Author: Varazdat Torgomian

President Serzh Sargsyan participated in the ceremony to commemorate the newly-canonized martyrs of the 1915 Armenian Genocide that took place at Westminster Abbey. The ecumenical service was led by Bishop of London Richard Chartres and His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The ceremony was also attended by His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Wales.

In the year of the Armenian Genocide Centennial, the ecumenical prayer for the memory and immortal souls of the canonized Armenian Genocide victims also urged all people of good will, nations and peoples to join the prayer for justice and to speak out against the gravest crime against humanity, as well as to pray for the promotion and maintenance of peace in the world.

During the service, the sacred songs were performed by the choir of London’s St Yeghiche Armenian Church.

The Armenian jazz pianist’s brilliant performance with members of the Yerevan State Choir is a poignant contemporary tribute to their homeland’s history

By John Fordham

hose who remember Tigran Hamasyan’s bone-shaking, synth-squealing, pop-jazz gigs might have done a double-take as the young Armenian pianist gravely filed on to the Union Chapel’s stage accompanied only by a bowed, hooded, orange-robed choir. Some might wonder whether 2014’s swansong of ECM Records’s globally popular choral/jazz pairing of the Hilliard vocal ensemble with Jan Garbarek had anything to do with the young virtuoso’s arrival on the same label with a solemn programme of medieval and modern Armenian vocal music, embroidered only by his jazz-steeped piano playing. But Hamasyan is devoted to his homeland’s traditions, and this year’s 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman authorities gives this venture a timely poignancy.

He embraced the challenge in this performance with a typical combination of diligent study and brilliant aplomb with eight singers from the Yerevan State Choir.

The single-set gig began with a hymn by 4th-century scholar/composer Mesrop Mashtots, in which a low vocal hum was shaded by briefly flicked treble-note elisions from Hamasyan. A second Mashtots piece brought spooky microtonal vocal drifts punctuated by plucked low-note strings.

The choir began a rhythmic, short-note pulse on the animated Ov Zarmanali, and whispered behind the leader’s now groove-like chord work. Hamasyan’s streaming ingenuity erupted in an outburst of sleek arpeggios and left-hand hooks that brought a roar from the crowd, but the shift never felt like a dislocation as the choir slithered back in around him. Hamasyan jangled a drone-like chord pattern as the lean, vibrato-free voices of his partners punched out exclamatory percussive motifs. A walking bassline underpinned the sound of the male members at their most guttural (while Hamasyan’s improv almost veered into My Favourite Things), and a stamping vocal dance preceded the solemn, carol-like rumination of the encore.

Yerevan State Youth Theater, invited by the Theater Painted Bird, will be performing in Istanbul for the first time with the play “Edith Piaf-Marcel” on Oct. 15 and Oct. 16, Daily Sabah report.

The play focuses on Piaf’s love and longing for Marcel Cerdan. Theater Painted Bird celebrates its 15th birthday with “Edith Piaf-Marcel” on the 100th birthday of the legendary French singer Edith Piaf.

Directed by Hakob Ghazanchyan, the play will be staged at Şişli Municipality Cultural Center. The protagonist is played by young award-winning actress Mariam Ghazanchyan. The play is significant in that it is the first Armenian production to be staged in Turkey.

French diva Edith Piaf, known as the Little Sparrow, was born in 1915. She started to sing on the street when she was a little child. After Louis Leplee, who ran a nightclub on the Champs-Elysees, discovered her talent, Piaf started her musical career. She then became one of the most loved singers in Europe and the entire world. She recorded more than 100 songs between 1933 and 1963 when she died. The musical, “Edith Piaf-Marcel” is based on the theme of Piaf’s greatest love for world boxing champion Marcel Cerdan and the tragedy she went through after Marcel’s death. Piaf creates a spiritual and imaginary world in order to communicate with Marcel after he dies in a plane crash in 1949. She tries to communicate with Marcel through her songs, each of which turns into a prayer. Mariam Ghazanchyan utters only one word throughout the play: “M-A-R-C-E-L!”

