Author: Kanayan Tamar

NKR Military Council discusses first-semester situation

news.am
June 23, 2012 | 13:06

STEPANAKERT. – The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Army (NKR DA)
Military Council on Thursday convened a regular session devoted to the
first-semester results of the 2012 military academic year.

NKR Defense Minister, DA Commander, Lieutenant General Movses Hakobyan
delivered opening remarks, and reflected on the latest developments in
the Karabakh peace process and the important politico-military events
that occurred in the region, DA Media and Propaganda Department
informs.

Following the Army Commander’s introductory remarks, DA deputy
commanders and unit and military unit commanders delivered remarks and
reports on the first-semester results.

Movses Hakobyan ended the Military Council session with closing
remarks, once again reflected on the activities carried out in the
first semester of the 2012 military academic year, and gave
instructions for the second semester.

Georgian expert criticizes wiretapping of Armenians in Tbilisi

June 24, 2012 | 00:49

TBILISI. – If the fact of wiretapping and secret video surveillance during
the conference of Armenian community representatives in Tbilisi is
confirmed, it is very sad, Georgian expert Alexander Rondeli told Armenian
News-NEWS.am .

`Information is not yet confirmed but even if it occurred, it may be a
matter of nationalism,’ Rondeli said stressing Georgia faces quite a
difficult political situation and the given incident should be reviewed
within this context.

Asked whether the wiretapping may be linked to the conference organizer and
president of the Association for the Protection of Armenians in Georgia
Karine Barseghyan’s joining Georgian opposition Georgian Dream party, the
expert said that nothing is possible to say for sure. He also found it
difficult to answer the question who could have arranged the wiretapping.

To note, a scandal with the Armenian community participants is developing.
Armenians in Tbilisi have organized a conference on Thursday, and
accidentally wiretapping and secret video surveillance equipment was found.

Epiphany Project on stage at Steel City
By DENNY DYROFF
For the Journal Register News Service

Saturday, June 23,2012

It was just over three years ago when Epiphany Project performed its
most recent show in the Philadelphia area — a concert at Steel City
Coffee House in Phoenixville. Not long after that tour, the duo —
husband-and-wife team Bet Williams and John Hodian — relocated to
Europe and has been living in Berlin.

Now, Epiphany Project is coming back to the states for a very short
tour — just eight shows. Not surprisingly, making a return visit to
Steel City was a high priority for Williams and Hodian. The twosome
will perform at the comfortable venue in Phoenixville tonight (June
23) at 8 p.m.

`Steel City is a great place to perform,’ said Williams, during a
phone interview from the couple’s home in Berlin. `We’ve always had
great shows there and we’re really looking forward to coming back.’

Back in 2009, the duo was just back in America after living in
Armenia’s capitol city Yerevan for almost a year. The result of living
in the shadow of Mount Ararat and interacting with the Armenian people
was the album `Hin Dagh’.

Epiphany Project’s new music not only included Armenian influence but
also several songs written in the Armenian language. Their sound has
been described as a hybrid of folk, Americana and world music.

`Armenia is a very special place,’ said Hodian. `Armenia is the source
of our latest project — the Nagash Project. It’s a large composition
with text based on the poetry of Mkritch Nagash, a 14th-century priest
and mystic.

`There are 17 poems by this medieval poet from Armenia that were used
in this project. In our current live show, we’ll be performing
excerpts from the piece.’

Williams added, `We also have a bunch of new songs that we’re
bringing. At least half of the show is new material.’

Epiphany Project has a new album but it doesn’t really focus on new
material. It’s a double album called `Live in Germany’ and features
Williams and Hodian performing along with drummer Mal Stein.

`Our sound has really evolved because we’ve been touring so much,’
said Williams. `Our shows are very organic. I know these guys so well
that, when I improvise, they’re right there with me.’

Hodian said, `I used to be such a studio person. Now, our live shows
are where it all comes together. There is a lot of energy. When the
three of us interact, it’s very loose and very energetic. We never
play songs the same way every night. It’s always fresh.’

Epiphany Project will perform tonight at 8 p.m. at the Steel City
Coffee House (203 Bridge St., Phoenixville, 610-933-4043 or
). Tickets are $18.

