System of a Down doesn’t mince words

Orange County Register, CA
May 20 2005

System of a Down doesn’t mince words

CD Review: The first half of a divided double album, System of a
Down’s “Mezmerize” is the quartet’s sharpest work yet.

System of a Down, “Mezmerize”(American/ Columbia) – The secret to
this unclassifiable quartet of Armenian absurdists’ brilliance is
their brevity. Not just in the sense time, though it is impressive
that this first half of a divided double album (“Hypnotize” is due in
fall) crams together such a wealth of brain-teasers and twisting
meter switches without going over 37 minutes.

Unlike the band’s previous efforts, which flailed toward feeble
finales, no track here overstays its welcome. Greatly abetted by
sympathetic producer Rick Rubin, each cut melds Elfmanesque lunacy,
Zappa-style satire and an affinity for soaring and swooping old-world
Eastern chants to metallic (but never overly abrasive) hooks and
funky change-ups that should seize even those fleeing from it.

But that’s not the sort of brevity that sets this singular System
apart; it’s in the way chief madmen Daron Malakian (guitars and
vocals) and Serj Tankian (vocals) make stinging points with only a
line or two. One defiant couplet – “Why don’t the presidents fight
the war? / Why do they always send the poor?” – accomplishes
everything scores of recent protest pieces have been struggling to
say, or simply overstating.

Wisely, Malakian and Tankian, their voices superbly locked in
otherworldly harmony when not taking turns dropping verbal bombs,
simply repeat their best phrases, rather than try to elaborate. It’s
a trick Zappa knew well but rarely employed so succinctly, though the
over-the- top anatomy comparison and operatic parody of “Cigaro”
seems ripped from his work.

System – natural metalheads as much as avant-gardists – remain
experts of the wicked jab, preferring to let the walloping,
mind-boggling force of their choppy music do more talking than any
direct attacks, regardless of the target: “Radio/Video,” television
and extreme perversity in “Violent Pornography,” Hollywood vapidity
(more than once) and the overriding attitude that their generation is
grossly apathetic.

“We’ll go down in history / With a sad Statue of Liberty / And a
generation that didn’t agree,” they sing in one of the album’s more
conventional yet crushing moments. It’s a look- in-the-mirror
breakthrough on what is surely their sharpest work yet. Grade:A (Ben
Wener/The Register)

Armenian Parliament Speaker met european Economic Chamber head

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER MET EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CHAMBER HEAD

Pan Armenian News
20.05.2005 05:49

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian Parliament Speaker Artur Baghdasarian
received Chairman of the European Economic Chamber of Trade,
Commerce and Industry Heinz Helmut Vejpustek, RA NA Press Service
reported. During the meeting Mr. Vejpustek noted that the Economic
Chamber is charged with the task to contribute to the economic
reforms in education, tourism and high technologies for their further
submission to the EU. In his turn, the Armenian NA Speaker expressed
readiness to promote the activities of the Economic Chamber in Armenia
and underscored the importance of the integration of the Armenian
economy into the European Economic Space.

Moscow: Experts To Coordinate Terms Of Russian Bases’ Withdrawal Fro

EXPERTS TO COORDINATE TERMS OF RUSSIAN BASES’ WITHDRAWAL FROM GEORGIA

MOSCOW, May 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russian and Georgian experts are
to coordinate the terms and order of the Russian military bases’
withdrawal from Georgia, as well as obligations of the sides and
security issues, in the near future, chief of the Russian General
Staff Yury Baluyevsky told journalists in Moscow. Russia makes the
only principal condition – Russian servicemen should be withdrawn to
some territory with developed infrastructure, Baluyevsky stressed.
“The military bases will not be withdrawn from Georgia to Russia. It
is not ruled out that some property and military hardware will be
deployed in Armenia,” he said. In his opinion, this scenario will
reduce the withdrawal terms from 10-11 to 4 years.