There are very few prospects for an improvement in Armenian-Turkish relations at the moment, former US Ambassador to Armenia John Evans said in an Internet press conference with Armenian media representatives.  

Artak Barseghyan
Public Radio of Armenia

Public Radio of Armenia: Mr. Evans, the situation in the Middle East and the world as a whole has sharply escalated with the advent of ISIS. In your opinion, to what extent this group may become dominant in the Islamic world as compared to the Taliban and al-Qaeda?

John Evans:  Islam is one of the world’s great religions, but I think the extremism, fundamentalism and intolerance displayed by these groups have greatly tarnished the reputation of Islam with peoples of other faiths. I cannot believe that the majority of Muslims want to see ISIS become the face of their religion.

Public Radio of Armenia: How do you see the future of the Armenian-Turkish relations under the incumbent Turkish leadership?

John Evans: At the moment I see very few prospects for an improvement in Armenian-Turkish relations. The Protocols, at this point, have clearly failed. I personally think they were flawed and that their architects attempted to achieve too much at one time. Rather than attempt to solve all problems at once, I would suggest one simple step: enter into full diplomatic relations. This would provide for reliable communication and would not compromise the legal position of either side. I have made this suggestion in person to the foreign ministers of both countries.

Public Radio of Armenia: Recently, an escalation can be observed in the zone of the Karabakh conflict. How likely is the resumption of a large-scale war in the region?

John Evans: I hope that both sides to the conflict, and particularly Baku, will exercise restraint. There is always the chance that an incident might escalate into a serious conflict and lead to a resumption of full-scale war, which, under current conditions, could be vastly more destructive than the war of the early 1990s. No one needs that, least of all the people of Karabakh. All the more reason the Minsk Group negotiations are so important and should be taken seriously.

Heidi Hautala (Member of the European Parliament, FIN) and Victor Dolidze (Member of the Georgian Parliament), Co-Presidents of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, made a joint statement to express their deep regret over the decision of Azerbaijan’s Milli Mejlis (parliament) to start the procedure leading to a withdrawal of the country from the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, APA reports.

As of today, this decision was communicated to the European Parliament component of the Euronest  PA, said the statement.

“As soon as the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis formally notifies both Co-Presidents, the Bureau of the Euronest PA will take stock of these developments in order to propose the appropriate measures ensuring the continuation of smooth functioning of the Euronest PA,” the statement said.

The Euronest PA, indeed, remains the multilateral parliamentary dimension of the Eastern Partnership, the statement said, adding that as such, it will continue to function, in a spirit of integration and openness, in order to promote the necessary conditions to accelerate political and economic integration between the European Union and the Eastern European Partners.

According to the statement, participation in the Euronest PA remains, first and foremost, the voluntary and sovereign choice of each concerned Eastern Partner which fulfils the criteria.

“In this sense, we take note of and respect the decision of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis to withdraw. However, we believe that this development is unfortunate, and will also prevent Milli Majlis members from speaking their voice in joint parliamentary proceedings of evident importance for the region. The Constituent Act of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly provides for a year’s notice before any withdrawal becomes effective: within this period, we reiterate our availability to openly discuss with the Milli Majlis the situation,” said the statement.

The Armenian national team and the delegation of the Football Federation of Armenia left for Serbia this morning.

Armenia will face Serbia in a Euro-2016 qualifier. The match will take place at Karadjordje stadium in Novi Sad on September 4.

