Author: Karapet Navasardian

John Malkovich in Armenia

Karapet Navasardian
  • 17:43 | October 9,2017 | Culture
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Hollywood legend John Malkovich is in Armenia at the invitation of Sergey Smbatyan, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Youth Orchestra.

Actor, director, screenwriter and producer John Malkovich will be presenting a scene from Ernest Sabato’s “Heroes and Graves” novel, by Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra at the opening concert of the 5th Khachaturian International Festival. Pianist Anastasia Terenkova is the soloist.

“I and Sergey have an experience of such cooperation. Last year and two years ago we presented such format in Seoul and Buenos Aires. This is a unique format which should be combined with music and poetry. The text cannot compete with the music, it should be combined with it. In this case only text can make the music rich and complete. I think a lot before making decision about the text,” said Malkovich.

Malkovich likes listening to the classical music, particularly live performances. By the way, he used to play on the tube and the guitar. “I did not continue playing on the instruments as I realized my lack of talent,- confessed Malkovich, who, as he had said, likes professional approach to everything.- In the past, theaters were very important, and then films took that title. Now, I prefer directing. I  am also a producer. I do not always find scenarios I like, but I still work,” said the Hollywood legend.

In one of his interviews Malkovich said that he treated the profession of cinematographer as a work that needed to be done professionally, instead of dedicating yourself to such a degree so that one got a mental disorder.

As for performing in Armenia and how well Malkovich was familiar with Armenia, he answered that he had a lot of Armenian friends, he had not read special books about the Armenian history, but there was a book which he had read, there Zmyurnia is spoken about. He also knew about the Genocide. ” What can be said about that… One gets surprised on what awful things can people do.”

The Hollywood legend said that he had been looking forward to coming here. As always, he had already learnt what he wanted

Diyarbakir’s St. Giragos Armenian Church continues to be looted – Armenian community expects measures from authorities

Karapet Navasardian

| 16:44 | September 18 2017
Category
Region

Vartkes Ergun Ayik, the chairman of the executive board of Saint Giragos Armenian Church Charitable Foundation in Diyarbakir has announced that the largest Armenian Church in the Middle East, St. Giragos Church, has been looted, ARMENPRESS reports Turkish T24 informs.

The chairman of the executive board emphasized that Suri region of Diyarbakir, where the church is located, is until now considered a banned zone as a result of Turkish-Kurdish clashes, and it’s necessary to obtain permits from at least 10 places to go there.

“While we apply to different state bodies for going to the church, thieves easily enter there. After the end of the operations in the region and the heavy damages caused to the church as a result of the operations a lot has been looted from the church. We demand the authorities to take measures”, Ergun Ayik said.

Member of the Turkish parliament Garo Paylan of Armenian origin has referred to the problem. “It’s already a year neither I nor Diyarbakir’s residents are able to enter the region where the church is located. Who loots our church”, Paylan asked a rhetoric question on his Facebook page.

Artsakh Celebrates Independence Anniversary With Calls for Recognition

Karapet Navasardian
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10 hours ago

STEPANAKERT—Thousands of Artsakh residents and visitors from around the world on Saturday marked the 26th anniversary of Artsakh’s independence during various events and parades. One message, however, was clear: the international community must recognize Artsakh’s independence.

The series of events dedicated to the independence anniversary began early in the morning with a steady flow of people visiting the Stepanakert Memorial Complex, where President Serzh Sarkisian of Armenia and his Artsakh counterpart Bako Sahakian led a procession of officials to lay wreaths at the tombs of freedom fighters, whose sacrifice has made the Artsakh Republic prosper.

A long and large procession of people went through the streets of Stepanakert carrying with them a large Artsakh flag marked a day of festivities in all regions of the republic.

In his congratulatory statement, President Sahakian placed an emphasis on the importance for the international community to recognize Artsakh’s independence.

He said during the past 26 years, “together with our sisters and brothers from Armenia and the Diaspora we have managed to realize numerous strategic programs, which day by day bring us closer to attaining our cherished national goals, further strengthen and develop our country.”

“I am confident the civilized and progressive world will sooner or later recognize this equitable and lawful resolution of the Artsakh people, will not hesitate to admit the prevailing realities that demonstrate our adherence to universal human values and commitment to international norms and principles,” added Sahakian.

“I am confident since our people have proved through their painstaking work and dedicated service of their brave sons that they are able to build, make prosperous and safeguard their ancestral Fatherland, their independent statehood,” said Sahakian.

Events marking the 26th anniversary of Artsakh’s independence began before Saturday. On Friday, the long-awaited Vardenis-Martakert highway, the second road connecting Artsakh to Armenia was inaugurated. A day earlier, several people received awards of recognition from Sahakian, with the highest honor, the Golden Eagle Order and a title of “Hero of Artsakh,” being bestowed to former deputy prime minister General Arthur Aghabekyan.

