ARMENIA-TURKEY PROTOCOLS NOT SUBMITTED TO RA CC YET
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.11.2009 11:20 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has not introduced
the Armenia-Turkey protocols to the Constitutional Court yet, spokesman
for RA CC Hovhannes Papikyan told PanARMENIAN.Net.
He did not rule out that the protocols will be submitted during
November 3 CC session.
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Nov 1 2009
Armenian media talks to Turkey in Turkish
It is not unusual to see English and Russian versions of Armenian news
sites. But something unusual has started to occur recently, as some
news sites in Armenia have added a Turkish language section to their
pages.
On the front page of Tert.am, the words, `Å?imdi Türkçe’ or `Now in
Turkish’ appear brightly colored in fuchsia. Just a click away, it is
possible to see the headline story on the Turkish page, which was
launched only a couple of weeks ago: `Prosperous Armenia Party Will
Vote against Protocol Ratification Only in Case of Preconditions.’ Two
advertisements also appear on Tert.am’s Turkish front page.
Sonya Apresova, an editor from Tert.am, said they have 12 percent
growth each day in page views of the Turkish section of the site and
that their visitors are not only from Turkey, but also from Armenia,
the United States and Europe, especially in Germany, where about 2.5
million people of Turkish decent live.
When it comes to their visitors from Turkey, Apresova said that they
are mostly from Ä°stanbul, but overall visitors from 16 cities have
checked out their Turkish portal, including Ankara, Adana, Bursa,
İzmir, Manisa, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Erzurum and Samsun. `Our readers
— mostly Armenians living in Turkey — used to send us letters,
asking if it was possible to translate some news into Turkish. And now
that the Turkish version exists, we’re getting a lot of feedback. It’s
always interesting for people living in Turkey to get opinions from
Armenia,’ said Apresova.
Another news site with Turkish pages in addition to its Armenian,
English and Russian-language pages is News.am. `News.am is a
relatively new online news resource. It started this year. Tert.am
started last year. Both News.am and Tert.am are competing for the same
market,’ said Artur Papyan from the Yerevan Press Club.
The pioneer in Turkish-language Web sites in Armenia is Azg.am, which
is the Web arm of the Azg Daily newspaper.
Hagob Avedikian, editor-in-chief of Azg, said they have been
publishing a Turkish site along with their Armenian, English and
Russian portals since the establishment of their Web page six years
ago.
He said when they started, they received various responses from their
readers, from `sound comments’ to `curses.’
`It was an adventure for us then. Now, Turkish-Armenian relations have
become a major topic, so we should enlarge the Turkish section,’ he
said, adding that they have only about 10 news stories and articles
translated from Armenian to Turkish because they cannot afford to do
more. Avedikian also said they have been encouraged to expand their
Turkish site since they’ve received an advertisement from a Turkish
fragrance company which is seeking partners in Armenia.
Developments regarding Turkey-Armenia relations have helped to
increase Azg.com’s Turkish readership, he said. Their daily number of
hits on the Turkish site was about 180 before the Oct. 14 soccer match
between Turkey and Armenia in the northwestern Turkish town of Bursa.
But a day after the game, they received about 350 hits.
`This is a good development, that people want to know what Armenians
think,’ he added.
After months of furious diplomacy, the two countries took a
significant step on Oct. 10 as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
DavutoÄ?lu and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan signed
protocols in Zurich to improve relations. Both countries should have
the protocols ratified in their parliaments within a `reasonable time
frame.’
Turkey severed diplomatic ties with Armenia and closed its border in
1993 in protest over the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijan’s
Nagorno-Karabakh region. There has been optimism following both
countries’ gestures in September of last year, when Turkish President
Abdullah Gül accepted Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan’s invitation
to watch a game between the national soccer teams of both countries.
Sarksyan was in Bursa on Oct. 14 to watch the second-leg match between
Turkey and Armenia. Journalists from both Turkey and Armenia have been
kept busy by the tense nature of relations between the two countries,
and they increasingly feel the need to know what goes on in each
other’s countries as opposition in both sides fights the protocols.
`When there is a development in Turkey related to relations with
Armenia, I would like to know how it was reflected in Armenia,’ said
Demet Bilge Ergün, the news editor from Radikal daily. `I found out
that Tert.am had started publishing news in Turkish, and now I go to
that site every morning after reading the Turkish newspapers.’