Yury Baluyevsky also pointed out to attempts of economic blockade of
the Russian bases in Georgia (water and power cuts).

Armenia: Ombudsman Clashes With President

Armenia: Ombudsman Clashes With President
By Zhanna Alexanian in Yerevan (CRS No. 287, 18-May-05)

Caucasus Reporting Service
18 May 2005

The government seeks to restrict the powers of Armenia’s human rights
commissioner.

Only a year after her appointment, Armenia’s first human rights
commissioner is in open confrontation with the authorities after
delivering a series of stinging verdicts on legal abuses in the
country.

“Back then [a year ago], everyone wondered if the ombudsman would be
independent from the president, but now it looks like the president
is trying to get independent from the ombudsman,” the ombudsman Larisa
Alaverdian told IWPR.

When she was appointed in March 2004, following pressure from
international organisations, there was widespread scepticism that the
human rights ombudsman would have anything but a decorative role. But
after a series of bitter disagreements, in which she has rebuked the
government, President Kocharian petitioned the constitutional court
last month to restrict the mandate of his ombudsman Article 7 of the
Law on the Human Rights Defender declared that the ombudsman had
the right “to give recommendations to the court, guaranteeing the
enforcement of citizens’ right to a fair trial, in accordance with
the constitution of the republic of Armenia and international norms”.

However, in its May 6 verdict, the constitutional court declared this
article unconstitutional and divested the ombudsman of any right to
interfere with the judicial process.

Justice Minister David Harutunian, who testified in the constructional
court on behalf of the president, argued that the ombudsman had
effectively been given the right to undermine the independence
of judges.

“We do not want this kind of interference to continue,” he told
IWPR. “Small concessions undermine the independence of the judicial
system. I believe this amendment will help the ombudsman find her
rightful place in the system.”

But Alaverdian denied she had ever interfered with the administration
of justice or taken any sides, saying she had simply tried to safeguard
citizens against arbitrary judgments.

“The constitutional court decision was clearly biased,” she said. “My
duty to issue recommendations to courts was limited to begin with. The
president goes by the documentation and explanations provided by his
justice minister.

They simply want to keep the ombudsman in the dark about the shady
dealings of the courts and judges.

“Instead of defending human rights, they are defending the judges
from the human rights commissioner. The majority of complaints we
receive are about court rulings and verdicts.”

When the ombudsman’s office published its human rights report for
2004 last month with strong criticism directed at law enforcement and
courts, it came under strong attack from different parts of government
and the legal system.

In one case, the ombudsman highlighted a human rights abuse when the
mayor of Yerevan auctioned off a plot of land that was still on valid
lease, and the tenant’s rights had not been terminated. The mayor’s
office described the ombudsman’s actions as “unconstitutional”,
and told her to stay away from property matters.

Alaverdian was similarly rebuffed by the legal department of the
president’s office when she questioned the validity of government
actions in a property dispute, when citizens’ property was forfeited
and land was seized for the needs of two ambitious government
construction programmes, the Northern Prospekt and Cascade in central
Yerevan.

Stepan Safarian, an analyst with the Armenian Centre for Strategic and
Ethnic Studies, believes that the Armenian authorities had expected
their ombudsman to be more obedient and were now trying to make her
so. “Whether the law was good or bad is beside the point. What matters
is that Armenia got an ombudsman, who proceeded to insist on certain
freedoms,” he said.

Safarian recalled how in April 2004, when an opposition demonstration
was brutally dispersed by the police in central Yerevan, the ombudsman
put the government in an awkward position by claiming its actions
were unconstitutional and demanding an explanation from the president.

“The president appealed to the constitutional court because he did
not like this new institution which could influence the routine,
conveyor-belt administration of justice, making the outcome less
predictable,” said Safarian.

Zhora Khachatrian, a legal adviser to Alaverdian, told IWPR the
ombudsman only had an oversight role in court cases.

