LE QUINTETTE A VENT CONQUIERT L’ARMENIE
par Eliane Faucon-Dumont
Le Telegramme
14 juin 2006
Pierre-Yves Courtis, Alain Ehkirch, David Philippe, Thierry Besnard et
Cyril Colas ont decide ” d’internationaliser ” leur Quintette a vent.
Sans aucun doute, le voyage armenien a ete le plus fort sur le plan
emotionnel. Repondant a l’invitation d’un des grands compositeurs
du pays, Arthur Aharonian, les Bretons ont ete recus, courant mai,
par R. Amirkhanyan, president de l’Union des compositeurs armenien,
qui a personnellement organise leur tournee.
Dès son arrivee, le Quintette a donne son premier concert a l’ambassade
de France devant un parterre choisi. Les très nombreux compositeurs
que compte l’Armenie etaient tous presents. Certains, complètement
seduits, ont promis d’ecrire des partitions pour les Bretons.
Des idees
Le jour suivant, ces derniers se sont retrouves dans un autre salon
de l’ambassade, pour un nouveau concert visiblement apprecie par les
nombreux connaisseurs a nouveau dans la salle.
Le concert initialement prevu le jeudi a ete annule pour cause de
deuil national. Les membres du Quintette a vent en ont profite pour
travailler de nouvelles partitions. Le jour suivant, une rencontre
prevue au Conservatoire d’Erevan, s’est transformee en master class.
Cet après-midi musical a visiblement donne des idees au directeur
du Conservatoire qui aimerait, dans un avenir prochain, reiterer
l’experience. Autre moment très emouvant pour les voyageurs, ce
concert organise, a leur intention, dans un monastère creuse dans
la roche. Un choeur de jeunes filles ” chantait magnifiquement des
airs du repertoire orthodoxe “. Aux dires des uns et des autres,
ces minutes-la resteront profondement ancrees dans les memoires.
Des rencontres
D’emouvantes rencontres ont marque les membres du Quintette a vent, en
particulier, les longues seances passees en compagnie des compositeurs
armeniens. Le Quintette offrira, sans doute, très bientôt la primeur
d’oeuvres venues d’Armenie a ses auditeurs.
Les liens tisses vont sans doute se renforcer dans les mois ou les
annees a venir. Alain Ehkirch, qui organise chaque annee des concerts
au Manoir de Mollien, a deja invite Arthur Aharonian et ses collègues
a s’y produire.
Le voyage en Allemagne fut plus ” classique “. Deux concerts, donnes
fin mai dans le cadre du jumelage Quimper-Remscheid, ont egalement
attire le public. Tout l’ete, le Quintette a vent va voyager en
Bretagne, il participera, au mois d’août, au très interessant ” Petit
festival des musiciens du Bout du Monde ” organise a Pont-Croix par
le musicien Konrad Neander.
GRAPHIQUE: Photo, Legende: Les musiciens bretons posent devant
l’affiche de leur concert en compagnie d’un jeune compositeur armenien.
–Boundary_(ID_VA/JYHSWchRNo1XXF4/eRQ)- –

MICHELINE CALMY-REY A RENCONTRE SON HOMOLOGUE ARMENIEN
Le Temps, Suisse
13 juin 2006
Genocide Des Armeniens Evoque A Erevan
Micheline Calmy-Rey s’est rendue en Armenie lundi, effectuant la
première visite officielle d’un membre du Conseil federal dans ce
pays. La cheffe du DFAE a rencontre les dirigeants armeniens et rendu
hommage aux victimes du genocide. Le voyage d’un jour de Micheline
Calmy-Rey dans cette republique du sud du Caucase a permis de faire
le point sur les relations bilaterales, qualifiees de bonnes par
le ministre armenien des Affaires etrangères et par la conseillère
federale a Erevan.
La Suisse a entame un dialogue politique avec l’Armenie en 2004. La
cooperation humanitaire et technique avait demarre en 1988, a la
suite du tremblement de terre qui avait detruit le nord du pays.
L’Armenie beneficie d’une position centrale dans cette region de
l’ancienne Union sovietique et la Suisse a interet a sa stabilite, a
explique la cheffe des Affaires etrangères. Cette stabilite passe en
particulier par une solution au conflit du Haut-Karabakh, qui oppose
ce pays a l’Azerbaïdjan. Ce territoire, qui s’est declare autonome,
est peuple majoritairement d’Armeniens, mais est rattache juridiquement
a l’Azerbaïdjan. Cette question a egalement ete abordee. La Suisse
a offert ses services a deux reprises a ces deux pays, a releve
Micheline Calmy-Rey. Mais elle n’a pas l’intention de jouer un rôle
de mediateur actif dans ce dossier, tant Bakou qu’Erevan n’ayant
pas sollicite un tel interet. La ministre a aussi aborde le thème
du genocide perpetre par les Turcs contre les Armeniens durant la
Première Guerre mondiale. La Suisse a toujours condamne de tels actes,
a-t-elle souligne. Elle a visite le monument et le musee commemorant le
genocide, a depose une gerbe de fleurs et s’est recueillie devant la
flamme du souvenir. “J’ai tenu a exprimer ma sympathie a ce peuple”,
a-t-elle dit. Ce geste symbolique pourrait durcir les relations deja
tendues entre Berne et Ankara.
–Boundary_(ID_+q6U4qk3WVJXNarXmo4Gbg)–

