Category: 2017

Azerbaijani press: Karabakh peace process getting new energy: Matthew Bryza

Maral Takmazian
17:51 (UTC+04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.16

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

The joint statement by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group following the Geneva meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents is the most positive statement anyone has heard for quite some time, Matthew Bryza, former US ambassador to Azerbaijan and former co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, told Trend Oct.16.

That’s a positive statement, said Bryza, adding that it is both a general item, saying they want to reinvigorate the process, but also specific, saying, they intend to implement measures to reduce tension on the line of contact.

Further, he said that plans to organize working sessions by the co-chairs with the ministers would be a logical next step.

“If the presidents agree to reenergize the process then of course, it is the duty of co-chairs to organize such working sessions with foreign ministers. The process is getting some new energy. It is really good,” added Bryza.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement and to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the line of contact between the two countries’ troops, reads a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group following the Geneva meeting of the presidents.

President Aliyev and President Sargsyan held a summit in Geneva, Switzerland on October 16. Foreign Ministers Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov also attended the meeting, which was organized under the auspices of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America). The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk also participated in the summit.

The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere, according to the statement.

“The co-chairs expressed their satisfaction with these direct talks, which took place after a long interval,” reads the statement. “They remain ready to work with the sides on mediating a peacefully negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As a next step, the co-chairs will organize working sessions with the ministers in the near future.”

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn

Azerbaijani press: How will Helsinki Commission’s hearings affect Karabakh peace diplomacy?

Albert Nalbandian

By  Trend


At the beginning of the next week, Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents will come together in Geneva to discuss the resolution of the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, one of the deadliest conflicts in the world.

While the event is viewed as a chance to move the peace talks from the dead end, there are concerns that several days’ later hearings on Nagorno-Karabakh to be hosted by the Helsinki Commission may pull back any progress achieved in the process.

The Commission often touts its record of peace maker yet the truth is that most of the hearings aim at supporting the aggressive policy of Armenia, which causes due demur in Baku.

Asked whether holding of hearings ahead of the President’s summit may put a pressure on the talks, PhD Ariel Cohen said that the ultimate decisions are made in Baku and Yerevan.

“If the two leaders decide to move towards peace, such hearings are not going to be an obstacle. If there is no decision for peace, such hearings will not be able unfortunately to bring peace,” Cohen PhD, a senior research fellow at the Atlantic Council, and Director, Center for energy, natural resources and geopolitics at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, told Trend.

The Helsinki Commission is chaired by Chris Smith, who enjoys close ties with the Armenian lobby in the U.S. Smith was also the initiator of the anti-Azerbaijani bill previously submitted to the U.S. Congress by the Helsinki Commission.

Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in a conflict, which emerged over Armenia’s territorial claims to Azerbaijan. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. Although the UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, they have not been enforced to this day.

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Azerbaijani press: Armenia returns to negotiations because of int’l pressure: Azerbaijani MP

Boshkezenian Garik
21:06 (UTC+04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 16

By Ilhama Isabalayeva – Trend:

Armenia once again returned to negotiations table as a result of international pressure, Azerbaijani MP Asim Mollazade told Trend Oct. 16 commenting on the Geneva meeting of presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan.

“Azerbaijan wants peace. However, Armenia is not ready for peace and will not take any serious steps. Armenia will break this process at the most important moment,” noted the MP.

President Aliyev and President Sargsyan held a summit in Geneva, Switzerland on Oct. 16. Foreign ministers, Elmar Mammadyarov and Edward Nalbandian also attended the meeting, which was organized under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk also participated in the summit.

A joint statement by the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group following the Geneva meeting of the two presidents says that the meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere.

The presidents agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement and to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the line of contact between the two countries’ troops, reads a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group following the Geneva meeting.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Azerbaijani press: "Impunity of those who illegally visited Karabakh may negatively affect Azerbaijan-Turkey relations"

Emil Lazarian
16:25 (UTC+04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 16

By Ilhama Isabalayeva – Trend:

Impunity of persons, who illegally visited Nagorno-Karabakh, may negatively affect the Azerbaijan-Turkey relations, Elman Nasirov, member of the Azerbaijani parliament, told Trend Oct. 16.

The MP noted that the illegal visits by four Turkish citizens to Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, occupied by the Armenian armed forces, holding of numerous meetings there, anti-Azerbaijani and anti-Turkish statements, as well as speeches about this trip on Turkish TV channels when the relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey are at the level of strategic alliance – is a circumstance that casts shadow on friendship and brotherhood between Azerbaijan and Turkey.

On September 22, Turkish citizens Ufuk Uras, Ali Bayramoglu, Said Cekinoglu and Erol Katircioglu illegally visited Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, occupied by the Armenian armed forces.

Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the illegal visit of Turkish citizens to the occupied Azerbaijani territories did not reflect Ankara’s official policy.

Grave Crimes Investigation Department of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office filed a criminal case under the Criminal Code’s Article 318.2 (illegally crossing Azerbaijan’s state borders). All four individuals are accused under the abovementioned article. A measure of restraint in the form of arrest was chosen against them. They were declared internationally wanted.