“We are not contesting judgments, we are simply raising issues,
but they are saying this violated court independence,” said
Khachatrian. “I’ve had at least one case when hearings were conducted
and a verdict passed in the absence of the defendant, which is against
all canons of judicial practice.”

Khachatrian said the government was now embarked on a course of
restricting Alaverdian’s role as much as possible. Already she is no
longer entitled to speak at government meetings. “From now on, you may
only ask questions,” President Kocharian told her at a recent meeting.

“If this provision of the law is changed, then they are clearly
attempting to turn the ombudsman and her office into some kind of
compliant addendum to executive government,” said Alaverdian.

“All this goes to show that the powers accorded to the human rights
ombudsman by law do not have substance,” said Khachatrian. “The
ombudsman’s position is strictly formal, or decorative. And whenever
the ombudsman speaks out, they claim it violates the constitution.”

The Armenian Centre for Strategic and National Studies conducted a
poll in March which found that Alaverdian had gained popular support
over the last year. A total of 22.6 per cent of the sample said they
trusted the ombudsman the most as a human rights defender. By contrast
the president, parliament, government and courts all received approval
ratings of less than ten per cent.

“Restricted as the ombudsman is in her actions, she has won
considerable authority and confidence at the grassroots level,”
said Safarian.

Safarian said he was concerned that the government might be preparing
evidence to discredit the ombudsman, so that this autumn, following
constitutional reforms, Alaverdian can be replaced with a more
compliant figure.

WARSAW: Turkish premier raises Armenian genocide issue at Council of

Turkish premier raises Armenian genocide issue at Council of Europe summit

PAP news agency
17 May 05

Warsaw, 17 May: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has criticized
resolutions which have been passed by “parliaments of various
countries” [including Poland] to honour the victims of the 1915-17
massacre of Armenians in Turkey.

Erdogan, addressing the second day of debates of the 3rd Council of
Europe summit said that the passing of such resolutions is “unjust.”
The Turkish prime minister termed the recurring around the world
voices on, as he termed, “the so called Armenian genocide” as “lobbying
which Turkey does not support.”

He added that the road to agreement on the developments which took
place 90 years ago leads through cooperation of historians from Turkey
and Armenia as well as from other countries.

“We have opened our archives and we ask Armenia to do the
same…[ellipsis as published]” “Each political decision should be
based on solid documents. This is our precondition,” stressed the
prime minister.

Gospel singer Carr’s ‘Church’ has global flavor

Gospel singer Carr’s ‘Church’ has global flavor

By Deborah Evans Price

NASHVILLE (Billboard) – Kurt Carr’s message of unity has struck a
chord with audiences as his new project, “One Church,” recently bowed
at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart.

The ambitious set, released March 22, features Carr’s seven-voice
ensemble, as well as a South African choir, Scottish bagpipers and an
Armenian accordionist. Recorded live last July at the COGIC Cathedral
in Los Angeles, the music runs the gamut from rousing church songs to
poignant ballads.

Carr attributes his sales to “God’s grace and timing.” It had been
four years since his last release. “I’ve been traveling and working a
whole lot, keeping the name out there,” says Carr, who records for
GospoCentric/Zomba Gospel. “That was a dream of mine, to be No. 1.”

Carr admits he felt pressure to deliver. “I had a responsibility to
say something profound, something that would bless people again,” he
says. “In my prayer time, God just kept bringing to my recollection
the success of (previous hit single) ‘Sanctuary’ and how that song had
been translated into nine different languages. The Lord said to me,
‘I have given you the ear of the world, now what will you say to
them?”‘

The title came first. “It’s the theme of the album,” he says. “I’ve
accomplished that (‘one church’) with all the different races and
cultures that were represented on the album. I’ve got people from
Africa, India, China, Japan and even a guitar player from Italy.

“I pray that these songs will help at least spark the interest and
vision for people to come together,” he says.

Carr will embark on a tour in August. Until then, he is doing a series
of workshops, teaching church music leaders how to incorporate the new
songs into their services.

