MAN JAILED IN CREDIT CARD FRAUD
T.J. Wilham Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
March 14, 2006 Tuesday
A California man has been accused of criminal spelling.
Edvin Keshishyan, 29, originally from Armenia, landed in jail Sunday
after a Home Depot employee looked at the back of the Discover Card
he was using for a $1,600 purchase and noticed a dropped ‘e’ in
“authorized” under the signature.
“When you turn the card over, any person that can spell is going to
notice that authorized is spelled wrong,” said Albuquerque police
officer A.J. Fangio.
Late Monday, Keshishyan was in custody at the West Side jail on credit
card fraud charges. He was being held without bond.
Police say that when officers arrived at the store in the 200 block
of Eubank SE, they searched Keshishyan and found four more fake
credit cards. Although everything was spelled right, Fangio said,
the cards didn’t look real.
Still, he said, they all had valid magnetic strips, meaning that if
swiped in a reader, the cards might have been approved.

SUBSTITUTE CONDUCTOR FILLS MONDAVI CENTER WITH ENERGY
Edward Ortiz Bee Arts Critic
Sacramento Bee (California)
March 13, 2006 Monday
Metro Final Edition
It’s hard to imagine a more shimmering and sonically expansive
performance of Mahler’s First Symphony than what was given by the
London Philharmonic at the Mondavi Center on the UC Davis campus
Saturday evening.
The appearance of Finnish-born conductor Osmo Vanska, who was filling
in for the ill Kurt Masur, was as memorable a conducting debut as
will be seen on the Mondavi stage for quite some time.
In Vanska’s hands, Mahler’s work blossomed into a captivating sonic
experience that filled Jackson Hall with delicate but brooding,
soft passages and explosive, life-affirming crescendos.
The evening began with brash young Armenian violinist Sergey
Khachatryan delivering a brilliant and emotional reading of fellow
Armenian Aram Khachaturian’s “Violin Concerto.” Taking the stage in
an untucked black shirt and black pants, Khachatryan wasted no time
in injecting his cadenzas with enough musical grit and no- nonsense
punch to avoid any sentimentality. Khachatryan attacked the deeply
moving passages of the second movement as if he owned the concerto –
and Saturday night he proved he did with dazzling technique.
But the highlight of the evening was clearly Mahler’s “Symphony No.
1,” which began with the strings low and slow, giving way to its
cuckoolike two-note motif, whose energy later morphed into orchestral
wildfire.
Vanska, a rising star on the conducting scene who is well-known for
his interpretations of Jean Sibelius’ work, conducted with a unique
visual flair – one that flirted with bombast but never quite stepped
over the line. Watching him conduct was like a visual primer on how
a conductor uses body language to express and coax tonal color out
of an orchestra. A knee bend here, an exultation of arm waving there
characterized his conducting. The result was stellar playing.
The London Philharmonic proved Vanska’s equal in every way. The
rich intonation of the orchestra’s string section lived up to its
reputation. That was most evident during the funeral march in the
third movement, which incorporates the “Frere Jacques” theme. Here
the strings bowed with feeling and crisp clarity.
But it was the titanlike shimmer of the brass section that proved
most memorable. From their powerful playing in the first movement to
the thunderous moments of the finale, the horns thrilled and provoked
listeners into a state of musical exultation. Their playing was warm,
almost youthful, but also capable of capturing a mature, somber glow,
especially in the second and third movements.
It remains to be seen whether what was heard Saturday night had as
much to do with Vanska as it did with the work that Masur has done
with this orchestra.
You get the feeling that much is owed to Vanska’s energizing influence,
which owes its origin to the fact that he hails from a country where
classical music is as much a national pastime as baseball is here.
The Bee’s Edward Ortiz can be reached at (916) 321-1071 or
[email protected].

