The Australian, Australia
July 17 2006
BBC decrees no Proms queens
Richard Morrison
July 18, 2006
BY any standard it’s a spectacular own goal. The BBC, one of the
most politically correct, equality-focused employers in Britain,
has managed to devise a Proms season featuring not a single female
composer or conductor.
There are 73 concerts in the famous music festival at London’s Royal
Albert Hall, all of them directed by men. And 270-odd pieces of music
listed in the main concerts, all written by blokes.
Even if you believe that there weren’t many decent female composers
around until the 20th century (and that’s a claim likely to get
feminist hackles rising), you would still hope for a near-equal
representation of the sexes among living composers.
Not a bit of it: 27 living composers are featured in the main
concerts. All are male.
The sexual imbalance extends to soloists. Apart from singers (where
vocal ranges determine sex), there are more than 50 male but only 10
female soloists. On some instruments the ratio is even more askew.
What does the Proms have against female pianists that it invites only
two to participate, compared with 20 men?
So is this a cock-up or a conspiracy? The defence offered by Nicholas
Kenyon, the Proms controller, is pretty limp.
“We achieve balance over several seasons, not every season,” he claims.
But that is utter nonsense. During the past seven seasons, the average
number of female composers included in the Proms has been three,
compared with more than 100 male composers each season, of whom at
least 20 are living.
Could the sexual imbalance at the Proms reflect a wider problem in
classical music?
That’s a complex question. Women play a bigger part in professional
music making now than ever before, and in some areas there is true
parity. Most British orchestras now appoint as many women as men to
vacant posts.
But what about conductors and composers? Here there is less progress.
Whenever female conductors are discussed we all tend to reach for
the same few examples: Marin Alsop, Jane Glover, Emmanuelle Haim,
Simone Young. That indicates how formidable the barriers still are.
In 1939 a journalist asked Nadia Boulanger what it was like to be
a woman conducting the Boston Symphony. “Having been a woman for 50
years,” she replied, “I have recovered from my initial astonishment.”
Nearly 70 years on, hacks still ask female conductors the same daft
questions.
Female composers have been around much longer. Everyone knows about
the 12th-century Hildegard of Bingen. Last year she even had an
opera written about her (by a man!). But I have a soft spot for an
8th-century Armenian mystic called Xosroviduxt. Crazy name, crazy
life: she was abducted and incarcerated for 20 years, during which
she composed a great lament for her murdered brother, a hymn still
sung in Armenian churches.
Clara Schumann is a classic example of a woman who sidelined her
own genius to support her (arguably no more talented) husband. Felix
Mendelssohn’s gifted sister, Fanny, was cruelly (but realistically)
told by her father that “perhaps for Felix music will become a
profession, but for you it will always remain an ornament”. Even
20th-century pioneers such as Ethel Smyth were ridiculed for their
efforts.
And today? Judith Weir’s operas are some of the best things to have
come from a British composer in my lifetime. Judith Bingham, Sally
Beamish and Deirdre Gribbin all write fascinating music.
It’s dangerous to generalise, but I would say that female composers
are usually less hung up on mathematical systems than their male
counterparts. In the bad old days of doctrinaire serialism that would
have counted against them. Today, it must be considered an advantage.
Except, it seems, by the people who commission music for the Proms.
The Times

G8: Core principles on peaceful settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict should be agreed in 2006
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
July 17 2006
[ 17 Jul. 2006 19:32 ]
The G8 Summit of heads of states held in the Russian city of St
Petersburg was closed today. The final Communique drawn up on behalf
of Russia chairing the G8 summit touches on the Nagorno-Garabagh,
Kosovo and other regional conflicts (APA).
The G8 leaders stress importance of finding and agreeing on
core principles on peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Garabagh,
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in 2006.
“We confirmed that the Eight Group supports mediating efforts of
the OSCE Minsk Group and stresses importance of soonest reaching an
agreement on core principles for peaceful settlement of the conflict in
2006. We call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to demonstrate political will,
reach an agreement and prepare their peoples for peace not for war,”
the Communique underlines./APA/

International Journalist’s Network
July 17 2006
Armenian Journal: Youth activist empowers peers through journalism
Region :None
Country :Armenia
Topic :Young Journalists, Print Journalism
17/07/2006
By Timothy Spence, Knight International Press Fellow
As a child living in Soviet Armenia, Arthur Ghazaryan read the
weekly newspaper for young communist Pioneers. Later, as a high
school student in the newly independent country, Ghazaryan and his
classmates started a newspaper – writing their copy by hand because
there were no computers available.
