MOSCOW STUDENT NAREK HAKHNAZARIAN FROM ARMENIA RECOGNIZED WINNER IN
VIOLINCELLISTS’ COMPETITION AFTER ARAM KHACHATRIAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, NOYAN TAPAN. Narek Hakhnazarian, a student of the
Moscow Conservatory’s college was awarded the first prize and 15
thousand U.S. dollars monetary award among 17 violicellists
participated in the cellists’ international competition after Aram
Khachatrian held in Yerevan for the first time. The latter was also
awarded the special prize of the State Philharmonic Orchestra of
Armenia: the young cellist will have possibility to perform a concert
program in 2007 with the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia.

As Anna Ter-Hovakimian, the Responsible Secretary of the competition
informed the Noyan Tapan correspondent, second and third prizes
defined by the organization committee were equally
shared. Representative of Latvia Ruslan Vilensky and representative of
Turkey Indira Rahmatulla who is Uzbek in origin became the second
prize winners. They were given 5000 dollars each. The third prize,
2500 dollars to each, was equally shared between Tigran Muradian
(Russia) and Sergey Kosemian (Armenia). By the way, nobody was awarded
2000 dollars of encouriging prize.

Denis Zhdanov representing Russia was awarded special prizes defined
for “Spectator’s Sympathy” and “Best Performance of 20th Century
Work.” Cezar Martinez Bourguet (Mexico) got the “Best Performance of
Chamber Sonat” prize, Jeanne Maisonhaute (France) got the “Promising
Participant” prize, and Artur Avanesov (Armenia) got the “Best
Concertmaster” prize. The best prize defined by the jury was awarded
to Spanish representative Guillermo Pastrana.

CONCERT-EVENING PARTY DEDICATED TO 80TH JUBILEE OF STATE PHILHARMONIC
ORCHESTRA OF ARMENIA TAKES PLACE AT “ARAM KHACHATRIAN” CONCERT HALL

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A concert-evening
party dedicated to the 80th jubilee anniversary of the State
Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia (SPOA) took place at the “Aram
Khachatrian” concert hall on June 8.

The RA Ministry of Culture and Youth Issues, Composers’ Union of
Armenia, Chamber Music House, SPOA Artistic Head and Principal
Conductor of 1981-1985 Valeri Gergiyev, SPOA Artistic Head and
Principal Conductor of 1987-1989 Vahagn Papian, heads of the Arno
Babajanian International Charity Fund, the Artistic Head and Principal
Conductor of the “Novaya Rusia” State Symphonic Orchestra Yuri
Bashmet, Principal Conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of
Russia Vladimir Spivakov, Ambassdor of the Republic of Armenia to
Russia Armen Smbatian sent messages of congratulation to the State
Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia.

The SPOA addressed his speech of gratitude to the Friends’ Union,
particularly to the Board of Trustees (Chairwoman Bella Kocharian),
for the assistance shown during the recent years.

The SPOA addressed speech of gratitude to the Armenian General
Benevolent Union as well, for being the general sponsor of the SPOA
during the last 15 years. “Remaining faithful to its fostered
principle of assisting national supremacies during the most difficult
period of time for the newly independent Republic of Armenia, the AGBU
and union Chairwoman Mrs. Luiz Manukian Simon lent a helping hand to
the orchestra what became decisive and literally excluded orchestra’s
merited musicians’ being spread all over the world. Even more, owing
to that assistance, the orchestra has had possibility during the last
15 years to increase its performing level, having perfect perfomances
not only in Armenia, but also in many and many countries of the world,
presenting with honour the Armenian classic music art,” is mentioned
in the SPOA speech of gratitude.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the SPOA, Hovhannes Chekijian, Gegham
Grigorian, Irina Zakian, Juliet Galstian, Narek Hakhnazarian who was
recognized the winner of the Aram Khachatrian Cellists’ International
Competition taken place few days ago, performed evening music
greetings.

The orchestra headed by SPOA Artistic Head and Principal Conductor
Eduard Topchian performed famous classic works.

