2006 BUDGET TO BE BROUGHT TO THE PARLIAMENT
A1+
| 17:42:09 | 26-09-2005 | Politics |
“The draft law on the 2006 budget will be brought to the Parliament
earlier that it was supposed to”, announced the head of the NA Standing
Committee on Financial-Credit, Budgetary and Economic Affairs Gagik
Minasyan.
According to the law, it was to be brought to NA in November 1,
but according to our information, it is ready and it will be in the
Parliament a month earlier.
EVERYTHING IS FINE?
A1+
| 17:06:07 | 25-09-2005 | Politics |
The candidate for the post of the Kentron community head Rouzan
Khachatryan represented a complaint to the Local Electoral Committee
according to which in the community the number of the electors exceeds
2000, the Kentron Local Electoral Committee informs.
The Arabkir Local Electoral Committee received several alarms but they
were not proved in the electoral areas. For example, there was a false
alarm about the head of the committee arguing with the confidants of
the candidates. Another one about the loss of the seal was also false.
In the Davtashen, Shengavit and Avan communities there have been only
problems with the electoral rolls.
IranMania.com , Iran
Sept 23 2005
Iran’s ?Nightingale Papers? published in Armenia
Friday, September 23, 2005 – ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, September 23 (IranMania) – The book ?Nightingale Papers?
written by Iranian poet Zia-eddin in the fourteenth century was
published in Armenian language by a translator from Armenia.
According to ISNA, Herans Antonyan completed the translation
following 13 years of intense work. ?I came across the
Russian-language translation of the book for the first time. I read
the book and was impressed. I felt sorry that the Armenian people did
not have such a masterpiece at its disposal.?
In a meeting with Iranian cultural attache in Yerevan, Antonyan said
that he funded the translation and printing of the book without
financial considerations.
?My aim in translating and printing the book was to introduce such a
high quality book to Armenia?s culture and literature.?
Iranian cultural attache Otoufi said that translation of the book was
a great stride towards strengthening cultural ties between Iran and
Armenia.
He described it as a great event for cultural relations between the
two countries.
Jerusalem Post
Sept 25 2005
Turkish parley begins on Armenian massacre
ISTANBUL, Turkey
Scholars held the first-ever public discussions in Turkey on Saturday
about the early 20th-century massacre of Armenians, choosing words
carefully in examining their history at a gathering that nationalists
denounced as traitorous.
The European Union called the academic conference a test of freedom
of expression in Turkey, which is hoping to begin talks for
membership in the bloc next month.
The academic conference had been canceled twice, once in May after
the justice minister said organizers were “stabbing the people in the
back,” and again on Thursday when an Istanbul court ordered the
conference closed and demanded to know the academic qualifications of
the speakers.
“This is a fight of ‘can we discuss this thing, or can we not discuss
this thing?”‘ Murat Belge, a member of the organizing committee, said
at the conference opening. “This is something that’s directly related
to the question of what kind of country Turkey is going to be.”
The Armenian issue stirs deep passions among Turks, who are being
pushed by many in the international community to say that their
fathers and grandfathers carried out the first genocide of the 20th
century.
“There are so many documents in hand with respect to the destruction
of Armenians,” said Taner Akcay, a Turkish-born professor at the
University of Minnesota, and author of books on the subject
including, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of
Turkish Responsibility.
Dozens of officers in riot gear kept hundreds of shouting protesters
at bay. Some protesters pelted arriving panelists with eggs and
rotten tomatoes.
Inside, the audience of more than 300 people was restrained, as only
those invited by the organizing committee and pre-approved members of
the media were allowed past security.
The issue has been a taboo for many years in Turkey, with those who
speak out against the killings risking prosecution by a Turkish
court. But an increasing number of Turkish academics have called for
a review of the killings in a country where many see the Ottoman
Empire as a symbol of Turkish greatness.
The panelists, all Turkish speakers, carefully avoided any emotional
language during the first day of the two-day conference.
“Everyone waits for you to pronounce the genocide word – if you do
one side applauds and the other won’t listen,” Halil Berktay, program
coordinator of the history department at Sabanci University, said at
the conference Saturday.