Today, the energetic 26-year-old youth leader is preparing to publish
the second edition of a tabloid-size newspaper geared toward young
people in the northeastern town of Dilijan. It is part of a larger
project sponsored by the nongovernmental Academy for Educational
Development, or AED, to create print- and Web-based information
outlets for youth groups in Armenia’s rural regions.
Ghazaryan says AED’s Youth and Community Action Program wants to
encourage young people to become involved in decision-making and instil
democratic values. “We want to ensure them that they are something
in the community, not just zero. We want officials to respect them,”
said Ghazaryan, the program representative in Dilijan.
Young Dilijan, the monthly newspaper that Ghazaryan helped found in
his hometown, is part of that process, he said in an interview in the
Armenian capital of Yerevan. He is also working to fund a youth-run
radio station that would be an outlet for entertainment as well as
educational and discussion programs.
But the process has not been easy. Newspapers in Armenia largely
rely on political or individual sponsors for their revenue, with most
advertisers in the small Caucasian nation of 3.2 million buying time
on television rather than space in print media.
In Dilijan, Ghazaryan asked the mayor’s office to help fund the first
six issues of Young Dilijan – but he said part of the arrangement is
that the paper would be rigorously independent.
“We’re not going to criticize something if it’s not correct. We’re
going to publish new ideas. This is not going to be just another
political newspaper,” Ghazaryan said.
There is also a problem of staffing, something editors of youth and
student newspapers anywhere can appreciate. Ghazaryan said he was
prepared for such challenges before the first issue went to press in
June. “Starting this, I realized how much hard work this was going
to be,” he said. “I was ready to hear, to accept, lots of critics.”
His goal is to build a newspaper staff – and eventually, a radio crew
– that can work without his involvement. The newspaper now has three
or four “core” contributors, all of whom are volunteers.
“I myself am doing all this voluntarily. This is not my job, I’m just
interested in it,” Ghazaryan said. “I am the chief editor right now,
I’m the designer of the newspaper, I’m collecting all articles and
deciding how to design everything.”
“I want in one year to have a group of journalists, of young people,
who will work independently, who will have their chief editor et
cetera,” he said.
As a child, Ghazaryan said he read the Pioneer Call, a Communist Party
newspaper that was popular for its news about youth achievements,
events and puzzles. He wants to borrow at least some of those ideas,
highlighting success stories of young Armenians who complain that the
mainstream media, with their heavy emphasis on politics, overlook them.
Young Dilijan will also tackle tougher issues. Ghazaryan says the
September issue will focus on employment and changes in the nation’s
education policies, including a new requirement for 12-year education,
up from the current 10. The change was designed to bring Armenia’s
education system up to European standards, but it has triggered
controversy with parents and students who say the old system has
worked well.
“We have an aim or purpose to educate the young people to get informed
about youth policy in Armenia … to get informed about events in
Dilijan, because not everybody knows about them, to inform them
about active people who won competitions in Yerevan or international
competitions, and of course to educate them through the newspaper,”
Ghazaryan said.
Youth groups around Armenia that are either starting newsletters or
Web sites recently participated in a journalism immersion course.
More than 60 students, youth leaders and teachers underwent the
training provided by the Knight International Press Fellowship program,
a partner of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).
The regional youth centers are gradually being equipped with computers,
scanners and Internet access.
Ghazaryan was born in Dilijan, a bucolic town in the mountainous
Tavush region of Armenia. Once a Soviet resort for composers and
artists, Dilijan is like many regional towns and villages outside
the sprawling capital – its economy is struggling and young people
seek opportunities in Yerevan or abroad.
Ghazaryan graduated from Dilijan’s University of Management and
Information Technology with a degree in business administration,
and hopes to earn a master’s in business administration some day.
But for now, his focus is on using the Internet, Young Dilijan and
his hoped-for community radio to keep the younger generation active
and informed.
