Author: Kanayan Tamar

NEW DOCUMENTARY ON KHOJALU EVENTS GATHERS OVER 200,000 VIEWERS IN A WEEK AND COUNTING (VIDEO)

22:44 ~U 25.02.13

“Between hunger and fire: Power at the expense of lives” – a two-series
documentary, released in February 2012, is now available to the
English-speaking audience as well through a YouTube Channel.

The two-series documentary film is about tragic events which took
place in Nagorno-Karabakh between November 1991 and February 1992.

The research group, composed of historians, retired politicians
and investigative journalists, presents compelling evidence about
that period, sheds a new light on the blockade of Stepanakert – the
nation’s capital – as well as on activities of the political elite
of Azerbaijan which let the tragic events of Khojalu (now Ivanyan)
happen. The archival materials, assembled during the investigation,
questions a range of traditional speculations and manipulations by
Azerbaijani government, the media and ‘expert community’.

The English translation of the documentary attracted unprecedented
interest among the international community. In around a week, more
than 210.000 people watched the film on YouTube channel.

The original, Russian version is available on YouTube either.

Miro Khanzadian, who is the Director of Operations of GlobalHye
Information Services, resident of Los Angeles, CA, has been one of many
who disseminated the movie across international community. “When we,
Armenians, as people are united against injustice we will prevail.

Throughout history the Armenian people have reached victories within
short time and much less resources than our adversaries when we have
been united. Because history is on our side!”, said Mr Khanzadian. The
GlobalHye Information Services, at the words of Khanzadian, aims
at reaching, educating and motivating as many Armenians as possible
through large Global Email database.

The facts and figures, shown in the documentary, are recollected
from archival materials found in diverse, including Azerbaijani,
sources, whereas residents of Stepanakert and Karabakh Defense Army
soldiers and officers speak of the blockade of nation’s capital and
the specifics of the operation to breach the blockade.

Rich of first-time ever released materials, the documentary also
features a rare interview of first president of Azerbaijan, Ayaz
Mutalibov, where the latter argues the Khojaly tragedy was abused to
topple him.

Overall, the film shows how the Aliyev regime, step-by-step, toppled
political opponents and seized the power in Azerbaijan and has been
ruling the country for two decades now, silencing all the courageous
individuals that dared to tell the truth about the incidents in
Khojaly village and around Aghdam region.

FOREIGN MINISTRY: AZERBAIJAN IS ABLE TO RETURN ITS LANDS IN ANY WAY

Trend, Azerbaijan
Feb 25 2013

Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 25 / Trend A. Taghiyeva /

Today Azerbaijan is able to return its lands in any way, spokesman
for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev said in an
interview with Turkish TV channel TRT Haber today.

“Azerbaijan is able to return its lands in any way,” he said. “As we
are against human losses, political, rather than a military solution
is the priority for Azerbaijan.”

He added that the main goal of Azerbaijani diplomacy is to change
the status quo.

“Khojaly was not chosen for perpetrating the massacre of the
Azerbaijanis by chance,” he said. “One of the causes of the tragedy
at Khojaly is a geo-strategic location of the city and in particular
the airport located there.”

He said the massacre was led by those who are holding now and
previously held the leading positions in Armenia. Incumbent Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan and ex-President Robert Kocharian are
among them.

“They do not even try to hide this fact and repeatedly said and
admitted this in their interviews with the media,” he said.

Abdullayev stressed that Azerbaijan is trying to bring the truth about
the Khojaly to the world community resulting in the recognition of
Khojaly events as genocide by the parliaments of several countries.

On Feb. 25-26 February, 1992, Armenian occupation forces together with
the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops stationed in Khankendi
(previously Stepanakert) committed an act of genocide towards the
population of the Azerbaijani Khojaly town.

Some 613 people were killed including 63 children, 106 women and 70
old men. A total of 1000 civilians were disabled during the genocide.