Erdinç Ergenç, an editor with Sabah, said as a journalist, he feels
obligated to know what the other side `says and does’ and that a good
way to do it is to go to the Turkish-language sites in Armenia.
`It would be important for journalists at least to know what the other
side is doing in this process,’ he said. However, he added, it is `sad
to see’ that the Turkish side is not involved in a similar effort to
publish news from Turkey in Armenian.
There are, however, growing efforts in that regard. The
Turkish-Armenian community’s weekly Agos has started to post Armenian
news in Turkish as a part of the project `Neighbors about each other,’
made available for public use by the Civilitas Foundation, based in
Armenia, with support from the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) through the Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF).
Artak Shakaryan, Armenia-Turkey project manager for the EPF, said
every day over the last few weeks an article from the Turkish media
has been translated into Armenian and posted online at
01 November 2009, Sunday
YONCA POYRAZ DOÄ?AN Ä°STANBUL
WE SAW IT COMING: OPPOSITION ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Tert
Oct 30 2009
Armenia
Arman Musinyan, press secretary of the leader of the Armenian National
Congress (ANC), Armenia’s first president Levon Ter-Petrosian stated
during a press conference today that all their forecasts connected
with the Armenian-Turkish and Nagorno-Karabakh issues came true.
Musinyan stated that just as they had predicted, Armenia has either
lost influence over these issues or has trivial influence.
"It’s unfortunate, but it must be noted, these tendencies will get even
deeper. Presently processes on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict will become more animated and just as we cautioned last year,
these processes don’t promise anything good to Armenia," Musinyan said.
Continuing, Musinyan said that Armenia’s leadership offered denial
of the Armenian Genocide on a plate to the Turkish people in exchange
for opening the border, but the borders haven’t opened.
The press spokesperson noticed a direct connection with the Protocols
and settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "The day the Protocols
are ratified and the border opens, I will most likely surmise, and
I will be convinced, that, in the Karabakh issue, there has been a
denouement," the press spokesperson said.
EDWARD HOVHANNESYAN: ARMENIAN SOCIETY IS LEARNING TO OBSERVE ROAD RULES
PanARMENIAN.Net
30.10.2009 18:43 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 411 000 cases of road rule violation were registered
in 2008. According to 2009 first half year results, the number of
fines increased. Over 1400 were fined for pedestrian violations, which
is a positive aspect, as it spells an improved quality of Armenian
police work and efficient implementation of preventive methods to
exclude traffic accidents, Head of "Achilles" Social Organization
for Protection of Drivers’ rights Edward Hovhannesyan said.
Edward Hovhannesyan also added that the Organization, jointly
with RA Education and Science Ministry is ready to conduct road and
traffic rules lessons at RA schools. Many suggestions and projects of
"Achilles" Social Organization are supported by Armenian Government.
ARMENIA, LITHUANIA INTERESTED IN DEEPENING MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL COOPERATION
armradio.am
29.10.2009 18:07
On October 29 the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian,
received the Deputy Foreign Minister of Lithuania, Evaldas
Ignatavicius.
Greeting the guest, Minister Nalbandian expressed appreciation for
the dynamically developing bilateral relations and underlined that
Armenia was interested in deepening and reinforcing the mutually
beneficial cooperation.
Evaldas Ignatavicius also rated highly the friendly relations between
the two countries and noted that Lithuania intended to take practical
steps towards development of multifaceted cooperation with Armenia.
The parties attached importance to the effective cooperation between
the two countries. The interlocutors talked about the Armenia-EU
cooperation and exchanged views on the EU Eastern Partnership
Initiative.
During the meeting reference was made to a number of regional and
international issues of mutual interest.
EDWARD NALBANDYAN RECEIVES DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF ORGANIZATION FOR THE PROHIBITION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS ROGELIO PFIRTER
ARMENPRESS
Oct 29, 2009
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandyan received today Director-General of Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Rogelio Pfirter.
Armenian Foreign Ministry’s Media and Information Department told
Armenpress that greeting the guest E. Nalbandyan positively assessed
the activity of OPCW and Pfirter’s contribution to the implementation
of the goals of the organization. The minister pointed out that the
activity of OPCW corresponds to the efforts of the international
community to confront the contemporary challenges, particularly in
preventing dissemination of weapon of mass destruction.
