Author: Kanayan Tamar

Opposition MP finds Central Election Committee voting pre-arranged deal
13:11 – 20.08.11

The opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) had a pre-arranged
deal with the ruling authorities to prevent members of the Heritage
party to be represented in district electoral committees, a member of
the party has said.

Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, Armen Martirosyan of the
opposition Heritage party faction in parliament, characterized the
Central Election Commission’s (CEC) recent voting unfair, saying that
his party’s members should have been elected to district electoral
committees.

Asked by Tert.am about the possibility of video-recording the voting
process, he said cameras would not have ensured transparency as the
CEC members previously knew who they were going to elect.

Martirosyan further argued the CEC’s allegations such outcome of the
voting was unintentional.

“How come that the Heritage members, who have been struggling for such
a long time and met all the criteria became unfit all of a sudden?” he
said, considering such allegations unfounded.

Asked weather the procedures set out in the amended Electoral Code
contain corruption risks he gave a positive answer.

“The independent committees are the same committees representing
parties, the only exception being the fact that Heritage, a political
party exercising control, is not represented there. Only a person
having no idea about politics, and life in general can speak about
coincidence,” he said.

Tert.am

HALTEROPHILIE
Le champion haltérophile Youri Sarkissian a 50 ans

Multiple champion du monde et d’Europe, l’ex-haltérophile Youri
Sarkissian a fêté ses 50 ans dimanche 14 août au complexe «
Continental » à Erévan. Y. Sarkissian était venu en tenue de sport et
devant ses invités il souleva une barre relativement lourde pour
évoquer ses exploits. Etait présent dans la salle, l’un des plus
grands champions de l’Histoire, l’haltérophile Youri Vardanian,
champion Olympique à Moscou (1980) multiple champion du monde et
d’Europe et détenteur de 43 records du monde. Youri Vardanian (55 ans)
qui eut une année très difficile avec un accident de la circulation et
une grave maladie, semblait être remis de ses épreuves. Youri
Sarkissian qui vit depuis 1994 en Australie revient régulièrement en
Arménie et envisage même de se fixer définitivement en Arménie. Il
reçut à l’occasion de son anniversaire un mot du président arménien
Serge Sarkissian. De son côté Youri Sarkissian avait envoyé à S.
Sarkissian, une médaille commémorative émise par l’Australie sur
laquelle figurait l’effigie du champion arménien.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 20 août 2011,
Krikor [email protected]

SEYED ALI SAGHAYAN RECEIVES PAN-ARMENIAN GAMES IRANIAN DELEGATION

Panorama
Aug 19 2011
Armenia

Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Seyed Ali Saghayan received
Iranian-Armenian sportsmen participating in the Fifth Pan-Armenian
Games, Fars News Agency said.

The Ambassador noted that the Iranian and Armenian peoples have many
historical and cultural similarities and have peacefully co-existed
for ages.

Seyed Ali Saghayan highly appreciated the role of the Armenian
community of Iran and informed those present that Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has provided financial aid to Tehran’s Ararat
Sport Complex.

Around 450 sportsmen have arrived in Armenia from the Iranian cities of
Tehran, Isfahan, Urmia, Shahin, Tabriz, and Salmas for the Pan-Armenian
Games.

AZERBAIJAN CHANGES TACTICS OF ANTI-ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA – EXPERT

news.am
Aug 19 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan has some changes in its strategy and tactics
of the anti-Armenian propaganda, said Armenian military expert David
Jamalyan to a press conference on Friday.

The expert reminded that Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
suggested that Karabakh Armenians should themselves vote for or
against being a part of Azerbaijan.

“Now attempts are made to implement this idea in practice, which
brings up an interesting situation – anti-Armenian propaganda and
hatred are not reduced but they simultaneously introduce an image of a
“good Armenian” speaking of peoples’ friendship,” said Jamalyan.

As an example of such “good Armenians” the expert mentioned the
Chairman Caucasus Center for Peacemaking Initiatives Georgi Vanyan.

Jamalyan particularly highlighted Vanyan’s initiative to hold a
festival of Azerbaijani movies in Yerevan, which did not cause much
excitement in Armenia and in Azerbaijan as well.

According to the expert, such actions do not improve relations between
the two nations, furthermore, they obviously have the opposite effect.

Jamalyan believes that creation of the new image of Armenians will
activate international structures.

“This can be expressed in the form of various grant programs with
political overtones. These programs will not take normalization of
relations between Armenians and Azerbaijanis as a primary goal, they
will rather try to introduce pro-Azerbaijani approaches to the youth,”
concluded Jamalyan.