"We tie the country’s future with education & science", President Sargsyan awards distinguished school kids

Karapet Navasardian 
ArmenPress, Armenia
Aug 29 2017


 "We tie the country's future with education & science", President
Sargsyan awards distinguished school kids



YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS. Distinguished school-kids from
Armenian schools, participants and winners of various international
Olympiads received awards, gifts and certificates in the Presidential
Palace of Armenia.

President Serzh Sargsyan and Education and Science minister Levon
Mkrtchyan handed over the awards.



School children who achieved successes in the Kangaroo: Math for
everybody international competition and the Bee: Armenian for
everybody competition received awards.

Minister Mkrtchyan awarded medals of excellence to distinguished pupils.

The President of Armenia delivered a speech after the awarding
ceremony, praising the children for their successes.

“Your successes in the Kangaroo, Bee and other educational
competitions convey strength and vigor to our people, and inspire
faith for me towards the future of our country. This kind of meetings
are already a tradition. This way we want to emphasize that we
associate our country’s future with education and science. The thirst
for science and education can never be prevented. On the contrary, we
want it to spread rapidly”, the president said.

Over 40 thousand children from Armenian schools, and over one thousand
children from Artsakhi schools took part in the Kangaroo international
match competition in 2017, while over 36 thousand and nearly 1000 took
part in the Bee: Armenian for everybody competition respectively.

522 children achieved the best results.

On the slopes of Mount Aragats, the tallest mountain in Armenia, archaeologists are painstakingly uncovering the ancient past. From July 17 to 20, six Armenian girls got an insider’s view as participants in the pilot session of Camp Aragats.

The camp is the first programmatic initiative of the U.S.-based Aragats Foundation and its Armenian sister organization, the Aragats Cultural Heritage Foundation. Founded in 2014 by Cornell archaeologists Lori Khatchadourian and Adam T. Smith, the Aragats Foundation serves as the public outreach wing of Project Aragats, a collaborative archaeological research program dedicated to exploring Armenia’s past through the modern era. The goal of the Aragats Foundation and its Armenian partner is to harness archaeology to enhance local prosperity through tourism.

“Bringing tourists into the area would be a boon to local business and a spur for entrepreneurship,” says Khatchadourian.

Education is another priority area for the foundation, and Camp Aragats represents its first public engagement effort. The girls-only pilot session was a response to the limited opportunities for girls in rural Armenia, says Khatchadourian. The camp focused on cultivating broad interests in archaeological research in addition to teaching the campers about the ancient history of their region.

“Archaeology is a terrific vehicle for sharing the thrill of scientific discovery and the possibilities of new technologies to illuminate the past. These insights and skills can be translated into domains beyond archaeology. Our goal is to ignite an interest in scientific and humanistic inquiry that can open doors and opportunities for children as they continue with their education,” says Khatchadourian. She served as camp co-director with Armine Harutyunyan, Armenian archaeologist and executive director of the Aragats Cultural Heritage Foundation.

Camper Mary draws an excavation trench at Gegharot, an archaeological site in Armenia.

The camp piggybacked on the summer field research of Project Aragats. Scholars working on the project (including several Cornell graduate students) donated anywhere from an hour to half a day to teach the campers about their work. “It was extraordinary to have so many different dimensions of research going on at the same time, but that is the culture of Project Aragats. We cultivate multidisciplinary research so that when the different pieces are brought together, the sum is much greater than the parts,” notes Khatchadourian.

Campers learned how to dig at the site of Gegharot, working alongside seasoned excavators from the nearby village. “Above all else, the children loved the process of excavation,” says Khatchadourian. “There was nothing quite like the excitement of stumbling upon a sherd of ancient pottery with their trowels and recognizing that they were directly uncovering the past.”

Like ancient potter apprentices, campers learned how to work with clay and got to attempt putting together a fragmented vessel from the Late Bronze Age. In a ceramic analysis session, they learned to identify the fragments of ancient pottery that litter the dirt roads of their neighborhood (which lies just below an ancient fortress) that they had previously thought of as mere rocks.

Campers learned how to spot ancient burials by walking the landscape with a team of survey archaeologists, and a paleolithic specialist taught them how to knap Stone Age tools from obsidian. In a session on paleoethnobotany and palynology, campers learned how botanical remains can convey information about ancient climate, agriculture and diet. And a session on human osteology allowed the girls to try their hands at identifying Bronze Age skeletal remains as they learned how bones can convey information about age, sex and health.

During the session on spatial technologies, which included working with maps, the campers learned how to fly a drone. “That was definitely a highlight,” says Khatchadourian with a laugh.

Linda B. Glaser is a staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.