INDIAN GOLD FIRM FORCED TO DROP PLANS FOR NEW ARMENIA PLANT
By Anna Saghabalian and Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
June 15 2006
An Indian-controlled company developing the bulk of Armenia’s gold
reserves said Wednesday that it has abandoned plans to build a new
ore processing plant near the ecologically vital Lake Sevan due to
strong opposition from the Armenian government and environmentalists.
Sterlite Gold had asked the government to allow it to build the new
facility near its main gold mines at Zod, eastern Armenia, with the
aim of reducing transportation costs which the British-registered
firm claims are too high. Its Armenian subsidiary, the Ararat Gold
Recovery Company (AGRC), has until now processed ore at a Soviet-era
plant located in the southern town of Ararat.
The Armenian Ministry of Environment and local environment protection
groups have been strongly opposed to the $85 million project,
citing Zod’s proximity to Sevan. They argue that ore processing is
accompanied by emissions of potassium cyanide, a highly poisonous
substance that can wreak havoc on a lake which is central to Armenia’s
entire ecosystem.
Sterlite, 52 percent of which is owned by Indian tycoon Anil Agarwal,
has tried hard to allay those fears over the past year but appears
to have failed to secure government permission for the proposed plant
relocation. Its chief executive, B. K. Sharma, said in Yerevan that the
company has now asked the government to suggest alternative locations
for a new AGRC plant.
Environment Minister Vartan Ayvazian scoffed at the idea on Tuesday,
saying that making such suggestions “it is not the government’s job.”
Ayvazian also renewed his allegations that Sterlite failed to honor
its investment commitments and hid nearly one million metric tons of
gold from Armenian tax authorities.
Speaking to journalists, Sharma and AGRC executives denied the
charges. “In order to obtain one ton of gold you have to dig up several
million tons of soil,” said a company lawyer, Armen Ter-Tachatian. “You
just can’t hide that.”
Ayvazian’s claims are apparently based on an inspection conducted
by his ministry’s Ecological Inspectorate at AGRC’s mines in Zod
and Meghradzor, central Armenia. In a June 2004 report, the agency
accused the Indians of underreporting more than two metric tons of
gold extracted from those mines and asked Armenia’s Office of the
Prosecutor-General to launch a criminal investigation.
However, the Environment Ministry dropped its own claims after it was
taken to court by AGRC. The latter reportedly paid a $500,000 fine
in an out-of-court settlement reached with the ministry in March 2005.
Sterlite has been dogged by controversy ever since its 2002 takeover
of AGRC, until then a joint venture of the Armenian government and
the Canadian company First Dynasty Mines. It pledged to breathe
a new life into the Armenian gold industry by making large-scale
investments and significantly boosting production levels. However,
AGRC’s output has since declined considerably despite a surge in the
international price of gold, raising questions about the credibility
of the foreign investor.
Sharma revealed that Agarwal has all but acquired the remaining
48 percent of Sterlite’s stock from the mostly Canadian minority
shareholders and will incorporate the company into his Vedanta
Resources metals conglomerate.
But according to a Western mining industry source, the deal may well
be blocked by Canadian state regulators and minority shareholders
furious with his perceived mismanagement of Sterlite. The company’s
share price stood $3.5 in 1997 and has since plummeted to below 20
U.S. cents. The source also said Agarwal would like to pull out of
Armenia but has so far failed to find any buyers for AGRC.

