Author: Nargizian David

Double Down
By Todd Martens

Billboard
May 17 2005

Few acts can trot out a Peter Jennings newsreel before a concert and
have a hard-rock audience of 6,000 erupt in cheers. For fans of System
Of A Down, however, a pre-show report on genocide is as fitting as
a guitar solo.

It is a Sunday night in late April, and System Of A Down is staging its
third hometown concert to benefit human rights and genocide awareness
organizations. The group is about to embark on a world tour, and
the Los Angeles crowd has gathered not to see the band off or hear
a glimpse of its upcoming material. Instead, the atmosphere at the
Gibson Amphitheater (formerly Universal Amphitheater) is that of a
family reunion, where high schoolers and adults stand and cheer a
heavy metal guitar line — or an ABC news clip from 1999 — all in
the name of Armenian heritage.

Fans drape the Armenian flag over the balcony, and the mosh pit near
the front of the stage is a blur of red, blue and orange as fans
brandish flags in the crush. A fan in the back yells “f*** Turkey”
— a remark directed at the country that perpetrated the Armenian
genocide of 1915 — and the audience explodes in cheers that rival
anything the band received at Ozzfest in 2002.

“This band didn’t start to change the world,” guitarist/songwriter
Daron Malakian later says from the stage. “This band didn’t start to
change your mind. This band started just to make you ask questions.”

System Of A Down’s ethnic appeal and political directness are not
the typical qualities of today’s megastars, and that says nothing
of the band’s music: a metal-laced mesh of off-the-wall rhythms and
whiplash shifts in direction.

The American/Columbia act has sold nearly 6 million albums in the
United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The group’s 2001 effort,
“Toxicity,” is its most successful so far, scanning 3.5 million copies.

On May 17, System Of A Down will release the first half of its most
ambitious project, a double-album that will be issued as two separate
discs — “Mezmerize” and “Hypnotize” — nearly six months apart.

The first disc, “Mezmerize,” was introduced in March with first
single “B.Y.O.B.,” a thrashy, Black Sabbath-inspired anti-war anthem.
The song is highly critical of U.S. policy in the Middle East. (“And
we don’t live in a fascist nation,” Malakian sings with far from
subtle sarcasm.)

Loaded with four-letter words, it is not the obvious choice for a
radio cut. Singer/songwriter Serj Tankian says the band chose the
song with hesitation.

“It’s such a heavy and aggressive song, and we didn’t want a political
song as our first single,” he says. “But it’s so powerful and so
different from everything else on the radio, we thought we could
get away with it, even though we don’t want to be pigeonholed as a
political band.”

Yet Tankian can’t escape politics. As the co-founder of Axis of
Justice, the activist Web site he runs with Audioslave’s Tom Morello,
Tankian is the most politically active member of System Of A Down.

Mild-mannered and articulate, Tankian chooses his words with the
conscientiousness of a scholar. He shows up for an interview in a
suit, while Malakian slouches next to him in jeans and a T-shirt. In
the words of producer Rick Rubin, Malakian is the “darker, more aggro
character, and Serj is the poet.”

“The word ‘politics’ is a funny thing,” Tankian says. “A lot of
people say, ‘Hey, I’m not political,’ and they don’t realize that,
in today’s world, economics, politics, class struggle and social
structure, are all tied together. It affects us directly, whether we
like it or not, or whether we want to pay attention to it or not. Our
lives are political, and System Of A Down is a band that talks about
politics and has very strong points of view.”

Like all of its previous work, the act recorded the albums with Rubin,
who signed the band to his American Recordings imprint in 1997. If
there is a noticeable difference between “Cigaro” and past System Of
A Down songs, it is that the first voice one hears is that of Malakian
and not Tankian.

Tankian is still the group’s primary vocalist, and Malakian has always
composed essentially all of the band’s music — coming off as hard
rock’s answer to Frank Zappa. Yet “Mezmerize” and “Hypnotize” sees
Malakian writing more lyrics than he has before. Malakian even splits
vocal duties more evenly with Tankian and sings lead on a few cuts.

Tankian and Malakian run their own record labels, but Tankian’s Axis
of Justice Web site is becoming increasingly more visible, and in 2003
he recorded an album of largely experimental instrumental music with
Armenian musician Arto Tuncboyaciyan. With Malakian taking on a more
active vocal role, one gets the impression that Tankian is taking a
step or two back from band.