GOLDEN THREAD THEATER TO PREMIERE PLAY ON GENOCIDE EXPERIENCE

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Editor

Actors in a scene from “Night in Erzinga” SAN FRANCISCO – Golden Thread
Productions announces the world premiere of “Night over Erzinga,” a
powerful and soul-stirring play by award-winning playwright and actor
Adriana Sevahn Nichols. Sevahn Nichols is the first recipient of the
Middle East America: a National New Plays Initiative, a commissioning
project founded and managed by three national organizations: the Bay
Area’s Golden Thread Productions, New York’s Lark Play Development
Center and Chicago’s Silk Road Theatre Project.

Sevahn Nichols’ “Night over Erzinga” is a moving story about the
immigrant experience in the US and the endurance of the human spirit.

The central characters, Ardavazt and Alice, build a new life in the
US in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide but the past comes to
haunt them in very different ways. Inspired by Nichols’ personal
heritage as a Dominican- Armenian-American, this story explores how
a man can lose two families in one lifetime, but not lose his heart;
and how a grandmother can reach through time, to unearth the untold
story and bring her children “home.”

This tender epic spans two continents and three generations, from
Western Armenia of 1913, to 1930s Massachusetts, to 1960s New York.

The magical story reunites ancestors with the living, as they each
search for solace and a way to make peace with the past. Nichols’
poetic and comic language incorporates the world of symbols and icons,
spirits and the invisible, along with the everyday concerns of survival
and keeping a family together.

The playwright’s Armenian grandparents immigrated to the United States
from Erzinga and Shabin- Karahisar (part of Turkish Armenia) in the
aftermath of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Nichols’ grandfather,
Ardavazt Oghidanian, was the sole survivor of his family. Nichols’
reflection on her grandfather’s experience launched a three-year
journey to develop “Night over Erzinga.”

Nichols described the play’s origin as a way “…to discover my roots;
to write my way home. To ancestors I never knew, but feel in my heart.

And to find a way to belong to a history and legacy that, up until
that point, in my life, was missing. As a writer, I feel called to
tell the stories that will inspire, move and enrich people’s hearts.

We are all on a collective journey, as a global family, and I believe
theatre, at its best, has the potential to initiate transformation
and healing. Although the play I have written is deeply personal
and specific to the Armenians, it has been my intention that this
play transcends that specificity and become universal in creating
dialogues among those who see it?”

Torange Yeghiazarian, Golden Thread Productions’ artistic director,
adds “‘Night over Erzinga’ is a courageous play that brings together
the Armenian and Latino communities. Adriana’s unique voice and rich
language is a welcome new addition to the cannon of American theater
and Golden Thread is proud to introduce this important new play and
playwright to Bay Area audiences.”

During its development, “Night over Erzinga” had two
enthusiastically-received public readings in New York and San
Francisco. Sevahn Nichols is an award-winning actress and playwright
who has developed and performed her work at the Sundance Theater Lab,
South Coast Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, The Goodman, LA Theatre Works,
Stages Theatre, The Fountain, INTAR and The Lark. Her plays have
been published by Samuel French and Smith & Kraus. Sevahn Nichols’
critically acclaimed solo show, “Taking Flight,” garnered her a San
Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award, a Los Angeles Women’s Theatre
Festival Award, and the CD was a finalist for a 2008 Audie Award.

“Night over Erzinga” is scored with original music by Bulgarian
composer, Penka Kouneva and directed by Hafiz Karmali. Karmali is an
accomplished theater director familiar to Golden Thread audiences. He
directed three new plays at the ReOrient Festival in 2009: “Abaga”
by Yeghiazarian; “A Marriage Proposal” (Egyptian Chekhov) and “The
Review” (via skype) both by Yussef El-Guindi and in 2006, the Ikhwan
al-Safa’s fable, “Island of Animals.”

Prior to working with Golden Thread, Karmali was a teaching fellow
at Harvard University, directed plays in London and served an
apprenticeship at the American Repertory Theatre where he assisted
internationally renowned directors Robert Wilson and Andrei Serban.

Golden Thread Productions is a nationally recognized non-profit
organization acknowledged as the leading theater company devoted to
Middle Eastern voices and experiences. Founded in 1996 by Yeghiazarian,
Golden Thread’s mission, to give voice to Middle Eastern writers,
is made more urgent and vital with all that is currently happening
in the Middle East.

ARMENIANS ARE ‘ALLIES OF LEZGINS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST AZERBAIJAN’

Tert.am
19.08.11

A representative of the Lezgian nation has said that Armenians are
Lezgins’ allies in their fight against Azerbaijan.

In a letter related to a discussion by Armenian and Azerbaijani
authors and published by the Russian-language news agency Regnum,
Vagif Kerimov, the head of the National-Cultural Autonomy of Lezgians
in Tumen Province in Russia, said that Armenians in Karabakh acted
as brave men who stayed and defended their homes.