Eight families were killed, 130 children lost one parent and 25
lost both. Additionally, 1275 innocent residents were taken hostage,
while the fate of 150 remains unknown.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. –
are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four U.N. Security Council resolutions
on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

RUSSIA IN THE CAUCASUS

ISN – International Relations & Security Network, Zurich, Switzerland
Feb 25 2013

Despite the attempts by Western powers to penetrate the Caucasus,
Russia continues to exert unmatched influence over the region. In
today’s Questions and Answers presentation, the CSS’ Aglaya Snetkov
outlines some of the differences between Moscow’s North and South
Caucasus policies.

By Aglaya Snetkov for the ISN

What are Russia’s core security challenges and objectives in the
Northern Caucasus?

Russia’s contemporary security challenges in the North Caucasus date
back to the first Chechen war (1994-96), and more recently to the
restart of the large-scale military campaign in Chechnya in 1999.

However, despite (and often directly as a result of) Russia’s policies
in the region, the situation in the North Caucasus remains insecure.

While conditions in Chechnya have to a large extent stabilized under
the iron-fist rule of President Ramzan Kadyrov, the situation in the
rest of the region remains tense. Instability, societal insecurity
and terrorist attacks since the mid-2000s have now spread to the
rest of the North Caucasus, particularly Ingushetia, Dagestan and
Kabardino-Balkaria, with the Caucasus Emirate – a pan-Caucasian
Islamist terrorist organization – continuing its operations in the
region. In addition, poor economic, political and social conditions,
as well as arbitrary violence on the part of the federal and local
forces, all serve to destabilize the region even further. Recent
incidents in Stavropol Krai demonstrate that violence may now also
be spreading beyond the confines of the Northern Caucasus.

Indeed, large scale terrorist attacks in the rest of Russia continue
with regularity. The most notable incident in recent years was the 2011
bombing of the international arrivals terminal at Domodedovo airport,
Moscow. Terrorism-related crime, primarily in the North Caucasus,
remains high year on year, with the Russian authorities recording
365 terrorism related crimes in 2011. The region has also witnessed
a number of high profile killings and attacks on politicians, Muslim
clerics and journalists. The Russian authorities as well as independent
analysts alike are now also concerned over possible terrorist attacks
during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Accordingly, Russia continues to face major terrorist and security
challenges in the region, with no particular end in sight.

What are Russia’s core foreign policy objectives in the Southern
Caucasus?

Russia has had a long presence in the South Caucasus. However, while
Russia is keen on retaining its influence in this region, its actual
ambitions and relations towards each of the South Caucasus states are
rather distinct. Since the early 1990s, its closest ally in the region
has been Armenia, the poorest state in the region. Despite Yerevan’s
attempts to balance a pro-Western and a pro-Russian position, Russia
remains Armenia’s main trading partner and source of economic and
military support.

In contrast, relations between Russia and Azerbaijan have ebbed
and flowed over recent times. Particularly tense in the 1990s with
frictions over Russia’s support of Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and
the energy and pipeline issues, more recently, relations have thawed.

The most turbulent and problematic relationship for Russia has been
with Georgia, coming to a head in the 2008 Russia-Georgia war over
South Ossetia. At their core, Russia’s objectives in Georgia are
motivated by realpolitik. It wants to retain its influence over
Georgia, by curtailing its pro-Western ambitions, and by exerting
pressure on its domestic sphere by supporting the independence
movements in Georgia’s two secessionist enclaves: Abkhazia and South
Ossetia. It also seeks to prevent any future NATO-expansion that would
include Georgia. Aside from hard geopolitical objectives, relations are
often also tense for much pettier reasons. Issues such as the personal
animosity between Putin and Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili,
or provocative posturing and gesturing, exacerbate already tense
relations. A potential window of opportunity has, however, opened
up in the last few months, with the election of Bidzina Ivanishvili,
a wealthy businessman with strong connections in Russia, as Georgia’s
prime minister in October 2012. Immediately following his election,
Ivanishvili offered Russia an olive branch.

However, with Putin back in charge in the Kremlin, Russia has so
far not reciprocated. However, future positive developments in the
relationship should not be ruled out.

How does Moscow plan to achieve these objectives?