Several governments around the world have recognized the killings of
as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the late Ottoman Empire as
genocide.
Turkey vehemently denies the charge, admitting that many Armenians
were killed, but saying the death toll is inflated and that Armenians
were killed along with Turks in civil unrest and intercommunal
fighting as the Ottoman Empire collapsed between 1915 and 1923.
After the conference was shut down Thursday, Turkey drew condemnation
from the European Commission.
Organizers skirted the court order by changing the venue of the
conference.
The court-ordered cancellation Thursday was an embarrassment for the
country’s leaders, who are set to begin EU negotiations on Oct. 3.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul lamented that “there’s no one better at
hurting themselves than us,” and sent a letter wishing the organizers
a successful conference. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also
condemned the court’s decision, saying it did not befit a democratic
country.
The participants were all Turkish speakers and included members of
Turkey’s Armenian minority like Hrant Dink, the editor in chief of
Agos, a weekly Armenian newspaper in Istanbul. There are some 70,000
Armenians living in Istanbul.
BRITISH MPS’ VISIT SPARKS OUTCRY
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 22 2005
A 20-member British delegation led by vice-speaker of the British
House of Lords Baroness Caroline Cox visited the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan early last week. Cox, who is known for her close ties
to Armenia, paid her first visit to Upper Garabagh in 1989, during
the initial stage of Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan.
Since then, the British MP has turned into a tool for the Armenian
propaganda machine. The hard-line Garabagh Liberation Organization
(GLO) has demanded that visits by Cox to Upper Garabagh be prevented.
The GLO said in a statement said that several members of the GLO youth
council has painted in black the monument to British soldiers at the
Cemetery of Martyrs in protest against the mentioned visit.
The GLO demanded to remove the monument and stop visits by Baroness
Cox to the occupied land. The organization warned that otherwise
it will launch continuous actions demanding closure of the British
embassy in the country. The British ambassador in Baku Laurie Bristow
said Baroness Cox’s stance does not in any way reflect the official
position of Great Britain. Commenting on GLO’s move, he said that
‘in his country, regardless of who the man fought for, his memory is
held in deep respect’.
Kurdish Info, Germany
Sept 21 2005
Boycott to Swiss goods by Labor Party
ADANA (DIHA) – The province administration board of Labor Party in
Adana started a campaign calling for boycotting the Swiss goods as
the Parliament of Switzerland accepted the ‘Armenian Massacre’.
The province chairman of the party Sedat Memili gave a speech in
front of Bilka CO. which delivers the products of Nestle. He said
they will continue their boycott not to use the Swiss products until
the parliament declares off the decision and called the public to
support their boycott.
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Sept 20 2005
ARMENIAN SERVICEMEN PARTICIPATE IN MILITARY TRAINING IN GEORGIA
The training with the participation of servicemen from 18 countries
started in Georgia on September 19.
According to RIA Novosti, the exercises are held on the military
ground of Vaziani. Servicemen from Armenia, Albania, Bulgaria,
Germany, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Latvia, Macedonia
and the US are taking part in the training. Commander of the US
European Command, Colonel Russell Richardson heads the maneuvers.
Rescuer – medcuer – 05 exercises are held under the patronage of the
US within the frames of NATO Partnership for Peace program.
Representatives of the program member countries follow the training’s course.
A “PARALLEL CIS” IN DEMOCRATIC PACKAGING
By Vladimir Socor
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Jamestown Foundation
Sept 19 2005
Representatives of Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Karabakh
held a conference on “A Parallel CIS” on September 15-16 in Moscow. The
gathering differed from previous ones in that it was overtly sponsored
by officials of Russia’s executive branch of power.
Modest Kolerov, head of the Russian Presidential Administration’s
Directorate for Interregional and External Ties (mainly responsible
for liaison with pro-Moscow groups in Eurasia) and Konstantin Zatulin,
Director of Russia’s government-sponsored CIS Affairs Institute,
were the hosts and keynote speakers.