“I explain the scriptural references from the songs and talk to them
about my journey,” he says of the three-day events. “I bring in a
couple of my singers and we . . . sing, shout and praise God.”

Reuters/Billboard

05/13/05 20:14 ET

Armenia-Turchia: Erevan disposta normalizzazione entro 2005

Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG (SDA)
SDA – Servizio di base in Italiano
May 13, 2005

Armenia-Turchia: Erevan disposta normalizzazione entro 2005

By FS

ANKARA, 13 MAG

Il premier armeno Andranik Margaryan ha per la prima volta affermato
che il confine armeno-turco potra essere aperto “entro la fine
dell’anno” e che le relazioni diplomatiche tra i due paesi potranno
essere allacciate. “Le condizioni attuali ci permettono di
normalizzare i rapporti armeno-turchi” – ha detto Margaryan, in una
conferenza stampa tenuta a Erevan, secondo quanto riferito dai media
turchi.

“Si deve fare tutto il possibile entro la fine dell’anno per aprire i
confini e per potere allacciare relazioni diplomatiche tra i due
paesi”, ha aggiunto Margaryan secondo le stesse fonti.

Tra Turchia ed Armenia i confini sono chiusi e non esistono relazioni
diplomatiche soprattutto per due ragioni: la prima e la controversia
sul conflitto in Nagorno-Karabakh del 1989-1994 conclusosi con
l’occupazione della regione e di zone limitrofe da parte degli armeni
e con la fuga di circa un milione di azeri in Azerbaigian; la seconda
e la controversia sui massacri di un milione e mezzo di armeni,
secondo Erevan, residenti in Anatolia negli anni 1915 e 1916. Gli
armeni, appoggiati da diversi paesi del mondo vogliono che siano
riconosciuti come “genocidio”, mentre i turchi si oppongono a tale
definizione ed hanno proposto di recente la formazione di una
commissione congiunta turco-armena.

L’Unione europea sta esercitando forti pressioni sui due paesi per
una normalizzazione dei loro rapporti. Un incontro informale e
previsto tra lo stesso Margaryan ed il premier turco Tayyip Erdogan,
in margine al vertice del Consiglio d’Europa che si svolgera a
Varsavia il 16 e 17 maggio.

‘Erdogan strained in Moscow, avoided looking into Kocharian’s eyes’

AZG Armenian Daily #086, 13/05/2005

Armenia-Turkey

‘ERDOGAN WAS STRAINED IN MOSCOW AND AVOIDED LOOKING INTO KOCHARIAN’S EYES’

After the exchange of correspondence between Turkish Prime Minister and
Armenian President, the meeting of Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Robert
Kocharian replaced the issue of the Armenian Genocide on Ankara’s agenda.
Though Erdogan’s letter removes the Genocide issue from agenda, Turkey is
more concerned to see it out of the international agenda.

In this respect it is not strange perhaps that simultaneously with talks
over Turkish PM’s meeting with Armenian President, Turkey lashes out against
those countries whose parliaments have recognized the Armenian Genocide.
Particularly, against the Polish Sejm and Russian State Duma.

As it is known, on April 20 the Sejm has unanimously recognized the
“Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey” and on April 22 the State Duma
expressed its condolences to the “fraternal Armenian people” and called on
the world community to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. The Turkish National Assembly quickly responded and condemned the
Polish Sejm for the recognition. The chairman of the Assembly, Byulent
Arenc, who had previously refused to visit Poland, annulled the planned
visit of members of Intergovernmental Group of Russian-Turkish Friendship to
Turkey. Moreover, he officially refused to make the supposed visit to
Russia.

Turkey never misses the chance to express its opposition to the growing
tendency of Armenian Genocide acknowledgement by more and more states. The
celebration of 60th anniversary of the victory over the Nazi Germany on 9
May that hosted over 50 state leaders in Moscow, including the Armenian
President and Turkish PM, was such an opportunity for Turkey to embrace.