In the North Caucasus, Russia’s current federal policy appears to be
stuck in a rut, veering from one ‘tried and failed’ initiative to the
next. Unfortunately, even new initiatives such as meetings between
Salafi and Sufi leaders in Dagestan have not succeeded in quashing
the violence on the ground.

In Chechnya, despite a general stabilization and mass rebuilding
program, particularly in the capital Grozny, concerns remain over
the Kadyrov regime. The personalization of the regime around Kadyrov,
its arbitrary use of violence and a program aimed at the revival of
Chechen cultural and religious ‘traditions’ are all cause for concern.

In fact, under Kadyrov Chechnya seems to be moving even further away
from the Russian legal and cultural space, particularly with regard to
the role and place of women, whose freedom has been severely curtailed
in recent years.

Russia will only be able to address the currently instability in
the North Caucasus if it first overcomes much broader structural,
but also leadership, challenges, which have up till now ensured that
Moscow remains a weakened power with a growing terrorist threat inside
its territory. Until this occurs, the question remains – for how long
will Russia retain its effective power and governance over the region?

In the South Caucasus, by contrast, Russia appears to have adopted a
‘carrot and stick’ approach – with the stick usually reserved for
Georgia, and the carrots for Armenia. Indeed, regardless of the
legality or otherwise of its actions during the 2008 Russia-Georgia
war, Russia clearly set out to teach Georgia a lesson. As revealed by
the then-President Medvedev in 2011, Russia’s actions in 2008 were
primarily designed to curtail NATO’s ambitions to expand into the
South Caucasus. In this respect, this approach seems to have worked
(at least for now). However, the 2008 campaign also demonstrated
Russia’s military inefficiencies and weaknesses, and it seems rather
unlikely that there will be another major confrontation between Russia
and Georgia in the near future. And indeed, if Ivanishvili does manage
to craft a rapprochement with Russia, perhaps relations between the two
countries may even become less securitized and hostile in the future.

In relation to Armenia, Russia tends to use its security and economic
weight in order to ensure that it toes the line. Indeed, not only does
Russia allot subsidies to Armenia, it also provides it with cheap oil
and gas imports, at the same time as Russian companies are heavily
investing in the Armenian energy sector. In the security sector,
Russia has also retained its direct military presence through its
102nd military base, and by patrolling the Armenian border with Iran
and Turkey alongside Armenian counterparts. Armenia is currently
involved in a number of Russian-led regional projects. By contrast,
Azerbaijan has been able to use its energy resources to craft a much
more independent foreign policy. And while relations with Russia
have broadened in recent years, Moscow does not have much leverage
over Azerbaijan.

In December of last year, Hilary Clinton warned of Russian intentions
to “re-Sovietize” Eastern Europe and Central Asia through instruments
like the Eurasian Union. What do you make of this statement in view
of Russia’s policy in the Northern and Southern Caucasus?

Putin’s project proposal to create a Eurasian Union by 2015 sent
shock-waves through political and policy circles in the region.

Currently, this idea remains rather vague, but it shouldn’t be seen
as attempt by Putin to create an USSR 2.0 or even to establish a
pan-regional structure like the Commonwealth of Independent States. It
does, however, highlight a series of potential future trends, some
of which might have a direct impact on the South Caucasus. First,
the region now plays a greater role in Russia’s foreign policy
ambitions than even in the mid-2000s. Second, looking at recent
regional developments – Russia’s goals are now geographically much
narrower and more defined than in the 1990s. The focus is primarily
on building stronger and mutually-beneficial, regional institutional
arrangements with key regional economic players such as Ukraine or
Kazakhstan (until now Russia has failed to successfully integrate
Ukraine into its regional institutional arrangements) and its closest
allies, such as Belarus and Armenia. The goal, therefore, is a
‘coalition of the willing’ not ‘an alliance of the coerced’. Third,
in the South Caucasus, these projects really only involve Armenia,
since neither Georgia nor Azerbaijan currently fit within Russia’s
long-term regional integration agenda. Armenia is already an observer
state in the Eurasian Economic Community and its leadership has
already expressed its interest in the idea of a future Eurasian Union,
particularly in economic terms.

