‘Ars Poetica’
National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Day to Day 1:00 PM EST
July 27, 2006 Thursday
ANCHORS: NOAH ADAMS
REPORTERS: DAVID WAS
Our contributor, David Was, half of the band Was, Not Was, usually
writes about jazz and pop music. But he was intrigued by a new CD
featuring music sung by a chamber choir. Here is David.
DAVID WAS reporting:
Munich-based ECM Records has been known for 37 years now as a
repository of taste-making jazz, from Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny
to a host of European musicians with half their hearts lodged in
so-called serious music.
(Soundbite of Armenian choral music)
WAS: Some 20 years ago, label founder and producer Manfred Eicher
started his new series, Imprint, which is devoted to contemporary
classical composition.
(Soundbite of Armenian choral music)
WAS: His latest offering is an a cappella choral work by Armenia
composer Tigran Mansurian, whose love of his native language led him
to set the poems of Yeghishe Charents, arguably the most beloved of
20th-century Armenian poets, to music.
(Soundbite of Armenian choral music)
WAS: The result is a fluid, intimate and sensuous-sounding blend of
the ancient and the modern, as if medieval monks got in a time machine
and launched themselves into the 21st century. That feeling is at
once a function of Charents’ poetic sensibility and the facility of
the Armenia Chamber Chorus to express the ineffable emotions therein.
(Soundbite of Armenian choral music)
WAS: Charents was an early supporter of the Bolsheviks, but he was
persecuted during the Stalin purges for the nationalist sentiments
reflected in his poems, especially the one titled The Message, whose
famous acrostic written in the second letter of each line reads, Oh
Armenian people, your only salvation is in your collective power. As
a result of this message, he was jailed in 1936, and witnesses say
that he died in his cell the following year.
(Soundbite of Armenian choral music)
WAS: The legacy of Charents and his works now stand proudly and
firmly within the canon of Armenian literature. Many of his words and
thoughts have become national slogans and emblems of Armenian unity,
even to the extent that they’ve been printed on official government
documents, in nationalistic support of that cause.
(Soundbite of Armenian choral music)
WAS: Broad to vivid life by Mansurian’s haunting music, perhaps the
world will come to discover one of the great voices in 20th-century
poetry. The consonant-rich sounds of the Armenian language may have
been challenging to set to music, but Mansurian considered that the
virtue, rather than a limitation. As Charents wrote in one of his
poems, our language is subtle and rough, courageous and harsh, but
at the same time our language is as radiant as a lighthouse glowing
with the fire of ancient centuries.
(Soundbite of Armenian choral music)
CHADWICK: The music is from the album Ars Poetica by the composer
Tigran Mansurian. Our reviewer, David Was.
(Soundbite of Armenian choral music)

A-320 Commander Could Not Direct Plane into Sea
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 15:14 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The conclusion of the Inter-State Aviation
Committee on A-320 airplane crash is not conforming with reality,
President of the National Aviation Association (NAA) of Armenia
Dmitry Atbashyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. “I do not agree with
the conclusion. No one from the air crew believes Grigor Grigoryan,
having flied on various planes, would direct the liner into the sea. He
could not be mistaken, his qualification as a pilot is rather high.
It is laughable to say he lost the attitude position.
No pilot believes the conclusion of the Inter-State Aviation Committee:
it is counted for stupid passengers,” Atbashyan noted.
He underscored, “Pilots are not suicides. Not worth a pin is a plane,
which crashes resulting from a pilot’s mistake. A-320 has no automatic
pilot – it is an ignorant wording. There is an automatic system of
steadiness, which are integrated in the control system. And no matter
how much you turn it off, it will not turn off fully. It keeps working
irrespective of the pilot’s wish,” the NAA President said.
Dmitry Atbashyan is sure that the Inter-State Aviation Committee
conclusion is aimed at not damaging the image of Sochi, which aspires
for hosting the Winter Olympic games. In his words Adler airport falls
short of Russian federal aviation rules. “The regulations say that
flights are prohibited in dangerous meteorological conditions. 6 types
are considered dangerous. I will mention only two, present on that
day: storm rainfall and wind shear. There was no equipment at Sochi
airport to determine the availability of dangerous meteorological
phenomena at the trajectory of approach operation. An airport
does not have the right to receive Airbus liners without having
corresponding devices. Those, who allowed flights of those planes to
Sochi, should be responsible for the crash of the Armenian liner,”
Atbashyan said. He also remarked that everything, what happened to
the plane is an illustration of the aerodynamics textbooks, which
describe the plane movement during the so-called phenomenon of grab.

