Author: Yeghisabet Arthur

"MINSK GROUP FAILS TO MAKE PROGRESS IN UPPER KARABAKH ISSUE", TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER

Anadolu Agency
May 25 2009
Turkey

DAMASCUS (A.A) – 25.05.2009 – Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
said Sunday that the Minsk group failed to make any progress in
the solution of the Karabakh issue. Davutoglu who is attending the
36th meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Damascus
told AA that he would travel to Baku together with his Azarbaijani
counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov and hold meetings with Mammadyarov and
Azarbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on a wide range of issues including
the Karabakh issue.

He said the Armenian occupation of Azarbaijani territory in Upper
Karabakh had been going on for 17 years adding that it was hard to
disagree with Aliyev’s remarks about performance of the Minsk group.

"The historic record shows it. There has been no progress. It is
time to revive this process. Turkey will continue its efforts,"
said Davutoglu.

Davutoglu said Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsian would
meet in numerous occasions and expressed his wish that those meetings
would bring a solution in a way that would please all parties. (OZG-MS)

BELORUSIAN MASS MEDIA: EASTERN PARTNERSHIP PROCEEDS FROM GUAM FORMAT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
25.05.2009 16:09 GMT+04:00

"Eastern Partnership" program did not emerge all of a sudden; neither
was it elaborated in Stockholm or Warsaw summits. GUAM bears direct
relationship to "Eastern Partnership"; it’s the same format, with
Armenia and Belarus added as two new member states, afn.by news web
site reports. But there are a number of fundamental issues allowing us
to confirm that EU achieved geopolitical breakthrough on post-Soviet
area. Armenia and Azerbaijan appeared next to each other within Eastern
Partnership program. Before that, Baku and Yerevan were neighbors only
within CIS format. Besides, Belarus, Russia’s partner in Belarus-Russia
Union State and CSTO chairing country since June 2009, also joined the
project. Considering such transformations, Belarus media confirm that
"Eastern Partnership" produces negative impact on Russia’s interests
in western and southern parts of post-Soviet area.

Even though GUAM continues to exist, EU "Eastern Partnership" directly
proceeds from that format.

Having drawn certain conclusions, the West thoroughly elaborated
"Eastern Partnership" project, the "edited version" of GUAM, in
which political-military thematic is replaced by social-economic and
humanitarian objectives.

The project is closely tied to EU and indirectly tied to NATO. EU will
assume direct control over all processes and projects planned within
"Eastern Partnership" frameworks.

The moment requires special assessments. It should be noted
that despite being an EU project, "Eastern Partnership" is mainly
coordinated by Warsaw. Under EU aegis, Poland is actually extending
its own policy – economic influence on post-Soviet area, says an
article posted on a Belarusian Web site.

Weekly digest of currency market in Armenia
23.05.2009 11:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ USD 44.343.587 at AMD 372.24 /USD 1 rate was
purchased and USD 47.500.197 at AMD 376.79/USD 1 was sold in the
Armenian currency market from May 18 to 22.
Purchase contracts were signed to the sum of USD 500 000 at AMD 372.00
/USD 1 rate.
Bargains struck at NASDAQ OMX amounted to USD 7.800.000 at AMD 372.74
/USD 1.
>From April 11 to 17, the AMD credits granted by banks totaled 8.5
billion, USD credits amounted to 13.7 million.

Dr.Omar Khalidi to lecture-Armenian Heritage in India.June 4th 2009.