In 1924, Composer Alexander Spendiarian moved to Yerevan from Russia
headed in the 2nd part of his author’s concert a 18-person orchestra
formed of Conservatory teachers and students, proving just by it the
possibility of creating in Armenia a symphonic orchestra completed
with local personnels. On March 20, 1925, Conservatory Rector,
aesthete Arshak Adamian headed the first concert of the orchestra
established just by his efforts, formed of teachers and students.

Alexander Spendiarian’s words that “the time will come when our, still
modest, pupils’ orchestra will bear proudly the honourary name “State
Orchestra of Armenia” became reality during years. After Alexander
Spendiarian (1926-1927), the orchestra was headed by Konstantin
Sarajian (1941-1945), Mikayel Maluntsian (1945-1960, 1966-1967), Ohan
Durian (1960-1965, 1973), David Khanjian (1974-1981), Valeri Gergiyev
(1981-1985), Loris Chgnavorian (1989-1998, 1999-2000). The orchestra
has been headed by Eduard Topchian since 2000.

Aram Khachatrian headed performances of the orchestra on different
occasions. Arno Babajanian, Tatevik Sazandarian, Zaruhi Dolukhanian,
Gohar Gasparian performed with the orchestra. Izabel Bayrakdarian,
Sergey Babayan, Alexey Lyubimov, Renato Bruzo, Alexander Treger and
other famous names performed with the orchestra during the last years.

ACTION OF PROTEST AGAINST MURDERS ON NATIONAL GROUND HELD IN MOSCOW

MOSCOW, JUNE 9, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. An action in memory of
people killed by skin-heads on the ground of national hatred and
intolerance was held on June 3, at 8:00 pm, in Moscow Vasilyevski
Spusk street. According to the Yerkramas (Territory) newspaper of
Armenians of Russia, the action was organized by a group of Armenian
youth, mainly representatives of Armenian youth from Moscow and
Podmoskovye took part in it. Students and lecturers of Moscow State
University (MSU), as well as a number of Armenian NGOs, such as the
Armenian Student Association of MSU and the Union of Intellectual
Cooperation of Armenian Youth are among the organizers. The Union of
Armenians of Russia is known to have been refused to take part in the
action motivating this by the circumstance that the action is not
sanctioned by the authorities.

To recap, murder of 19-year-old Armenian, Artur Sardarian was
committed on May 25 on Moscow suburban electric train. The
investigation considers that the crime was committed by the motives of
national hatred. Two unknown persons killed the boy with a knife
before dozens of witnesses. This is not the first murder of Armenians
in the recent period. On April 22, skin-heads stabbed 17-year-old
Armenian student Vigen Abrahamians at the Pushkinskaya station of
Moscow underground, before numerous witnesses. Four of his friends
were beaten, two of them got traumas. The investigation considers the
version of a murder on the national ground in this case, too. The
search of the criminals has not given any results yet.

AMBASSADOR RUBEN SHUGARIAN HANDS HIS CREDENTIALS TO PRESIDENT OF
PORTUGAL

LISBON, JUNE 9, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA Ambassador Ruben
Shugarian handed his credentials on June 6 to President of Portugal
Anibal Cavaco Silva.

Ambassador Shugarian met on the previous day with Rui Quartin Santos,
the Portugal Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General, State Protocol Head
Manuel Corte Real, Chief of Europe Countries’ Department Liliana
Arango and Emilio Rui Vilar, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of
the “Gulbenkian” fund.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and
Information Department, during the conversations the RA Ambassador
spoke about Armenia, the region, integration of Armenia within the
framework of the European Neighborhood Policy, the Armenian-Turkish
relations and the present stage and process of the negotiations on the
Nagorno Karabakh problem.

DECIPHERING OF CVR OF A320 IS OVER

Lragir.am
09 June 06

On June 8 the Interstate Aviation Committee finished deciphering the
data of the voice recorder of the Armenian A320, which had plunged
into the Black Sea on May 3. `The recorder recorded voice data with a
duration of33 minutes, including the beginning and the end of the
emergency situation. The talk of the crew was mainly in Armenian. The
recording of the conversation was translated into Russian with the
help of the officers of the Armenian embassy. In accordance with the
requirements and practice of the International Civil Aviation
Organization the transcript of the voice recorder is not published,’
runs the release of the Ministry of Transport of Russia.

