Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Jan 22 2005
Transport Minister: Georgia Cannot Transfer Cargo to Armenia
The cargo transported by railway from Azerbaijan to Georgia is not to
be passed on further to Armenia, as this is prohibited by the
existing legal framework between the two countries, Transport
Minister Ziya Mammadov told journalists. Georgia must comply with the
documents it signed, he said.
Mammadov noted that the consignments that Azerbaijan is withholding
on the Azeri-Georgian border are released only after it makes sure
they are not bound for Armenia.
‘Both foreign and local companies must realize that any cooperation
with Armenia, which has occupied Azerbaijan’s lands is out of the
question and everyone should comply with this.’

United Press International/Washington Times, DC
Jan 22 2005
UPI Watch
Armenia’s first ever wind power plant
The Armenian government will soon inaugurate Armenia’s first-ever
wind power plant. The wind farm is being built in the northern Lori
district with equipment donated by Iran; the plant’s four wind
turbines will have a combined capacity of slightly over 10 megawatts,
enough to meet most of the electricity needs of the regional capital
Vanadzor and its surrounding villages. Aleksandr Kocharian, who heads
a department on renewable power at the Armenian Energy Ministry, said
that the $3 million project will be completed “in a few months.”
Armenia’s Metsamor nuclear power station currently provides nearly 40
percent of Armenia’s electricity output. Metsamor’s future is
uncertain is due to safety U.S. and EU concerns. Yerevan has been
under intense Western pressure to shut down the Soviet-era Metsamor
plant as early as possible and is seaching for alternatives.. One of
several options being considered is increased use of Armenia’s
fast-flowing mountain rivers that already account for 20 percent of
power generation through hydroelectric power. Kocharian believes that
Armenia has the potential to meet as much as 70 percent of its energy
needs with renewable sources by 2020, adding that 16 small
hydroelectric plants have recently been built. Kocharian added that
the Armenian and Iranian governments to jointly build a large
hydroelectric facility on the Arax river on the countries’ borders.

CULTURAL LIFE: JULIAN COPE MUSICIAN
The Independent – United Kingdom;
Jan 21, 2005
Interview by Charlotte Cripps

Books
I am always reading the same thing, a huge amount of Indo-European
mythology and early-language studies, such as Archaeology & Language:
The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins by Colin Renfrew. I’m rereading
Brian Bates’s The Way of Wyrd: Tales of an Anglo-Saxon Sorcerer, about
belief in the undead. My own current project, Let Me Speak to the
Driver, is about whether there is a universal force that drives us. My
favourite book is Zoroastrianism in Armenia by James Russell.
Film
I don’t really watch films, other than loud rock’n’roll ones. The
other night, I watched Eat the Document, the Bob Dylan movie made in
1972. Freebird: The Movie is the story of Lynyrd Skynyrd, a rock band
of weirdos who died in a plane crash. My wife drags me to the cinema
sometimes. I quite like The Lord of the Rings – but there is too much
fighting in all of them. The last Harry Potter film was very mystical,
much better than the first two, which were very Hollywood.
Music
I’m mainly listening to US underground music – Comets of Fire are
playing with me at the Festival Hall. I also like a lot of American
doom metal, such as Sunn 0))) and Khanate. They are all very extreme,
with tracks that last 25 minutes. Another band is Teeth of Lions Rule
the Divine; it’s real trudge-sludge music that sounds like the Earth
is forming. I don’t dislike mainstream music, but I don’t get the
point of it.
Theatre & opera
I hate opera. I think it is rubbish. I don’t accept its metaphor, and
I don’t have the necessary Mediterranean soul to understand it. My
wife worked for years with the former English National Opera boss Sir
Peter Jonas, and he called me a barbarian for hating opera so much. I
haven’t been to the theatre in ages. I wriggle out of going. I spend
most of the time in the middle of nowhere, looking for lost monuments,
so I don’t see what’s on in the city.