Armenian-French expedition hosts France’s ambassador

news.am
June 23, 2012 | 16:56

YEREVAN. – French Ambassador Henri Reynaud on Saturday morning visited
the ancient Erebuni Fortress located in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan.

The Armenian-French archeological excavation, which resumed at the
Fortress on June 5, is funded by the `Erebuni’ Historical &
Archaeological Museum-Reserve and the French ministries of Foreign
Affairs and Culture.

The Ambassador toured the excavation site, the Museum-Reserve informs.

And speaking with news reporters, Reynaud confessed that he knows
solely Erebuni from the wealth of Armenia’s ancient settlements, but
he assured that he is planning on visiting other monuments in the near
future.

In his turn, the French expedition team’s leader Stéphane Deschamps
noted that the Erebuni Fortress is an interesting ancient settlement,
both in terms of architecture and archaeological objects. He
considered Erebuni as an important archaeological monument for the
entire Middle East.

During her talk with the French Ambassador, Armenia’s Deputy Minister
of Culture Arev Samuelyan underscored Erebuni’s importance for Yerevan
and stressed the need to present the Fortress in a wholly new way to
the people.

And `Erebuni’ Historical & Archaeological Museum-Reserve Director
Gagik Gyurjyan informed the Ambassador that they are already working
with their French partners toward holding a joint exhibition.

Paper says ARFD ready to cooperate with Prosperous Armenia

June 23, 2012 – 17:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – MP from ARF Dashnaktsutyun Vahan Hovhannisyan
expressed readiness to cooperate with Prosperous Armenia in some
issues, 168 Zham daily reports.

`On the one hand, it’s good, while on the other hand it makes
development of a holistic political course impossible. You must either
back the opposition or authorities’ the paper quoted Mr. Hovhannisyan
as saying.

EU stresses the importance of negotiations with Armenia

news.am
13:25, 23 June, 2012

YEREVAN, JUNE 23, ARMENPRESS: For further development of Eastern
Partnership EU stresses the great importance the signing of
associative treaty with Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan.
Armenpress reports that about this declared European Commissioner for
Enlargement and European neighborhood policy Stefan Fule during the
interview given to ENPI informational centre.

`The associative treaties are the main tools of Eastern Partnership
which have the aim to create free trade zones with corresponding
regions. On these issues we still continue negotiations with Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova and hope that we will be close to the
finish of negotiations with those countries before the next summit of
Eastern Partnership in 2013′ said Fule.

In his words European Union is going to deepen relations with Eastern
Partners in the sphere of mobility.

SOS SARGSYAN DID NOT MANAGE TO GET RID OF CHILDISH SHYNESS

ARMENPRESS
21 June, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS: Sos Sargsyan is a living legend without
whom it is almost impossible to imagine the present and future of
Armenian dramaturgy: all Armenians recognize him regardless of age and
preferences. It is difficult to find someone today who has not been
excited by his characters. He is infinitely humble and kind, shyness.

Armenpress had a talk with famous Armenian actor Sos Sargsyan and
tried to discover the secret of his inexplicable charm.

– During your childhood you were very shyness child. How did you
overcome that “complex” and entered confidently into the great stage?

– I have not managed to overcome my shyness: I am shyness till now
and I am ashamed of everything. Sometimes I think that there have
not been remained shyness people except me (smiles). Now if there
are more than three persons in the room I am ashamed among them,
I don’t know how to behave, do not feel good. I have not understood
how I managed to become an actor with all that. I am surprised of
myself. Apparently the love towards the theatre helped me and made
me forget my ability to be ashamed.

– Do you prefer theatre or cinema?

– Actually I love them both equally. They both have their charm,
gravitation, beauty and their problems, of course. Moments of
disappointment have also taken place. I left myself theatre three
times, several times I have been removed. But every time I returned
to the same place. There are role that I played in vain, I should
not play, particularly in cinema there some such places.

– Which was the last film with your participation? In which film
would you like to be shot?

– Almost five years ago I was shot in a detective film and regretted.

I thought it would be interesting but turned out that it is not so.

This year I was shot in the film “It is me” and I think it will be a
very good film. At the moment there is not any suggestion to be shot
but I miss cinema very much. If there is an interesting offer I will
agree. But I don’t have the physical power which I had at the past.

