Author: Kanayan Tamar

AZERI RIGHTS ROW DROWNS OUT EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
By Margarita Antidze

WXEL
May 24 2012

Sar of Bosnia & Herzegovina performs during a rehearsal for the finals
of the Eurovision song contest in Baku

BAKU (Reuters) – Tens of millions of television viewers will tune
into Europe’s annual pop music contest in the former Soviet republic
of Azerbaijan this weekend, but a war of words over human rights may
drown out the singing, self-promotion and kitschy costumes.

Hundreds of excited Eurovision Song Contest fans have already arrived
in the oil-rich Azeri capital of Baku, which has undergone a $60
million facelift in preparation for the event with a shiny new
23,000-seat rectangular Crystal Hall on the shores of the Caspian
Sea at the centre of the celebrations.

“People are very friendly in Azerbaijan and food is fantastic. We
enjoy being here and we love Eurovision,” said Dmitry, a 19-year-old
flag-draped fan from Moldova, accompanied by new Azeri friends.

The multi-purpose Crystal Hall arena was built by a German firm in
eight months for an undisclosed sum of money.

But human rights groups say some buildings in the centre of Baku were
specifically torn down with the song contest in mind and that the
forced eviction of residents, especially in areas around the Crystal
Hall, casts a shadow over the event.

Azerbaijan won the right to host the annual contest last year in
Germany with the victory of its entry, the love song “Running Scared”,
from Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal, better known as Ell/Nikki.

It is the fifth former Soviet republic after Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine
and Russia and the second Muslim country after Turkey to host the
event.

DECORATIONS AND DEMONSTRATIONS

In preparation, Azerbaijan has trained thousands of police, temporary
staff and volunteers in basic foreign language skills to welcome
contest participants and cope with the thousands of fans arriving
from around Europe.

“I have been trained for a few months and can speak basic English
now,” said Elchin Guluzade, a 43-year-old taxi driver, who drives
one of the dozens of cabs bought ahead of the event.

Taxis as well as buses and streets of the capital Baku are decorated
with Eurovision emblems and the slogan “Light your fire!” Locals and
guests stroll around in Azeri national colors of red and green as
well as blue Eurovision t-shirts and caps.

“I think that many more people will learn about our beautiful country
after Eurovision and many more will come to see it,” 19-year-old
student Sabina Mehdiyeva said, adding her voice to many Baku residents
who welcomed the contest.

Despite the effort to highlight progress that the oil-producing nation
of nine million people has made since independence in 1991, critics
of President Ilham Aliyev’s government have taken the opportunity to
air allegations of human rights abuses.

Critics accuse Aliyev, who in 2003 succeeded his father to the
presidency of the Caspian Sea country north of Iran, of clamping down
on dissent, but Baku says the country enjoys full freedom of speech
and a vibrant opposition press.

Dozens of peaceful protesters were arrested this month in central Baku
during rallies and marches demanding democracy and the resignation
of the government.

“A stern crackdown of freedom of expression, dissent, NGOs, critical
journalists, in fact anyone who criticizes the Aliyev regime too
strongly, and we’ve seen this continue right up until the Eurovision
Song Contest,” Amnesty International Europe and Central Asia director
John Dalhuisen told Reuters.

But senior Azeri officials responded to allegations by calling them
“anti-Azeri propaganda.”

“Their conclusions do not correspond with reality”, said Ali Hasanov,
head of the public and political issues department at the presidential
administration.

The government is also under fire from Islamic figures as well who
object to the Eurovision pageant. Senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah
Sobhani has issued a statement urging Muslims in the region to protest
what he described as “anti-Islamic behavior”.

The song contest, which is a major showbusiness event in many
participating countries, has also been marred by the decision of
Armenia to pull out of the contest this month.

The move underscored tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly
Armenian-populated enclave inside Azerbaijan which Armenian forces
seized control of after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

STOMPING GRANNIES

In the contest itself, 10 countries out of 18 have already qualified
in the first Eurovision semi-final this week, while 10 more will be
selected on Thursday to participate in the grand final on Saturday
night.

Six more participants, including Azerbaijan, are already included in
the final without participating in semi-finals.

Eurovision, which draws more than 100 million viewers almost every
year, parades a wide array of musical styles in original songs,
mostly from relatively unknown artists.

List of participants this year includes Russian rural folk group
“Buranovskiye Babushki” (Grannies from Buranovo), septuagenarian
British crooner Engelbert Humperdinck and eccentric pop duo Jedward –
twins from Ireland, much beloved by teenagers in Europe.

Russian grannies and 28-year-old Swedish diva Loreen are regarded by
bookmakers as top rivals ahead in the final.