The interlocutors referred in details to the Armenia-OPCW cooperation
issues. Rogelio Pfirter said he is glad with the support of Armenia
to the efforts of the organization directed toward comprehensive
applying of the Convention on Chemical Weapon.
Referring to the regional issues, the sides expressed assurance that
the joining of all the countries to the Convention will be an important
factor for consolidation of stability and security in the region.
THE SHAPE SHIFTER
By Richard Lacayo
TIME Magazine
/0,9171,1933224,00.html
Oct 29 2009
Is there another life in American art to compare to Arshile Gorky’s?
His arc from struggle to breakthrough to tragedy is slow, then swift,
then dazzling and finally devastating. In the seven or so years before
he took his life in 1948, he produced some of the greatest, most
explosive works of the 20th century, a synthesis of Surrealism and
abstraction that unlocked voluptuous new possibilities for painting
and opened the way to Abstract Expressionism. It wasn’t a long life,
but it was lit by fire.
Though it’s been almost three decades since the last Gorky
retrospective, the big new show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
was worth the wait. Organized by Michael R. Taylor, the museum’s
curator of modern art, it has final galleries so triumphant, you want
to throw your hat in the air, even though you know–and how could
you forget?–that this is a story that will end where it began,
in darkness.
Gorky was born Vosdanig Adoian in Khorkom, a village in Turkish
Armenia. In his early 20s he adopted a new name–Arshile (Russian for
Achilles) Gorky (in homage to the Russian writer Maxim Gorky). He
may not have known that gorky means bitter in Russian, but he was
certainly acquainted with bitterness. He had arrived in New York
City in 1920 as an 18-year-old refugee from the Turkish campaign
of atrocities against Armenians. One year earlier, his mother had
died of starvation in his arms. In adulthood, from 1926 to 1942, he
obsessively reworked two haunting double portraits that showed them
side by side–he the tentative 10-year-old; she an impassive totem,
forever out of reach beneath waves of nostalgia.
All through his 20s and 30s, Gorky devoted himself to a complete,
nearly self-annihilating immersion in the work of one master after
another. Cézanne, Picasso, Miró, Léger–he sometimes channeled their
voices like a ventriloquist’s dummy, but he learned their language.
His breakthrough came in the 1940s, partly by way of his contact with
the Surrealists in wartime exile in New York City, especially André
Breton and Roberto Matta. Gorky had been borrowing Surrealist imagery
for years, and he flourished in their company. It was through Matta
that he renewed his interest in the Surrealist notion of automatism,
a means of relinquishing conscious control of the hand to let it
discover images that flowed from the unconscious. With that, some key
turned inside him, allowing him to translate impressions of nature and
the body and childhood memories of Armenia into an abstract language
of longing and release.
Where once there had been something congested and strenuous about
Gorky’s paint application, his clotted surfaces began to give way to
Matta’s thin washes of color. And now there’s a slender, buoyant new
line that darts all around the canvas, lightly defining swelling forms,
with borders as thin as soap bubbles’, just tight enough to create
a sense of release when bursts of red or yellow pop them. You sense
that this is the bouncing, eternal line of freedom and pleasure,
one that traces back to the airborne arcs of those young women on
swings in Fragonard.
For most of his last years, Gorky went from strength to strength,
making lush, abundant pictures like The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb,
his 1944 masterpiece in which pools of color supply a world where
turbulent figures claw the air. But once the bad times began, they
never quit. In 1946 a fire in his Connecticut studio destroyed more
than 20 paintings. Then came rectal cancer and a car accident that
left his painting arm temporarily immobilized. Then his wife left him,
taking the kids. In despair and constant pain, he hanged himself. He
was only 46–a short life, but long enough to be a hinge that history
turned on.
EU PRESIDENCY CALLS FOR SOONEST RATIFICATION OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS
/ ARKA /
October 27, 2009
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, October 27, /ARKA/. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt,
speaking for the current EU Presidency, welcomed the signing of
Turkish-Armenian protocols, expressing hope that Armenia and Turkey
will ratify the protocols as soon as possible and will get down to
their unconditional implementation, the Armenian foreign ministry
said in a press release.
It said Carl Bildt made the statement during a joint news conference
in Luxemburg with foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Georgia.Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner for External
Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, was also present at the
news conference.
Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers Edward Nalbandian and Ahmet
Davutoglu signed October 10 in Zurich two protocols on establishment
of diplomatic relations and development of bilateral relations. The
protocols need to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries.
The foreign ministry’s press release said Carl Bildt also assessed
highly the progress achieved between Armenia and the EU.
It also quoted Benita Ferrero-Waldner as saying that the 100 euro
assistance promised by the European Union to Armenia, designed to
alleviate its worst economic downturn, will help the government to
put the economy back on track.
Before the news conference Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with EU
Foreign Policy and Security chief Javier Solana to discuss EU-Armenia
and regional issues.
ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER PARTICIPATED IN THE WORKING MEETING OF THE DEFENSE MINISTERS OF ISSF IN BRATISLAVA
ARMENPRESS
Oct 26, 2009
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Defense Minister Seyran
Ohanyan as head of delegation of a country providing a troop to the
International Security Support Forces (ISSF) participated October 23
in the working meeting of the defense ministers of ISSF in Bratislava.
Spokesman for the defense minister Seyran Shahsuvaryan told Armenpress
that defense minister of Afghanistan, special representative of the
UN Secretary General in Afghanistan also participated in the meeting.
In his opening speech NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmusen greeted
the participation of the Armenian Defense Minister as Armenia as
participant of ISSF but not member of NATO and participated in such
meeting for the first time: and now the number of countries providing
forces for activities in Afghanistan will be 43.
NATO Secretary General promised to continue close dialogue and
cooperation during the activities.
During the meeting the defense ministers of ISSF agreed over the
transition strategy of Afghanistan and other issues.
, Turkey
Oct 24 2009
Israel sends warm message to Turkey after "temporary" status quo
A senior Israeli official signaled warm ties with Turkey after a
"temporary" status quo that got worst after a Turkish series crisis.
Saturday, 24 October 2009 10:52
World Bulletin / News Desk
A senior Israeli official signaled warm ties with Turkey after a
"temporary" status quo that got worst after a Turkish series showed an
Israeli soldier shot dead a Palestinian child, the state-run Anadolu
Agency said.
Israeli Vice Prime Minister, Silvan Shalom, said Friday the recent bad
developments between Turkey and Israel were temporary.
Turkey’s public broadcaster TRT has removed scenes of Israeli violence
against Palestinians from the TV series " Separation" that caused a
diplomatic row with Israel.
Speaking to Turkish reporters on his country’s recent relations with
Turkey, Shalom said that Israel wanted to go back to times of good
relations with Turkey.
"Turkish President Abdullah Gul is a very good friend of mine, Shalom
said, "Turkey and Israel should go back to the times of good will and
good relations."
The two countries have many common points and interests, Shalom stressed.
The status quo between Turkey and Israel is temporary and I want to
believe that we will overcome the present situation, Shalom said.
Asked about what caused the recent tension between Turkey and Israel,
Shalom indicated that he did not know what triggered the tension.
The tension was not caused by the Israeli side, Shalom said.
I believe that the two countries will find ways to overcome the
difficulties, Shalom also said.
TRT is sponsoring the 13-episodes series with the motto "7 countries,
7 headliners".
"Separation" underlines that the believe will not dissappear in the
holy territory which becomes symbol of the humanitarian joint place
for both Palestinians and Israelis without discrimination between
Muslims or Jews.
Series crisis
First episode, titled "Palestine in Love and War", was shot in the
first qibla (direction of the Muslim prayers) Al-Aqsa mosque and the
most important place for Jewish believers, Wailing Wall.
Other episodes of "Separation" was shot in Armenia, Chechnya, Iran,
Ozbekstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan alongside Turkey.
The first episode portrayed Israeli forces as shooting innocent
Palestinian civilians, insulting and ridiculing them.
Israeli soldiers were shown killing a newborn baby, a little girl and
an elderly man on his way to pilgramage in Mecca.
Observers say the series was inspired by true events and actions
carried out by Israeli soldiers.
Earlier, Turkey has said bilateral ties will continue to suffer unless
Israel ends the humanitarian tragedy in the Gaza Strip and revives
peace talks with the Palestinians.
Earlier this year, outspoken Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has harshly criticised Israeli war in Gaza in Dec-Jan during
Davos Summit. He also critised Israeli nuclear arms during the last
meeting of United Nations Security Council.