The following players left for Serbia:

Goalkeepers

Gevorg Kasparov FC Alashkert

Arsen Beglaryan FC Mika

Gevorg Prazyan FC Ararat

Defenders

Robert Arzumanyan Amkar (Russia)

Hrayr Mkoyan Esteghlal (Iran)

Gael Andonyan Olimpique (Marseille, France)

Hovhannes Hambardzumyan FC Vardar (FYR Macedonia)

Levon Airapetian FC Pyunik

Taron Voskanyan FC Pyunik

Varazdat Haroyan FC Pyunik

Kamo Hovhannisyan FC Pyunik

Midfielders

Henrikh Mkhitaryan Borussia (Dortmund, Germany)

Gevorg Ghazaryan C.S. Maritimo (Portugal)

Marcos Pizzelli Aktobe (Kazakhstan)

Aras Ozbiliz Spartak (Moscow, Russia)

Karlen Mkrtchyan Anji (Russia)

Norayr Aslanyan Almere City (Netherlands)

Artem Simonyan Zurich (Switzerland)

Artur Yuspashyan FC Pyunik

Artak Grigoryan FC Alashkert

Forwards

Yura Movsisyan Spartak (Moscow, Russia)

Ruslan Koryan Luch-Energia (Russia)

Vardan Poghosyan FC Pyunik

The European Union and Armenia will cooperate more actively on monitoring the drug phenomenon in future, thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed today in Yerevan between the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA) and the National Security Council of Armenia (NSC). The agreement was signed by EMCDDA Director Wolfgang Götz and NSC Chief of staff, Aram Tananyan.

Armenia — a country of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) area — submitted a formal request for cooperation with the EMCDDA in 2013 (¹). This led to a green light from the EMCDDA Management Board in July that year for the agency to negotiate the MoU with the NSC.

Today’s accord — signed for an initial period of five years and sealing cooperation between the two partners — will be implemented through a joint work programme to be updated every three years. This programme will include steps to enhance the partners’ monitoring and knowledge base on the drug situation and responses to it, particularly through harmonising key indicators in areas of both supply and demand.

Special attention will be given to the regular exchange of information on the appearance on the drug market and use of new psychotropic substances, as well as the technologies employed in their production.

The agreement provides for an exchange of technical expertise and knowledge between the two bodies, the co-sponsoring of technical meetings and the pooling of human and financial resources to launch joint programmes. The NSC will endeavour to present to the EMCDDA an annual report on the drug situation in Armenia. The EMCDDA, for its part, will facilitate training as well as the exchange of experts and scientific research findings on issues of mutual interest.

Both organisations recognise that information on the drugs phenomenon is an essential and indispensable instrument for drafting and implementing drug policies and for assessing the impact of actions to reduce the problems originating from drug use and trafficking.

This cooperation takes place within the EMCDDA’s mandate for cooperation with third (non-EU) countries in consultation with its Management Board and the European Commission

 

On July 13 Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin met with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs – James Warlick, Pierre Andrieu and Igor Popov, and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

Issues related to the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict were discussed at the meeting.

 

 

 

The OSCE Minsk Group remains irreplaceable as a mediator in the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, and the three co-chairing countries continue to work harmoniously with each other, French Ambassador to Armenia Jean-François Charpentier told a press conference today.

The Ambassador said the Minsk Group Co-Chairs are expected to visit the region next week.

As for the possibility of a Blitzkrieg, the Ambassador said such predictions are more of a speculation.

Jean-François Charpentier is optimistic about Armenia’s European agenda. He sees no inconsistency between the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union. As a proof, he reminded about the discussions at Riga Summit on the possibility of a new agreement between Armenia and the EU.

France also has new programs of cooperation with Armenia, the Ambassador said. This fall Yerevan will host a large Armenian-French business forum and a meeting of Ministers of Francophonie countries.

from on .

The trailer for “Lost Birds,” the first film made in Turkey about the Armenian Genocide, was released on June 30.

“Lost Birds” tells the story of a brother and a sister who are left behind during the ‘1915 Armenian exile,’ Today’s Zaman reports.

Written and directed by Armenian director Aren Perdeci and Turkish director Ela Alyamac, “Lost Birds” is a turning point for cinema in Turkey.

“Lost Birds,” a heartfelt film with themes of love and family directed by Armenian director Aren Perdeci and Turkish director Ela Alyamac is the first movie to depict the tragedy in a film shot in Turkey on its 100th anniversary.

The film is led by young actors Dila Uluca and Heros Agopyan, as well as an ensemble cast of Armenian actors living in Turkey.