IMF OFFICIAL REJECTS ‘CONSPIRACY THEORIES’ ABOUT DRAM APPRECIATION
By Shakeh Avoyan and Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
June 15 2006
A senior official from the International Monetary Fund endorsed on
Wednesday the Armenian authorities’ assurances that the continuing
strengthening of the national currency is not artificial, dismissing
widespread claims to the contrary as baseless “conspiracy theories.”
James McHugh, head of the IMF office in Yerevan, reiterated the fund’s
view that the Armenian dram’s exchange rate is purely market-based. He
said the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) is right to assert that the
dram’s more than 30 percent appreciation against the U.S. dollar over
the past two-and-a-half years is the result of increased inflows of
hard currency into the country.
But many Armenians trust claims by opposition leaders and other
government critics that it has been engineered by the authorities
with the aim of benefiting government-connected importers of key
commodities. The dram’s renewed strengthening against the dollar which
began last month sparked fresh accusations of currency manipulation,
again putting the CBA on the defensive.
McHugh was at pains to dispel this widely held perception as he
answered questions from journalists skeptical about the official
explanation for the exchange rate fluctuations during a seminar
organized by the CBA. “I think it’s like believing in the supernatural
or believing in UFOs. You can tell someone that there is no aliens
and that there is an absence of evidence of it, but people will still
go on believing in it,” he said with frustration.
“I firmly believe that market forces are determining the exchange
rates,” he added.
The CBA chairman, Tigran Sarkisian, made the same point on Tuesday,
again citing a steady rise in cash remittances sent home by hundreds
of thousands of Armenians working abroad. According to the bank, the
cash transfers totaled at least $1 billion last year and were up 26
percent during the first quarter of this year.
McHugh suggested that the real figure might be even higher as many
Armenians “systematically underestimate the amount of remittances
they receive” and pointed to multimillion-dollar foreign investments
in Armenia’s booming construction sector. He also argued that the
dollar has lost much of its value against other major currencies like
the euro and the British pound in recent years.
“If your point is that the appreciation of the dram is unusually high,
that is not borne out by facts,” he told an economics reporter.
“I don’t see that the dram-dollar rate is unusual vis-a-vis other
major currencies.”
The IMF official also endorsed that CBA argument that the stronger dram
has kept consumer price inflation in Armenia in single digits amid a
worldwide surge in the prices of oil and other basic commodities. “It’s
very important from a social equity perspective that the Central
Bank maintains its strong commitment to maintaining price stability,”
he said.
Critics will counter that the dramatic exchange rate change has hit
hard a large part of the country’s population which is dependent
on cash transfers from their relatives working in Russia, Europe
and the United States. Some of them have also pointed to a lack of
transparency in inter-bank currency trading which supposedly sets
the dram’s exchange rate.
In addition, there are concerns about the stronger dram’s negative
impact on the growth of Armenian exports which economists believe
is vital for the country’s sustainable development. Some local
export-oriented firms have already reported losses resulting from
the increased cost of their products abroad.
Paradoxically, converting drams into dollars in currency exchange
offices in Yerevan and outside it is now far more difficult than it
was in the past. Retail currency traders routinely cite a shortage
of dollar notes, something which is at odds with the official theory
about Armenia being flooded with the greenback.

IRAN, ARMENIA TO INK NEW POWER EXCHANGE CONTRACT
Tehran Times, Iran
June 13 2006
TEHRAN – Iran and Armenia will soon sign an agreement on construction
of the third 312 km power transmission line to increase electricity
exchange between the two countries, the Persian service of ISNA
reported yesterday.
In a ceremony on Monday, Armenian deputy energy minister Simonian
and executive director of Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI)
endorsed financial agreement on paying part of the project valued at
$90m to Armenia.
“Insurance coverage and exporting technical and engineering services
are also part of the package offered by EDBI which pays 85% of total
cost to the contractor,” the director, Noruz Kohzadi, stipulated.
“The repayment terms are set at five years for this 800-MW business,”
he said, adding that the bank commonly finances the projects which
are 60% domestically made and are performed by private sector.
The third power line will transfer electricity through the
double-circuits with the carrying voltage of 400 KV.

