Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

SOONER ARMENIA DECLARES THAT TURKEY FAILED PROTOCOLS RATIFICATION, THE BETTER: MANOYAN

Tert.am
16:24 ~U 12.02.10

If there’s no progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Turkey will not
ratify the Armenia-Turkey Protocols in a timely manner, said Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, or ARF-D) Armenian Cause
("Hay Dat") and Political Affairs Bureau Director Giro Manoyan today.

According to him, recent developments prove once again that Armenia
must state soon that Turkey is failing the ratification process
of the Protocols. In Manoyan’s words, the later Armenia makes this
statement, the more difficult it will be for the country to get out
of this process.

"I cannot understand the president’s statement by which Turkey is
again given another date [for ratification]. It’s possible that
Turkey will initiate another trick and will declare on April 22 that
the Protocols are in the stage of ratification. It is necessary
that Armenia declares that the process has failed due to Turkey’s
preconditions," said Manoyan.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, according to the director,
has already started collecting signatures in Armenia and all over
the world against the ratification of the Protocols.

Manoyan also said that his party cannot accept the Protocols without
preconditions, assured that ARF-D could persuade many members of
parliament to side with them in this issue.

He also considered it unlikely that Armenia’s parliament would ratify
the Protocols before Turkey.

HERITAGE VOWS TO PROTEST

12/heritage
04:27 pm | February 12, 2010

Politics

The Heritage Party is going to stage a protest action in front of
the National Assembly on the day the long-disputed Armenian-Turkish
Protocols are put on the NA agenda.

The party got indignant after President Serzh Sargsyan announced in
London two days ago that he is going to forward the Protocols to the
National Assembly for further ratification.

"The Armenian-Turkish Protocols are inadmissible as they conflict with
the interests of Armenia and Artsakh, carry hazardous preconditions
and hence must be rejected both by the National Assembly and by the
people," said the Heritage.

Only if Turkey seeks to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia
without preconditions and open the border, shall we speak of a
possibility of having friendly relations and mutual trust between
the two countries.

The acting authorities must realize that any decision against the
will of the Armenian people is doomed to failure.

Heritage announces that on the day the National Assembly starts
considering the Protocols, the Party will raise its protest against
and disapproval of the documents in front of the parliament building.

We urge Armenian citizens and political forces to join our rally
against those anti-Armenian documents. On that day, the Armenian people
and political parties representing their interests must prove their
unbreakable willpower to protect their dignity, rights and sovereignty.

3RD ROUND OF AEROFLOT OPEN CHESS TOURNAMENT FINISHED

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.02.2010 13:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Aeroflot Open chess tournament is underway in
Moscow. On February 11, the parties of the 3rd were played. Among
the Armenian chess players, the best result was shown by Kotanjyan,
who plays in A2 tournament and comes 12th with 2 points.

David Petrosyan comes 15th with 2 points in the same tournament group.

The results of Armenian chess players in A1 tournament: Arman Pashikyan
is the 16th (2 points), Grant Melkumyan – 31st (2 points), Gabriel
Sargsyan – 38th (1.5 points), Zaven Andreasyan – 58th (1 point). 80
players are involved in the tournament.

Results of Armenian chess players in the 3rd round:

Tournament A1

Arman Pashikyan – Sergei Grigoryants (Russia) 0,5: 0,5 Gabriel Sargsyan
– Anton Shomoev (Russia) 0,5: 0,5 Grant Melkoumyan – Evgeny Bareev
(Russia) 0,5: 0,5 Zaven Andreasyan – Jan Nepomniachti (Russia) 0:1

Tournament A2

David Petrosyan – Nguyen Anh Dung (Vietnam) 0,5:0,5 Tigran Kotanjyan –
Alex Kyslynsky 1:0.

The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament played in Moscow
and sponsored by the airline Aeroflot. It was established in 2002 and
quickly grew to be the strongest open tournament. The first edition
counted around 80 grandmasters, while in the second edition already 150
grandmasters participated. The tournament is played using the Swiss
system and the winner is invited to the Dortmund chess tournament
held later in the same year, a tradition begun in 2003. In recent
years there has also been a B and C-class tournament.