Buranovskiye Babushki, clad in the traditional red headscarfs and
long dresses of their Russian northern region of Udmurtia, stomping
feet shod in tree bark shoes and urging the audience to dance, were
a hit at this week’s semi-finals.

Loreen is still to perform her emotional “Euphoria” song in the second
semi-final on Thursday.

(Reporting by Margarita Antidze; editing by Paul Casciato)

28 PROSPEROUS ARMENIA PARTY MEMBERS PRESENT FORMAL MP-MANDATE-WITHDRAWAL REQUESTS TO CEC

Vestnik Kavkaza
May 24 2012
Russia

A total number of 28 MP candidates, who are included in the Prosperous
Armenia Party’s (PAP) proportional election list, submitted Thursday
to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) petitions for withdrawal
from their parliamentary mandates, which they had received as a result
of the May 6 National Assembly elections, a CEC official told NEWS.am.

But the official did not inform as to which candidates presented such
formal requests, maintaining that the data are still being entered.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, 67 MP candidates, who are
included in the Republican Party of Armenia’s (RPA) proportional
election list, also submitted on the same day such petitions to
the CEC.

These MP candidates include Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan-who
heads the RPA’s proportional list-, PM Tigran Sargsyan, and capital
city Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan.

TO SPEAK THE TRUTH

Khaleej Times

May 24 2012
UAE

There is an old Armenian saying that if you intend to tell the truth
make sure you have one foot in the stirrup. Often, in life, you need
to be fully mounted and ready to gallop away.

Contrary to the happy if now misplaced adage that the truth will out
and will release you, the odds are that by saying it as it is you
trigger a chain reaction in which you are the probably the biggest
casualty.

Since many of us spend lives lying when we do tell the truth it
becomes an occasion.

There are three reasons why in this time of greed and ambition why
telling the truth can be a direct flight into trouble.

The first is obvious. You rock the boat. No one wants to hear it
because that then calls for action and ennui and the status quo have
now become the norm so when you open your mouth, however, sincerely
be prepared for the payback. Your seniors think you are just creating
waves for nothing. Your peers think you are upstaging them with a lot
of grandstanding and your juniors think you are building a career on
their bones.

The second reason is predicated on the first but is in part mutually
exclusive. No one likes bad news and telling the truth usually means
much the same so let’s shoot the messenger, he is the guy who is
bringing the message, things were going fine till he opened his
big mouth.

Third, there is nothing absolute about the truth because we now live
in a time, where values have made truth into plasticine, malleable,
soft, subjective and open to interpretation in that truth is what we
want to make of it. Again, as with a prism truth has many sides to it,
that many more pressures and elements that its intrinsic form is bent,
stapled and broken in a hundred places.

So, rather than set you free the truth can actually get you into
trouble. At home, at work, in public, on the road, in business, in
society, anywhere, with friends and enemies, you name it, you get it
in the neck.

Nonsense, I hear you say, I never lie, I always tell the truth. I
am sure you do. So, perhaps the exceptions to the 89 per cent of the
population who prefaces its comments with a request: can I be honest.

Ergo, you have been constantly dishonest and now it is your desire
to be upfront and candid because the truth is self-serving. It suits
you to tell the truth.

Now, you hear yourself say: I hope you don’t mind if I am frank. How
mealy mouthed and hypocritical can you get? Yet, most of us speak in
this forked-tongued fashion even as we swear by the truth.

The moment it becomes a liability and endangers our comfort zone
truth becomes a casualty and can be put aside.

As such, much as we loudly protest our affection for it, it is more
like a fragmented convenience that we can pull parts of as they fit
rather than an inviolate entity.

Paradoxically, the truth is probably the most upsetting and
unforgiveable transgression of another’s privacy and peace of mind.

The doctor to the patient: I am sorry, I do not have good news,
your tests are back.

The husband to the wife: I am sorry, but I do not love you anymore,
I am having an affair.

The wife to the husband: we just cannot carry on like this, let’s
just divorce.

Children to parents: what I really want is for you to stop interfering
in my life and let me be, I need space, can’t you understand that.

The boss to his subordinate: I have covered for you long enough but
today is your last day because you are incompetent and no amount of
thoughtful gifts is going to change that.

The subordinate to the boss: I have a new job, I am out of here, gee,
have I ever told you what a pain you are.

And so it goes on, a spiral of deceit masquerading as the truth. The
worst thing is that when you are lied to you realise that person
doesn’t think you are worthy of knowing the truth. The jesting Pilate
asked, what is truth and did not wait for an answer.

Neither do we.

ARMEN RUSTAMYAN: “A NEW POLITICAL SITUATION IS EMERGING AND THIS IS THE IMPORTANT THING”

19:12 . 24/05

PAP faction will have chairmen of NA standing committees: this issue is
regulated by the National Assembly Regulations-Law, according to which
the number of the members of a faction is taken into consideration
while appointing the parliamentary posts.