DAIS OF KHOSROW PALACE DISCOVERED
Tehran Times, Iran
June 12 2006
TEHRAN — The team of archaeologists working on the ruins of the
Khosrow Palace near the city of Qasr-e Shirin in the western Iranian
province of Kermanshah discovered the dais of the Sassanid palace
during their current round of excavations, the Persian service of
CHN reported on Sunday.
“The platform was used by the ruler or owner of the palace,” team
director Yusef Moradi said.
“The new excavations and studies on smashed ceilings have determined
that the palace was destroyed as a result of an earthquake. Texts
written by Iranian and Arab historians also mentioned a devastating
quake which destroyed the palace,” he added.
Covering an area of 75,000 square meters, the palace was built by the
Sassanid king Khosrow II for his Armenian Christian wife Shirin. Some
Iranian and Arab geographers and historians of the early Islamic era
called the palace one of the wonders of the world.
Archaeological studies are underway to determine the original
appearance of Khosrow Palace.
“The documents and the texts have given a fairly exact understanding
of the architecture of the palace. It had two sections, private and
official, and studies have been carried out on the latter. The team
will center on this section and the other section in the next phases
of excavations,” Moradi said.
The team of archaeologists also recently discovered ruins of the
ceremonial hall of the palace.
The region was excavated by French archeologist and prehistorian
Jacques de Morgan in the late nineteenth century, British archaeologist
and writer Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell in 1910 and 1911, and
then by Oscar Reuter. Each one prepared architectural plans of the
Khosrow Palace, but the Iranian team believes that none of the plans
are reliable.

LA FAMILLE AVAKIAN VEUT ESPERER MAIS CRAINT LA DESILLUSION
Laetitia Van Eeckhout
Le Monde, France
14 Juin 2006
Nantes Envoyee Speciale
Karina Avakian est lasse. Lasse de vivre dans l’angoisse, de passer
d’espoirs en desillusions, de savoir l’avenir de sa famille hypotheque,
suspendu a une decision administrative. Il y a deux mois, Karina,
Edouard et leurs deux fils, Joseph et Sarkis, ont emmenage dans
un appartement mis a leur disposition par l’association nantaise
L’accueil d’abord. Mais ce reve, après quatre ans passes a vivre
entre la rue et des chambres d’hôtel, a ete aneanti, le 29 mai, par
un courrier de la prefecture de Loire-Atlantique proposant un aide au
retour. Une aide qui ne represente rien d’autre, pour Karina Avakian,
que la confirmation de l’intention de l’Etat francais de les renvoyer,
elle et les siens, vers leur pays d’origine, l’Azerbaïdjan.
Karina et Edouard Avakian sont “proteges” jusqu’a la fin du mois de
juin par la scolarite de leurs enfants. L’annonce par Nicolas Sarkozy
de la regularisation de 720 familles de sans-papiers, le 6 juin,
a laisse la jeune femme sans voix. Ni Joseph ni Sarkis ne sont nes
en France. Mais ils y sont arrives avant l’âge de 13 ans.
Correspondront-ils, au yeux du prefet de Loire-Atlantique, aux critères
definis par le ministère de l’interieur ? Incertitude encore.
“POURQUOI PAS NOUS ?”
Cela fait dix-huit ans que dure l’errance du couple. En 1988, Karina
et Edouard Avakian, azeris d’origine armenienne, sont contraints
de quitter leur pays natal après le declenchement du conflit avec
l’Armenie. En 1993, ils doivent fuir l’Armenie pour l’Ukraine,
Edouard Avakian refusant d’etre enrôle dans l’armee pour combattre
l’Azerbaïdjan. Six ans plus tard, persecutions et rackets les amènent
a nouveau a s’exiler, en France cette fois. Le 2 avril 2002, ils
arrivent a Nantes, avec leurs garcons, alors âges de 9 et 6 ans.
Deboutes du droit d’asile, Karina et Edouard Avakian, 36 ans tous
deux, ont tente tous les recours possibles. En vain : le 19 avril
2004, le tribunal administratif de Nantes a confirme le rejet par
l’Office francais de protection des refugies et apatrides (Ofpra) de
leur demande de reexamen de dossier. Petition, courriers adresses au
prefet par les parents d’elèves de l’ecole de leurs fils : le prefet
est reste inflexible.
“Pourquoi pas nous ?, interroge Karina Avakian. Nous n’avons rien
fait de mal. C’est juste pour que nos enfants aient un avenir que
nous sommes venus.” Dès leur arrivee, elle a tout fait, malgre des
conditions de vie precaires, pour que Joseph et Sarkis s’intègrent
et aient une vie normale. Elle les a inscrits a la bibliothèque, au
centre de loisirs, a des cours de sport, et prend plaisir – d’autant
qu’elle est institutrice de formation – a accompagner les sorties de
classe. “Dès qu’il y a un projet de sortie, mes copains me demandent
si ma mère nous accompagne”, raconte fièrement Sarkis, 10 ans.
Joseph a rattrape son retard scolaire : integre a son arrivee dans une
classe de cours preparatoire, il est entre en septembre 2004, comme
tous les enfants de son âge, en classe de sixième. Parlant aujourd’hui
aussi bien le francais que ses camarades, il reve “d’un avenir simple”,
qu’il n’imagine pas ailleurs qu’en France. “D’un matelas tout sale,
on est passe a une vraie chambre, on a fait pas mal de chemin. Il ne
nous manque plus que des papiers et l’on sera une famille comme les
autres”, dit-il. Il ne se sent “pas different” de ses copains.
La famille vit des 400 euros mensuels d’aide a la subsistance
verses par le conseil general de Loire-Atlantique aux deboutes du
droit d’asile, et de ce que reussit a gagner le père, regulièrement
sollicite par des particuliers pour ses talents d’ebeniste.
Ce sujet, Karina Avakian, rongee par la honte de vivre au crochet
des autres, ose a peine l’evoquer. Son mari serait pourtant certain
d’obtenir un veritable emploi s’il etait regularise. L’Atelier Madec,
une entreprise nantaise de menuiserie, lui a deja fait une proposition
ferme d’embauche.
–Boundary_(ID_jcq3tSWjYlX8mSt8yhvvaA )–