The independent Yerevan Press Club lists more than 70 print
publications serving Armenia. Most of them are small and few serve
rural markets.
Fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, press freedom
remains tenuous in Armenia. According to the Committee to Protect
Journalists, the government has restricted coverage of terrorism,
continues to deny a broadcasting license to an independent TV network
that was ordered off the air in 2002, and cites occasional attacks
on journalists.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Armenia 102 out of 167 nations in its
most recent “press freedom index.” Neighboring Georgia ranked 99 and
Azerbaijan 141.
Ghazaryan – who was always “eager to be a journalist” – says that
while the media today “are not independent, for sure,” the younger
generation will change that.
“Armenia is a small country and everybody knows each other. If you
are the owner of any kind of mass media, and if you write something
which is correct, which is very healthy criticism about an official,
in a couple of days you will be punished for that,” he said. “Not
always, but enough.
“Right now a new generation is getting educated abroad, and they are
coming back to Armenia, and they are bringing a new way of thinking
about journalism … more European, more American, more democratic. I’m
optimistic that everything will change.”
Timothy Spence is a Knight Fellow working with journalists
in Armenia. This is his second tour with the program; he
was previously in Ethiopia. The John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation sponsors the fellowships, administered by the
International Center for Journalists. For more information, visit

Dancers among Aussies saved from Lebanon
July 17, 2006 – 7:14AM
The Age, Australia
July 17 2006
Members of an Armenian dance troupe who had been stranded in Lebanon
were among 86 Australians safely evacuated from the war-torn country
by bus, braving Israeli bombing attacks to cross to safety in Syria.
A Sydney spokesman for the Sevan Dance Group, Archbishop Aghan
Baliozian, said the 45 young performers and 36 parents and supervisors
had been picked up from their Beirut hotel in a three-bus convoy.
The busloads of Australians fled Beirut, heading north along the
Mediterranean coast road and early Monday night (AEST) crossing the
Syrian border and onto the capital Damascus.
“They had an uneventful trip to Syria and I can confirm they are now
having lunch in (the Syrian capital) Damascus,” Archbishop Baliozian
told AAP.
“We expect them to be taken to Jordan tomorrow, where they will fly
to Bahrain, and to be back in Sydney in two days time.”
Thousands more Australians remain trapped in Lebanon as Australia
struggles to get them home, but the successful operation could be
repeated in days to come.
“Tomorrow, we will endeavour to try and repeat this exercise,”
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said as he announced the evacuation
in Adelaide.
Hundreds more are set to be evacuated by ship later this week, he said.
Mr Downer had earlier warned of the potential danger of evacuating
Australians by road, saying some Italians fleeing Lebanon had almost
been hit by a missile.
The coastal route north from Beirut to Syria has been used by a number
of other nations to evacuate their citizens, but convoys have been
held up by Israeli bombing attacks as part of their campaign against
Hizbollah guerrillas.
While Mr Downer said earlier that Australia believed it had found a
safe land route out of Lebanon, he warned: “This is a difficult and
hazardous exercise.”
“It’s a war situation and in a war there are high risks – there are
risks trying to get out of the country, there are risks staying in
the country.”
Mr Downer said he had spoken to Israel’s foreign minister before the
busload of Australians departed Beirut, but said Israel had given no
assurances about the safety of those on the buses.
However he said Australia’s close relationship with Israel was a key
factor in the safe evacuation.
“I really appreciate the fact that we gave the information to the
Israelis about what we were doing and the route we were taking … in
that context it was a pretty trouble-free journey,” he said.
“That is not to say that if we were to attempt it again tomorrow on
that route or a different route, it won’t be hazardous because there
are of course risks involved.
“There are risks in staying put, there are risks involved in taking
transport – transport and communications are being very much targeted
by the Israelis.”
The rescued dance troupe had been bunkered down in their Beirut hotel
since the Israeli military began its attacks on Lebanon six days ago.
“Everyone is fit and well,” Archbishop Baliozian said.
“We thank the Australian government and the media for their help.
“They were picked up … and taken out of the country in the coaches.
“We knew about the plans, but before this we had not been able to
say anything about the evacuation, because of security concerns.”
Like many other nations, Australia is also negotiating to charter a
ship to take evacuees to Cyprus, although Lebanese ports have also
been targeted by Israeli bombs.