An appeal was sent to the Turkish law enforcement to detain the four individuals.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Azerbaijani press: Azerbaijani, Armenian presidents agree to reduce tensions on line of contact

Kanayan Tamar

By  Trend


President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement and to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the line of contact between the two countries’ troops, reads a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group following the Geneva meeting of the presidents.

President Aliyev and President Sargsyan held a summit in Geneva, Switzerland on October 16. Foreign Ministers Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov also attended the meeting, which was organized under the auspices of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America). The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk also participated in the summit.

The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere, according to the statement.

“The Co-Chairs expressed their satisfaction with these direct talks, which took place after a long interval,” reads the statement. “They remain ready to work with the sides on mediating a peacefully negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As a next step, the Co-Chairs will organize working sessions with the Ministers in the near future.”

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Azerbaijani press: Azerbaijani MP on Turkish citizens’ illegal visit to Karabakh

Kalashian Nyrie

By  Trend


The government of Turkey should start legal procedures regarding its citizens who illegally crossed Azerbaijan’s state border, Azerbaijani MP Aydin Huseynov told Trend.

He said that having taken this step, the Turkish government will thereby warn its citizens, who wish to visit the Nagorno-Karabakh region, against committing such illegal acts.

The MP stressed that the participation of Turkish citizens in an event held in the occupied Azerbaijani territories is disrespectful towards both Azerbaijan and Turkey.

On September 22, Turkish citizens Ufuk Uras, Ali Bayramoglu, Said Cekinoglu and Erol Katircioglu illegally visited Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, occupied by the Armenian armed forces.

Grave Crimes Investigation Department of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office filed a criminal case under the Criminal Code’s Article 318.2 (illegally crossing Azerbaijan’s state borders). All four individuals are accused under the abovementioned article. A measure of restraint in the form of arrest was chosen against them. They were declared internationally wanted.

An appeal was sent to the Turkish law enforcement to detain the four individuals.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

URL: 

Music: Armenia: Sirusho releases video for her new single Huh-Hah

Khondkarian Raffi
ESC Today
Oct 14 2017
by Stratos Agadellis

ne of the most successful Armenian singers and representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, Sirusho, sees the release of her new music video for her new single Huh-hah. The song is the latest single of her fifth personal album Armat (Root), released in October 2016. 


Huh-hah is a dancing and energetic song, which highlights elements of the rich Armenian history and culture. During the entire video, Sirusho and the chorus accompanying her are dressed in traditional Armenian costumes. However, this old-inspired look of the protagonists stays contemporary, as it provides a fresh look at the older ages.

The song has both Armenian and English lyrics and combines both intense and more calm vocals by Sirusho. With her song, she tries to revive the old Armenian soul and urge Armenians to stay united and strong.

Huh-hah can be described as a journey in time; even if someone isn’t related or knowledgeable in the Armenian culture and history, he may have a sufficient sense via this 3-minute video.

The video premiered yesterday on the singer’s VEVO account on YouTube and is also available on Spotify and iTunes.

Sirusho is now going to give two big concerts; one in Europe and one in Australia. Via a post on her Instagram account, she informs her fans about her concert in Paris on 4 November and about her upcoming long trip to Sydney for her performance on 17 December.

Would it be a good idea for Sirusho to come back to Eurovision 10 years after her success in Belgrade?

Watch the video clip at

Culture: Matenadaran announces the 3rd international conference “Readings of Narekatsi”

Boris Nahapetian
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 14 2017
Culture 18:59 14/10/2017

Matenadaran Scientific Research Institute of Ancient Manuscript informs the 3rd international conference “Readings of Narekatsi” will be held on October 17-18, 2017.

According to the source, the conference will start at 11:00 am in the Conference Hall of the Institute.

The scientific conference will feature book presentations, “Grigor Narekatsi and Narek School” by Hrachya Tamrazyan, “Works of Saint Grigor Narekatsi” by Abraham Teryan, samples of the Latin translation of “The Book of Lamentations” among them.

Culture: On Western Armenian and Translating: A Conversation with Christopher Atamian

Karapet Navasardian
The Armenian Weekly
Oct 14 2017

By Rupen Janbazian on

 

The cover of Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France

Author and literary critic Krikor Beledian’s Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France, translated from the original French into English by Christopher Atamian, is a groundbreaking study of the Armenian literary scene in the important Armenian Diaspora community of France.

The book examines Armenian literature as it emerged in France between 1922 and the early 1970s, and retraces the literary history of the period, starting with Armenian immigration until the passing away of the movement’s main representatives. It also examines the most significant works published in that period, studying the issues raised by a literature of exile, born after an event that was experienced and interpreted as a “national catastrophe.”

Beledian has lived in Paris since 1967 and has become intimately aware of the Armenian literary scene in France. He is an accomplished writer in his own right, as well as prolific critic. Through this book, he has produced comprehensive and fascinating view of the Armenian literary landscape in France, one that will be of lasting significance to the study of Armenian literature.

Atamian’s translation of Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France comes out at a time when a small but important number of works in translation are shedding light on literature previously unavailable in English.

