Author: Antonian Lara

Sunday’s Zaman
27 September 2009, Sunday

Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an addresses UN General Assembly

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an and US President Barack
Obama made a toast at an annual luncheon hosted by UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday during the 64th UN General
Assembly.

ErdoÄ?an also addressed the General Assembly on Thursday.

During a visit to the US this past week, ErdoÄ?an stated that he
expects to present Parliament with documents to establish diplomatic
ties with Armenia by early October, just before a critical meeting
between the two nations’ leaders. ErdoÄ?an, in a wide-ranging
foreign policy speech before faculty and students at Princeton
University, said the negotiations `have really taken us to an
important position.’ Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and
share a history of animosity stemming from the killings of Anatolian
Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I. Turkey denies the 1915
killings amounted to genocide but has agreed to set up a commission of
international experts on the issue under the protocol it signed with
Armenia.

In his speech ErdoÄ?an also touched upon his government’s
democratization initiative, which ultimately aims to reach a
comprehensive resolution to the decades-old Kurdish question by
granting more rights to the country’s Kurdish citizens.

`We have set off to resolve problems regarding the rule of law,
democracy and human rights,’ ErdoÄ?an said. Recalling steps that
have been taken so far, such as lifting bans on teaching and
broadcasting in Kurdish and the presence of a new state-run Kurdish
television station, ErdoÄ?an added that a new step was recently
taken, referring to the approval of teaching the Kurdish language as
part of the establishment of a `living languages’ institute at a state
university in Mardin.

27 September 2009, Sunday

Boston Globe

Whistler takes a boarder
Gorky collection finds unusual home in Lowell artist’s museum

Two untitled works by Arshile Gorky show the artist was experimenting
with the various styles and idioms of his modernist predecessors. Two
untitled works by Arshile Gorky show the artist was experimenting with
the various styles and idioms of his modernist predecessors.
By Sebastian Smee

Globe Staff / September 26, 2009

LOWELL – It’s all a bit bemusing, and not the easiest to explain. But
through one historical quirk and another, a small museum in Lowell
that commemorates the birthplace of James McNeill Whistler is now in
the possession of almost 30 early paintings, drawings, and prints by
Arshile Gorky, the Armenian-born progenitor of American Abstract
Expressionism.

What does Gorky have to do with Whistler? And is it not a bit strange
for a museum dedicated to the memory of Whistler to become a better
place to look at works by Gorky than works by Whistler (which are thin
on the ground, to put it generously, at the Whistler House Museum of
Art)?

These are questions to which I have no particularly illuminating
answer. But you can ponder them to your heart’s content as you take in
`Drawings & Paintings by Arshile Gorky: Mina Boehm Metzger
Collection,” a small but fascinating show celebrating a substantial
new addition to the Whistler House Museum of Art. (The museum
describes it as a `permanent loan.”)

The works are all from the collection of Mina Boehm Metzger, who
studied art under Gorky at the Grand Central Art School in New York in
the 1930s and died in 1975. She was impressed by Gorky, and she and
her husband started collecting his works. Some they received as gifts,
others were purchased.

All of them are early pieces, and many, to add to the air of mystery
around the show, remain untitled and of uncertain date. One is a
fabulously delicate, softly modeled portrait in pencil on brown
construction paper. Another is a painting, based on one by Metzger
herself, on cardboard.

Gorky,
improvised media like these, was hard-up. Three of the works have been
painted or drawn on two sides. In one case, the image on the reverse
was painted upside down, making a mounted display in the middle of the
room, with both sides visible, somewhat impractical. Museum director
Michael H. Lally has solved the dilemma by taking the unusual step of
hanging a photographic reproduction of the reverse side beside the
original.

Artistically, Gorky was not quite `Gorky” in these years. He was
still toying with the various styles and idioms of his modernist
predecessors in Europe, especially Picasso, Matisse, and Miró.

Unlike most Americans, even in the art world, Metzger was tuned in to
such influences: She frequently accompanied her husband on business
trips to Europe, where she kept abreast of developments in modern
art. All this helps account for her responsiveness to Gorky’s
work. But his personality may have played an even bigger part.

