Category: News

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will visit Belgium May 18-19 to participate in the 125th session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe member states, Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

As part of  through which the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is trying to track immigrants from 193 countries in the United Nations, folks who made Pittsburgh their home, the paper has dedicated an article to Armenian cellist Katya Janpoladyan.

Tony Norman

When Katya Janpoladyan says she never takes anything for granted, it is easy to believe why. At 37, the cello player from Yerevan, Armenia, knows what it is like to experience the deprivations of life in a blockaded country.

In 1988, Azerbaijan established a land blockade around Armenia because of ancient political and territorial disputes. Turkey, which shares a border as well as a tragic history with Armenia, also erected a blockade, intensifying the country’s isolation.

There is only a hint of melancholy in Ms. Janpoladyan’s voice as she recalls her youth during the blockade. She was 10 or 11 when she began to understand that her biggest passion in life was music, though she had not yet mastered an instrument.

Unlike most children facing many years of practice and self-imposed discipline, Ms. Janpoladyan had to beg her parents — both of whom are journalists — to let her take music lessons. Her Armenian father and Russian mother wanted to make sure her request wasn’t a momentary bout of enthusiasm, so they didn’t acquiesce immediately.

By the time she was 11, Ms. Janpoladyan suspected she was “too old” for piano lessons, so she started to narrow her choice of instruments. It was only when she heard a student playing a Haydn concerto under the supervision of her future music teacher that she found her life-long companion.

“This is how it started,” Ms. Janpoladyan said, recalling the moment decades later.

From that point, mastering the cello became her priority. She put in years of disciplined practice under difficult circumstances and sacrificed many of the few comforts that were available to her to pursue her dream.

“I missed my prom to get ready for an audition,” she said, “but I never regretted it.”

She remembers the multiple layers of clothing she had to wear in her unheated conservatory. But the chilly conditions under which she had to rehearse didn’t prevent her from winning awards or progressing steadily in her mastery of the cello.

During the blockade, her father was a communications officer, so he wasn’t home a lot. “It was difficult,” Ms. Janpoladyan said. “There was no heat in the house. Because my father was at work, there was no provider. My mom, brother and grandma couldn’t cut the trees [for fire wood], so we collected branches.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Janpoladyan began thinking about leaving Armenia to pursue her art and to live a life that was a little less defined by blockades and ancient conflicts.

A plan to study in St. Petersburg, Russia, fell through, but an opportunity to study with cellist Yehuda Hanani in Cincinnati opened up new possibilities.

In late 2001, Ms. Janpoladyan moved to the United States to attend the University of Cincinnati and to study with Mr. Hanani, who became her mentor and friend.

After completing her master’s degree, Ms. Janpoladyan moved to Pittsburgh in 2008. “I moved here to work with my string quartet,” she said referring to the Freya String Quartet, which formed in 2009.

The quartet recently announced it would soon disband so its members could pursue new opportunities. It specialized in the work of new composers. Ms. Janpoladyan enjoyed the challenge and the opportunity.

“We do a ton of music by new composers. Some of it is really great,” she said.

Ms. Janpoladyan is about to begin a new musical project, but doesn’t want to talk about it yet because it is in the early stages. It will be in Pittsburgh, a region that continues to inspire her creativity.

Still, Ms. Janpoladyan’s initial encounter with the region wasn’t love at first sight. “It takes time to fall in love with Pittsburgh, but I did,” she said. “I love the bridges, the cultural life … a lot is going on here.”

In what could be a first, Ms. Janpoladyan said she “even likes the rain” in Pittsburgh. Now a resident of McCandless, she teaches cello privately to 30 students.

“I like molding and bringing students to perfection,” she said. “I try to create a community with my students so that they know each other and don’t feel isolated.”

Ms. Janpoladyan has a 2-year-old daughter named Maria. Not too long ago, she took Maria to Armenia to introduce her to her family. It was a joyful reunion and she enjoyed seeing her family bond with her daughter.

Looking back on her life in Armenia and contrasting it with her life in Pittsburgh, Ms. Janpoladyan is philosophical.

“I’m glad I went through that,” she said referring to the blockade. “It taught me not to take things for granted.”

She ticked down the things she has, including her daughter, her health, food, warm clothing, a car, an income that she refuses to treat as entitlements.

“I’m a lucky person in general,” she said. “Fortune smiles on me.”

The 10th Congress of the Youth of the European People’s Party (YEPP) adopted a Resolution recognizing and condemning the genocides of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians.

In the Resolution the YEPP calls on the member states of the European Union and the Council of Europe, as well as the international organizations to recognize and restore the historic justice in memory of the victims of the genocides of Armenians, Pontic Greeks and Assyrians.

“All interested parties recognize the genocide of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians, and accept April 24 and May 19 as the Days of Remembrance of the Armenian and Greek Genocides,” the document reads.