Belmont, Mass. – Dr. Omar Khalidi of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic
Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will give an
illustrated lecture titled, `Three Centuries of Armenian Heritage in
India,’ on Thursday, June 4, at 8:00 p.m., at the National Association
for Armenian Studies and Research Center, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont,
Mass.
This lecture is the second talk given in memory of Arshag Merguerian
(1926-2005), architect and active member and friend of NAASR for
nearly
50 years. The expenses for the lecture will be covered by funds
contributed to NAASR in Mr. Merguerian’s memory.
Though Armenians were in India from early times, the Armenian presence
in India is well-documented from the 16th century, after the
establishment of the important mercantile community in New Julfa in
Persia. The community grew in size and importance in the 17th and 18th
centuries, with many Armenians rising to positions of prominence, and
publishing and the arts thrived.
Dr. Khalidi’s lecture will give an overview of India’s Armenian
diaspora, its churches, cemeteries, and related art, in such locations
as Kolkata (Calcutta), Bombay, Delhi, Agra, Surat, Hyderabad, Madras,
and Dhaka (in modern Bangladesh).
Dr. Khalidi has a Ph.D. in Islamic studies from the University of
Wales. Born and raised in Hyderabad, he is the author of several books
and articles
on art and architecture and Indian politics and history, including
"Approaches to Mosque Design in North America" and Muslims in Indian
Economy. He was invited by the Armenian Church in Calcutta for its
300th anniversary celebration in November 2008.
Admission to the event is free. The NAASR Center is located in Belmont
opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post
Office. Parking is available around the building and in adjacent
areas. The lecture will begin promptly at 8:00 p.m.

connect:
1-617-489-1610
naasr.org

FIRE HAPPENED IN ARMENIAN CHINARI VILLAGE BECAUSE OF CEASE-FIRE REGIME BREAKING BY AZERBAIJANI PARTY

ArmInfo
2009-05-22 12:06:00

ArmInfo. Fire happened in Armenian Chinari village (Berd region)
because of the cease-fire regime breaking by Azerbaijani party.

As press-service of Armenian Police reported, fire happened in the
village resident Silva Aperyan’s house about 1:30 AM on 20 May because
of firing from Azerbaijani positions. Despite active actions of the
two fire brigades the two-storied house fully burnt away.

To recall, Chinari village has been always fired from the Azerbaijani
positions. Last year two village residents were killed and one wounded.

POLISH AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA: EASTERN PARTNERSHIP NOT GOING TO STUDY SPECIFIC CONFLICTS

ArmInfo
2009-05-20 17:14:00

ArmInfo. Eastern Partnership member-states have conflicts: in Nagorny
Karabakh, in Georgia and in Transdniestria. However, the EU does
not plan to study specific conflicts within the frames of Eastern
Partnership Project.

It is going to make these states cooperate, Polish Ambassador to
Armenia Tomasz Knothe told media Wednesday.

He said the OSCE is engaged in these conflicts and the EU supports its
efforts, in particular, the activity of OSCE Minsk Group on settlement
of the Karabakh conflict. However, our privileges in this issue are
limited, we are not directly involved in the settlement process,
he said. Ambassador Knothe came out for development of regional
cooperation and focusing on integration.

ATLANTIC THEATER CO. PRESENTS WORLD PREMIERE OF AYVAZIAN’S MAKE ME, PREVIEWS BEGIN 5/19
BWW News Desk

Broadway World
eater_Co_Presents_World_Premiere_of_Ayvazians_MAKE _ME_Previews_Begin_519_20090519
May 19 2009

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory
Lawson, Managing Director) is proud to announce the final production
of its 2008-2009 season – the world premiere of Leslie Ayvazian’s play
MAKE ME, directed by Atlantic associate artistic director Christian
Parker. Casting will be announced shortly.

MAKE ME will begin previews Tuesday, May 19; officially open Sunday,
May 31; and play a limited engagement through Sunday, June 14, 2009
Off-Broadway at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16 Street).

In MAKE ME, six pent-up Americans in three different relationships
have reached the end of their ropes. In this naughty comic fugue,
Leslie Ayvazian explores what happens when the rules are changed just
at the moment when people think they are perfectly comfortable and
the lengths to which some will go to be seen, heard and obeyed.

Leslie Ayvazian makes her Atlantic Theater Company debut. Her acclaimed
Off-Broadway play Nine Armenians won the John Gassner Outer Critics
Award, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Kennedy Center’s Roger
L. Stevens Award. Her film credits include Showtime’s Every Three
Minutes starring Olympia Dukakis.