PAP refused to form a coalition government, that is, it will not
form a part of the country’s government, therefore, again according
to the National Assembly Regulations-Law, it is considered to be an
opposition. How do political forces respond to PAP’s entrance into
the opposition field?

Immediately before hearing the news about PAP’s refusal to form a
coalition, Stepan Safaryan from Heritage Party was supposing that
PAP would form a coalition with RPA. Safaryan remained resolute even
after being informed about the statement.

“It’s all the same, PAP has no opportunity to change its position in
the political field whether it forms a coalition or not,” he said.

According to Safaryan, transfer to the opposition field includes
risks for PAP. It will face trials, and they can be both connected
with inner party developments and with electorate:

“The electorate that voted for PAP, was not PAP’s electorate and
it will not be retained. This was the electorate opposing to RPA,
which PAP will not retain,” Safaryan said.

According to ARF-D Supreme Body representative Armen Rustamyan,
a new political situation is emerging and this is the important thing.

“The opportunities for the opposition to counterbalance and to restrain
the authorities increase in the National Assembly. The rest in the
issue of how PAP will act is a matter of practice and tactics, and
it will be clear in future,” Rustamyan said.

Should PAP enter into the coalition, it would support the single
presidential candidate in the coming presidential elections, while in
this case on the threshold of the presidential elections competitive
and alternative options will emerge.

“This, of course, isn’t advantageous for RPA as should they have
a single presidential candidate they would state they already have
80% of the votes. In this case, without PAP and only with Orinats
Yerkir Party they hardly have 50% of votes. And if we also take
the majoritarian representation into consideration, the situation
completely changes,” Armen Rustamyan said.

ARF-D will cooperate with PAP in the parliament, and the options of
cooperation will be discussed in near future. PAP’s five-year partner
RPA, naturally, doesn’t speak about cooperation at this moment. It
doesn’t need clarifying once more what it should do without PAP.

Galust Sahakyan told aravot.am they decided long ago what they will
do. Asked if it is possible that administrative pressures could be
exerted on PAP, the RPA deputy chairman answered: “Forget about that:
RPA has never exerted pressures on any political force”.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HAS CONCERNS OVER ARMENIA, TOO

13:30 . 24/05

The international human rights organization Amnesty International
has published its annual 2012 report on the freedoms and human
rights protection in the world. Touching upon Armenia, the report
says three main problems give rise to concern: freedom of assembly,
ill-treatment towards the arrested and imprisonment of those who
avoid military service because of religious views.

Radio Station Liberty writes that touching upon the freedom of
Assemblies, the organization states some progress in this sphere
was recorded in 2011. A reformed law was adopted, the ban on public
gathering in Azatutyun Square was lifted. “However, a number of issues
still give rise to concern,” Amnesty International states and adds:
“The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights reported in May
about the unlawful and disproportionate impediments to the right of
peaceful assembly, such as intimidation and arrest of participants,
disruption of transportation means and blanket prohibitions against
assemblies in certain places.”

Making a reference to the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, the
report states that the new Law on Assemblies is largely in accordance
with international standards, but concerns remained. In this respect,
the Commission highlighted the Law’s blanket prohibition against
assemblies organized within a certain distance from the presidential
residence, the national assembly and courts. Besides, it gives a
generalized justification for banning the assemblies.

In the report Armenia was also criticized for the ill-treatment against
detainees and suspects in police stations. “The UN Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention’s February report stated that many detainees and
prisoners had complained of torture and beatings, while prosecutors
and judges frequently refused to admit evidence of ill-treatment
during court proceedings”.

Amnesty International notes that besides the UN Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention, the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture has also published a report on the same accusations and last
year based on the commitments assumed to US, Armenia established an
independent body to monitor places of detention.

At the end of the report on Armenia the human rights organization also
touches upon prisoners of conscience stating that in 2011, 60 men were
still in places of detention for avoiding military service because of
their convictions. “Alternative military service continues to remain
under the discretion of the armed forces,” Amnesty international
states, according to Radio Station Liberty.

TWO-DAY CONFERENCE OF DENTISTS KICKED OFF IN YEREVAN
Lilit Muradyan

“Radiolur”
24.05.2012 15:28

A two-day conference of dentists kicked off at the Yerevan State
Medical University today to mark the 50th anniversary of the Faculty
of Dentistry.

Leading specialists from more than ten countries have arrived in
Yerevan to participate in the discussions and share their experience
with Armenian counterparts.

Minister of Healthcare Harutyun Kushkyan said one of the urgent issues
of the sphere is to raise the quality and accessibility of services.

“Although we are not far behind Europe, we still have much to do.

Taking into consideration that dentistry has become a “fashionable”
profession, we’ll work together with the Dentistry Association to clear
the field of low-quality services,” Minister Kushkyan told reporters.

RICHARD GIRAGOSIAN CONSIDERS ARMENIAN PRESIDENT’S REFUSAL TO ATTEND NATO SUMMIT TO BE A MISTAKE

ARMINFO
Thursday, May 24, 17:52

Armenian Richard Giragosian, Director of the Regional Studies Center
(RSC), an independent think tank in Yerevan, told ArmInfo that
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s refusal to attend the NATO Summit
in Chicago was a mistake.

To recall, it was Serzh Sargsyan’s second refusal to attend the NATO
Summit held in Chicago on May 20- 21. The president explained his
decision by the ineligibility of mentioning the topic of the Nagorno-
Karabakh problem in the final declaration.

“The Armenian president should have more able to defend Armenia’s
position in the Summit, and the language of the resolution that
was adopted was not that bad, it was balanced between territorial
integrity and self determination”, the expert said.

When asked whether the Armenian President’s refusal will have any
impact on the relations of the sides, Giragosian said: “Armenia
continues to deepen its ties with NATO, this was a mistake, but there
should not be any implications”.

Speaking about NATO-Russia opposition over the issue of anti-missile
defense and about the possible role of the countries of the region,
the expert said: “On the one hand the NATO expansion in this region is
over, even Georgia no time soon will join NATO, in terms of missile
defense systems, even that is a marginal issue, because neither
Armenia nor Azerbaijan plays any serious role in missile defense”.

NATO SUPPORTS TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY BECAUSE OF GEORGIA – ARMENIAN EXPERT

news.am
May 25, 2012 | 14:18

YEREVAN.- NATO mentioned about territorial integrity of Azerbaijan
because of Georgia’s case, Armenian expert believes.

Ruben Safrastyan, head of Institute of Oriental Studies, commented
on the NATO Summit declaration supporting sovereignty and territorial
integrity of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova.

“By including such wordings in a declaration, NATO wants to show
Georgia there is an opportunity to join the alliance, although Georgia
is engaged in territorial conflicts as well,” he told journalists
on Friday.

Nevertheless, the expert considers the document is a mistake as
Azerbaijan will perceive it as a pardoner for new provocations in
the line of contact with Karabakh.

“NATO will not directly act as a mediator, as the bloc clearly
supports the talks held within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group,”
Safrastyan added.

He considers Armenian leader’s decision not to attend the summit
was right.

“Presence of president during signing of such document is not in
Armenia’s interests,” he said.

FESTIVAL “MY ARMENIA” TO START IN ZVARTNOTS TEMPLE

ARMENPRESS
24 May, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS: In the framework of pan Armenian
festival “My Armenia” which is held in support of Ministry of
Diaspora of Armenia, more than 50 events will be implemented. They
will be open-air concerts in Yerevan and regions, master classes for
choreographies and moderators, flesh-mobs, round tables, excursions,
meetings with political, cultural, social figures. Armenpress was
informed from the ministry the solemn ceremony of opening would be
held in Zvartnots temple in June 29.

It has the aim to support Armenian culture, national identity keeping
and development. The festival will be an exclusive celebration of
Armenian culture in homeland, which will be continuous and will be
held once in two years. From June 29 till July 10 are planned “Days
of Dancing”, from August 9-14 “Chorus Art days” and etc.

Official website of the festival has been made.

SERGEY KHACHATRYAN PERFORMS IN NEW YORK

ARMRADIO.AM
25.05.2012 13:50

“In New York, where audiences are treated to regular performances by
star musicians, there is excellent music-making in abundance. Yet for
all the virtuoso playing – however enjoyable it may be – it is still
rare to hear an artist communicate with the level of searing intensity
that Sergey Khachatryan achieved in his sublime interpretation of
Bach’s Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 at Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday
evening,” the New Your Times writes.

“This was certainly a deeply spiritual performance, personal and
soaringly expressive. As soon as Mr. Khachatryan began the opening
Allemande, you could sense how intently the audience began listening,
as he achieved the all-too-uncommon feat of seducing a rustling,
coughing crowd into silence,” the paper writes.

Sergey Khachatryan was born in Armenia in 1985 into a gifted musical
family; both parents and his older sister being pianists. After
winning numerous competitions including the Louis Spohr competition,
in December 2000 Sergey won the VIII International Jean Sibelius
competition, and in 2005 he claimed the first prize at the prestigious
Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels.

Sergey Khachatryan appears in recitals throughout the world, including
London’s Wigmore Hall; Carnegie Hall in New York; the Palais des
Beaux-Arts in Brussels; the Alte Oper Frankfurt, and cities such as
Madrid, Tokyo, Seoul, Paris, San Francisco, Hamburg and Dublin.