Perhaps because the unprecedented official involvement could be seen
as provocative enough, the organizers chose to invite low-profile
secessionist personages this time. Participants included a “deputy
minister of foreign affairs” of Transnistria, a counselor to Karabakh’s
president and one to its “ministry of foreign affairs,” the rectors of
“state universities” from all the four territories, and heads of these
territories’ resident missions in Moscow. Several “ministerial”-rank
officials were also listed initially as participants. Abkhazia’s
leader, Sergei Bagapsh, was officially reported as being in Moscow
during the conference, although he was not listed among conference
participants. Conferees also included elements of Kolerov’s usual
clientele of pan-Slavist and pan-Orthodox groups from ex-Soviet-ruled
countries, the Balkans, and the Near East. Some of these were supposed
to provide illustrative examples of unrecognized enclaves striving
for international recognition.
Kolerov’s and Zatulin’s keynote addresses both introduced a novel
theme to Russian policy on conflict resolution. They portrayed
the secessionist territories as well on their way toward becoming
functioning democracies, with representative institutions and
regularly held elections. Kolerov and Zatulin argued that international
recognition would help complete that purported development and would
correspond with “democratically expressed” aspirations in these
territories. The thesis, in a nutshell, is that stabilization through
recognition would promote democracy and guarantee human rights. This
argument seeks to exclude the issue of Russian troops from discussion
at this stage, reserving the Russian “military guarantees” to be
discussed as part of the political settlements. “First democratization,
then negotiations toward political settlement,” Kolerov said. For
his part, Zatulin suggested that the “parallel CIS” of unrecognized
territories was already more effective than the officially existing
CIS and could lay a groundwork for international recognition.
This line of argument corresponds with the Russian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs’ new tactic to seek international recognition of the
secessionist authorities in two stages. The first stage would involve
international monitoring and recognition of elections to secessionist
territories’ legislative bodies as democratically valid. The next
stage would see recognition of the executive authorities that issued
from those elections. Political settlements of the conflicts would
then be negotiated on that basis with Russia’s clients in a far
stronger position than they had been. Moldova and Transnistria are,
at the moment, the first object of this experiment in which Russian
diplomacy seeks Western acquiescence. In a message to the participants
in the conference, Transnistria’s leader, Igor Smirnov, optimistically
stated, “We are drawing closer to recognition with every passing day.”
Kolerov cautioned the secessionist leaderships against the “tactical
mistake” of overemphasizing “historical connections with Russia”
when addressing international public opinion. “Of course, you can
continue to mention that, but it is no longer important for the West.”
Instead, they should use human-rights and democracy arguments in
the quest for recognition, as “no one can ignore such arguments,”
Kolerov advised. At the same time, Kolerov offered a catch-all
definition of “Russia’s compatriots (sootechestvenniki) on either
side of post-Soviet conflicts,” whose rights and interests Russia
“has an obligation to guarantee.” Those compatriots include “all
persons born on the territory of the former Soviet Union or the
Russian Empire,” irrespective of ethnicity, in the recognized states
or the unrecognized ones. This sweeping definition reflects Moscow’s
goal to act as “guarantor” of conflict-settlement and post-conflict
arrangements, overseeing the constitutional setups in what are now
the unrecognized states and the recognized ones as well. Again (and
as usual), Moldova is the first target of this new Russian policy.
The Abkhaz and South Ossetian representatives indicated that the
goal of international recognition is, to them, an intermediate stage
toward accession of these territories to Russia. Transnistria’s
representatives (evidently taking geography into account) spoke more
vaguely of becoming part of some “community” around Russia. Karabakh
representatives only spoke of achieving independence from Azerbaijan.
The leader of Armenia’s Democratic Party, Aram Sarkisian (not to be
confused with the identically named ex-prime minister who is now an
opposition leader) criticized Armenia’s leadership for “distancing
itself from Russia” and defended the population of Armenia and Karabakh
against any such imputations.
Representatives of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy also
led a discussion on the role of the “national dimension” of Orthodox
churches in consolidating “national identity” in these territories.
This may presage a more active role than has hitherto been the case
for Russian Orthodox clergymen and the Moscow Patriarchy in supporting
secessionist authorities.
