cultural Archives

How Armenia’s Cultural Capital Should be Exploited

October 19, 2016 by administrator

Author: Gohar HAKOBYAN

Culture is the greatest capital in Armenia and cultural festivals are a great way to pave the country’s way to the worldwide audience.

“Yerevan Perspectives” International Music Festival is an independent cultural brand that has been hosted for the 17th time. The festival engages exceptional classical musicians. Despite the festival’s success, Sona Hovhannisyan, the Managing Director of “Yerevan Perspectives” believes that what the festival needs is sustainability to be able to deliver greater programmes. She says, “We can equally work with world famous festivals, as it is due to our professionalism, network and commitment that we can succeed in our work in Armenia. There are festivals whose directors are invited from abroad. In our case, we do our country credit, as the same workstyle would not reap any fruits in another country. We do need a board of trustees to maintain our sustainability, and to manage our funds, so that we do not have to think of ways retaining the project. The festival has been hosted for the seventeenth time and this time we should not think of retaining the festival but of coming up with ways of attracting about one million tourists to our country. We can definitely do this. “Yerevan Perspectives” can be one of the triggers for developing cultural tourism. We require additional resources and support for that. And the moment we have our board of trustees and make our festival a sustainable one, the picture will considerably change.” It is worth mentioning that “Yerevan Perspectives” could bring such musicians and orchestras to Armenia that have not even been to the region before.

“For instance, in 2004 we invited the Kronos quartet, a legendary American string quartet that had never been either to the Caucasian region or the Baltic countries before. The idea of the quartet coming to Yerevan was so incredible that the then US Ambassador to Armenia said that the Embassy would cover half of the quartet’s fees. After the quartet’s arrival in Armenia, the embassy did pay half of the fees, though throughout our negotiations, the amount to be paid had decreased a lot. The people who had previously worked with Kronos could not believe their eyes when they saw the advertising poster. We had a similar experience with Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra or Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw. We managed to bring such outstanding conductors as Lorin Maazel, Daniel Barenboim to Armenia, when our Estonian colleagues would not succeed in having them give concerts in their country. It was due to our festival that Evgeni Kissin came to the region for the first time after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He hadn’t visited Russia for several years back then and only next year is he planning to have a concert there.” says the Managing Director of “Yerevan Perspectives”. It is with great pride that she cites the words of European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Tibor Navracsics, who called the festival unique. It’s the credit of “Yerevan Perspectives” that the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the best orchestras in the world, will soon visit Armenia with its concerts. “They told us they knew our festival quite well. It’s our past success that secures the agreement of these orchestras to give concerts in Yerevan. Obviously, it’s not relevant for this kind of orchestra who gave concerts in the country before them. Sona Hovhannisyan believes that Martha Argerich, an Argentine pianist, is the next musician to visit Armenia. Armenia’s Dramatic Profile and the Indifference of Yerevan Municipality

“Highfest” International Theatre Festival has been hosted for already the fourteenth time. It is considered to be the main festival in former Soviet Union countries (with the exception of Moscow). Artur Ghukasyan, the President of International Performing Arts Festival, states that since 2007 the state support to the festival has decreased. Thus, in 2008, the festival budget made 35 million drams, whereas this year it makes 30 million drams. The Ministry of Culture has also cut “Highfest” budget this year. “The Ministry says it is not their own decision, but that of the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Finance in their turn claim that it is the Government’s decision.” Artur Ghukasyan emphasizes the fact that “Highfest” festival develops the field of performing arts. The festival hosts such performances, which are no included into the repertoires of Armenian theatres. Artur Ghukasyan believes that the original performances hosted within the framework of the festival can shape taste, develop new outlooks and be a real eye-opener, as they tend to push talented people to stage new and interesting things. Festivals make countries more open, they can even make an impact on those countries, which are among the most open ones. Festivals can develop the economy, attract tourists, and pave new ways for businesses. Earlier businesses would not even think of generating income through arts. Now we encourage businesses to act. Another important thing is that festivals shape the cultural reputation of the country. I have attended Edinburgh Art Festival, Scotland’s largest annual celebration of visual arts. At other times, Edinburgh leaves an impression of a grey, grim city which is glorious but at the same time closed to people. It is neither inviting, nor unwelcoming. However, on festival days, Edinburgh has a completely different picture to offer. About 2500 performances are played there daily and all the people smile. This is what festivals can do.”

Ankara decided to break its cultural ties with Europe because of the Armenian Genocide

October 15, 2016 by administrator

Turkey, following a unilateral decision, came out of the “Creative Europe” program, which supports the areas of culture and media in Europe. Negotiations began with the European Commission officials to arrange the release of the Turkey program to June 1, 2017. This decision was taken by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The department decided to withdraw from Creative Europe, because the program supported the musical project “Aghet” in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide during his centenary. This program has contributed to the culture and arts in Turkey.

Creative Europe is a framework program that the European Commission launched in 2014 with the objective of supporting the sectors of culture and media. It is expected that this program runs until 2020; it is to the financial support of 2500 artists and workers in this sector, 2,000 cinemas, 800 films and 4,500 translations of books, with a budget of 1.46 billion euros. For 2016, it is expected that an insurance system for small sector activities is in place.

While all cultural creation initiatives of EU member countries may join this program, the EU non-member countries can also benefit if they meet certain criteria. Thanks to an agreement between Turkey and the European Commission, Turkey has provided financial support of the program and the culture and arts initiatives in Turkey had benefited from the program’s financial resources.

In 2015, Turkey was to pay about 2.4 million euros to the program. Leaving the program, Turkey will not give any money and initiatives of culture and arts in Turkey will no longer be able to benefit.