BERLIN-BRANDENBURG COURT BARRED TO CALL ARMENIAN GENOCIDE “A LIE”
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.03.2006 19:01 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The court of Berlin-Brandenburg Bundesland,
Germany has decided that Turks, who stage rallies, have no right to
use posters and transparencies denying the Armenian Genocide in the
Ottoman Empire in 1915. From now on it is prohibited to call “a lie”
the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in the territory. It
should be noted that on that very day Turks were going to hold a
demonstration in Berlin to commemorate Talaat Pasha, however, because
of the resolution adopted, police thoroughly checked all the posters
and transparencies in order to register facts of the Genocide denial.
Berlin-Brandenburg is the first in Germany and the second in Europe
region in the number of Turks. Over 1 million Turks live only in
Berlin. So, as the Armenian Turkologists note, Germany, the main
Turkey’s ally in the EU, has confirmed its position on the resolution
adopted by the Bundestag, which can bring about a chain reaction
everywhere in the EU, reported IA Regnum.

DANIEL FRIED REFERRED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION ISSUE IN ANKARA
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.03.2006 19:16 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The issue of acknowledgement of the Armenian
Genocide is a complex question, which should be daringly discussed by
the two parties,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of
European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried said during his visit to
Ankara. Following the meeting with representatives of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs Daniel Fried declared that it is necessary to evaluate
the tragedies of the past years, since the people should think about
their future. The American diplomat underlined that “the position of
the Unites States on this issue is known. US President George Bush
will most probably make a traditional annual statement on the issue
in April.” Daniel Fried added that the issue of Washington’s demand
to open the border with Armenia was addressed during the discussions
in Ankara.

TURKEY REJECTED U.S. DEMAND TO OPEN ARMENIAN BORDER
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.03.2006 19:33 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Turkish government responded negatively
once again to a demand from the United States to open the Armenian
border. During his visit to Turkey U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried urged
the Turkish government to reevaluate the Armenian border. Ankara,
however, acted unenthusiastically to the issue at hand. Turkish
officials classified the “Armenian cessation of its invasion of the
Karabakh region” as one of the three requirements for the appeasement
of relations between Turkey and Armenia. Turkey is also pushing Armenia
to “disavow its allegations of the Armenian Genocide and to remove from
the Armenian constitution the anti-Turkish clauses,” reported Zaman.

BAKU ADVISES IRANIAN AMBASSADOR TO “RESTRAIN EMOTIONS”
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.03.2006 19:39 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Islamic Republic of Iran and Azerbaijan enjoy
friendly relations. The principles of these relations are reflected
in the documents signed by the leaders of our states and remain
unchangeable.
The statements made by the representatives of NGOs during the II
Summit of the Azerbaijanis of the world are the expression of their
personal opinion,” head of the department of press and information
policy of the Azeri MFA Tahir Taghizade stated when commenting in
the diplomatic note of the Iranian Embassy in Baku on the statements
made during the summit. When touching upon the address of Iranian
Ambassador to Azerbaijan Afshar Suleymani to the summit participants
and the Azerbaijani state Taghizade noted that emotional expressions
can damage the cooperation built on the principles of friendship
and neighborhood. “Noting the necessity of expanding bilateral ties
between our countries I state that personal opinions should not tell
on the friendly relations between Iran and Azerbaijan,” he said,
reported Day.az.

NO AD-HOC COMMITTEE WILL BE CREATED
A1+
01:58 pm 20 March, 2006
During today’s NA session 114 deputies were registered. After the NA
Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan represented the agenda of the four-day
session, secretary of the Justice bloc fraction Viktor Dallakyan
offered to create a NA Ad-hoc committee to investigate the results
of the 2005 November 27 Referendum. He announced that the fact that
the Government has given a negative evaluation to their offer is in
itself a negative fact.
Arthur Baghdasaryan informed that he has applied to the Prosecutor’s
office and according to his information 4 criminal cases have been
aroused, so he doesn’t find it necessary to create an ad-hoc committee.
Viktor Dallakyan offer was put to voting and rejected with 20 votes
for, none against, while 27 deputies abstained from voting. Dallakyan
announced that this was a proof of the participation of the majority
in the electoral frauds. “We demand the Attorney General to come and
explain to us how the results could be summed up in 20 minutes in
an electoral area which has 2000 electors. You are participants of
the law violations”, he told the deputies. Aram Sargsyan noted that
unpunished crimes carry the danger of being repeated.
And deputy Hmayak Hovhannisyan added that the creation of the committee
would show the will of the political powers towards free elections.