“I’m starting to compose music for films,” Tankian says, “and I don’t
like being committed to one thing, whether it’s the singer of a band
or one band in general. System Of A Down is part of what I do, but
it’s just part of what I do. I don’t define it, nor does it define me.”

Malakian, however, notes that only those outside of the band’s inner
circle will be surprised to hear him sing more. “I’ve always been
vocally involved with System Of A Down, not necessarily as a singer,
but I’ve written a lot of the melody lines and the vocal patterns.
When I wrote something before, I had Serj in my head, but this time
I had both of us in my head.”

In discussing the new albums, Malakian and Tankian always refer to
them as a single project. To the band, “Mezmerize” and “Hypnotize”
are one album released in two parts, with both topping off somewhere
between 35 and 40 minutes.

“You don’t have a bunch of kids dropping acid like they used to,”
Malakian says. “You can’t just release double albums and expect
people to sit there and devote their time to it. Our songs are tough
to digest, and I would feel really uncomfortable handing someone a
CD with 25 songs staring them in the face.”

Following a 10-city U.S. “guerrilla tour” that began April 25, the
group will head overseas to perform at European festivals, and then
launch an arena tour of North America with the Mars Volta in late
summer. It will be System Of A Down’s first large-scale U.S. tour
since appearing on the Ozzfest bill in 2002.

ABSURD STATEMENT OF AZERI FOREIGN MINISTER HAS FOR DEFINITE OBJECTS OF HOME AND FOREIGN POLICY

STEPANAKERT, MAY 18. ARMINFO. A statement of Azeri foreign minister
Elmar Mamedyarov saying that an agreement on reimbursement of
territories under control of the Armenian side was reached during a
Warsaw meeting of Armenian and Azeri presidents Robert Kocharyan and
Ilham Aliev, in spite of its absurdity, has for the definite objects
of both home and foreign policy, stated a Karabakhian analyst David
Babayan in an interview to ARMINFO’s reporter in Stepanakert.

In his words, Mamedyarov aims to destabilize a situation in Armenia
and Nagorny Karabakh. Besides, Azeri authorities tries to raise their
“damaged” reputation amongst country’s people, especially on the
threshold of parliamentary elections in October, 2005.

Babayan stressed that Azeri authorities recognize themselves all
the absurdity of their statements concerning the reimbursement
of territories under control of the Armenian side. In his words,
this issue is not to be discussed on the whole. “As regards the
autonomy in the structure of AR, any autonomy in the structure of AR
is unacceptable for Karabakh. Such an autonomy existed during the 70
years and we all know what end it had”, the analyst stressed.

WARSAW DECLARATION ADOPTED

A1plus

| 18:54:09 | 17-05-2005 | Politics | COE SUMMIT |

The Third Summit of the Council of Europe with the participation
of Presidents and governments of 46 states is over. Almost all the
participants noted of Belarus, which is not the member of the CoE
yet. “The South Caucasus has achieved some progress in democracy
establishing, while Belarus marks no progress”, CoE Secretary General
Terry Davis said.

In his words, the freedom of speech should be first secured in
Belarus. The summit participants marked Belarus as a point separating
one part of Europe from the other.

Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski noted in his final speech that
the summit has achieved its goal. He said that Poland suffered badly
in the World War II knows the price of people and called the states
to settle conflicts peacefully.

A document entitled the Warsaw Declaration providing for Future
Structure of Europe without Disputes program based on the democratic
values, human rights and order was adopted during the summit.

To note, during several days already anarchists organize rallies
against the CoE accusing it of inactivity. The policemen secure the
summit participants from the anarchists with black-painted faces and
black flags.

COMMUNITY HEAD ELECTION TO BE HELD IN DAVTASHEN

A1plus

| 13:26:54 | 17-05-2005 | Politics |

Vox Populi center has conducted a survey among 662 residents of the
Davtashen community of Yerevan to find out how people will vote at
the election of the community head scheduled for May 14-15.

87% of the respondents were aware of the upcoming election however
only 61% of the community voters or 49 % of those included in the
rolls(about 12500) are going to take part in the election.

The people were supposed to assess the activities of the present
and former community heads Surik Ghukasyan and Ruben Gevorgyan. 60%
of the respondents estimated Surik Ghukasyan’s activities as “good”,
51% favored Ruben Gevorgyan.

