rock and completely in tune
with her. She gave a playful performance including inviting an
audience member to join her onstage to model a t-shirt he’d just
purchased that was designed by Gretchen and her sister. He received a
kiss for his efforts and was the envy of the entire house. Gretchen
Parlato is a vocalist on the way up and is helping define what `The
New Jazz Singers’ are all about.

Then I was off to hear pianist Tigran Hamasyan in the intimate
surroundings of the Gesu theatre. The Gesu, a converted church that
was built in 1865, can be a holy place for musical performance, and
the set by this young Armenian-born pianist and composer (the dude is
only 23) began in a gentle and reverent style with a stripped-down
all-acoustic piece that would certainly not define what the rest of
the performance would be like. With his complement of musicians
including a tall, willowy female vocalist, whose wordless vocal goes a
long way to help Tigran achieve his unique style, bassist, drummer and
saxophonist I felt a bit surprised as I heard the acoustic performance
and remembered how different it felt from the music of his group
recording, Red Hail, with its often high-energy and electric groove. I
have to learn to be more patient. Not long after the first acoustic
piece had ended the bassist strapped on a thundering electric bass and
the game was on as the `real’ Tigran, or at least the one I expected,
arrived!

Earlier in the day I had enjoyed a long conversation with Tigran and
learned how a young guy growing up in Armenia came to embrace jazz and
improvised music and make it his life’s work. He explained that he had
an uncle that `made’ him listen to jazz and he had especially loved
Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters album. Nice entry point into jazz by any
account in my humble opinion. He also heard the jazz classics and rock
and mentioned that his favorite was Black Sabbath!

That combination of influences says a lot to me because as the set at
the Gesu progressed, Tigran and the crew launched into one powerful
jam after another as the band latched on to a riff just as any heavy
metal band might and milked it for all it was worth. It was full of
sound and fury but signified a ton! The bassist rocked his ass off
while the vocalist and saxophonist, who alternated between soprano and
alto, blended almost perfectly creating an other-worldly sound that
meshed with the repetitive pounding of Tigran and the rhythm section.
Imagine Art Tatum jamming with Led Zeppelin while a vocalist wails and
the band rocks so hard that everything becomes a blur! Imagine high
energy jazz-rock, tinged with classical and Armenian folk overtones
and you’ve got the music of Tigran Hamasyan and a new voice for jazz
piano for the 21st century.

The packed house in the Gesu has heard about this wunderkind from the
Middle East and they went absolutely wild, demanding two encores until
Tigran had to quiet the crowd with a solo piece to finish the night.
By the way, when I first got to town I picked up his latest album
titled A Fable. It’s a solo piano album with some electric
embellishments but it’s shorter pieces and shows his fine writing
style as well as his playing. He told me at the end of our interview
that he’s working on a new album and it will be a group record.
Whatever you’ve got my young brother…I’ll take it!

Russ Davis is host of MOJA radio.

Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
July 1, 2011 Friday 6:49 PM GMT +4

Armenian “Kavkaz” Institute director: Opposition’s protests in Armenia
to strengthen in autumn

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 1 / Trend E. Tariverdiyeva /
Undoubtedly, the rallies in Armenia will continue. The serious
political accusations against each other will also continue. This is a
form of political struggle, the director of the Armenian “Kavkaz”
Institute Alexander Iskandaryan said.

“The opposition protests will only intensify from autumn, as a
full-fledged election campaign for the seats in the parliament will
begin from September,” he said. “It is impossible to imagine that the
meetings will end a year before the parliamentary elections.”

The protest action was held in Yerevan on June 30. About 4,000
participants were there. The protesters occupied the Freedom Square in
the center of the city after opposition politician Levon Ter-Petrosian
urged them.

The ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian appealed to the Armenian
authorities for them to put forward their proposals within a dialogue
with the opposition.

Ter-Petrosian said that Armenia should change the power that can be
made through early elections.

He said that it is impossible to compare the situation in Armenia with
protests in Georgia. The Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has no
serious opponents in the opposition, he said.

On the contrary, Armenia has a number of opposition parties, which can
pretend for the seats in the parliament, rather than compete. But
there is no doubt that the political struggle will continue,
Iskandaryan said.

“I would not call the processes taking place today as the
establishment of a dialogue between the power and opposition,” he
said.”It is rather an attempt to establish some rules of the game,
where the political struggle will take place.”
This means that in principle, the struggle has not been cancelled,
i.e., the Armenian National Congress and other parties of the
opposition coalition will remain opponents and will continue fighting
just within other framework when there were no contacts between the
power and the opposition, Iskandaryan said.

He said that it is early to make predictions about the presidential
and parliamentary elections in Armenia.

“It is meaningless to talk about early elections. If no force majeure,
that is impossible to predict, takes place, no early elections will
occur.”