A SKYSCRAPER INSTEAD OF THE CINEMA HOUSE
A1+
02:09 pm 20 March, 2006
The Yerevan mayor Yervand Zakharyan and the chief architect of the
city Samvel Danielyan will not allow a 21-storeyed building to be
built instead of the Cinema House. Samvel Danielyan announced about
it during the usual briefings in the municipality. The chief architect
of Yerevan mentioned that they have made inquiries about the resident
area of the building and the car parks.
As for the number of stores, Mr. Danielyan is not concerned in
it. According to him, the geological investigations carried out in
the area allow them to built high buildings. Nevertheless, he said
there were disagreements about the number of the stores: perhaps they
will make it 19 instead of 21.

ARONYAN WINS IN MONACO
A1+
02:25 pm 20 March, 2006
An international chess super tournament has started in Monte Carlo
where Levon Aronyan, Veselin Topalov, Vishvanatan Anand and other
Grand Masters participate.
In the tournament the masters play blindfold and rapid chess.
In the first round Aronyan played with Luuk van Veli from
Holland. Levon lost the blindfold game, but won the rapid one and
earned one point. In the second round Aronyan played with the Fide
world champion Veselin Topalov. This time Aronyan won the blindfold
game and tied the rapid one.
After the second round Levon Aronyan tops the list with 4 other players
with 2.5 points. In the third round Levon will play with Peter Leko
whom he beat in the last round of the Linares tournament.

THE HERO’S IMAGE AS THE FOUNDATION FOR UPBRINGING
Yerkir/am
March 17, 2006
On March 15, 1921 in Berlin Soghomon Tehlerian shot one of the
organizers of the Armenian Genocide, the internal affairs minister
of the Young Turks, Taleat. The fact that Tehlerian is not a murderer
cannot be questioned.
Otherwise, the German court would not have declared him innocent. The
fact that Tehlerian is a national hero cannot be questioned either.
Do we, the citizens of the XXI century Armenia need Tehlerian’s image
as the foundation for the upbringing of the young generation? Some give
a negative answer to this question. Their justification is as follows:
the fact of existence of people like Tehlerian means that an entire
nation, an entire state, has delegated its duties to one or several
persons thus depriving itself of the responsibility of development,
strengthening and self defense. They derive another thesis from this
explanation: a person like Tehlerian could be born only in the context
of the situation that existed in 1921, and one Tehlerian is more than
enough for our nation.
If the authors of this position mean that the nation and the state
should always act as a collective entity and should not rely on heroes,
then it is difficult not to agree with them. If what they want to say
is a desire that we, as a nation and a state, would not have to face
such tragic moments in our history, then again we can understand them.
But we can never accept the opinion that we don’t need the image of
individuals like Tehlerian today, that we should not use this image
as the foundation for the upbringing of Armenian citizens. And this
is why we think so.
We are right to say that Tehlerian was a phenomenon particular to
the reality of 1921. But with the same logic, Vardan Mamikonian was a
phenomenon of the reality of 451, Davit Bek, Aram Manukian, Andranik,
Dro, Nzhdeh, and all other heroes were phenomena of their particular
historic contexts.
A hero is someone whose image is not qualified by the category of time.
Otherwise, no one would remember them. Besides, had the nation failed
to put the image of Vardan Mamikonian at the foundation of upbringing
of its children, there would be no Aram Manukian, Andranik and Nzhdeh
in the centuries to come.
Had the young generations not been taught about these heroes there
would be Tehlerian, and no heroes of the Artsakh war.
After all, what Tehlerian did was not an expression of the weakness
of the state but an act of restoration of justice. Therefore, the
image of the soldier of justice must always underlie the upbringing
of our young generation if we don’t want to turn into a mechanical
collectivity of weak biological creatures.