According to the outcomes, the citizens are going to vote in the
following way:

Surik Ghukasyan – 28%

Ruben Gevorgyan – 21%

Against all – 2%

Undecided – 22%

Secret – 28%

‘IF THERE ARE NO DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS, THEY SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT’

AZG Armenian Daily #088, 18/05/2005

Armenia-Turkey

Turkish PM Responds to Armenian President’s Speech

The Turkish political circles were rather optimistic over the
possibility of a meeting between Armenian President Robert Kocharian
and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Warsaw. The issue
did not drop out Turkish press’ attention as well. So, in its May
16 issue Milliet newspaper predicted that the leaders of two states
would meet that very day.

But on May 17 Milliet changed its view writing that Kocharian’s speech
at the CE summit left no chance for a meeting. The other Turkish
papers, Hyurriet and Zaman in particular, followed Milliet’s example.

Those papers focus on expression by Robert Kocharian that “Armenia
believes in Europe with open borders, with no violence, blockades and
refugees”. Zaman notes that the Armenian President “called for the
inclusion” of Nagorno Karabakh in Europe and that the international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide is “in harmony with the European
values”.

The newspapers mention meanwhile that Kocharian offered thanks to
those CE states that recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide.

Conclusions Turkish press makes from Kocharian’s speech are
noteworthy. It considers that by the “open borders and Europe without
blockades” Kocharian “hinted at Armenia’s blockade by Turkey”,
reminding of the 90th anniversary of the Genocide, “Kocharian showed
that Armenia will not give up its efforts of international recognition
of the genocide”. Kocharian’s words about Nagorno Karabakh “as a state
de facto existing” are interpreted as a blow to the attempt to find
a solution for the Nagorno Karabakh issue previously discussed with
the Azerbaijani President.

Milliet writes that Erdogan was off for a meeting with the President
of Lithuania during Kocharian’s speech. But that was no obstacle
for Erdogan, as Hyurriet notes, to call a press conference for
comeback. According to Milliet Erdogan said, “I think it’s a way
of self-satisfaction to speak of Armenian genocide while having
no grounds. You cannot dupe the humankind by describing few death
cases during deportation as ‘genocide’. Baseless decisions of diverse
parliaments reached due to your lobby are forceless for us. We have
sincerely offered our views to Kocharian. He gave unbecomingly
positive response. We want the response to become more and more
positive. Removal of these allegations from the agenda would be
beneficial for Armenia too. If there are no diplomatic relations,
they should be held responsible for that. Europe recognized them as
occupants. Did they withdraw from Karabakh? No. Let them first carry
out their obligation. Future is not the reality that a politician
should build on hatred”.

Zaman adds that “Kocharian’s move on genocide killed hopes for
Kocharian-Erdogan meeting”. Erdogan said that Armenia and Turkey
have put forward no claims before each other, so there can be no
meeting. According to Zaman, Turkish PM meanwhile warned the countries
whose parliaments have taken decisions of recognizing the Armenian
Genocide, saying, “If they overstep the limits, we also will take a
decision to condemn all those states that perpetuated genocides. And
our decision will base on historic evidence”.

By Hakob Chakrian

Belgian MP meets with Iran’s religious minorities MPs

IRNA
May 17, 2005

President of the External Relations Commission of the Belgian House
of Representative Karel Pinxten met here Monday with four majlis
deputies of religious minorities.

In the meeting, majlis representatives of northern and southern Iran’s
Armenians, representative of Iran’s Jewish community and representative
of Iranian Assyrians and Chaldeans were present.

Morris Motamed, Jews’ representative in majlis, condemned exaggeration
on religious minorities’ problems in Iran and said, “We do not deny
problems, but the problems belong to our society and to solve them
we do not need others help”.

He added, ” According to our legal power and authority, which is
based on country’s constitution, we have a good interaction with our
country’s officials and we inform them about possible problems and
deficiencies and then all together we try to solve them”.

Assyrian and Chaldean representative in majlis said, the followers of
divine monotheist faiths in the Islamic Republic of Iran live with
their fellow citizens peacefully and practice their religious rites
in full freedom.

He added, “We have our own churches, as well as our economic, cultural
and social associations and in our special schools we teach our own
traditions and language”.

The representative of Iran’s Southern Armenians in the majlis also
said, “In spite of ups and downs in historical life of every nation,
divine faiths believers in Iran have always lived peacefully with
their compatriots”.

According to the country’s constitution, majlis deputies from
religious minorities have the same power and authority as their Muslim
colleagues, said northern Armenian deputy in majlis.

The four deputies reminded an article in the year 1384 (Iranian
calender) budget for government financial support of religious
minorities and the recent judicial reforms indicating country’s
officials’ efforts for the minorities.