“We hope that will go ahead on Wednesday,” Mr Downer said, adding
the ship would be able to carry about 600 Australians.
Prime Minister John Howard urged patience as families desperate to
be reunited with loved ones criticised the government over the pace
of the evacuations.
With Beirut’s airport out of action because of Israeli bombing,
Britain, France, Italy and other nations have sent warships or
chartered cruise ships to evacuate citizens.
New Zealand has asked for help from Britain to get up to 40 of its
citizens out, possibly by British warship.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said Australia too should evacuate its
citizens by ship, as roads were too dangerous.
“The government needs to be as vigilant as their European counterparts
in securing a decent outcome here for the Australians who are there,”
Mr Beazley said.
But Mr Howard denied Australia’s response had been slow.
“One reason is of course we’re a lot further from the area of
conflict,” Mr Howard said.
He promised the federal government was working overtime to help
stranded Australians.
“It’s important in this situation to balance the risk versus the
opportunity,” Mr Howard said.
The federal government urged people to contact the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra if family members wanted to be
evacuated from Lebanon.
“This is the best we can do in the circumstances, it’s going to take
a bit of time,” said Mr Downer.
“It’s very important that people don’t just rush the embassy, that
they communicate with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
in Canberra and allow the embassy to contact people when places are
going to be made available.
“If they all flocked to the embassy then that is going to create
a situation of chaos, it’s very important that we, having been
successful in getting the first 86 out, that there be an orderly
approach to this.”
Close to 5,000 Australians are registered as being in Lebanon, while
up to 25,000 dual Australian-Lebanese citizens are also thought to
be living there.

Karabakh: Any Agreement Based on Concessions Dangerous for Azerbaijan’s Next President
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 15:16 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Any agreement based on concessions represents
danger for the next Azeri President. Insuring himself from any
agreements Ilham Aliyev raises the demands, however his speech is
full of contradictions. He says “our patience is not boundless”
but then calls for deliberation to make Armenians capitulate. His
statements on peace and war are contradictory as well; moreover
they conflict with the Azeri Constitution which rejects hostilities
as means to settle conflicts. The unwillingness to understand the
specific character of the epoch of the USSR decline is also obvious,”
says the article PanARMENIAN.Net received from former OSCE MG Russian
Co-chair Vladimir Kazimirov.
According to Kazimirov, Azerbaijan practices common phrases about
justice, international law and territorial integrity which more
resemble incarnations. “A state leader can hardly consider such stuff
proper for the public opinion and especially for “export”, he remarked.
Vladimir Kazimirov considers that now the parties should be imposed
the adherence to peaceful settlement of disputes. “Not only the end
of 2006 but the two coming years can be sacrificed to come closer to
settlement in the Karabakh conflict,” the Russian diplomat said.

RA DEFENCE MINISTER JOINS REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA
AZG Armenian Daily #133, 18/07/2006
Opinion
RA Defence Minister Serge Sargsian applied for admission to Republican
Party of Armenia. He informed the journalists about this on Saturday.
He denied the information, according to which after the congress of
RPA, RA PM Andranik Margarian will resign and Serge Sargsian will
become PM.
As for his probable participation in the presidential elections
in 2008, he said that he will touch upon this issue only after
the presidential elections in 2007. He added that if RPA and its
allies fail to be properly represented at the parliament of the next
convocation, that will be senseless to talk of any further steps. “But
if we see that we are really supported by our electors, we will try,
why not? Is it bad?” he put a question in response.
As for the situation in Upper Lars, he said that the Armenian
fruit exporters have no Discomfort. He reminded that RF Transport
Minister of Russia Igor Leviitn had arrived to Russia and had several
talks concerning the issue Russia. Serge Sargsian and Igor Levitin,
Co-Chairmen of the Armenian-Russian Interparliamentary Commission,
had a conversation.
By Nana Petrosian

G8 Calls to Modernize ANPP
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 15:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The G8 members called upon Armenia to allocate funds
and implement measures for modernization and secure operation of the
Armenian Nuclear Power Plant. Armenia is offered to undertake measures
until the ANPP can be stopped and put out of operation. “We take into
account the measures Armenia has already taken in this direction,”
the report says.