Julian Cope plays the Royal Festival Hall, London SE1 (0870 380 0400)
tonight. For details of tour and album, `Citizen Cain’d’, consult

I SING NATIONAL SONGS
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
22 Jan 05
Lusine Gasparian, 22 years old. Third year student at the music
college after Sayat-Nova in Stepanakert, the class of vocal. Finished
the lyceum after Aram Manougian in Shoushi and the course of the
musical instrument kanon (Armenian folk instrument) of the music
school. Works at the folk ensemble `Menk enk, mer sarer’ and the folk
pop quartet `Vernatun’. In 2004 she was awarded the prize `Best Singer
of the Year’ by the NKR Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. We
present the interview with the young singer. – Who is Lusine and how
did she find her way? – I was born in Vayk. In 1992 my mother and
Imoved to liberated Shoushi. At school I sang and recited at school
performances. Oneday Sona Hovhannissian who was the director of the
dramatic theatre of Shoushi invited me to play the part of the Snow
White. I was in the ninth form whenI started working at the dramatic
theatre of Shoushi. Then I was given the part of Nastia in the
performance `Trouble from Caring Heart’, which was a good
role. Theatre gave me much in terms of perceiving and understanding
the stage. It lasted for a year. Then I entered the university, the
department of dentistry. – Why? – I did not want to oppose to the
wish of my mother because she is a doctor and wanted me to become
doctor. Frankly speaking I dreamed of becoming a singer but I liked
the profession of doctor too. My mother was able to persuade me. The
financial problem was the reason why I left the universityin the
second year and devoted myself to my dream. Besides, during the years
of study I worked at the dramatic theatre of Shoushi and the folk
ensemble `Menk enk, mer sarer’. – Was it the ensemble to find you or
you to find the ensemble? – I was singing in the ensemble of folk
instruments with Julia Arstamian. There were musicians in the ensemble
working at `Menk enk, mer sarer’ which needed young people. They
introduced me to the ensemble. The advice of singer Elmira
Harutiunian, my mother’s friend, helped me a lot. – That isto say, you
found your song and song found you. And your mother? Did she admit the
idea that you would become a singer? – With difficulty but she
admitted. – What genres do you like? – I like national music, be it
classical or folk. I do not like pop. It passes quickly, and the
national remains. – And what if it is national pop? I will sing it if
the melody and lyrics appeal to me. The quartet `Vernatun’ has a
modern approach to national music, both classical and folk. But the
basis, that is folklore, is preserved. Which of the two ensembles
where youwork is closer to you? – In the ensemble `Menk enk, mer
sarer’ the presence, the sounding of folk instruments attracts me. In
`Vernatun’ there are only two instrument, the kanon and the guitar. We
the singers complete them and create harmony. The thing to be done by
the instrument is done by the singer. Thatis to say, the singer is
given additional opportunities for self-expression. The two ensembles
are similar at the basis but they have different directions. And I
cannot give preference to any of them. – What kind of audience doyou
like? – I like audience of any age, any number, even few, but they
must understand me. – Do you feel the audience when singing? – I feel
it byan inner sense, a seventh sense. Their applause encourages
me. They make me work on myself, improve myself. – What other dream do
you have besides becoming a singer? – I think about continuing my
education, and achieving perfection. I do not burden my head with
dreams. I prefer to move and work in one direction than disperse
myself. – What are you like in life? – I neither want to praise
myself, nor to point out my disadvantages. My friends, relatives,
colleagues, my teacher Tigran Mkrtichian do that, and I believe
them. – Lusine does your mother come to your concerts? – Of course,
and she is proud of me. Once she said:`If God endowed you with voice,
then you chose the right way.’ `Nature was generous with Lusine,’ says
the art director of `Vernatun’ TigranMkrtichian. `The most important
is the tone of the voice which is a gift from above. This cannot be
worked out. Maestro only directs, cultivates taste. A singer is a live
instrument that has intelligence, heart and soul and must be educated
as a singer. She is devoted to her work. She is determined, which is
very important and produces good results. Lusine is a chamber
singer. Chamber art requires being highly cultured. You are alone on
the stage and you need taste and intelligence to perform a song. I
foresee a bright future for the singer. Lusine will become a singer
not only for herself but also for all of us, for the nation.’