Atlantic associate artistic director Christian Parker most recently
staged the New York premiere of Tina Howe’s play Birth And After
Birth. Other Atlantic credits include Jeff Whitty’s The Hiding Place
and 10X20, a festival of newly commissioned ten minute plays by
writers previously produced at Atlantic for which he directed plays
by Tina Howe, Keith Reddin and Rolin Jones.

The design team for MAKE ME will feature scenic design by Anna Louizos,
lighting design by Josh Bradford and sound design by Jill BC DuBoff.

Atlantic and Druid’s critically acclaimed hit production of Martin
McDonagh’s dark comedy The Cripple of Inishmaan, directed by Garry
Hynes, is playing an extended engagement through Sunday, March 15 at
Atlantic’s Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20 Street).

Leslie Ayvazian’s (Playwright) first full length play Nine Armenians
premiered at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle and opened in New York
at the Manhattan Theatre Club in a production directed by Lynne
Meadow. It won the John Gassner Outer Critics Award for Best New
Play; The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (2nd place) and the Kennedy
Center’s Roger L. Stevens Award, and went on to be directed by Gordon
Davidson at the Mark Taper Forum and the Denver Theatre Center; and
Oskar Eustis at Trinity Repertory Theatre. Her second full length
play Singer’s Boy was produced at The American Conservatory Theatre
in San Francisco directed by Cary Perloff. High Dive, her one woman
show about turning fifty, premiered at the Long Wharf Theatre directed
by David Warren, produced in conjunction with The Play Company, and
opened in New York at Manhattan Class Company. It has since received
many productions in the U.S. and recently completed a successful run in
Poland. Rosemary and I, which was named a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
finalist, received a workshop at New York Stage and Film and a full
production at the Passage Theatre in Trenton, NJ, directed by Blair
Brown. Her play Lovely Day premiered at City Theatre in Pittsburgh
in a production directed by Tracy Brigden, and was produced in New
York at The Play Company where it was staged by Blair Brown. Leslie’s
one act plays include Practice; Hi There, Mr. Machine; Twenty Four
Years; Deaf Day; Plan Day and have been produced at the Ensemble
Studio Theatre and are published in several anthologies. Her one act,
Rosemary and Elizabeth was a finalist for the Heideman from The Actors
Theatre of Lousiville. Her first play in New York, Footlights, a one
woman show about shoes, ran at the Vineyard Theatre and was directed
by Jay Binder. Make Me received workshop productions by the Cape Cod
Theatre Festival and the Adirondack Theatre Festival, both directed by
Martha Banta. Leslie has received commissions from Manhattan Theatre
Club, South Coast Repertory Theatre and Wind Dancer Productions. Her
short film Every Three Minutes, produced by Showtime, starred Olympia
Dukakis, was directed by Michael Pressman and won a Telly Award. Leslie
teaches in the Graduate School of Theatre Arts at Columbia University
and is mother to Ivan Anderson and wife to Architect Sam Anderson.

Christian Parker (Director) is the Associate Artistic Director at
the Atlantic Theater Company, where he has worked since the fall of
2001. Most recently at Atlantic, he directed the New York premiere of
Tina Howe’s play Birth and After Birth. In 2006, he produced, directed,
and acted in 10X20, a festival of newly commissioned ten minute plays
by writers previously produced at Atlantic, to inaugurate their new
Stage 2 and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the company. For that
festival, he directed plays by Tina Howe, Keith Reddin and Rolin Jones,
and acted in Kevin Heelan’s The Compassioneer. Also at Atlantic he
directed Ken Weitzman’s Arrangements and Jeff Whitty’s The Hiding
Place. Other direction includes new works by David Lindsay-Abaire,
Sheri Wilner, Eric Winick and Cusi Cram for the Chekhov Now! Festival,
HB Playwrights Theatre, the 24 Hour Plays On Broadway, The Brick, and
Atlantic 453/New Works Series. . Prior to his tenure at the Atlantic,
he spent several seasons as the Literary Manager at Manhattan Theatre
Club. Christian has also served as dramaturge on over fifty premieres
of new American and British plays on, off and off-off Broadway. He
currently runs the MFA Dramaturgy program at Columbia University,
and holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MFA from Columbia.