DRAM’S APPRECIATION LEADS TO IMPOVERISHMEMT OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AND ENRICHMENT OF A FEW, OYP FACTION MEMBER SAYS
Noyan Tapan
Jun 14 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The current trends in development of
the Armenian economy pose a threat to the country’s future. Member of
the RA National Assembly Orinats Yerkir Party (OYP) Mher Shahgaldian
made this statement in the parliament on June 13. In his words, “if
such appreciation of the Armenian dram continues under conditions of
half-finished reforms, a surface fight against corruption (sometimes
an imitation of it), strengthening of banks, elite construction,
small and medium business choking under the burden of taxation, and
the economy’s oligarchization, our economy will be brought to a state
of stagnation in a few years.”
He considered it quite strange that the Armenian dram is appreciating
against both the dollar and the euro, which is not consistent with
international trends: the dollar is depreciating against all other
currencies in the world.
According to the deputy, a significant part of the Armenian
citizens make their daily bread thanks to remittances from relatives
abroad. “Their relatives send a small sum of money, and the current
appreciation of the dram hits their pockets,” M. Shahgaldian said.
According to him, the dram’s appreciation also causes a decline
in exports.
He said that today Armenia’s imports exceed exports by more than
50%, which results in bankruptcy of producers who either close their
enterprises or have to operate in the shadow sector. “Oligarchization
of the economy is taking place. These trends lead to impoverishment
of thousands of people and enrichment of a few,” the OYP faction
member stated.

SPARTAK SEYRANIAN TO COMPLETE STAFF OF NA “ARF” FACTION
Noyan Tapan
Jun 14 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Central Electoral Commission
will register Spartak Seyranian, the editor-in-chief of the party
“Yerkir” official newspaper as an ARF Dashnaktsutiun member on June
14 by the corresponding electoral order. Tsovinar Khachatrian, the
Central Electoral Commission Press Secretary informed the Noyan Tapan
correspondent about it. S.Seyranian will complete the staff of the
“ARF” faction.
To recap, the mandate was vacant as a result of faction member
Vostanik Marukhian’s undertaking post of the State Engineering
University Rector.

ACCORDING TO OPPOSITION’S ESTIMATES, ARMENIAN POPULATION LOSES 300-460 DOLLARS IN YEAR AS RESULT OF DRAM’S APPRECIATION
Noyan Tapan
Jun 14 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 14, NOYAN TAPAN. “Economists calculated that 26 mln
USD was stolen from the population in a month as a result of the
dram-dollar operation of the authorities.” The Secretary of the
Justice faction Victor Dallakian stated this in the RA National
Assembly on June 13. By his estimates, the sum amounted to nearly
300 mln USD over a year. “It is a crime against one’s own people,
and all this is going on amidst widespread poverty,” he stated.
According to estimates of the leader of the National Unity faction
Artashes Geghamian, a theft of the sum equivalent to 460 mln USD was
committed in the country as a result of an artificial appreciation of
the dram. He said that last year’s superprofits from import made at
least 220 mln USD, while the population receiving remittances from
abroad suffered a loss of 200 mln USD due to a 16% appreciation of
the Armenian dram.