The 10th Congress of the Youth of the European People’s Party was attended by more than 250 young leaders from more than 40 countries, including the Youth Organization of the Republican Party of Armenia headed by its President Karen Avagyan.

The Resolution submitted by the Greek party was adopted unanimously and was backed by delegates of the countries that have not yet recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Global realities and challenges were in the spotlight of the YEPP Congress held under the slogan “A stronger Europe in a Changing World.

YEPP is the largest youth organization in Europe, which brings together more than 1.6 million young people from 57 political parties representing 40 countries.

From May 14 through May 17, a range of cultural events dedicated to the Armenian Genocide Centennial were held in Mexico City, Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.

On May 14, 2015 the world famous Nezahualcoyotl concert hall hosted the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra (ANPO) in Mexico. The first ever appearance of the national orchestra of Armenia before the Mexican public was the last leg of ANPO’s world Remembrance tour. Under the baton of Maestro Edward Topchian, the orchestra presented to the public Aram Khachaturian’s Spartacus suite, Saint Saens’ cello concerto and Tchaikovsky’s symphony No 6.

Ambassador of Armenia to Mexico Grigor Hovhannissian, Ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Mexico, representatives of Mexican civil society and media.

On May 14, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) hosted a compelling exhibition dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide depicting the journey of Armenian refugees-survivors of the Genocide, who made it the Mexican shores and founded here a new life and a new homeland.

On May 16 and 17 the Nezahualcoyotl Hall hosted another two concerts performed by the renowned Armenian-American pianist Dora Serviarian and the OFUNAM orchestra of the National Autonomous University – one of the world’s largest and oldest universities. A powerful performance of Aram Khachaturian’s legendary piano concerto was enthusiastically received by the music aficionados.

In the same week, the Embassy of Armenia in Mexico in conjunction with the National Institute of Fine Arts, the National Music Conservatory and the National Cinematic Center, organized several viewings of Peter Rosen’s award-winning documentary (the Hollywood film festival) “Khachaturian”. During the two showings at the national Conservatory and the Cineteca Nacional music students, musicians and public received firsthand insights into the process behind the creation of the documentary from the co-producers – Aaron and Robert Kuhn as well as Dora Serviarian.
These commemorative events became possible due to the cooperation of the UNAM and the Embassy of Armenia in Mexico and were extensively covered by the local media.

On May 15, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian participated in the meeting of Foreign Ministers of Eastern Partnership and Visegrad Group (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary), attended by Vice-President of the European Commission, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, Foreign Minister of Latvia, a state, presiding over the Council of the EU, Edgars Rinkēvičs, Foreign Ministers of Sweden and Poland Margot Wallstrom and Grzegorz Schetyna respectively.

Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico delivered opening remarks, attaching importance to the holding of the meeting, as an efficient platform for exchange of thoughts in the run up to the Riga Summit.

Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian delivered a speech at the session.

In his remarks, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Edward Nalbandian, particularly, mentioned,

“I want to thank the Visegrad Four Presidency for hosting this ministerial meeting in Bratislava.

Armenia has important objectives to accomplish in its comprehensive partnership with the European Union in all possible fields, through enhanced political dialogue, deepening sectoral cooperation, intensification of people-to-people contacts and creating favourable conditions for the facilitation of trade and economic cooperation.

To intensify our cooperation in sectoral areas we are looking towards launching negotiations with the Commission aimed at the field of science and education, concluding the agreement on Armenia’s participation in the EU “Horizon 2020”; as well as in the Programme for Competitiveness of Enterprise and Small and Medium Enterprises (COSME). In the area of transport the Government of Armenia expressed its readiness to sign a Common Aviation Area Agreement with the European Union.

We highly appreciate the EU’s continued support and assistance provided within the ENP to our country over the years, which has been instrumental for the effective implementation and sustainability of the reform process and institutional capacity building in Armenia.

We have welcomed the European Commission’s initiative to conduct a review of the ENP which is an occasion for all of us to reflect on our past experiences and highlight priority aspects of future cooperation. The situation in the larger Neighbourhood poses new challenges and undoubtedly requires renewed cooperative approaches.

We think that the ENP review should outline the importance of adherence to common values of democracy, rule of law, good governance and protection of human rights. We are also of the view that within the new policy framework the principles of a merit-based differentiation and “more-for-more” should be reinforced and continued to be applied accordingly to reflect the pace of implementation of reforms by the partner countries.

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to reflect on the state of progress in defining our future contractual relations with the European Union. Since November last year, we have been engaged with our EU partners to shape the scope of the legal framework, which will reflect the contents of our past negotiations with the European Union while taking into account our commitments in other integration formats. In mid March, the Armenian and the EU teams concluded the consultations on the scope of future legal basis and it is our understanding that based on that the EU Member States will endorse the mandate and we can launch the negotiations.