The deciphering of the FDR is underway. It has recorded over 300
parameters of the technical state of the plane. The data of the
recorder and ground services are being compared. The simulation model
of the flight dynamics of A320 is worked out.

PRE-ELECTION PROJECT ENTITLED LABOR PARTY

Lragir.am
09 June 06

The United Labor Party is becoming engaged in power at such an
incredible speed that it is sure to hit and damage the other forces in
power. Except for Robert Kocharyan, of course. Gurgen Arsenyan, the
founder and leader of the United Labor Party, who calculates
everything, has surely calculated this too.

And simple logic suggests that the United Labor Party is part of the
government by a simple calculation too. The ULP is becoming part of
the executive just like it became a parliamentary force.

The leader of the ULP Gurgen Arsenyan first became an oligarch, then a
statesman, a member of parliament. In Armenia there are a number of
peoplewho set out from the other end, first a post, then oligarch
through the post. Gurgen Arsenyan’s way defines his type of
calculating everything. Calculation is good. But it is bad when the
calculations of a statesman are aimed to fillhis pocket as much as
possible.

A recent projection of ULP calculations was the reduction of the
lump-sum tax on the imports of cigars by the National Assembly. And
the main importer of cigars in Armenia is Gurgen Arsenyan. And since
over the upcoming 1-1.5 year the members of parliament will be busy
attending to pre-election, election and post-election problems, it is
certain that Gurgen Arsenyan will be enjoying privileges for at least
another 1-1.5 year.

Now about the executive. The National Assembly will be working for
another year. If we extract the pre-election period that the law
provides for and a little more, which is out of law, evidently this
government will be working normally for 6-7 months. The ULP will
hardly manage to achieve significant results. It is said that victory
has many parents, defeat is an orphan. Gurgen Arsenyan entered the
executive by a calculation to use the administrative resource. For
elections are drawing nearer. Unlike civilized – normal – countries,
where voters decide the place of one force or another in the
government, in Armenia there are three ways that lead to power: money,
the mob of skinheads and the administrative resource. The ULP had the
first. The second is not so popular nowadays. And now perfect
happiness is guaranteed, for they already have the third. Here is a
simple calculation: if you possess two out of three factors that
guarantee victory, the chance to win is great. But most probably it
is not foreseen by the calculations of the ULP what victory itis going
to be and against who. For, to repeat again, voters in our country
still do not decide the place of one force or another in the
government, otherwise the ULP would not have appeared in the
parliament with a rating of zero point something.

ARAM ZAKARYAN

P.S. This calculation-plot of Gurgen Arsenyan does not appear to have
foreseen a role for either the voter or the public. It will work if
nothing happens. However, nothing is impossible in Armenia. Who would
have thought, for instance, that Robert Kocharyan will not run a third
time and will not tryto become prime minister?

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THIS SIDE OF BARS

Lragir.am
09 June 06

There is not a single government agency or office which attends to the
social problems of former inmates, therefore former prisoners have set
up This Side of Bars NGO. The chair of this organization Gevorg
Koshkaryan met news reporters June 9.

Film director Armen Mazmanyan was with Mr. Koshkaryan. The chair of
the NGO said their key purpose is to create jobs for former prisoners,
help them find jobs and earn a living. And creative people understand
their problems more quickly and deeply. It turned out that the NGO had
achieved a lot, and all thanks to good will of some people and
willingness to share their problems. It also became known that
fortunately not only Armen Mazmanyan is such. Sos Sargsyan helps
them. Nadezhda Sargsyan admits children of former prisonersto her
school free of charge. There are other benefactors too, and there is
a small production unit under the NGO, they publish a newspaper
entitled Return and discuss their problems. The newspaper is free of
charge. About 50 former prisoners were accommodated in a
dormitory. There were marriages too. But the road to the dormitory is
in a hopeless state. `If we get the materials,we have good masters and
we can do it ourselves,’ states Gevorg Koshkaryan.