According to May 10 issue of Turkish Sabah newspaper, during the Moscow stay
Erdogan had talks with US President Bush, French President Chirac, German
Chancellor Schroder and a number of other state leaders. Talking to Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Polish President Alexander Kwasnewski, Erdogan
said, “Your decisions [recognition of the Genocide by the State Duma and
Sejm] upsets us and the Turkish people. These are claims that have no legal
ground”.

Interestingly, while Erdogan was complaining to Putin and Kwasnewski of the
Genocide recognition, Chancellor Schroder was begging forgiveness of Russian
and all the Soviet people for fascists’ crimes. The Turkish Public TV
broadcasting live Erdogan-Putin meeting May 9, informed that Putin gave no
response to Erdogan.

In other words, Putin disregarded Turkish MP’s complaint. Apparently, Polish
President’s attitude was very much like that of Putin as the Terjuman
newspaper wrote on May 10 that Erdogan was strained. According to the paper,
anxiety was noticeable while Erdogan was talking with President Bush even
more so while shaking President Kocharian’s hand. Though exchanging
handshakes, Erdogan and Kocharian didn’t talk with each other. While
greeting, Terjuman notes, “Erdogan failed to conceal his inner tension and
avoided looking into Kocharian’s eyes”. Armenian President, in his turn,
carefully watched PM Erdogan waiting the latter to reach out his hand.

Receiving the ambassadors of EU member states in Turkey, Turkish foreign
minister Abdullah Gul informed them about the supposed Kocharian-Erdogan
meeting during the Warsaw Summit of the European Council on May 15-17.
According to Hyurriet, Gul said hinting at the Genocide recognition by the
Polish Sejm, “We stand for friendly relations. We are waiting for a signal
from Armenia to open the border. How can we open it without any positive
step? It is the Diaspora that is unwilling to see relations between the two
states developed. They are implementing an enormously tough and wrong
policy. Despite all these, we try to have positive approach to Kocharian’s
reply letter. Erdogan and Kocharian shook hands today in Moscow. We are
looking to their meeting in Warsaw”.

By Hakob Chakrian

BAKU: EU envoy urges Aliyev Kocharian to renew NK negotiator Mandate

EU envoy urges Azeri, Armenian leaders to renew Karabakh negotiators’ mandate

Turan news agency
12 May 05

BAKU

The special representative of the European Union for the South
Caucasus, Heikki Talvitie, told a news conference in Baku today that
the key topics of his negotiations were the prospects for the Karabakh
settlement, the forthcoming parliamentary elections and
Turkish-Armenian relations.

Touching on the first issue, Talvitie said the foreign ministers of
the two countries had not met since March. This is explained by the
fact that there is no agenda for the talks between the foreign
ministers.

“They need a new mandate,” he said.

During the visit to the region, Talvitie held meetings with the
Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents and spoke about their meeting in
Warsaw on the sidelines of the Council of Europe summit [16-17
May]. He expressed the hope that the meeting would be held and the
heads of the two states would provide their ministers with a new
mandate to continue the negotiations.

Talvitie explained the discussion of Turkish-Armenian relations in
Baku by the impact of this issue on the Karabakh settlement. Talvitie
reiterated the known position of Ankara that as long as the Karabakh
conflict remains unresolved, Turkey will not open its border with
Armenia. The EU envoy believes that a solution to the Karabakh
conflict “partly” depends on negotiations between Turkey and Armenia.

NKR: Police in Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] unmask Azeri spy

Police in Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] unmask Azeri spy

Artsakh Public TV, Stepanakert
11 May 05

The NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh Republic] national security service and
police conducted a joint intelligence operation on 25 April to reveal
a Karabakh citizen who had a secret relationship with the Azerbaijani
special services, the NKR national security service has reported.

The NKR public prosecutor has instituted criminal proceedings into the
case.