NVARD SOGHOMONIAN.
22-01-2005

POLITICAL FIGURES OF ARMENIA HAVE DIFFERENT EXPECTATIONS FROM 2005
YEREVAN, January 21 (Noyan Tapan). The January 21 discussion organized
by the National Press Club with participation of representatives of
different political forces was dedicated to the discussion of the home
political situation formed in Armenia and representation of possible
scenarios of its development in 2005. The opinions of the participants
of the discussion divided. Thus, Samvel Nikoyan, a member of the Board
of the Republican Party of Armenia, an MP, Tigran Karapetian, Chairman
of the People’s Party, and Hamlet Haroutiunian, Chairman of “Artsakh”
compatriot union, assured that no great changes, including power
shift, will take place in Armenia in 2005. In their estimation, the
confrontation between the authorities and opposition won’t be global,
the struggle will rather move from streets to the NA. Meanwhile, all
of the 3 politicians expressed anxiety in connection with the possible
influence on the situation in the country. “The authorities may face
only external danger,” Tigran Karapetian declared. H.Haroutiunian and
T.Karapetian called on the political forces to unite around the
Karabakh problem. According to Hamlet Haroutiunian, if all the
political forces are united in the Karabakh issue the foreign forces
won’t be able to solve this issue. Aram Sargsian ansd Hrant
Khachatrian, leaders of the Democratic Party of Armenia and the
Constitutional Right Union, assured that great changes will take place
in 2005 and today both the authorities and the opposition are already
getting ready for the future complicated events. At the same time
A.Sargsian and H.Khachatrian for several times pointed to the
possibility to cooperate with coalition forces. Petros Makeyan,
Chairman of the Democratic Homeland party, gave assurance that “2005
will be a year of changes, which will take place in the form of
shocks, as its was in Georgia and the Ukraine.” Vahan Shirkhanian,
former Deputy Minister of Defence, former Minister on Coordination of
Industrial Infrastructures, expressed anxiety about the number of the
challenges, against which Armenia is to stand up. Thus, according to
him, this is not only the situation connected with the settlement of
Karabakh conflict, which starting from 1995 has becoming more and more
unfavorable for Armenians, but also the growing illiteracy among the
population, fall of birth rate, the fact that Armenia is, in essence,
becoming an old country as as the youth leaves the country searching
for a job.

US official’s Karabakh remarks not directed against Armenia – aide
Iravunk, Yerevan
21 Jan 05
Excerpt from Piruza Meliksetyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Iravunk
on 21 January headlined “‘It is clear to the president that nobody has
any privilege,’ Garnik Isagulyan is sure”. Subheadings as published:
An interview with the Armenian president’s advisor on national
security issues, Garnik Isagulyan.
“The US Department of State comment is important”
[Iravunk correspondent] Armenian political circles have not accepted
the latest statement by US Assistant State Secretary Elizabeth
Jones. Many public organizations expressed their protest. Some
officials ignored the statement and some described it as the final
failure of the government’s diplomacy.
[Garnik Isagulyan] Let us specify that Elizabeth Jones’s statement was
made in the run-up to the Russian-American high-level meeting. Before
making any statement of the sort, every state tries to make maximum
use of its resources to settle relations with the negotiating party
and put forward its viewpoint in the negotiating process. From this
point of view, Jones’s statement was made in the context of
Russian-American relations. The US Department of State’s comment on
Jones’s statement means that US policy regarding the Karabakh issue
has not changed and remains the same. And this means that Jones’s
statement is not directed against Armenia or the settlement of the
Karabakh issue.