In parallel to the regular meetings of the EU-Armenia institutional setup, Armenia continues its active participation in the platforms and more than a dozen working groups of the multilateral dimension of the Eastern Partnership. We view this as an important and useful framework for sharing best practices and promoting enhanced cooperation.

The Mobility Partnership is in place since 2011 and there are several projects being implemented under its umbrella. The EU-Armenia Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements entered into force in January 2014. From our part, the Government of Armenia abolished the visa requirement for the EU citizens since 2013. On April 29 the Armenia-EU Joint Committees on the Visa Facilitation and Readmission agreements took place in Brussels and it is our hope that following these meetings we will be able to initiate a dialogue on Visa Liberalization with the EU as soon as possible.

The situation in the Eastern Partnership today poses new challenges and requires renewed cooperative approaches.

Armenia well recognizes the importance of inclusive cooperation in different formats. We hold the view that it is possible to make best use of various integration frameworks through a more visionary approach that builds on opportunities rather than incompatibilities. Building upon the results achieved in previous years it is our goal to continue the path toward deep and comprehensive partnership with the European Union”.

The Armenia international forward’s future has been the subject of speculation of recent weeks but the BVB sporting director has no intention of selling him, reports.

Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc says that he wants to keep Henrikh Mkhitaryan at the club this summer

His future has been the subject of persistent speculation in recent months, with many reports stating that Dortmund will look to offload him, but Zorc is keen to see him stay put.

“He still has a contract until 2017,” he told Kicker.

“We’ve never said that we want to sell him.”

Luxembourg Ambassador to Ankara Arlette Conzemius has defended the Luxembourg parliament’s move to recognize the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as genocide by underlining the existence of the democratic system in her country, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

“There is a democratic system in our parliament and our lawmakers are free to express their opinions as their democratic right,” Conzemius told reporters in the eastern province of Erzurum May 8. Turkey condemned Luxembourg and withdrew its ambassador in reaction to the Luxembourg parliament’s resolution on May 6 to describe the 1915 incidents as genocide.

“There is a strong relationship between the government of Luxembourg and Turkey. We are planning to continue this strong relationship. As I said earlier, parliament is free to make decisions. I cannot say anything about it because of democracy but Luxembourg does continue to support Turkey’s EU harmonization process.

We will continue this support as well. We are also planning to be a facilitator in the Turkish-Armenian relationship,” she said.

They stand at 8 to 15 feet tall, surrounding people with their knowing faces. Imposing photographic sculptures of  survivors from the 1915 Armenian genocide come to life in California State University, Northridge photography professor Levon Parian’s exhibition “iwitness,” according to the

Showcased at Los Angeles Grand Central Park, Parian’s 24 mammoth photo sculptures stand out at the epicenter of a maze-like installation. Each of the structures is supported by 2,000 lbs. of cement at the base and 500 lbs. of steel for the frame to be able to withstand 125-mph wind, Parian said.

“The whole point was to make a public art statement in an environment that is huge,” Parian said. “It needed to be something that people would notice. This way people have to actually walk through and around the images.”

With this year being the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Parian and his photography partner, Ara Oshagan, and architect Vahagn Thomasian used “iwitness” as a testament to the survivors in their show. The photo structures are  part of a much larger project.

Parian began photographing Armenian Genocide survivors in 1989. In 1996 he started to work with Oshagan on what is now called the “Genocide Project,” a series of more than 80 portraits and oral histories from eye witness survivors designed to bring attention to the genocide.

“The reason we pursue this work is to preserve history and to counter the Turkish government’s denial of the genocide,” Parian said. “The word ‘genocide’ was coined by Raphael Lemkin in 1944 to describe the events of what happened to the Armenians in 1915, so how can you deny it?”

As both sides of his family have survivors, his work is also a testament to them.

“My mother’s parents fled to Jerusalem and stayed in an Armenian convent, and my father’s father was an Ottoman cavalry soldier who escaped to the desert and brought thousands of fellow survivors to safety,” he said.

The show will be at Los Angeles Grand Central Park through May 31, but Parian said he hopes the park is just the first stop.

“We’ve had offers from Fresno, Sacramento, New York and even Paris,” he said. “There are still a lot of possibilities for the show to travel.”

Parian noted that the “Genocide Project” is ever developing. A book will soon be published with stories and images of survivors.

“It’s a work in progress; it has been since its inception,” he said.

A jury has sentenced Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to the death penalty, the BBC reports.

After 14 hours of deliberation, the jury of five men and seven women came to its decision.

Three people were killed and 260 were injured when Tsarnaev and his brother placed bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013.

Jurors made findings on 12 factors that would support the death penalty and 21 mitigating factors his defence said support the decision of life in prison.

Seven of 30 charges Tsarnaev, 21, was convicted of allow the possibility of the death penalty.