Mammadyarov: Referendum in Karabakh “Mere Public”
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 15:29 GMT+04:00
Opinion Survey
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Basic elements, discussed during latest talks in
the OSCE MG, suit Azerbaijan within the context that they imply that
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict should be solved step by step, based on
international legal principles and norms, Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov
said. In his words, “the issue of IDPs, as well as those referring
to security, economy, communications should be solved first.” As
of the international law, the principle of territorial integrity
if primary here. Any international law specialist will explain that
the self-determination principle does not mean violating territorial
integrity. Many examples of state system can be cited worldwide, where
nations determine themselves within state territorial integrity,”
the Azeri FM said.
In Mammadyarov’s words, the referendum in NK is “mere public opinion
survey.” The Minister believe that “firstly it should be specified that
expressing will can be possible after normalization of the life of the
Armenian and azeri communities in Karabakh itself.” “It is not known
yet which questions will be asked during the survey: this is subject
to talks, as if there is a question doubting territorial integrity, the
should be solved based on the Constitution of Azerbaijan,” he remarked.
“I have spoken of Tatarstan, Bashkortstan examples many times, Triest,
other opinions. Co-Chairs, countries responsible for international
sustaining of peace understand well that the international law should
be primary,” Mammadyarov said. In his words, economic development,
normalization of everyday life make the society to respond to painful
issues in another way. “Within that context the NK issue might have
been a problem of the soviet totalitarian regime, as all of the
Soviet Union population were in a hard condition. Now, taking into
account the building of a jural society and democracy, market economy
in Azerbaijan, the situation changes drastically. In the historical
respect, 15 years of independence are a short term. This is a period
of even less than a generation. Thus it is necessary to look at the
prospect here,” the Azeri FM said, reports Day.az.

For 15 Years Baku Is Deprived of Opportunity to Propose Any Status to Sovereign NKR
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 15:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Elmar Mammadyarov either knows history bad or,
more probably, pretends not to know it, political scientist Levon
Melik-Shahnazaryan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, when commenting
on the interview of the Azeri FM. The Armenian political scientist
reminded that “today, in the beginning of the 21st century” Triest
free territory does not exist any more. “It was divided between Italy
and former Yugoslavia already in 1974. Nevertheless, in that statement
of Mammadyarov Azeri mentality, when economic welfare is regarded as
of paramount importance in any contradictions, is notable.
Mammadyarov believes that having become rich Azerbaijan will become
attractive to Karabakh Armenians. The Minister does not want to think
that there are things more important that oil and dollars.
I say nothing that only a small group of leaders, not all of the
population, profit from oil dollars,” Melik-Shahnazaryan said.
As of Bashkortstan and Tatarstan examples, the political scientist
underscored that the Constitution of those subjects of Russia
allows them leaving Russia via referendum. “These developments will
hardly suit Baku. However, these conversations have only theoretical
value. Azerbaijan is deprived of opportunity to propose any status
to sovereign NKR for 15 years already.”

Azerbaijan in Its Time Violated USSR Territorial Integrity
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 15:57 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The thesis that the self-determination principle
does not mean violation of territorial integrity, announced by Azeri
FM Elmar Mammadyarov is not serious at all, political scientist Levon
Melik-Shahnazaryan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his opinion,
actually there are many examples of the kind in the world, however
this only means that self-determining people either cannot or do not
want to build their own sovereign state. “It is more comfortable to
it to remain part of the mother country state, like Komi. Opposite
examples, when self-determining peoples left the mother country
and built their own state, are not less in number. By the way,
Azerbaijan’s self-determination followed that way. It announced
sovereignty by breaking the international and soviet law, violating
the territorial integrity of the USSR. However, this is all theory,”
Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan stressed.