[Correspondent] I am sorry, but your calm and silence are not clear.
Elizabeth Jones is not just one of a million people, she is an
assistant to the US State Secretary and represents her president and
state.
[Isagulyan] I would like to note once again that she made this
statement in the context of the Russian-American high-level meeting.
[Correspondent] Is that it?
[Isagulyan] Let me give you an example. As you remember, a Putin-Bush
meeting was to take place in 2001. The Key West agreement, which also
caused a big stir, was signed before that meeting. But in fact, it was
signed before the Russian-American high-level meeting. After that, no
American top official spoke about Key West any more. I am sure that
after the forthcoming negotiations, nobody will speak about Elizabeth
Jones’s statement any more. That will remain just a statement made by
somebody.
[Correspondent] In fact, you deny the fact that by describing the NKR
as an unstable, corrupt and criminal country, the Washington
administration gave [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan, who has
always said that he represents the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] in
the talks, a slap in the face by means of Jones who is leaving the US
Department of State.
[Isagulyan] I do not think you should comment on the issue in this
way. When the Department of State, ignoring Jones’s statement, says
that their policy has not changed and that the Karabakh issue is a
special problem, when the two states are trying to name names before
their talks and mention Dniester, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it would
have been wrong if they had not mentioned Karabakh.
But there was no specific mention of the NKR authorities. One should
take into account that the USA is well aware of the situation in the
NKR. It is aware of the democratic processes in the NKR. It is aware
that the NKR authorities are not corrupt or criminal and that the NKR
is not a transit route for drug trafficking. And the fact that the USA
allocates money to the NKR means that it is well-aware of the
situation there. Naturally, there will be various comments on this. It
is very good that public and political organizations respond to such
statements very quickly. This proves once again that our society is
sensitive about the Karabakh issue and does not accept any unjust
statements irrespective of their context. This also means that the
position the Armenian authorities have been taking, especially
concerning the Karabakh issue, is correct.
“We have to wait for the processes to enter a specific phase”
[Correspondent] The statements of the Washington administration
regarding Iran have recently become harsher and do not rule out a
deterioration in US-Iran relations. In which situation will Armenia
find itself in the event of a US-Iran conflict? Is Armenia protected?
Does it have a concept of security?
[Isagulyan] Any process developing in our region is important to us
and we pay attention to it. As for the US-Iran relations, we have to
wait for the processes to enter a specific phase. I do not think that
this is the first time that Bush has touched on Iran. So there is no
need to conclude that certain actions will start tomorrow. If there
are other developments, I am sure that Armenia will find its bearings
and take relevant steps.
[Passage omitted: An Armenian peacekeeping contingent is in Iraq;
Details of Kocharyan’s recent meeting with tax and customs officials]

AzerTag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Jan 22 2005
PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV RECEIVES PARTICIPANTS OF THE DAYS OF ITAR-TASS
IN AZERBAIJAN
[January 22, 2005, 23:32:14]
On 22 January, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
received at the Presidential Palace participants of the Days of the
Russian news agency ITAR-TASS in Azerbaijan.
Warmly greeting the guests, President Ilham Aliyev described the Days
of ITAR-TASS in Azerbaijan that had brought together heads of Russian
leading news agencies, highly reputable representatives of science,
culture, sport and other spheres of Russia’s social life, as a very
important event. He also pointed to its significance from the
standpoint of providing the public with true and objective
information about Azerbaijan.
The Head of State told of the problems Azerbaijan faced with in the
first years of its independence, re-establishment of stability in the
country which became possible thanks to the purposeful policy
initiated and pursued by national leader Heydar Aliyev, and the work
done for strengthening of ties of friendship and cooperation with
other countries including the Russian Federation. `The
Azerbaijan-Russia cooperation is steadily expanding in all fields,
and our countries have no contradictions in this regard,’ he said.
Pointing to the high level of ethnic and religious tolerance in
Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev said that Russian-writing press in
the country had even more developed since independence.