THE TRAGIC LIFE AND EXQUISITE ART OF GORKY

Wall Street Journal
39344557.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Feb 11 2010

London: The tale of the painter Arshile Gorky’s life (c. 1904-48) was
a tragedy. Fleeing the 1915 Armenian massacres, he arrived in America
in 1920 and falsely reinvented himself as the cousin of the Russian
writer, Maxim Gorky. In 120 paintings and works on paper, Tate Modern’s
"Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective" tracks the rise and premature fall
of a great artist. The exhibition is the first major one in Europe
for 20 years, and the most moving show I have seen in a long time.

TATE Arshile Gorky’s ‘Waterfall’ (1943) .

There is an entire room of the flat, large portraits for which this
Abstract Expressionist is, paradoxically, best known. These include two
versions of the 9-year-old, dark-eyed boy with the head-scarf-wearing,
blankly staring woman, "The Artist and his Mother," that use his
characteristic palette of chocolate brown, petrol blue, Chinese orange,
and pink-mauve.

But as he was finishing these in the late 1930s and ’40s he was also
making his exquisitely complicated drawings and painting abstract
biomorphic forms, sometimes hard-edged, sometimes rendered with
thinned washes of paint. Some of them look as though he’s spread a
veil of color over the picture plane and cut shapes in it, through
which are revealed the odd things going on underneath. Strange,
that a single artist was painting these accomplished realist works
and such radical abstracts at the same time.

Until May 3

.There was a brief blissful period — starting in 1941 with his
marriage to Agnes Magruder ("Mougouch") and then the birth of his two
daughters — when he flirted with Surrealism but worked outside, in
the landscape. The epitome of this is the Tate’s own 1943 masterpiece,
"Waterfall."

But in 1948, this giant personality was overwhelmed by cancer,
clinical depression and serious injuries in a car crash; and with a
scrawled note "Goodbye My Loveds," Gorky hanged himself.

–Paul Levy

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN CONGRATULATES VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH

Aysor
Feb 12 2010
Armenia

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has sent to Viktor Yanukovych a
message, congratulating him on winning Ukraine’s presidential election.

"We believe here in Armenia — the country, where we never lose sight
of Armenia-Ukraine friendship and hold it in respect, — that the
further development of Armenia-Ukraine cooperation is a necessity,"
said in Serzh Sargsyan’s letter released by Presidential Press Office.

"I sincerely believe in importance of joint activities in good of
strengthening of relations between our countries, giving them new
quality by means of trust and mutual respect and cooperation in fields
of global regional issues."

SARGSYAN READY TO RETURN THE FREED TERRITORIES: SEFILYAN

Tert.am
16:31 11.02.10

"Nave individuals can be left with such an impression that the
president made a good speech in London," said Sardarapat initiative
member Jirayr Sefilyan at a press conference today, referring to RA
President Serzh Sargsyan’s speech yesterday in London’s Chatham House.

"Yesterday Serzh hinted publicly at the Turkish side that he is ready
to return the freed regions," said Sefilyan.

According to Sefilyan, the president spoke only about the Nagorno
Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAR) – and that means that the Armenian
side cannot concede NKAR.

"If there is no mention about the rest [of the territories], it means
we are ready to concede the rest," he said.

Sefilyan also said that a NKAR without freed regions would be
nonsense. In his opinion, if Sargsyan actually follows through on
"returning" the rest of the territories, that will be the end of his
political career.

DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL SEISMIC PROTECTION SERVICE OF ARMENIA: LOWERING OF THE WATER LEVEL IN LAKE SEVAN MAY CAUSE EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS

ArmInfo
2010-02-11 22:31:00

ArmInfo. Lowering of the water level in Lake Sevan theoretically
may cause earthquake shocks, said Alvaro Antonyan, Director of
the National Seismic Protection Service of Armenia, during today’s
press-conference. He added that Armenian seismologists are currently
considering this probability.