“Men have always died for their homeland, for their families and
relatives, for their homes. They died, and did not flee. Who fled
from Azerbaijan? The question itself is the answer; all in all,
it clarifies the situation,” wrote he.

“The Karabakhi Armenians went to that victory for several years;
they were ready to die and achieved Freedom,” he added.

Further, he said he considers Armenians as allies in their struggle
against Azerbaijan.

“You have only one way out: the peaceful one, much in the same way
as in Russia; Federation, and again to become friends with Armenians.

That is the salvation of your souls,” he wrote.

“The money you spend on missile, spend it on manuals of Lezgi, Talish,
and Avar languages. This oil is not only yours. Yes, the Armenians are
our advocates. You too have advocates in the face of Israel,” he added.

ARMENIA’S RAMKAVAR AZATAKAN HAS NO ‘ENEMIES’

Tert.am
19.08.11

At his Aug. 19 meeting with journalists, the newly appointed chairman
of the Ramkavar Azatakan Party of Armenia Harutyun Arakelyan addressed
a number of issues, including domestic political developments.

“Armenia’s authorities and the Armenian National Congress (ANC)
have decided on the forthcoming elections beforehand. There is
a tendency to monopoly,” he said. Under the circumstances, the
extra-parliamentary political forces, including Ramkavar Azatakan,
will find it most difficult to succeed in the forthcoming elections.

“We do not rule out the possibility of joint participation in the
elections. The party’s Armenian board are discussing this possibility.

I can name some parties with which we can jointly take part in the
elections. They are the Heritage party, Armenian Revolutionary
Federation Dashnaktsutyun, as well as the parties led by Aram
Karapetyan and Tigran Karapetyan,” Arakelyan said. He pointed out
that the Ramkavar Azatakan Party of Armenia has no “enemies” among
Armenia’s political forces.

GARDEROBE MANAGER UNAWARE THAT HIS SHOP IS TO BE DEMOLISHED

epress.am
08.18.2011

Manager of the clothing and accessories shop “Garderobe” on Yerevan’s
Abovyan St. was unaware of the Yerevan mayor’s decision to dismantle
kiosks and shops that are located on the sidewalks of the Armenian
capital.

“How’s that? I’m not aware of any such decision. We’ve taken a lease on
the property for the long-term – go find out from the property owner,”
said manager Artashes Mashadyan, speaking to Epress.am on the phone.

On Aug. 16, Yerevan mayor Karen Karapetyan once again declare that the
unlawful and non-operating kiosks and shops on Yerevan’s main streets,
and on Abovyan St. in particular, must be dismantled and instructed
authorities to make the notice of demolition more widely known.

Furthermore, the mayor stated that the initiative came from the kiosk
owners themselves.

Earlier, asked by local daily Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”)
whether the Garderobe shop on Abovyan St. would be demolished,
Republic of Armenia and Yerevan chief architect Narek Sargsyan said
yes and added, “We are preparing to demolish those crude structures
on Abovyan St.”

AZERBAIJAN INTERESTED IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION AS NO ONE ELSE – DIPLOMAT

news.az
1news.az
Aug 18, 2011
Azerbaijan

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out in late 1980s of
last century due to unfounded territorial claims of Armenia against
Azerbaijan.

Charge d’affaires of Azerbaijan in Tajikistan Ilham Zamanov said this
in his interview to Business and Politics newspaper.

The diplomat said that Azerbaijan, like no one else, is interested
in a speedy settlement [of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict] through negotiations and addressing its consequences,
the diplomat said.

“We clearly and unequivocally demonstrate our commitment to resolving
the conflict based on international law and strive to make full use
of all political and diplomatic means at our disposal,” he noted.

Azerbaijan believes that the territorial integrity of the state can
not be a matter of debates and it will never agree with the decision
that ignores the rights of its people and legalizes the status quo,
the diplomat added.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES THE DECISION ON BUILDING A HOTEL NEAR “REPUBLIC SQUARE” METRO STATION

Mediamax
Aug 18, 2011
Armenia

Photo: Yerevan/Mediamax/. At today’s
session, Armenian government approved the decision on “Permission of
non-competition land provision with a right of construction”.

According to the decision, a world-class hotel complex is due to be
built on the territory adjacent to “Republic Square” metro station.

“The complex will be built taking into account the construction, design
and architecture solutions of the adjacent historical monuments,
buildings and structures which will ensure the integrity of the
micro-district”, the decision runs.

The construction area will make 5853.25 square kilometers.

It should be reminded that on July 21, Urban Construction Council of
Yerevan also approved the construction of a 7-8 storey hotel on the
territory close to “Republic Square” metro station.