Born Vosdanig Manoog Adoian, Gorky had come to the United States in
1920 as a teenage survivor of the Armenian genocide. His mother died
of starvation in his arms. `The harsh struggles and terrible suffering
of his early life in Armenia,” write Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan in
their biography of Gorky’s friend, Willem de Kooning, `gave him an
ancient, fated air that he was not afraid to cultivate; he sometimes
seemed to play the part of an Old Testament figure who happened to be
in New York.”

icles/2009/09/26/gorky_collection_finds_unusual_ho me_in_whistler_house_museum/

ARMENIAN FREESTYLE WRESTLING TEAM LEAVES WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.09.2009 13:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian freestyle wrestling team leave the World
Championship in Denmark with no result. All 7 sportsmen dropped the
competition, failing to break through to the semifinal.

Armenian wrestlers garnered 8 points and shared 15-16th positions
with Kazakhstan’s team.

7 Armenian Greco-Roman wrestlers will take start on September 25.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES ECONOMIC BENEFITS

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Sept 23 2009
Armenia

At its sitting today, RA Government approved the order of applying
tax, customs and other benefits under a framework agreement between
Armenia and the Committee of European Communities.

The RA Government’s press service informed NEWS.am that the forms will
be printed and registered during the following month. The benefits
include exemption from VAT, exemption of imported products from customs
duties, exemption of nonresident organizations from profit taxes, etc..

The Government also approved the results of contests held on the
WB-allocated funds under an irrigation system renovation program.

We would remind you that the Armenian Government and the World Bank
signed a credit agreement in Yerevan on July 31. Under the program,
irrigation canals in Talin and Armavir are to be renovated.

MOSKOVSKY KOMSOMOLETS APOLOGIZES TO ARMENIAN PRESIDENT FOR ERROR

Interfax
Sept 23 2009
Russia

The newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets has acknowledged it made an error
in the story, titled "Yerevan, Kinship Remembered"", published on
September 21 on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of Armenia’s
independence and passed off as an exclusive interview allegedly
granted by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

"In fact, Sargsyan did not give an interview to Moskovsky
Komsomolets. An unprepared article was published through the fault of
the editor on duty. The article carried wrongly interpreted excerpts
from the Armenian president’s statements, with hypothetical questions
he was never asked," Moskovsky Komsomolets’ Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Vadim Poegli told Interfax.

"The newspaper editors have offered their apology and those responsible
were disciplined. The newspaper staff again congratulates the president
and the Armenian people on independence. We hope our regrettable
mistake will not spoil anyone’s holiday," Poegli said.

GAFESCHYAN ART CENTRE TO OPEN IN NOVEMBER

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
23.09.2009 16:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Gafeschyan Art Centre which is situated in is
Yerevan cascade will open in November after construction work.

An exhibition displaying Director Gerard Gafeschyan’s personal
collection will mark the opening.

Exhibitions will be accompanied by several public programs, including
educational projects. Cascade will again host traditional concerts.

"Original samples of modern sculpture are represented in Tamanyan
Square. I am sure it will become a site of attraction for thousands
of visitors. There are very few such squares in the world," said
Gafeschyan Centre’s Executive Director Michel de Marche.

EDUARD SHARMAZANOV: RPA HAS A CLEAR POSITION

Aysor
Sept 22 2009
Armenia

"Armenia’s President, and National Assembly Speaker and all the
Republicans hold a unified opinion on document: it comes from
Armenian-Turkish relations’ establishment without preconditions," said
at today’s conference Republican Party’s Secretary Eduard Sharmazanov.

He noted that the Party has a definite opinion and position on
Armenian-Turkish protocols and they reflect national interests.

MP believes if in Turkey think on the same way then the success may
be expected, if no then it will take place an international pressure
on Turkey.

According to Mr. Sharmazov Parliamentary hearings on protocols will
allow the country’s political parties to express their opinion. Besides
during the discussions RPA can more convincingly present their
positions, and, possibly, many opponents will change their minds.