The Azerbaijani leader also informed the guests on the large-scale
energy projects implemented in Azerbaijan, economic growth in the
country and progress gained in its provinces.
President Ilham Aliyev also touched upon the Azerbaijan’s most
painful problem, the conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh,
emphasizing that `we want to solve the problem peacefully, but if
it’s not possible, Azerbaijan will have to resort to other means to
release its lands.’
Leader of the Russian delegation, Director General of ITAR-TASS
Vitaliy Ignatenko thanked the Azerbaijani President for hospitality,
and noted that the visit of such a large delegation representing
various spheres of the Russian society plays an exceptional role in
strengthening and deepening of friendship and cooperation between the
two countries.
Speakers at the meeting – Chief of the Federal Agency on Press and
Mass Communications Mkhail Seslavinski, Chairman of the Russian
Committee on Sport Vyacheslav Fetisov, Head of the Department of
Culture at the Ministry of Press and Culture Mikhail Shvydkoy,
Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee, Honorary
President of the Russian Olympic Committee Vitaliy Smirnov, renowned
Political Scientist Gennadiy Burbulis, Cardiologist, Academician
Renat Akchurin, Editor-in -Chief of the `Moskovskiye Novosti’
newspaper Pavel Gusev and First Deputy Director General of ITAR-TASS
Mikhail Gusman – pointed out apparent progress in all spheres of life
in Azerbaijan they had witnessed, and expressed confidence in good
prospects of the country.
In the end, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev presented `Shohrat’
/Glory/ order to ITAR-TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail
Gusman he had been awarded for contribution to development of
cultural ties between Azerbaijan and Russia.

The Gazette (Montreal)
January 22, 2005 Saturday
Chilly reception: Travelling playwrights David French and Hrant
Alianak draw a tiny crowd for their recent meet-the-authors session
MATT RADZ, The Gazette
Our town hasn’t been lucky or much good for Toronto playwright David
French. He once rode a bus out of here, suicide on his brain, after
his Montreal girlfriend dumped him. There hasn’t been a major
production of instant classics like Leaving Home or Of The Fields,
Lately that established him as Canada’s “national playwright” in the
early 1970s. No mainstage French since Salt-Water Moon sold a lot of
tickets and won a handful of awards for the Saidye Bronfman Centre
three seasons ago.
And after the cold reception, and we’re not just talking about the
weather, that French and fellow travelling author Hrant Alianak
received this week, you can’t blame him if he never comes back.
Though he might be tempted, should we organize the kind of 15-play,
three-movie, 18-day festival that Winnipeg has put together to
celebrate the oeuvre of another national playwright, Michel Tremblay.
“Two playwrights and a critic … well, there’s Canadian theatre for
you,” Alianak grins after doing a quick head count of the audience
assembled, if that’s the word, for a mid-afternoon meet-the-authors
session in Centaur’s cafe on Monday.
“This is insulting, really,” Newfoundland-born French, 66, said with
a shrug in the lobby later. “There would have been more people if
this was in California.” Not to say warmer, all around.
Eventually, a few more dropped by, including Centaur’s
general-manager Chuck Childs, and they were rewarded with an
anecdotal history of how indigenous theatre was born in this country,
related by a tag team of stage veterans who have never collaborated
on a production during a lifelong friendship.
“My play, Tantrums, opened in April (1972) and David’s (Leaving Home)
opened in May,” Alianak notes. Born of Armenian parents in Sudan in
1950, he came to Canada in 1967. The author of explicitly surrealist
plays like Return of the Big Five, The Blues and Lucky Strike is
regarded as Canada’s foremost experimental playwright.
Filmgoers will remember him for his role in Atom Egoyan’s Family
Viewing (1987).
The smaller the audience, the better the show. A trooper’s anger at
those who stayed away, combined with a sense of obligation to those
who came, triggers a more focused and determined effort – especially
from Canadian playwrights who have to learn early on to swallow
rejection for breakfast, and to eat rebuffs for lunch, if they want
to survive another day of trying to break even.