The Armenian Weekly recently sat down with Atamian to discuss this latest publication.

***

The Armenian Weekly: Why translate Beledian’s book Fifty Years of Armenian Literature in France, and why now?

Christopher Atamian: First of all, Beledian is an important thinker, and the work deserves to be read as such. His book makes an important argument about Armenian culture, Armenian thinkers, and about the Armenian experience post-1915.

Secondly, it’s been 45 years since the last major writer of the Menk generation, Nigoghos Sarafian, passed away, in 1972, and over 100 years since the genocide, or Medz Yeghern. It’s about time that we took what our most serious thinkers had to say seriously and make their words and works available in English.

 

A.W.: Language is an important issue…

C.A.: Yes. Western Armenian, which the Menk generation wrote in, is now on the UNESCO endangered languages list, and some scholars no longer even learn French—the original language that Beledian wrote his book in. So, having this available in English—for both Armenian and non-Armenian readers and scholars—was important.

We need to teach Western Armenian on a more serious global level, and we need to translate more. This is part of a general need to strengthen our cultural politics across the board and build viable institutions in the diaspora—museums, cultural centers—which to date we have not done, I am sad to say.

Christopher Atamian

A.W.: What was the Menk generation, and why were they important?

C.A.: They were all immigrants who fled Turkey and settled in Paris and Marseille. Some were well off, but most were dirt poor and struggled to write. This group of some 50 writers included Zareh Vorpuni, Arshag Chobanian, Minas Cheraz, Shavarsh Missakian, Mguerditch Barsamian, Shavarsh Nartuni, Hratch Zartarian, Zabelle Yessayan, Nigoghos Sarafian, as well as the poet-revolutionary Missak Manouchian. They wrote novels, poetry, philosophical treatises, plays—you name it—in Western Armenian for other writers of Western Armenian.

 

A.W.: That is remarkable.

C.A.: Yes. It means that they knew from the beginning that they were writing for a very limited audience. They chose to write in a language that meant that they would never be famous, rather than write in French, the language of their adopted country.

 

Pages from Fred Africkian’s The Art of Letter Type (Armenian Decorative Letterforms), 1984

A.W.: What are some of the themes in their work?

C.A.: There are many. Assimilation is an obvious one. The figure of the stranger, of the foreigner, is another. Women play an important role, though they oscillate between classic mother-whore figures. There was also a lively debate around Soviet and Diasporan Armenian life (which tended to fall along party lines)—and the very notion of “Armenian-ness” and what that might and might not mean.

 

A.W.: And Beledian’s themes?

C.A.: Beledian’s great contribution—apart from his monumental work of documentation and analysis—is to note that these writers in a sense had to come to the West to discover themselves and measure themselves up—artistically, personally—to their Western counterparts (Baudelaire, Mallarme, Cendrars, et al—all these cutting edge writers and many more were read, digested and integrated into their work) and then refract or reflect themselves back if you will and create their own identity—something they could not do for many reasons as Ottoman subjects before.

Krikor Beledian

A.W.: Any other comments?

C.A.: Yes. Some of the works, such as Ship on the Mountain, or The Candidate, which Jennifer Manoukian and Ishkhan Jinbashian just translated, or Sarafian’s Bois de Vincennes or The Princess, are stunning works of literature and should be read just for the sake of being read. And then there is the simple fact that this was a post-genocide generation of writers—so we owe them that reverence, if only for that fact.

Culture: Armenia Church celebrates Feast of the Holy Translators

Emil Lazarian
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 14 2017
Society 12:06 14/10/2017Armenia

The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates today the Feast of the Holy Translators – Sts. Mesrob, Yeghishe, Moses of Khoronk, philosopher Davit Anhaght, Gregory of Narek and Nerses the Gracious (Nerses of Kla). The feast is celebrated from October 3 to November 7.

The Feast of the Holy Translators is one of the most favorite and beloved national-ecclesiastical feasts for the Armenian people, Qahana.am reports.

Nearly two hundred disciples of St. Mesrob Mashtots and St. Sahak are known by the general group name “Holy Translators”. The disciples of the above mentioned group of Holy Translators are known as “Junior Translators”.

Celebrating this feast, the Armenian Apostolic Church pays tribute of respect to the bright memory of St. Mesrob Mashtots, Yeghishe, Moses of Khoronk, philosoppher Davit Anhaght, whose sacred work and mission later has been continued on by St. Gregory of Narek and St. Nerses the Gracious.The word “Translator” means “Interpreter”.

Comprehending and precisely understanding the demands of that period, the Holy Translators initiated the sacred work of creating the Armenian alphabet and literature. By the strength of their faith they dispersed the darkness and warmed the human souls. Thanks to the Holy Translators the Holy Bible was translated into Armenian and the Armenian peoples obtained the possibility to read the Holy Book in the native language. By means of their activity, the Holy Translators contributed to the spiritual-cultural awakening of Armenia. After the translation of the Holy Bible, many books of Church Father were translated into Armenian, and thanks to this fact many translations, the original copies of which haven’t been preserved, presently exist only in the translated variant and thus the translations have obtained the value of the original.