Armen Mazmanyan says it is necessary to help these people to integrate
with the society. `These are people who made a mistake and served
theirsentence. Integration should be a strategic government
policy. By rejecting these people and labeling them as convicts we
make them repeat their mistake. And failure of integration is a bomb
behind our backs, which is going to go off one day.

‘And Gevorg Koshkaryan believes that the members of their organization
will not commit another crime.

SUPPORT HELPS IF THERE IS QUALITY

Lragir.am
09 June 06

The parliamentary election 2007 may become a serious breakthrough from
the point of view of activity of public life in Armenia, stated
Khostrov Harutiunyan, the leader of the Christian Democratic Party of
Armenia June 9 at the National Press Club. He stresses the activity of
the public for the enhancement of the role of the National Assembly.
According to Khosrov Harutiunyan, as long as the society thinks that
all its problems are determined by a person, the parliament will have
a secondary role, and the public will remain outside political
processes like it is today. This reality is the reason why the
political party with 62 thousand members separated from the coalition
without an adequate reaction in the political sphere, thinks the
leader of the Christian Democratic Party.

`Therefore we should speak about the role of political parties in
political processes rather than unification of numbers, such as a
party of 100 thousand members joined a party of 62 thousand,’ says
Khosrov Harutiunyan. According to him, there is not a political party
today, which can fulfill effective governance alone, because it does
not have the necessary resource. Khosrov Harutiunyan thinks that the
society should focus on the political quality of a force before giving
its support to this force. If a political party has political quality,
giving support to it might lead to success, if it does not have a
political quality, support will not lead to anything good.

PRIME MINISTER’S IS A MATTER OF VOTING
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Lragir.am
09 June 06

An opportunity of transition from personal to institutional governance
has occurred in Armenia, stated Member of Parliament Shavarsh
Kocharyan June 9. According to him, this opportunity emanates from
the new constitution. However it is just a half-step, says Shavarsh
Kocharyan. According to him, first it is necessary to use this
opportunity.

`Surprisingly we have become pessimistic in a time when we need tomake
efforts instead of waiting until the government, which was made to
take this half-set, the Constitutional reform, to do it,’ says
Shavarsh Kocharyan. He says the public, NGOs and the opposition should
seek for using this opportunity.

Shavarsh Kocharyan says the increasing influence of the office of the
prime minister on the levers of the executive is an expression of this
opportunity. The member of parliament thinks it is better if the
prime minister possesses the majority of levers than the president.

`Several cases of impeachment have been reported in the world. It is
impossible, impossible to impeach the president constitutionally. And
the question of the prime minister is a matter of voting.’

TIME WILL COME THEY WILL SAY

Lragir.am
09 June 06

On June 9 Aram Manukyan, All Armenian Movement, commended the
secession of the Orinats Yerkir Party from the coalition. At the
National Press Club Aram Manukyan said it speeded up the collapse of
the coalition, and the collapse of the coalition speeds up change of
power. However, the member of the All Armenian Movement is amazed by
the political process that followed the move of Orinats Yerkir.

`Within a few hours the coalition shrunk, became minority, and within
a few hours the minority became majority. Why? Because our members of
parliament are tools, not actors. The Armenian parliament is a group
of people set upby personal files,’ says Aram Manukyan.

The developments connected with Orinats Yerkir attracted Aram
Manukyan’s attention from the human aspect, or as he says, people at
the bottom. He meant those who betrayed the political party for the
sake of office. `Vano Siradeghyan used to say, never trust people
below 5 feet. You remember, Levon Ter-Petrosyan said dear Sergo, you
will not be fine. Sergo is not going tobe fine because he does not
dare and does not have the right to look in the eye of anybody. He
will not be fine in this country. Tamariks are not going to befine,
and all the other guys who let down are not going to be fine, because
their sons’ friends are going to say your father is a betrayer,’says
Aram Manukyan, adding that time will come when they will say, because
the generation is improving.