According to the chief seismologist of the republic, if an earthquake
is "prepared", i.e. if big underground energy has accumulated and
reached a critical point, an earthquake shock may occur in case of
additional pressure. "As the surface of Lake Sevan is large enough,
lowering of the water level considerably changes the force of pressure,
which may result in a quake",- said Antonyan. He added that warm
weather does not provoke earthquake shocks as earthquake focuses in
Armenia are situated in depth.

TURKISH PRESIDENT RESPONDS TO SARGSYAN’S LETTER

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
11.02.2010 16:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish President Abdullah Gul sent a reply to his
Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to explain Ankara’s position on
regional issues and express willingness to normalize relations with
Armenia, Zaman reported.

On February 9, President Sargsyan sent the following letter to Mr. Gul:

"Our initiative aimed at normalization of bilateral relations
holds attention of the international community. This is a historic
moment for all, indeed. The efforts the countries engaged in regional
processes exert to help improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations are
indispensable. I am confident that it wouldn’t be possible to move
forward without their support. At the same time, I believe no matter
how interested friendly states might be in a positive resolution of
the impasse, there are certain things that can be done only by our
two nations.

Mr. President,

I hope you will agree that the Armenian and Turkish peoples assign the
main task of getting rid of the stereotypes regarding each other and
establishment of the atmosphere of mutual trust to their respective
governments. We can achieve results only if there is trust, resolve and
unfaltering stance. A situation when words are not supported by deeds
gives rise to mistrust and skepticism, providing ample opportunities
to counteract for those, who oppose the process. We should be mindful
of the fact that in this particular case, the time is working not
for but against the process.

If until now we have been able to bring our bilateral relations up to
a level which made the prospects of building normal relations between
our two countries more tangible and discernible, now the time has
come to manifest determination to make next major step and leave to
the coming generations a stable and secure region."

ZORIY BALAYAN AWARDED WITH ST. MESROP MASHTOTS MEDAL

Aysor
Feb 10 2010
Armenia

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has signed a decree on awarding
Zoriy Balayan with the St. Mesrop Mashtots Medal on the occasion of
writer’s 75th birth anniversary.

"You are widely known in Armenia as a very principled journalist and
publicist whose masterly pen for decades has set to the most important
to our country and people issues. You always bring to light topical
subjects and proposed solutions.

"The struggle for the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
has become a significant period in Armenian history and for you. This
struggle was marked by your tireless work. Your publications of that
period are chronicles of the Artsakh War for Liberation.

"You, your being a strong and dynamic person and public figure, as
well as your living through your nation’s pain and problems, your
devotion and bravery that you showed during ling voyages on Kilikia
and Armenia ships, are very dear to me.

"I wish you good health and every happiness in your life," said in
President Sargsyan’s message.

TWO FACULTY TO GIVE LECTURES AT SPIRIT ROOM

US Fed News
February 9, 2010 Tuesday 12:53 PM EST

FARGO, N.D., Feb. 8 — North Dakota State University issued the
following news release:

Kris Groberg and John Cox will give presentations as part of the
Spirit Room’s February Armenian lecture series. The lectures are
complements to the exhibit "God-Given: Cultural Treasures of Armenia."

Groberg, assistant professor of visual arts, will present "Reading
Norik: Iconography as Art" on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 7:30 p.m. She
will focus on the tradition of Repousse decoration as seen in Eastern
European hand-crafted art in icons and gospel books, an old tradition
in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Slavic world.

Cox, chair of history, philosophy and religious studies, will present
"Armenia’s Place in the Caucasus and the World," on Thursday, Feb. 25,
at 7:30 p.m. He will provide a basic introduction to Armenian history
from the beginnings of Armenian civilization, through the period of
its early conversion to Christianity, up to its independent statehood
and geo-political situation today. He will discuss the centuries of
interactions with the Ottoman Turks, the Russians and the various
peoples of the USSR. Cox also will pose a few of the big contested
questions from Armenian history and offer a few thoughts on patterns
in Armenian’s cultural and historical record.

The Spirit Room is located at 111 Broadway, Fargo. For more
information, call 237-0230.For more information please contact:
Sarabjit Jagirdar, Email:- [email protected]