Asked whether RPA can change its position Sharmazanov said "My
personal position – no, RPA has a definite position that indicated
in the program of Armenia’s national security."

"All Armenian political forces will act in accordance of national
interests. On behalf of my opposition colleagues can say: our views
may differ, nonetheless, everything around this issue must be done
for Armenia’s victory."

MP also didn’t rule out that Turkeys’ Parliament may not ratify
protocols or may stretch its ratification given dissatisfaction in
the country.

"If so, the Turkish side may face serious pressure because the
protocols are already initialed and Turkey has definitely consolidated
the moving forward without preconditions whether it is Genocide or
the issue of Karabakh," said Eduard Sharmazanov.

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN MEETS WITH MEDIA LEADERS

Aysor
Sept 22 2009
Armenia

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan in connection with ongoing public
debates met with Armenian media leaders to share views on current
phase of Armenian-Turkish relations.

President Sargsyan announced his expecting of open and frank
conversation and said he attaches great importance to their opinion
so far as their active civil position and opinion making.

Mr. Sargsyan underlined the importance of participation of general
public of both countries and noted there can not be made a decision
without it.

President Sargsyan also marked the importance of full coverage in
media outlets of various views and the process itself.

During two-hour-long meeting media leaders presented their views on
negotiation and initialed Armenian-Turkish protocols, shared their
opinions on concerns in society and the possible risks.

President Sargsyan noted that Armenia had entered a very complex but
at the same time a necessary process.

The country’s President considers the initialed Armenian-Turkish
protocols as primary steps towards normalization of relations. Their
basic aim is to create a platform for dialogue with Turkey and
discussions of various issues from political, cultural and historical
positions.

ARF AND HERITAGE

os15271.html
14:04:43 – 22/09/2009

On September 22, reporters asked the ARF Bureau member Vahan
Hovhannisyan whether an ARF and Heritage union is possible. Vahan
Hovhannisyan noted that such a thing is not possible because in
accordance with the ARF rules, only private persons may become members
of the Dashnaktsutyun but not a group.

But the fact that there will be cooperation and joint actions with
the Heritage is sure, says Vahan Hovhannisyan. By the way, he noted
also that soon they are going to release a list of organizations
and figures who are against the content of the Armenian and Turkish
protocols and fully or partially agree with the demands of the ARF.

Vahan Hovhannisyan also dwelt on the hearings scheduled for September
23 at the National Assembly which the ARF headed NA commission on
foreign relations convened. Vahan Hovhannisyan noted that this meeting
may have a practice result only in case the slavery thinking and
indifference of parliamentarians is overcome. But Vahan Hovhannisyan
noted it is question whether the parliamentarians will participate
in these hearings or not.

ARMENIA NOT TO ALLOW ANY COUNTRY THROWING AROUND ULTIMATUMS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.09.2009 15:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ We do not need to open the Armenian-Turkish border
and establish diplomatic relations at any cost, Eduard Sharmazanov,
spokesman for the Republican Party of Armenia told a press conference
in Yerevan.

According to him, the Armenian side need all this without any
preconditions. "The Turkish side must understand that normalization
of relations between countries is necessary not only to Armenia,
but rest countries of the region," Edward Sharmazanov said.

He also added that the sides have completely different perception of
advancement in normalization of relations. "If the Turkish side, by
saying progress understands unilateral concessions from the Armenian
side, then let them forget about it. Armenia will never make unilateral
concessions, " Mr. Sharmazanov said, adding that all preconditions
are unacceptable for Armenia.

"The Republic of Armenia will never allow any country, including
Turkey to throwing around ultimatums," Mr.Sharmazanov stressed.

"The Armenian could also put its preconditions and say that it will
normalize relations only after Turkey recognizes the Armenian Genocide,
but to ensure security in the region and in the sake of democracy
the Armenian side rejected any preconditions. In this regard the
party’s position is clear: Nagorno-Karabakh can not be independent
within Azerbaijan, Armenia should have a common land border with
Stepanakert, safety should be guaranteed for the people and for the
State of Nagorno Karabakh, " Edward Sharmazanov said.