A pertinent question that does arise in relation to regional
institutional arrangements and the South Caucasus is what happens
in the event of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over
Nagorno-Karabakh. This is a much more likely scenario than a repeat
of the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict. Indeed, over the last few years,
Russia has been progressively beefing up the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO), a regional structure that provides security
guarantees for its members, which include Armenia. So, in the event
of future conflict in the South Caucasus, Russia and the CSTO might
find itself with no choice but to provide military assistance to
Armenia. Whether, this will happen in practice remains unknown.

Therefore, while Russia’s aspiration to build stronger regional
institutional arrangements at this stage do not automatically or
directly impact upon Azerbaijan or Georgia – they might very well
suffer from indirect spill-over effects.

Aglaya Snetkov is a senior researcher at the Center for Security
Studies (CSS).

SERZH SARGSYAN BECOMES ARMENIAN PRESIDENT OFFICIALLY

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Feb 25 2013

Head of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia has published
final results of the presidential polls. Serzh Sargsyan got 861,373
votes (58.64%), followed by Raffi Ovannisyan, leader of the Heritage
Party with 36.74%, News Armenia reports.

Grant Bagratyan, former PM, currently leader of the Freedom Party
and an MP, Paruyr Ayrikyan, leader of the Union for National
Self-Determination, Arman Melikyan, former Foreign Minister of
Nagorno-Karabakh, political analyst Andrias Gukasyan and epos
researcher Vardan Sedrakyan got less than 5% of votes.

60.18% of the population, or 1.521 million people, voted.

7,000 observers from 26 local and 12 international organizations,
including OSCE ODIHR, OSCE PA, PACE, CIS PA and others, monitored
the polls. They say that the elections meet international standards,
although violations were registered.

Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of Prosperous Armenia, supports Ovannisyan’s
attempts to appeal the election results.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SARKISIAN’S REELECTION CONFIRMED; RUNNER-UP CONTINUES TO CONTEST RESULTS

Vancouver Sun, BC, Canada
Feb 25 2013

By The Associated Press February 25, 2013

YEREVAN, Armenia – Final elections results in Armenia have given
a second term to President Serge Sarkisian, although the runner-up
continues to allege the vote was flawed.

Tigran Mukuchian, chairman of the country’s Central Election
Commission, said Monday that Sarkisian won the election a week ago
with nearly 59 per cent of the vote, enough to avoid a run-off. The
nearest of his six rivals, American-born Raffi Hovanessian, got just
under 37 per cent.

Hovanessian, Armenia’s first foreign minister after the 1991 collapse
of the Soviet Union, has filed an appeal demanding the election
commission revoke Sarkisian’s candidacy on the grounds that he did
not declare all of his campaign finances.

Hovanessian claims he was the election’s real winner, and has held
rallies throughout the country alleging ballot-stuffing and voter
coercion since the election.

WE THE PEOPLE

Monday, February 25th, 2013

BY MARIA TITIZIAN

Day Three
We are sitting at Cafe Vergnano on Northern Boulevard with a group of
friends, drinking coffee watching the clock. It’s almost 5 p.m. and we
know where we have to be. We pay the bill, gather up our belongings
and begin making our way to Liberty Square. The sky is overcast and
I check my bag to make sure my umbrella is there. It’s been three
days since the presidential elections and every day there have been
rallies. I am nervous and have difficulty catching my breath.

As we cross Tumanyan Street, we see that thousands have already
gathered and even more are streaming into the square. I begin to
breathe again. As we walk into the crowd, we see familiar faces. There
are artists, writers, environmentalists, ordinary men and women
and lots of young people. There is a peculiar silence as everyone,
standing shoulder to shoulder wait for the speeches to begin.

A group of men, holding sunflower seeds in little paper cones make
their way to where we are and assemble near us. In front of me is a
middle aged couple, quietly talking to one another. Their inaudible
conversation is mesmerizing even though I don’t know what they are
talking about, but assume it has something to do with hope. It’s
almost reverent.

I turn to my right and see a well known environmental activist, a
writer and my cousin standing together talking. My cousin, what can I
say about him? He is the brother I never had. He is the spitting image
of my grandfather, a Genocide survivor from Musa Dagh, my guardian
angel in heaven who I never got a chance to meet but with whom I share
an almost divine relationship. Ruben sees me and we hug each other
tightly and look at each other, I can feel the tears welling up in my
eyes. Every time I see him I am reminded of my family back in Canada
and the crushing garod I feel for them. Ruben was born in Armenia,
our fathers were first cousins. My four great uncles repatriated
to Armenia in 1947 and I met Ruben for the first time when we moved
to Armenia. We are not of the same political persuasion but today,
in Liberty Square those lines are blurred and it doesn’t matter.

The speeches begin. There is complete silence. The air is getting
colder and the crowd is swelling. I link arms with my friend Dzovig
who has arrived with her family. My husband and daughter stand behind
us; other friends and acquaintances surround us, and my people stand
strong, resolute, hopeful. My son is here too, somewhere in the crowd,
filming for Civilnet, which has been working around the clock covering
the events unfolding in our lives. We are all here. Here in the square,
we the people stand and wait. There is this crazy impossible love
pouring out of my heart and I’m having difficulty breathing once again.

One after another, the speeches take place. Young political activists,
environmentalists, representatives of civil society, presidential
candidates, and representatives of other political parties take the
podium and deliver their speeches. We can all feel a movement beginning
to take shape, we’re not entirely sure how it will develop or how it
will manifest itself but there is something taking place. In the middle
of the roster of speakers, Raffi Hovhanessyan announces that the ARF
has decided to join the movement and the crowd starts cheering. The
group of men in front of us with the sunflower seeds turn to each
other and say, “Ara, Dashnaknere miatsel en, ara es arten lurj e,”
(Hey, the ARF has joined in. This is serious) and they start phoning
their friends saying, “Ara, yegek, Dashnaknere miatsel en” (My cousin
Ruben turns to me and says, finally. I start to breathe again.

As dusk falls on the square, no one has moved, everyone is waiting to
hear what Raffi will say about his meeting with Serzh Sarkisian that
had taken place a day before. There is an electric anticipation. I
just keep hoping that a deal hasn’t been struck, that Raffi will make
the right decision, that the people are going to keep the pressure up.

After standing in the cold for two hours, listening to one speech
after another, Raffi finally steps up to the podium. He explains
to the people in the square, to the people watching the rally being
livestreamed throughout the country and around the world that all of
his proposals for a solution to the impasse have been rejected by the
president. He says that he will not back down, that he will take his
message the following day to Ashtarak, Vanadzor and Gyumri. He says
this is a movement for a new Armenia; he invites everyone to join
the movement. This is the Barev Revolution, the Barevolution. The
crowd goes wild, I think I might have whistled or jumped for joy or
floated, I can’t remember. We go home, elated and wait to congregate
to Liberty Square in two days.

Day Four And indeed, the following day Raffi and his team of
supporters begin their journey to the cities in the north of the
country where he had been able to pull in incredible numbers, beating
the incumbent in village after village, in city after city. Everywhere
they go, they are greeted by thousands of people. In some places,
the police have blocked roads from surrounding villages to ensure
that people don’t take part. Unbroken and resolute, they leave their
cars behind and walk, sometimes up to ten kilometers on foot to join
their compatriots. It seems nothing will stop them from participating
in what now appears to be a nationwide movement. We hear calls for a
student strike. My husband and I start wondering aloud, if university
students find the strength, the courage to boycott classes and join
this movement, then this will be unstoppable.

Day Five The next rally is set to take place on Sunday, February 24
at 3 p.m..

Once again we head toward Liberty Square. Hundreds of people are making
their way, walking, talking, holding hands. We enter the square and
make our way to our usual spot, it seems we have become regulars
here. At first we notice that there aren’t as many people as two
days ago, but still people are making their way into the square. Two
young girls are walking through the crowd asking people to dial 180
(the number of the electric company) to demand that officials turn
the electricity on, which has been turned off to prevent Raffi from
addressing his supporters. I take my phone out to dial when all of
a sudden I hear Raffi beginning his speech. Someone has turned the
electricity on.