(Regnum, Interfax, RIA, September 12-16; Kommersant Daily, September
16)
MONTREAL OPERA IS LAVISH AND POWERFUL
By Jim Lowe Times Argus Staff
Barre Montpelier Times Argus, VT
Sept 19 2005
MONTREAL – Bellini’s “Norma” is grand opera with all of its spectacle
– a big chorus and processions, virtuosic singing and lavish costumes
and staging.
It is also an opera masterpiece – one with a powerful human story
delivered through its music.
L’Opera de Montreal opened a beautiful production of “Norma,” Saturday
at Place des Arts’ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier. Armenian soprano Hasmik
Papian had a powerful presence in the title role, and Music Director
Bernard Labadie conducted a sensitive and dramatic performance.
“Norma” is one of the few masterpieces of the bel canto period, early
19th century Italian opera. By that time, opera had become a popular
entertainment in Italy, much like today’s Broadway musicals. They
were written fast and furiously as composers traveled from city to
city writing and producing an opera in several weeks, then moving on
to the next city and the next opera. Thus, the operas were largely
formulaic, each requiring the requisite amount of pomp and pageant.
Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) was one of those traveling composers,
most of his operas were written in this factory-like manner – and
most of them are largely forgotten.
“Norma,” with a libretto by Felice Romani, on the other hand, has
remained in the standard opera repertoire since it premiered at La
Scala in Milan in 1831. Certainly it has the required chorus and
processions, as well as an exotic setting, but it also has a powerful
human story – one that remains as contemporary now as it was when
the opera premiered or when it was set, nearly 2,000 years ago.
Norma is a Druid high priestess in Roman-occupied Gaul. Secretly, she
has been having an affair with the Roman consul Pollione, resulting
in two children. But Pollione has tired of Norma and has begun a
relationship with the young novice priestess Adalgisa.
When Norma discovers this affair, Adalgisa is torn between loyalty
to Norma and her faith and her human love. Norma, too, is torn,
between loving her children and her faith, and her passion and anger
toward Pollione. What ensues is the stuff of all romantic tragedy,
and Bellini’s music brings it across with relish and flourish. In
short, it’s a real tear-jerker.
Papian had a powerful presence as Norma. In her Montreal Opera debut,
she used her rich, terribly beautiful soprano lyri-cally, plying each
line with sensitivity and finesse. She used the lyrical approach rather
than Greek-American diva Maria Callas’ famous dramatic approach,
where the emotion in the words within the line were emphasized
musically. But Papian was convincing, beautifully so.
Papian’s performance of the famous “Casta Diva (Chaste goddess)”
was certainly beautiful. But it was her tender “Deh! Non voleri
vittime del mio fatale errore (Oh, do not let them be the victims of
my cruel mistake)” at the end where she pleads for her children that
was devastating and beautiful.
The other major role was Adalgisa, and it was sung beautifully –
though without much drama – by American mezzo-soprano Kate Aldrich.
Still, when called for, she delivered a beautiful tenderness with
her rich warm mezzo voice.
Playing Pollione was American tenor Antonio Nagore, macho, yet with
a beautiful soft-edged voice. On Saturday, it took him a little time
to warm up, but when he did it was beautiful.
The production, directed by Stephen Pickover, had all the necessary
grandness, yet was convincing on a dramatic level, utilizing simple
but haunting settings from New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Labadie led
L’Orchestre Metropolitain du Grand Montreal and the Opera Chorus in
a not always refined, but a sensitive and dramatic performance.
L’Opera de Montreal’s production of “Norma” was traditional grand
opera, yet full of intimate human drama.
ERDOGAN EXPRESSED REGRET OVER ADOPTION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTIONS BY U.S. HOUSE COMMITTEE
Pan Armenian News
19.09.2005 03:19
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed
regret over the adoption of two resolutions on the Armenian Genocide
by the U.S. House Committee. “The Turkish government hopes that
the resolutions will not be included in the agenda of the plenary
session of the House of Representatives”, Erdogan’s statement says,
RFE/RL reported.