Some Russian Citizens Want to Move to Armenia for Permanent Residence
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 16:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 2005 over 400 families of Armenian citizens, who
temporarily lived in the territory of the Southern Federal District of
Russia, returned to the Fatherland, stated Consul General of Armenia
in the Southern Federal District of Russia Ararat Gomtsyan, reports
the Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia. In his words,
these families moved to Russia in different times and lived in the
south of Russia 3-7 years. Ararat Gomtsyan specially stressed that
Russian citizens, willing to move to Armenia for permanent residence,
also address the Consulate General.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NATO Turkish Representative Complained of Armenian Speaker Again
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 16:47 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ First Vice-President of the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly (PA), Chairman of NATO Group of the Grand National Assembly
of Turkey, MP representing Justice and Development ruling party Vahid
Erdem has send a second letter to the Assembly, complaining of Armenian
NA Speaker Tirgran Torosyan.
As Tirgran Torosyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, he did not receive
the second complaint. “I consider the accusations of the Turkish
deputy unfounded. Turks complain of Armenians, Azeri media reprint it,
everyone is content. I can reaffirm that I did not say that V. Erdem
does not have the right to speak as a Turkish MP. I only underscored
that the NATO floor should not be used for propaganda,” Torosyan said.
We noted that in mid-June a 20-member NATO PA delegation, led by
V. Erdem, was in Yerevan on a visit. At a meeting at the Parliament
of Armenia Erdem denied statements on the Armenian Genocide.

Azerbaijan Wants to Follow Georgia Example in Karabakh Issue
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 18:19 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “To return its lands Azerbaijan can launch wider
military operations, than those held in Kondor gorge of Georgia,”
stated member of the Political Council of Eni Azerbaijan ruling party,
political scientist Aydyn Mirzazade. In his words, Azerbaijan has the
right and capacity to hold a more significant operation that this
one. “Azerbaijan intensely struggles for return of the lands. All
resources of the state are aimed for that. Today official Baku mainly
prefers talks. The OSCE MG can support Azerbaijan in securing its
sovereignty over those lands,” he said. A. Mirzazade noted he does
not rule out “return of lands by force.” “This is our right and
we can exercise it at any moment,” the political scientist noted,
reports Trend.

NKR MFA: Karabakh Talks Current Format Does Not Reflect Core of Conflict
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 17:47 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The negotiations over Nagorno Karabakh are not
an end in itself, however the NKR authorities are ready to discuss
any issues, which do not infringe upon Karabakh people’s rights and
do not threaten their security, Nagorno Karabakh Republic Foreign
Minister Georgy Petrossian stated at a meeting with Vice Speaker of
the British Parliament House of Lords Baroness Caroline Cox.
“The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is a complicated one, as a large number
of interests are coming into collision here. These have special
urgency in the light of the latest developments in the region and
in the world on the whole”, – Georgy Petrossian said. The Minister
noted that the existing format of the negotiations on the Karabakh
conflict settlement did not reflect the core of the conflict.
“Unfortunately, today, the mediators focused their attention
not on the essence of the conflict but on the liquidation of its
consequences. We emphasize once more that without the participation
of Nagorno Karabakh – the most suffered party to the conflict –
the achievement and realization of any agreements are impossible”,
– Georgy Petrossian said. “Today, we face a task of development
but not a survival. In this connection we attach great importance
to democratization processes. The freer are the people, the more
protected are their rights in our country the stronger we shall
be. It is a strategic way for us”,- Georgy Petrossian emphasized,
reports the NKR MFA Press Service.

Call on Laid Bomb Received at French Embassy in Armenia, Alarm Was False
PanARMENIAN.Net
27.07.2006 18:44 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A telephone call was received at the French Embassy
in Armenia July 27 afternoon, which reported a bomb was laid in the
building. Arriving there, policemen of Center community evacuated the
workers of the diplomatic mission. No explosive assembly was found
resulting from search. The Embassy continued work in its usual regime,
reports IA Regnum.