He speaks for about 45 minutes, he tells us about his trip to the
north of the country, he informs us that the next two days he will
be traveling to the south of the country, making his way to Goris and
that on February 28, we will all gather once again in Liberty Square.

No one else speaks, there is no vision articulated, no strategy, no
game plan. A man standing behind me, who has driven here from Artashat
says, I drove all this way to hear his schedule? Is this it? Raffi
tells the crowd that he and his family and his supporters are going to
walk to Yerablur and whoever wanted could join him. The crowd begins
to disperse, Raffi, his family and supporters start walking toward
Yerablur, where the martyrs from the Karabakh war are buried.

I walk away slightly stunned, slightly deflated. The euphoria we
had felt two days ago begins to dissipate and I worry that without
a clearly defined vision, this movement may die in its infancy. We
meet up with friends, sit around and wonder what is happening. Does
he have a team of strategists, does he know where he’s going to take
this movement? Is he going to be able to keep up the pressure? What
will his demands be? Is he going to demand Sarkisian’s resignation,
call for new presidential or parliamentary elections? Is he going to
give some context to the Barevolution? Is he forging alliances with
other sectors of society, is he going to mobilize more people. It’s a
great idea to go to the regions of the country, but what message is
he taking? Sometimes he looks like a deer caught in the headlights,
surprised and unsure of how it is that he has come to be in this
position.

We all want so desperately to believe that change will come. Many
of us are not naïve, we realize that Serzh Sarkisian is not going
to back down, we understand that this movement is not about Raffi
Hovannisian or the presidency, it’s about ensuring fundamental change,
about the will and rule of the people, it’s about transparency and
accountability, it’s about the rule of law, about social cohesion
and justice, equality, it’s about our future.

I hope that different political forces, civil society organizations,
students and people will rally around this movement. I hope that our
people will continue to stand strong and firm. I hope that we all
understand what is at stake and I hope that Raffi can visualize and
articulate a vision around which we will unite. Time will tell.

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN READY TO SACRIFICE HIS LIFE TO PREVENT BLOODSHED

TERT.AM
21:28 ~U 25.02.13

At his press conference on Monday, Heritage party Chairman Raffi
Hovannisian ruled out early parliamentary elections in Armenia.

“I made various proposals to Serzh Sargsyan, but he declined. Nothing
like that is on the agenda now,” Mr Hovannisian said.

National consent is only possible if de jure constitutional elections
are held. “We must have answers to all the questions. New presidential
elections must be held, when Serzh Sargsyan and Raffi Hovannisian
must give up their rhetoric,” he said.

Those involved in the national movement, including the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D), say they have a
serious problem to resolve.

With respect of the Feb. 18 presidential election in Armenia, he
noted that all the members of Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission
(CEC) must be severely punished. “Well informed of all the reports,
violence and election frauds, they were unable to prevent that,”
Mr Hovannisian said.

He noted that his campaign headquarters can appeal the presidential
election results within five days after the CEC officially announces
them.

“Many people, including our young supporters Nikol Pashinyan, believe
it should not be done. The Armenian people believed and decided to
replace Armenia’s incumbent authorities and president. We can also
reform out judicial system,” Mr Hovannisian said.

“If we apply, it will be a moment of justice for the Constitutional
Court,” he said.

He is determined to do his best not to disappoint the people. “Let
no one stand in the way of our soldiers, students, because I will
stand beside them,” Mr Hovannisian said.

Detroit’s Cass Tech to New York’s Lincoln Center: Hard work, perserverance
pays off for Michigan musicians

The Ann Arbor News (Michigan)
MLive.com
February 05, 2013

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk | [email protected]

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Hard work, talent and perseverance were the recipe
for success for violinists Ani and Ida Kavafian.

That and a little luck for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
musicians appearing at St. Cecilia Music Center on Thursday, Feb. 7,
2013.

Baptism by fire gave the two Michiganders seats among the ranks of the
one of the nation’s most eminent chamber music organizations.