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory
Lawson, Managing Director) is the award winning Off-Broadway theater
dedicated to producing great plays simply and truthfully utilizing
an artistic ensemble. Atlantic believes that the story of the play
and the intent of the playwright are at the core of the creative
process. Atlantic’s acclaimed world premiere production of its first
musical Spring Awakening, with music by Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics
by Steven Sater and direction by Michael Mayer, won 8 Tony Awards®,
including Best Musical. In 2006, Atlantic was awarded the Lucille
Lortel Prize for Outstanding Body of Work.

Atlantic produced five world premieres during its 2007-2008 season:
Academy Award® winner Ethan Coen’s comedy Almost an Evening, directed
by Neil Pepe and featuring Academy Award® winner F. Murray Abraham and
Mark Linn-Baker; Peter Parnell’s Trumpery, directed by David Esbjornson
and featuring Tony Award® winner Michael Cristofer and Tony Award®
nominee Manoel Felciano; Lucy Thurber’s Scarcity, directed by Jackson
Gay and featuring Emmy Award® winner Kristen Johnston, Jesse Eisenberg
and Michael T. Weiss, Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song, directed by Neil
Pepe and featuring Chris Bauer, Jonathan Cake and Emily Mortimer and
Annie Baker’s Body Awareness, directed by Karen Kohlhaas and featuring
Academy Award® nominee JoBeth Williams, Peter Friedman and Mary McCann
and the critically acclaimed New York premiere production of Oliver
Award® winning and Tony Award® nominated playwright Conor McPherson’s
play Port Authority, directed by Henry Wishcamper and featuring Tony
Award® nominee Brian d’Arcy James, Tony Award® winner John Gallagher,
Jr. and Tony Award® winner Jim Norton.

Playwright Beau Willimon made his celebrated Off-Broadway debut this
season with the world premiere of Farragut North starring Chris Noth
and John Gallagher, Jr. The world premiere of the comedy What’s
That Smell: The Music Of Jacob Sterling, written and performed by
Tony Award® nominee David Pittu, transferred Off-Broadway to New
World Stages following a critically acclaimed extended engagement at
Atlantic Stage 2.

Since it’s inception in 1985, Atlantic has produced more than 120
productions including the Tony Award® winning play The Beauty Queen of
Leenane, the world premieres of Woody Allen’s A Second Hand Memory and
Writer’s Block, the acclaimed world premiere of David Mamet’s Romance
and his new adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance, the musicals Spring
Awakening and 10 Million Miles, Jez Butterworth’s Mojo, Tom Donaghy’s
Minutes From The Blue Route, Edwin Sanchez’ Trafficking in Broken
Hearts and the American premieres of Blue/Orange, Dublin Carol and
The Night Heron, the New York premieres of The Intelligent Design
of Jenny Chow and The Cider House Rules, the revivals of American
Buffalo, Edmond, The Hothouse and Hobson’s Choice. Atlantic maintains
an ensemble of acclaimed actors, writers and directors including David
Mamet (playwright and director) and William H. Macy (Academy Award®
nominee for Fargo), who founded Atlantic over twenty years ago in 1985.

MAKE ME will play Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30p, Saturday matinees
at 2:30p and Sundays at 2:30p. All tickets are $40.00 and available
by calling Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 ().

ATLANTIC STAGE 2 is located at 330 West 16th Street (between 8th
& 9th Avenues). For membership information, wheelchair seating,
and/or group sales call Ticketcentral at 212-279-4200 or visit

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
May 16 2009

TURKEY WILL NOT OPEN BORDERS WITH ARMENIA UNLESS UPPER KARABAKH
PROBLEM SOLVED

ISTANBUL (A.A) – 16.05.2009 – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said on Saturday that closure of Turkish-Armenian border was
related to Upper Karabakh, "Turkey will not open its border gates with
Armenia unless this problem is solved," he added. Erdogan responded
to questions of journalists prior to his departure for Russian
Federation.