The deputies condemned malicious and negative behaviors with Muslims
in the Western countries.

Pinxten expressed happiness over being in Iran and said he was
satisfied with his talks with Iranian officials.

He said the aim of his 4-day visit to Iran at the head of a 4-member
delegation is mutual understanding and discussing the practical ways
of boosting bilateral parliamentary cooperation.

Zaman, Turkey
May 11 2005

Turks Exiled from Yerevan Live in Igdir
By Anadolu News Agency (aa)
Published: Wednesday 11, 2005
zaman.com

39 Turks who were exiled from the Armenian capital of Yerevan after
World War I and who have identification cards that say they were born
in “Yerevan,” now live in the Tasburun town of Igdir, a city in the
northeast Anatolian region of Turkey.

Tasburun Mayor Riza Kumtepe said that they have discovered that the
Turks have revealed that both the genocide and the exile were
actually committed by Armenians. Kumtepe said there are 39 Turks who
were born in Yerevan living in their town and that their families
make up a group of over 500 people. Kumtepe noted: “The majority of
the town is made up of the grandsons of Turks who were exiled from
Yerevan to Igdir and whose homes and land were seized after World War
I. We, as the Turkish nation, have not conveyed this fact before now
because we wanted to forget about the painful events that happened in
the past. We wanted to be faithful to the words of Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey who said: “Peace at
home, peace in the world.” However, we cannot tolerate Armenians
allegations that Turks carried out a so-called genocide any longer.
We want to show them that the real exile was committed by them and
that’s why we have identified the Turks who were exiled from
Yerevan.”

Armenian opposition leader takes offence at absence from US embassy party

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
11 May 05 p 5

Text of Avetis Babazhanyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Haykakan
Zhamanak on 11 May headlined “Presentation without the opposition”

Swayed by revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, the success
of which was preconditioned by US support for the local opposition,
the Armenian opposition too has taken a clearly pro-American
orientation.

At the same time, the main organization that represents the USA in
Armenia continues to be anti-opposition. The most recent example of
this is the absence of opposition representatives from the ceremony
held on 6 May to present the US embassy’s new building in
Armenia. Almost no-one from the opposition was invited. Almost because
only the leader of the Heritage Party, Raffi Ovanesyan, and his wife
were among the guests. But according to a reliable source, Ovanesyan
was invited not as a representative of a party but as a friend of the
US ambassador, John Evans.

How does the opposition treat such American attitude?

The head of the National Unity Party, Artashes Gegamyan, was more than
tolerant this time.

“I see nothing extraordinary in the fact that they did not invite
us. The embassy thought it appropriate to invite someone who occupies
the post of the president and not to invite members of the opposition
who fight against him. I think this is a very balanced and diplomatic
step,” he said.

Such approach may be explained by Gegamyan’s desire not to damage
relations with the American side because of a mere invitation. The
leader of the Anrapetutyun Party, Aram Sarkisyan, seems to be of the
same opinion. An in-depth analysis of the fact that the US embassy did
not invite the opposition to the ceremony has brought Aram Sarkisyan
to the conclusion that the US administration does not want to damage
relations with [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan, and that will
give them the opportunity to talk him into acting as [former Georgian
President Eduard] Shevardnadze, [former Ukrainian President Leonid]
Kuchma and [former Kyrgyz President Askar] Akayev, i.e. to step down
without bloodshed.

And only the leader of the Progressive Liberal Party, Ovanes
Ovanesyan, thinks this is a diplomatic mistake.

“I am very surprised that while US President George Bush speaks about
democracy, the US ambassador to Armenia demonstrates such a
discrediting approach by inviting only government representatives,”
Ovanesyan said.

He added that the ambassador does not have to invite representatives
of all 65 Armenian parties.

“But if representatives of the parliamentary majority were invited,
then the Justice bloc and the National Unity Party should not have
been ignored, as they are also part of the legislature,” Ovanesyan
said.

Despite that, all the opposition politicians we have talked to have
assured us that such behaviour by Mr Evans will not cause them to
change their attitude towards the USA.

Pan Armenian News

WOMEN’S WORLD FOURTH INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN

10.05.2005 04:07

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The fourth international exhibition Woman’s World will be
held in Yerevan May 12-14, reported RIA Novosti. According to a statement of
the Press Service of Expomedia Center for Exhibition Projects, the
exposition will include perfumery, cosmetics, beauty salons and fitness,
goods for mothers and children, domestic appliances and chemistry, furniture
and interior. Within the framework of the exhibition fashion show of leading
couturiers of Armenia and Woman and Business conference will be held.
Armenian, as well Armenia-based foreign companies will take part in the
exposition. The event is organized by Expomedia Center with the support of
the Commercial and Industrial Chamber of Armenia.