LA CLE DU CAUCASE EST DETENUE PAR L’ARMENIE
Ara

armenews.com
jeudi 21 juin 2012

LA CLE DU CAUCASE EST-ELLE DETENUE PAR L’ARMENIE ? Deja a l’epoque
de la Russie tsariste, le Caucase etait considere comme une region
strategique pour l’Empire. La Revolution d’octobre 1917 en Russie
n’avait-elle pas offert l’occasion aux Occidentaux – en particulier
au Royaume Uni – de s’assurer une mainmise sur la region du Caucase
d’autant que l’Iran se trouvait deja sous la domination britannique ?

Ce fut d’ailleurs une des raisons pour lesquelles le revolutionnaire
armenien Stepan Chahoumian, considere comme le Lenine du Caucase,
fut assassine. Malgre ses multiples tentatives en Georgie avec le
Mencheviks, en Armenie avec les Dachnaks et en Azerbaïdjan avec les
Moussavistes, l’Occident ne put s’implanter dans le Caucase.

Cependant, l’eclatement de l’U.R.S.S. n’allait-il pas offrir une
voie royale aux Occidentaux pour assouvir leur dessein ? La region de
Caucase est consideree comme le passage obligatoire entre l’Europe et
l’Asie. Le plus farouche partisan de ce passage est la Turquie ; cette
region est un pont pour atteindre l’Asie centrale dont les Turcs sont
originaires. Dans la region du Caucase seul l’Azerbaïdjan dispose des
ressources energetiques. La Georgie hormis son accès a la Mer noire ne
dispose d’aucune ressource et en 2008, la guerre avec la Russie causa
la perte de l’Ossetie et de l’Abkhazie. L’Armenie est certes un tresor
de vestiges culturels mais elle ne recèle aucune ressource minière.

Elle est en meme temps enclavee par l’Azerbaïdjan et la Turquie
qui gardent les frontières fermees pour la libre circulation des
marchandises et des hommes. Les Occidentaux font des pieds et mains
pour gagner la confiance de ces trois Etats du Caucase. La Georgie
est tombee sous le charme de l’Occident ce qui lui coûta cher avec
la perte de ses regions strategiques. L’Azerbaïdjan, avec la vente
de son petrole, se developpe et se dote de moyens militaires pour
reconquerir le Karabakh. Demunie et enclavee, l’Armenie n’a que deux
portes de sortie l’Iran et la Georgie. Elle n’a pas de frontière avec
la Russie dont l’armee defend neanmoins la frontière armeno-turque. La
Russie gardera-t-elle toujours ainsi l’Armenie sous sa protection ?

Lors de la seconde Guerre Mondiale, la Turquie avait declare sa
neutralite 1 ce qui ne l’empecha pas de fournir a l’Allemagne nazie
des denrees alimentaires et des metaux comme du chrome, du manganèse
et autres matières indispensables a la fabrication d’armement. Le 17
juillet 1942, l’armee hitlerienne attaquait Stalingrad ; le plan des
Allemands etait l’investissement du Caucase par le Nord, alors que
” AfrikaKorps ” dirigee par le general Rommel devait l’investir
par le Sud. La Turquie ” neutre ” avait appele sous les drapeaux
20 classes d’hommes parmi les non-musulmans de sa population, des
hommes de 25 a 45 ans etaient ainsi enrôles dans l’armee. En meme
temps 26 divisions de l’armee turque etaient alignees a la frontière
de l’Armenie Sovietique, le signal d’attaque serait l’annonce de la
chute de Stalingrad. Après 7 mois de bataille rangee, l’Armee Rouge
sortait victorieuse et le 2 fevrier 1943 le general Paulus et son
armee capitulaient. L’attaque de l’armee Turque etait tombee a l’eau.

Actuellement, avec l’independance des pays de Caucase, le projet
des Occidentaux et des USA est-il modifie ? Ne souhaitent-ils pas
s’approprier la cle du verrou qui ouvrirait la porte des richesses
energetiques de cette region ? La politique ambiguë menee tant par la
Georgie que par l’Azerbaïdjan reste une reelle menace pour l’Armenie.