When a journalist said, "during your visit to Azerbaijan, you said
Turkey would not open border with Armenia unless Upper Karabakh
problem is solved. Armenian President said Turkey’s intervening in
Upper Karabakh would not bring peace there," Erdogan said, "being a
regional country, it is regardless of question for Turkey to remain
silent on Upper Karabakh matter. Turkey closed borders with Armenia as
a result of interventions there."

Commenting on Nabucco, Erdogan said the project has 6 partners and
Turkey was one of them. He said Turkey was not a supplier country, but
a transit country.

Erdogan said European Union (EU) and European Commission member
countries should speed up infrastructure works with the related
countries to procure fund.

Erdogan said, "infrastructure works should start quickly. European
Commission should make a decision for this and accelerate the
process. Turkey is ready to fulfill its obligations." (AY)

AGREEMENT ON SOUTH STREAM SIGNED IN SOCHI

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.05.2009 22:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The president of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, and the
Head Administrator for ENI, Paolo Scaroni, in the presence of the
Russian and Italian leaders, Vladimir Putin and Silvio Berlusconi,
have signed a new agreement relative to the realization of South
Stream. ENI and ENEL, furthermore, have signed an agreement for the
transfer to Gazprom of 51% of SeverEnergia and the development of
important sites in Siberia.

The agreement on South Stream provides for the increase in the capacity
of transport from 31 to 47 billion cubic metres of gas per year in
the pipeline. ENI and GAZPROM, furthermore, have worked together to
follow through with the development of the South Stream project, given
its strategic relevance in causing, through a new route, a decisive
contribution to the security of the supply of gas across Europe. ENI
and ENEL have also signed an agreement for the transfer to GAZPROM
of 51% of SeverEnergia, a company that owns the entire capital of
Arcticgaz, Urengoil and Neftegaztechnologia, once themselves owners
of the license to explore and produce hydrocarbons with gas and oil
reserves estimated at 5 bln barrels equivalent to oil. At the end of
the negotiations, the indirect participation of ENI will be reduced
from 60% to 29.4% and that of ENEL from 40% to 19.6%. On the basis of
the agreement, SeverEnergia, who employs 500 people in its offices in
Moscow and Noy Urengoy, will become the first Italo-Russian company
to operate in the Yamal Nenets’ (Western Siberia) deposit sites.

Currently the region produces about 905 of Russian gas. The various
parties have agreed to produce the gas from Samburskoye before June
2011 and to reach at least 150000 BOE a day within 2 years from the
beginning of production. It was further agreed to define within 90
days the plan to obtain all the authorization, including the extension
of the licenses from Rosnedra, the Russian authority for the use
of mineral and oil resources. The remuneration paid by GAZPROM for
the purchase of 51% of SeverEnergia, the final definition of which
is predicted for the end of June 2009, amounts to about 1.5 billion
dollars and will be paid in two parts over 2009-10. The ENI’ expected
earnings are 900 million dollars, of which ENEL will be responsible
for 600 million, AGI reported.

AZERBAIJAN ADDRESSES ICRC TO ASSIST THE RELEASING OF ANAR HAJIYEV FROM THE ARMENIAN CAPTIVITY

APA
May 12 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva, Rashad Suleymanov – APA. The State
Commission for Captives, Hostages and Missing People addressed
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to assist the
releasing of Azerbaijani sergeant Anar Khanbaba Hajiyev captured by
the Armenian armed forces on May 10, the commission secretary Shahin
Sailov told APA.

He said the commission confirmed the fact of captivity and would take
all measures for his release.

Press service of the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry also confirmed the
fact of captivity of Sergeant Anar Hajiyev by the Armenian armed
forces. The conditions of captivity are not known. The ministry is
investigating the fact.

Anar Hajiyev, 19 was called up by the Goranboy District Military
Commissariat. He was captured by the Armenian armed forces at 9.45
on May 10, 2009.