COE (Communiqués de presse), Switzerland
May 10 2005

Conseil oecuménique des Églises – Reportage
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 [email protected]
Pour publication immédiate: 10 mai 2005

Youth find reconciliation through understanding

By Heather Chappell (*)
Free photos available at

Understanding is the first step on the road to reconciliation. This
is one of the convictions that Christian youth from diverse regions
will carry home with them following a week of conversations and
reflections on the themes of mission, reconciliation and healing.

During the week of May 3-8, 2005, one week prior to the 13th
Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, 49 participants gathered
at the Agios Andreas Recreational Centre near Athens, Greece. The
event was designed as an opportunity for young people to join in
community before attending the main conference. According to Vahagn
Azizyan, a youth delegate from Armenia, the pre-conference experience
was a “marvellous opportunity to discover Christian riches from all
over the world.”

Monica Coll Gonzáles from Cuba found that the diversity of
participants made for interesting discussions on key issues facing
the church in the world. “Views and opinions were certainly rich,”
she said. Yet, while backgrounds, denominations and opinions varied
widely, similarities were also discovered. When discussing the
problems associated with reconciliation in various political,
theological and social contexts, Gonzáles reported that many
participants shared similar experiences. “It seems that the problems
are the same all over the world,” she said.

Bringing the conference back home

The pre-conference also provided the young people with practical
knowledge and tools that will be useful to them once they go back to
their local communities. Bertram Granville Swarts will return to
South Africa, where he acknowledges that racism still exists despite
ten years of democracy. He found that the youth conference has
challenged him to discover personal reconciliation and healing within
this context. “I will go home with a lot of experience,” he said.

Participants included both stewards and youth delegates. Half of the
stewards were Greek. Of these, some were Orthodox, some Evangelical.
Greek participant Anastasia Gkitsi discovered that by sharing their
experiences, participants were able to gain a growing understanding
of one another. Stewards and delegates travelled to a downtown Greek
Orthodox church, where they were given the opportunity to ask
questions. For many, this was their first exposure to Orthodoxy.
Natalie Maxson, Youth Programme Executive for the World Council of
Churches (WCC), reports that it was an extremely positive experience.
Through learning and sharing together, youth from widely varying
backgrounds began to appreciate one another as members of “healing
and reconciling communities”, in the words of the conference theme.
They also developed good relationships that will most likely last
throughout their lives.

During the pre-conference, stewards began developing ecumenical
projects that will be implemented when they return home. These
projects will focus on issues such as HIV/AIDS and globalization, and
will include youth workshops and exchanges between churches. The
Greek stewards, both Orthodox and Evangelical, are working together
on one of these ecumenical projects. They are excited and hopeful
about this unprecedented partnership, and they ask for the prayers of
conference participants over the coming weeks and months.

Planting seeds

Although it is the goal of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to
have 25% youth involvement in any activity, under 10% of the main
conference delegates are young people. Maxson worries that the
perspectives of youth could be marginalized as a result. “As a young
person working with youth, I find that it is a constant battle to
make space for the voices of youth to be heard,” she says. However,
the strong connections and friendships that were built at the
pre-conference event will enable those attending the conference to
have a much stronger voice than if they were to attend individually.
Together, they will share in two plenaries, through drama and art.

Maxson stresses that the stewards participating in the main
conference are not merely volunteers. They are participants in an
ecumenical learning experience. They are very much involved in their
home churches, and they are at the conference to build connections.
She believes that it is “the responsibility of older delegates to get
to know these young people, and to support them in their work.”

When asked if the goals for the pre-conference event were met, Maxson
responds that she doesn’t like to think in terms of “goals” when
people are involved. Rather, she sees the event as a chance to plant
seeds. “You don’t necessarily see the fruit that develops
immediately,” she says. She goes on to say that the connections that
were made, the co-operation of Orthodox and non-Orthodox Greek
Christians, the understanding that was achieved – all of these can be
considered the fruits of this process. “It is an ecumenical process
that continues long past this conference,” she says.

The youth event was sponsored by the World Council of Churches, in
co-operation with ecumenical partners.

(*) Heather Chappell is a writer from Toronto, Ontario. She works as
Programme Assistant for The Presbyterian Church in Canada in the
areas of Stewardship and Mission Education.