Alianak and French are trained actors and the latter’s reading of Ben
Mercer’s speech that opens his 1973 classic Of The Fields, Lately was
as moving a moment of theatre as we have witnessed at Centaur – “It
takes many incidents to build a wall between two men, brick by brick.
Sometimes you’re not aware of the building …”
As poignant was French’s recollection of how he met, and walked out
on, the late Bill Glassco, who went on to produce premieres of all
his plays at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre, including the latest
instalment of the Mercer saga, Soldier’s Heart, in 2001.
And French relived the quasi-mystical moment when he suddenly found
his vocation in Mr. Beane’s Grade 8 library class.
A sports-crazy “class clown” who “grew up in a home with no books,”
the playwright-to-be was ordered by the exasperated teacher, a stern,
well-dressed disciplinarian, to stand in the corner, get a book from
the shelf and SHUT UP!
As destiny would have it, the young French snatched up a copy of Tom
Sawyer and began to read. “After 15 minutes I knew I wanted to be a
writer – and that I was a writer,” he said. “It was so weird, a
strong sense, mystical. I don’t understand it. I never tell that
story.”
French and Alianak came to Montreal to talk about the early days of
Passe Muraille and Tarragon with Robert Astle’s Canadian Theatre
History class at Concordia.
“This is the first year I am teaching the course,” Astle said over a
smoked-meat sandwich with the visiting authors in the “poet’s corner”
at Ben’s deli earlier in the day, “and I thought rather than just
talk about the early days of Canadian drama, I’d introduce the
students to two of the people who were there, who started it all.”
– – –
Michel Tremblay told an interviewer this week that astonished and
flattered though he is by the festival of his works that opened in
Winnipeg Thursday, he’s also a little fearful, because playgoers
seeing so many of his plays at once might decide “je ne suis pas si
bon que ca (I am not as good as all that).”
Now in its fifth year, Winnipeg’s Master Playwright Festival has
already paid homage to Pinter, Brecht, Albee and Beckett. This is the
first time it has recognized a Canadian writer. This year’s bilingual
Tremblay program runs until Feb. 6. For details:
– – –
Jackie Maxwell, the Shaw Festival honcho who directed Tremblay’s Past
Perfect at Centaur last season, heads the search committee for the
next English-language artistic director at the National Arts Centre.
Marti Maraden, who has held the post since 1997, will be stepping
down at the end of this season.

PanArmenian News, Armenia
Jan 22 2005
ARMENIA MARKS ST. SARGIS HOLIDAY
22.01.2005 15:03
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today the Armenian Apostolic Church marks St.
Sargis holiday. A holy liturgy will be offered in Armenian churches.
St. Sargis holiday is one of the favorite popular church events. The
saint is considered the patron of lovers, as well as soldiers. Being
initiated by Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, St. Sargis Day
has been marked as a youth holiday for already several years.
Historically St. Sargis was a Christian commander in the 4-th
century, who was killed along with his son Martiros by a Persian king
for refusal to change his faith.

PanArmenian News, Armenia
Jan 21 2005
DETAILS OF EVICTION OF ARMENIANS FROM RUSSIAN KRASNODAR REGION
21.01.2005 17:30
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Many of the Armenians who were on board the plane
were without money, in slippers, without belongings and tickets,”
witness of the events Serik Voskanian, who was among illegal Armenian
migrants repatriated to Armenia by force by the Krasnodar authorities
January 17, told Aravot newspaper. Her disabled husband and daughter
remained in Krasnodar – the family was not given the chance to leave
together. Virtually, in Voskanian’s opinion, they remained hostages.
Their family has lived in Krasnodar region since 2000. In the words
of the editors of the newspaper, other forced repatriates from
Krasnodar also address them, protesting against violation of their
dignity and property rights by the region authorities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress