Author: Karagyozian Lena

ARSHILE GORKY EXHIBITION IN PHILADELPHIA

AZG Armenian Daily
25/07/2008

Culture

Philadelphia Art Museum is going to organize an art exhibition of a
famous American-Armenian artist Arshile Gorky in October, 2009.

180 works of the artist will be exhibited that will reflect the whole
picture of the artist’s prolific activity.

The exhibition that consists of the US and European public and
private collections will reveal the evolution of Gorky’s peculiar
visual lexicon and mature art style.

In December, 2009 the exhibition will be moved to London and Los
Angeles, "Noyan Tapan" agency reported.

THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF E-HATRED

The Economist
Jul 24th 2008

Social networks and video-sharing sites don’t always bring people
closer together

Illustration by David Simonds "NATION shall speak peace unto
nation." Eighty years ago, Britain’s state broadcasters adopted that
motto to signal their hope that modern communications would establish
new bonds of friendship between people divided by culture, political
boundaries and distance.

For those who still cling to that ideal, the latest trends on the
internet are depressing. Of course, as anyone would expect, governments
use their official websites to boast about their achievements and
to argue their corner–usually rather clunkily–in disputes about
territory, symbols or historical rights and wrongs.

What is much more disturbing is the way in which skilled young
surfers–the very people whom the internet might have liberated
from the shackles of state-sponsored ideologies–are using the
wonders of electronics to stoke hatred between countries, races
or religions. Sometimes these cyber-zealots seem to be acting at
their governments’ behest–but often they are working on their own,
determined to outdo their political masters in propagating dislike
of some unspeakable foe.

Consider the response in Russia to "The Soviet Story", a Latvian
documentary that compares communism with fascism. If this film had
com e out five years ago, the Kremlin would have issued an angry
press release and encouraged some young hoodlums to make another
assault on Latvia’s embassy. Some Slavophile politicians would have
made wild threats.

These days, the reaction from hardline Russian nationalists is
a bit more subtle. They are using blogs to raise funds for an
alternative documentary to present the Soviet communist record in
a good light. Well-wishers with little cash can help in other ways,
for example by helping with translation into and from Baltic languages.

Meanwhile, America’s rednecks can find lots of material on the
web with which to fuel and indulge their prejudices. For example,
there are "suicide-bomber" games which pit the contestant against a
generic bearded Muslim; such entertainment has drawn protests both in
Israel–where people say it trivialises terrorism–and from Muslim
groups who say it equates their faith with violence. Border Patrol,
another charming online game, invites you to shoot illegal Mexican
immigrants crossing the border.

>From the earliest days of the internet the new medium became a forum
for nationalist spats that were sometimes relatively innocent by
today’s standards. People sparred over whether Freddy Mercury, a rock
singer, was Iranian, Parsi or Azeri; whether the Sea of Japan should
be called the East Sea or the East Sea of Korea; and whether Israel
could call hu mmus part of its cuisine. Sometimes such arguments moved
to Wikipedia, a user-generated reference service, whose elaborate
moderation rules put a limit to acrimony.

But e-arguments also led to hacking wars. Nobody is surprised to
hear of Chinese assaults on American sites that promote the Tibetan
cause; or of hacking contests between Serbs and Albanians, or Turks
and Armenians. A darker development is the abuse of blogs, social
networks, maps and video-sharing sites that make it easy to publish
incendiary material and form hate groups. A study published in May
by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish human-rights group, found
a 30% increase last year in the number of sites that foment hatred
and violence; the total was around 8,000.

Social networks are particularly useful for self-organised nationalist
communities that are decentralised and lack a clear structure. On
Facebook alone one can join groups like "Belgium Doesn’t Exist",
"Abkhazia is not Georgia", "Kosovo is Serbia" or "I Hate Pakistan". Not
all the news is bad; there are also groups for friendship between
Greeks and Turks, or Israelis and Palestinians. But at the other
extreme are niche networks, less well-known than Facebook, that
unite the sort of extremists whose activities are restricted by
many governments but hard to regulate when they go global. Podblanc,
a sort of alternative YouTube for "white interests , white culture
and white politics" offers plenty of material to keep a racist amused.

Tiny but deadly The small size of these online communities does not
mean they are unimportant. The power of a nationalist message can
be amplified with blogs, online maps and text messaging; and as a
campaign migrates from medium to medium, fresh layers of falsehood can
be created. During the crisis that engulfed Kenya earlier this year,
for example, it was often blog posts and mobile-phone messages that
gave the signal for fresh attacks. Participants in recent anti-American
marches in South Korea were mobilised by online petitions, forums and
blogs, some of which promoted a crazy theory about Koreans having a
genetic vulnerability to mad-cow disease.

In Russia, a nationalist blogger published names and contact details
of students from the Caucasus attending Russia’s top universities,
attaching a video-clip of dark-skinned teenagers beating up ethnic
Russians.

Russian nationalist blogs reposted the story–creating a nightmare
for the students who were targeted.

Spreading hatred on the web has become far easier since the sharp drop
in the cost of producing, storing and distributing digital content.

High-quality propaganda used to require good cartoonists; now anyone
can make and disseminate slick images. Whether it’s a Hungarian group
organising an anti-Roma poster competition, a Russian anti-immigrant
lobby publishing the locat ion of minority neighbourhoods, or Slovak
nationalists displaying a map of Europe without Hungary, the web
makes it simple to spread fear and loathing.

The sheer ease of aggregation (assembling links to existing sources,
videos and articles) is a boon. Take anti-cnn.com, a website built
by a Chinese entrepreneur in his 20s, which aggregates cases of the
Western media’s allegedly pro-Tibetan bias. As soon as it appealed
for material, more than 1,000 people supplied examples. Quickly the
site became a leading motor of Chinese cyber-nationalism, fuelling
boycotts of brands and street protests.

And then there is history. A decade ago, a zealot seeking to prove
some absurd proposition–such as the denial of the Nazi Holocaust,
or the Ukrainian famine–might spend days of research in the library
looking for obscure works of propaganda. Today, digital versions of
these books, even those out of press for decades, are accessible in
dedicated online libraries. In short, it has never been easier to
propagate hatred and lies.

People with better intentions might think harder about how they too
can make use of the net.

ELDENIZ GULIYEV: "KARABAKH PAIN SHOULD UNITE THE POWERS AND OPPOSITION"

Today.Az
July 23 2008
Azerbaijan

"In the current conditions, Karabakh pain and responsibility for
people should unite the powers and opposition", said chairman of
Azerbaijan’s Intellectuals Movement Eldeniz Guliyev.

He said, as Karabakh is a national problem, powers and opposition
should initiate a dialogue today.

"The dialogue should not be just spoken of and imitated, but real
actions should be initiated. Aghdam occupation turns 15 today. In this
situation, the settlement of national problems should not be lingered.

The dialogue can be arranged in any conditions and at any time. Today,
there are over a million of refugees and IDP in the result of the
Karabakh conflict, lasting for 20 years. They dream of Karabakh and
live in a hope for return to their houses and lands", noted he.

DAVID MURADIAN APPOINTED DEPUTY CULTURE MINISTER

ARMENPRESS
JULY 22

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian decreed to appoint David
Muradian Armenian deputy culture minister, governmental press service
told Armenpress.

ARMENIAN ECONOMY MINISTER TRAVELS TO MOSCOW TO DISCUSS BILATERAL COOPERATION

ARMENPRESS
JULY 21

Armenian Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsian traveled to Moscow on July
20 for a two-day visit. The press division of the Armenian ministry
said today and tomorrow the minister will meet with Russian Transport
Minister Igor Levitin, the Russian cochairman of the bilateral
commission on economic cooperation, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin
and top executive of Alrosa diamond company.

The press division said the Armenian minister will discuss
possibilities of expanding Russian-Armenian cooperation in diamond
cutting.

It said during the visit to Moscow a month ago President Serzh Sargsyan
had discussed this issue with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin.

Nerses Yeritsian is in Moscow together with Gagik Abrahamian,
president of the International Association of Armenian Jewelers,
and a parliament member, and Gagik Kocharian, a senior official of
the Economy Ministry, in charge of trade policy regulation issues.

Zaman Online, Turkey
July 20 2008

Turkey fears for Ä°ncirlik’s status after US-Iraq deal

Turkey is concerned that once the US strikes a deal with neighboring
Iraq regarding the maintenance of a US military presence in the
country in 2009 and beyond, this will lessen the importance of its
Ä°ncirlik air base in the southern part of the country in
particular and its geo-strategic importance in general.

The US has already started building military facilities both in
Romania and in Bulgaria, Turkey’s neighbors with coasts on the Black
Sea, under bilateral access and training agreements signed with
Romania in 2005 and Bulgaria in 2006. Those agreements will provide a
platform for other fellow NATO member countries — mainly the US — in
their engagement in the eastern Mediterranean as well as in the
Caucasus and in Central Asia, areas that also fall under Turkey’s
close scrutiny.

Currently Ä°ncirlik is used by allied forces in neighboring Iraq
as well as in Afghanistan for overflights (not for combat purposes),
while being utilized as a cargo hub, particularly by the US.

"Turkey has been the last country which has provided overflight
permission to its close ally the US," recalled one Western diplomat,
speaking to Sunday’s Zaman. "Since Turkish Parliament’s rejection of a
motion that would allow access to US troops for using Turkish soil in
March 2003, Ankara has proven that strategically it is an undependable
ally.

Coalition members and in particular the US do not know if permission,
for example, for overflights will be cut off at any time. Washington
does not know either whether Turkey will threaten to stop the US from
using Ä°ncirlik every time the Armenian genocide allegations of
the Ottoman Turks come up on the agenda," remarked the same source.

Every year in April, regarded as the commemoration of the alleged
genocide of Armenians, US diplomats make an effort to discourage the
US president from using the word genocide during their messages to
Armenians in order to avert possible negative reactions from Turkey.

For strategic planners, the predictability of the country regarding
deployment plans is of great importance, said another Western diplomat
in Ankara.

"Therefore, in the future the US will seek cooperation with Bulgaria
and Romania as well as with Iraq, negatively affecting the strategic
importance of Ä°ncirlik," he said.

Turkey has been following the ongoing negotiations between Iraq and
the US over the latter’s military presence in the former with the
concern that Baghdad, as the weaker party, may be trapped into a
losing deal; for example, one that allows US presence in the country
without being governed by strict regulations.

The Defense Cooperation Agreement (DECA) between Turkey and the US,
renewed in the 1980s, governs the US presence at Ä°ncirlik and
the parameters of the US in using this base, subjecting the US to
strict rules.

Turkey, for example, has the right to terminate the deal by simply
providing notice that it will do so.

However, Turkish diplomatic sources who spoke to Sunday’s Zaman are
confident that Iraq will make a deal that will have stricter
regulations rather than a deal allowing the US unlimited rights.

Meanwhile, Western military sources have stated their belief that
within a few years, as the demands of Iraq decline and new facilities
in Romania and Bulgaria are completed, these new facilities will prove
to be an important venue not only for training US and allied forces
but also as an ideal "engagement" location to support training and
operations further afield in central and southwest Asia, the Middle
East and the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkish rapprochement to Iraq to ease PKK tension

As Turkey has been closely observing a possible security deal to be
struck between the US and Iraq, Ankara has been increasing steps to
improve bilateral ties in all spheres with its southern neighbor,
though this rapprochement has come quite late, with a recent visit by
the Turkish prime minister to Iraq coming a full 18 years after the
last.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an paid a one-day visit to
Iraq on July 10, signing a strategic cooperation agreement with his
Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al Maliki, that also involves economic
integration.

Rapprochement between Turkey and Iraq will not only help the two
countries to cooperate against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK) terrorists active in northern Iraq but will also bring long-term
economic benefits, including Turkish involvement in Iraqi oil and gas
wealth, said a Turkish diplomat.

Turkey’s increased dialogue with Iraq as well as with the Iraqi
Kurdish administration will help reduce the PKK presence in northern
Iraq, which the terrorist group has been using as a staging ground for
attacks on Turkey.

But, as one Western military official recalled, the ability of Turkey
to resolve its decades-long Kurdish problem within the country will
play a major role in reducing the PKK’s violent activities.

One Turkish diplomat noted that after British political leadership
started dialogue with the political wing of the Irish Republican Army
(IRA), a significant amount of financial resources allocated by Irish
Americans and earmarked for the IRA that were critical in training and
sustaining its terrorists and in buying arms had been cut off.

"Then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a commitment to taking
political initiatives; then the US cut off the IRA’s financial
resources," a Turkish diplomatic source recalled. Similarly, he said,
if the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) is integrated with
the political system, both the West and the US will be encouraged in
taking more punitive measures against the PKK.

But the main concern is how far Turkey will be able to pursue its
foreign policy issues such as Iraq in view of the fact that the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is facing a court case for
its closure while the Ergenekon operation, which has resulted in an
indictment of the criminal organization on charges of being involved
in terrorist activities to topple the government, has deepened the
political crisis in the country, said a Turkish diplomat.

20 July 2008, Sunday
LALE SARIÄ°BRAHÄ°MOÄ?LU ANKARA

PRO-ARMENIAN CONGRESSMEN VOTE AGAINST REDUCTION OF ASSISTANCE TO AZERBAIJAN

Azeri Press Agency
July 18 2008
Azerbaijan

Washington. Husniyya Hasanova -APA. Pro-Armenian congressmen voted
against proposed reduction of military assistance to Azerbaijan at the
US House of Representatives Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations,
and Related Programs.

According to APA US bureau, proposal made by co-chairman of Congress
working group on Armenia Joe Knollenberg was not supported by other
members of the group. Jesse Jackson, Steve Israel, Ben Chandler,
Steve Rothman, Barbara Lee and Betty McCollum voted against the
reduction of military assistance to Azerbaijan. According to the
Sub-Committee’s decision, Azerbaijan and Armenia will receive same
military assistance in 2009, but the military assistance to Armenia
is 59 per cent less than 2008.

GOVERNMENT OF ARMENIA GRANTS ROBERT KOCHARYAN AN OFFICE IN THE CENTER OF YEREVAN

ArmInfo
2008-07-17 18:13:00

The Government of Armenia has decided to grant Robert Kocharyan an
office in the center of Yerevan.

The head of the State Property Management Department of the Government
of Armenia Karine Kirakossyan says that the Government has allocated
money for renting an area of 374.1 sq m in the building belonging to
Erebuni Plaza company at 26/1 Vazgen Sargsyan Street (near Republic
Square) for 10 years.

The annual rent is 2,000,000 AMD ($6,500). Kirakossyan says that
17,600,000 AMD ($58,000) will be allocated for equipment and furniture.

This decision amends the May 22 decision. To remind, the law on the
security and financing of the President of Armenia stipulates that
the ex president, if he likes, should be provided with an office.

Earlier, the Government decided to grant Kocharyan a lifelong pension
equivalent to 80% of the salary of the acting president (400,000 AMD).

RECONSTRUCTION OF ONLY ARMENIAN CHURCH IN KARS CARRIED OUT WITH GRAVE MISTAKES

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.07.2008 18:06 GMT+04:00

The only Armenian Church in Kars, Cathedral of Saint Apostles, was
reconstructed with grave mistakes, said Samvel Karapetyan, chairman of
Era NGO dealing with protection of cultural and historical monuments.

"After the reconstruction, the church resembles an ornamental
building. Nothing Armenian was preserved. Once used as a museum and
storehouse, the Church is now operating as a mosque," Karapetyan told
reporters Wednesday, Novosti Armenia reports.

COMMISSIONER URGES NOT TO BE HIS SPOKESMAN

Panorama.am
15:15 16/07/2008

"Before starting the press conference I would like to clarify a
thing: I can express my view point myself and I don’t allow anybody
to say that in this or that press conference I have expressed a view
point," said the Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammaberg in
the beginning of press conference. He said that he has been informed
that various official press releases have been spread covering his
press conference in Armenia which expressed his view points but
"the majority of them were inaccurate".

To a question whether it concerns to the press release spread by the
Justice Ministry stating that the Commissioner agreed on the point
that criminal cases can be applied based on the police officers’
requests. The Commissioner mentioned that the current issue is well
described in the Resolution and that he agrees with that point in
resolution. He said that as in this case the police officers were
acting against the participants of the meetings their requests can
not be taken into account.