The authors of the report call on Armenia to prepare and implement
multisided program for raising the level of the ANPP safety, ensure
the proper number of employees and render them the essential level
of authority essential for efficacious performance of duties in
accordance with international standards, reported Rosbalt.

G8: Soonest Coordination of Principles on Karabakh Essential
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 15:46 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During the summit the G8 leaders referred to the
situation in Nagorno Karabakh, says the statement by G8 Summit
President. The document says in part, “We confirmed that the G8
supports the mediating efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia,
the United States and France) and stressed the necessity of soonest
coordination of the principles of a peaceful settlement in 2006. We
call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to demonstrate political will, achieve
an agreement and prepare their public for peace but not for war.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Fires in NKR – Baku’s Awkward Attempt to Draw Veil over Aggression Act
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 16:02 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “From the beginning of June 2006 the fires on
Nagorno Karabakh territory bordering with Azerbaijan have been taking
place. The situation is a subject of serious anxiety for Karabakh
authorities as it poses a threat for the security of the NKR and
its population,” says the statement issued by the NKR Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
“A special commission for studying circumstances and revealing reasons
of the inflammation was established in the NKR. Representatives
of ministries and departments responsible for security issues were
in the commission. For the purpose of localization the centers of
the inflammation and non-admission of fire spreading the subunits
of fire-prevention service and the NKR Department for Emergency
Situations, as well as the leadership of local administrations and
population were mobilized. A twenty-four-hour duty was organized in
all the communities with the object of averting emergency situations.
Nevertheless, the situation in these regions, which in connection
with the ongoing fires is becoming worse, is fraught with unfavorable
long-term consequences for agriculture and food security of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic. The number and area of the fires of wheat fields
in the adjoining with Azerbaijan territories have sharply risen.
As a result of the work of the NKR special commission, the
incontestable data, indicating the fact that the reasons of the
fires were intentional hostile activities of Azerbaijani side,
were received. By these actions the official Baku pursues a goal to
undermine the economy of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and prevent from
advancing development. For screening its activities the authorities
of Azerbaijan from the very outset launched a wide-ranging propaganda
trying to lay the blame on Karabakh side both in local and foreign
mass media, which is a continuation of a propaganda and psychological
war against the people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and is an
awkward attempt to draw a veil over the aggression act.
We would like to remind that as early as 2001 the leadership of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic suggested through the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairmen on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement a package of
steps on establishing confidence between the parties to the conflict,
in particular, cooperation on non-admission of ignition of pastures
and agricultural lands in the adjoining regions to Azerbaijani side.
Unfortunately, at that time the initiative of the official Stepanakert
was not supported in Baku and was not honored with proper attention by
the OSCE Minsk Group. Moreover, as early as June 15, 2006, the NKR
Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed to the Office of the Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in Office with a request to conduct
a crisis-monitoring in the territory bordering with Azerbaijan to
estimate the real situation on the spot and disprove far-fetched
accusations of Azerbaijani side.
We would like to draw the attention of the international community
and, in particular, the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group to the
circumstance that if they do not to take measures concerning the
hostile activities of Azerbaijan the official Stepanakert will have
the right to undertake adequate corresponding activities for ensuring
security of the republic,” the statement says.

Taiwanese Film Director Receives Golden Apricot Grand Prix
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2006 17:57 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Taiwanese film director Hou Hsiao-Hsien received the
grand prix of the Golden Apricot Third International Film Festival
for “Three Times” film. “Legend of Time” by Spanish film director
Isaak Lokust and “Return to Armenia” by French film director Robert
Gudiguian shared the second place.
“Worker’s Death” shot by Austrian film director Michael Glavoger won
the award for best documentary. The second prize went to Brazilian
Markus Pradu (“Estamira”) and Swedish Gunar Bergrdal (“Ludmila and
Anatoly”).
The documentary “Residents of Forgotten Island” by Armenian film
director Hrant Hakobian received the first award in the Armenian
Panorama nomination.
Honorary guests of the festival – Armenian film director Artavazd
Peleshian, well known Italian film director Marco Bellocchio, Iranian
cinematographer Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, U.S. documentalist Godfrey Reggio
and outstanding screen writer Tonino Guerra -were handed Parajanov’s
awards for contribution to the development of world cinematography.