Que serait la situation de l’Armenie qui ne dispose d’aucun element
tangible pour faire valoir son existence vis-a-vis des voraces qui
veulent mettre la main sur les richesses d’autrui ? Est-ce l’Armenie
qui detient la cle du Caucase ? Seule une politique equilibree peut
preserver le pays. Comptons sur l’habilite de la diplomatie armenienne,
car elle seule pourra garantir l’Armenie d’une catastrophe imprevisible
qui peut surgir d’une facon inopinee pour la nation armenienne.

MINSK GROUP URGES BOLD KARABAKH STEPS

Journal of Turkish Weekly
june 20 2012

The United States, France and Russia said June 18 they were united
in a commitment to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and urged
Armenia and Azerbaijan to take decisive steps to resolve it.

“We regret that the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia did not
take the decisive steps that our countries called for in the joint
statement” issued at the G8 summit in Deauville last year, the three
states said in a statement.

“Nevertheless, the progress that has been achieved should provide the
momentum to complete work on the framework for a comprehensive peace.”

Armenia and Azerbaijan remain locked in a stand-off over the enclave,
which Armenian forces seized during a war in the early 1990s that
killed nearly 30,000 people and forced another million to flee
their homes.

The statement issued at the G20 summit in Mexico by the three nations,
acting as mediators as the “Minsk Group,” came as the Armenian
and Azerbaijani foreign ministers met in Paris at the latest in a
long-running series of peace talks.

“Military force will not resolve the conflict and would only prolong
the suffering and hardships endured by the peoples of the region,”
said presidents Francois Hollande of France, Barack Obama of the
United States and Vladimir Putin of Russia.

“Only a peaceful, negotiated settlement can allow the entire region
to move beyond the status quo toward a secure and prosperous future,”
the statement said.

While visiting the volatile Caucasus region earlier this month, US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the recent intensive
clashes could have “unpredictable and disastrous consequences.”

As diplomacy gains pace, Azerbaijani forces killed an Armenian soldier
on June 18 in the latest gun battle along the frontline in the disputed
region of Nagorno Karabakh, the Karabakh administration said.

Nineteen-year-old conscript Aram Gyulnazarian died after being hit
by Azerbaijani gunfire, the administration said in a statement. The
soldier was the 10th reported killed this month in clashes along the
Karabakh frontline and on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
the worst outbreak of violence between the ex-Soviet enemies for
several years.

TAKING STOCK OF ARMENIA’S WINE INDUSTRY
by Yigal Schleifer

EurasiaNet.org

June 20 2012
NY

In a recent post, this blog ran an interview with the founder of
Zorah, a new winery that’s trying to revive Armenia’s ancient (as in
millennia) wine industry and reintroduce the use of certain native
grape varieties.

Turns out Zorah is not the only winery trying to take Armenian
winemaking back to its roots. In a very informative article in Palate
Press, an online wine magazine, Becky Sue Epstein, the website’s
international editor, reports on a recent visit to Armenia, where she
was able to visit some of the country’s established wine and brandy
makers who are working to update their offerings as well as a handful
of other new wineries with lofty ambitions. From her report:

Going out from Yerevan in the opposite direction (west), I also took a
day trip to the Armavir area, specifically to Armavir Vineyards, which
has an international group of winemakers working at its 400-hectare
site. Originally, most of the grapes planted here were “cognac
varieties” that were sold for industrial production. This is gradually
evolving to wine grapes that are vinified in modern production methods
on the property. Grapes are hand-harvested here, because of tradition,
available manpower and, I suspect, lack of machinery. This winery is
owned by an Argentinean-Armenian industrialist, and his winemakers
also treated us to a lovely traditional Armenian lunch with fresh
salads, meat and cheese dishes breads and herbs. (Though I later
noticed the young workers who came into the dining room had a range
of dry cereals for their snacks, just like young people in the West.)

As a contrast, the Vedi-Alco company tugged at my heart with its
brave bootstrapping of an old Soviet wine factory, bit by bit. We
tasted around a kitchen table set in the barebones laboratory-also
set with a small offering of cheeses and breads for a snack. After
the collapse of the Soviet Union, they didn’t know how to sell their
brandy, so they made cheap vodka for a while. Now they make brandy
mainly for the Russian market, and fruit vodkas. With their new line
of wines, everything from last September’s harvest was already gone,
so it looks like if they can improve production numbers and methods,
they may finally be on an upswing.