As a student at The Juilliard School in the last 1960s and early 70s,
Ani Kavafian often attended Chamber Music Society concerts at Alice
Tully Hall.

`I’d look at these players and say, this is the job I wanted,’ she
recalled. `That’s the greatest job in the world.’

Ani Kavafian got to play several times as a guest and then was asked
to step in for violinist Jaime Laredo to play with pianist Richard
Goode a new piece by contemporary Czech composer Karel Husa in two
performances on a Friday and a Sunday for the Chamber Music Society.

Then she got a call from Yo-Yo Ma, and a last-minute invitation to
join him in the Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and
Orchestra with the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut on the
Saturday in between.

It’s a staple of the repertoire, but one the young violinist hadn’t
yet played before.

`I never practiced so much in my entire life,’ she recalled. `My
philosophy is you have to go through every door that’s opened to you.’

`Those were good decisions,’ she said.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns on Thursday for
its second concert in its first season as partners with St. Cecilia
Chamber Music Series, directed by David Finckel and Wu Han,
co-artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Seven musicians will be in St. Cecilia Music Center’s Royce Auditorium
to play music by Cesar Franck, Richard Strauss and Ned Rorem in a
program the ensemble also will perform in Chicago’s Harris Theater the
following day and in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York
City afterwards.

The Kavafians grew up in the Detroit suburbs of Highland Park and
Royal Oak and went to high school at Cass Tech in Detroit and studied
at Interlochen Fine Arts Camp.

`I consider myself a Michigander,’ Ida Kavafian said.

Their stepfather, Ara Zerounian, who died a few months ago, taught
public school music, mostly to elementary and middle school age
children.

`He started a lot of very successful and wonderful musicians,’ Ida
Kavafian said.

Ani Kavafian originally wanted to study music at the University of
Michigan.

`A lot of my friends were going there, and it was closer to home,’ she
said.

Her mother insisted she go to New York City to study at The Juilliard
School.

As fate would have it, the teacher she had hoped to study with at
University of Michigan died a couple of months later.

`It turned out to be the right decision,’ she said. `My mother was
right.’

Agenzia Fides, Italia
23 feb 2013

I `giusti’ del genocidio armeno

Erevan (Agenzia Fides) – Le autorità dell’Armenia hanno deciso di
riservare una sezione del museo del genocidio armeno di Erevan alla
memoria dei turchi e dei curdi che hanno salvato o soccorso gli armeni
durante i massacri pianificati da loro subiti nell’Impero ottomano nel
1915. Come appreso da Fides, il programma di restauro del museo, da
attuarsi entro il 2015, prevede una adeguata valorizzazione delle
figure dei `giusti’ turchi e curdi che durante i le stragi e i pogrom
di quasi cento anni fa protessero i loro vicini e amici armeni fino al
punto di mettere a repentaglio le loro stesse vite.

Il museo del genocidio degli armeni fu inaugurato nel 1995, mentre si
commemorava l’ottantesimo anniversario dei sanguinosi avvenimenti del
1915. Nel parco che circonda gli edifici del museo vengono piantati
alberi a nome delle personalità diplomatiche e politiche straniere e
delle istituzioni internazionali che hanno riconosciuto come tale il
genocidio armeno. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 23/2/2013).

Mediamax, Armenia
Feb 21 2013

A `virtual debate’ between Swedish FM and Armenian Foreign Ministry

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Carl Bildt
said that “the quality of presidential elections in Armenia was well
below expectations’.

Carl Bildt twitted this commenting on the joint statement by EU High
Representative Catherine Ashton and Commissioner Stefan Fule on
presidential elections in Armenia, Mediamax reports.

Catherine Ashton and Stefan Fule have particularly `welcomed further
progress made by the Armenian authorities in their efforts to hold
these presidential elections in line with international standards’.

Mediamax reports that the Armenian Foreign Ministry has responded to
Carl Bildt’s twit on its Facebook page.

`Carl Bildt seems to be lacking good advisors on Armenia, and
therefore the quality of information he possesses is disappointing,’
the Armenian Foreign Ministry wrote on its Facebook page.