“Ask them yourselves”

In an interview with Agos, the spokesman for the European Commission for Education, Youth, Sports and Culture, Nathalie Vandystadt said that negotiations on the release of the program began: “Although this creates a situation deplorable, the Commission respects the decision of Turkey. You should speak with Turkey officials to get more information about the reasons for their output. “ And the delegation to Turkey from the European Commission, for its part, made no statement. The agreement between Turkey and the European Commission was signed by the Ministries of the European Union and the Ministry of Culture. The withdrawal request is however after the Foreign Ministry. Officials of the department “Creative Europe” at the Ministry of Culture said it is the Foreign Ministry following the case and that it was their decision.

According to sources who have spoken at the Agos newspaper, the “concern” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began a year ago. After the program has announced that the musical project “Aghet” would be supported to the tune of 200,000 euros, the ministry has begun to address the situation. The sources said the ministry was very concerned about the concerts and the way the project was announced on the website of the European Commission.

Nothing new

Before the concert in which the Dresden Symphony Orchestra interpret “Aghet”, officials from the interior ministry had contested the chapeau of the concert and they strove to make changes. In response to Turkish pressures, the spokesman of the European Commission said in a statement: “The European Commission temporarily suspends, because of the reactions that the words used in the text have caused. In the following days, a new blurb will be issued. “

In the suspended text [in effect, censored, ndt], the focus was on the genocide and other massacres and violations of human rights in Turkey. In the second version, the word “genocide” was also used, the European Commission had put a footnote on page reads: “the Commission is not responsible for any textual content downloaded or proposed. Such content expresses the author’s views (or authors). “ Still, this was enough point for the ministry decided to simply withdraw from the program. While this decision has begun circulating recently, sources in Brussels and Ankara said it was not a recent event.

Markus Rindt, the head of the Dresden Symphony Orchestra fat a statement before the concert saying that Turkey demanded the withdrawal of financial support given to the orchestra. The Commission has not responded to this request and it was after this that the foreign ministry has accelerated the withdrawal process. “Aghet” consists of symphony concerts planned in Dresden, Istanbul, Yerevan, Belgrade and Madrid in collaboration with various orchestras. In addition to artistic performances, discussion sessions and workshops are planned. Composers Cow Sharafyan, Zeynep and Helmut Oehring Gedizlioglu contributed to this program. 14 musicians from Europe, 6 soloists and vocal group of Armenia and Turkey are included in the concerts, which are supported by three orchestras. Anadolu Kultur | Anatolian Culture] Turkey, Serbia Orchestra Without Borders and the Theatre of Dresden, Germany, support the project. The composer and guitarist Marc Sinan also participates in the program, which is the last part of a trilogy reflecting the cultures of Anatolia and the Caucasus.

We talked to contributors musicians. The composer Marc Sinan and the head of the Dresden Symphony Orchestra told us: “This is a Turkish artists punishment attempt taking our peaceful art project for pretense.” Under the title “Notes of one who remained silent,” Zeynep Gedizlioglu composed a new work included in the project Aghet; She said: “I think this project is based on peace and dialogue. The meeting that we made and the dialogue we hired were immediate, sincere, genuine and human. For most of us, it was beyond what we had imagined. “

What is the real aim?

Creative Europe is essential for most of the initiatives of culture and arts in Turkey, because it is almost impossible to carry most projects without support of that kind. Vasif Kortun, Director of Research and Programs Salt Istanbul, said that they had knowledge of the decision as they were preparing to renew their program at The International, a confederation of museums, which is the most great confederation in Europe for the establishment of a long-term and viable model for public museums. Salt, as a member of this confederation, had the opportunity to benefit from the funding sources of Creative Europe, to work with five museums and access to archives and collections of these museums. The administration of The International issued a statement entitled “Breaking Bridges – The withdrawal of Turkey Creative Europe”, disapproving of the decision to disengage, Vasif Kortun said he could that they have taken the Aghet project as an excuse, adding: “We could express discomfort towards this particular project, rather than withdraw from the program in its entirety. However, they chose to do so. It could be that the real purpose is to pressure financially to various institutions. This is what happens in India, China, Egypt and Russia in recent years. I would have hoped that Turkey follow the example of democratic countries instead of those … “.

The Foundation for Culture and Arts Istanbul (IKSV) also had projects and has benefited from the program and they have also the backlog. The Director General of IKSV Gorgun Taner said, “the budget of the Ministry of Culture is pleased to 0.5% of the state budget. Creative Europe is a program that would have been advantageous for us, even non-EU members. While resources diminish the culture of the day, such support should not be avoided. “

Fatih Gökhan Diler

AGOS newspaper

Translation Gilbert Béguian

Saturday, October 15, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Sweden: Blast hits Turkish cultural centre in Stockholm

February 17, 2016 by administrator

An explosion severely damaged part of a building that housed a Turkish cultural association in a Stockholm suburb late on Wednesday but no one was injured, police said.

Police said all the windows of the centre were blown out and that technicians were on site to investigate the cause. The centre was located in the basement of a building in Fittja, in southwest Stockholm.

“No one was inside. No one was injured. It had been locked since earlier in the evening,” a police spokesman said.

No one has been arrested and there are currently no suspects, he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, 28 people were killed and dozens wounded in Turkey’s capital Ankara when a car laden with explosives detonated next to military buses near the armed forces’ headquarters, parliament and other government buildings.

Today marks 10 years since destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in Nakicevan

December 15, 2015 by administrator

Ten years ago today, the Azerbaijani authorities destroyed the Armenian monuments on the territory of Nakicevan and the Armenian cemetery of Jugha.
In the unprecedented act of vandalism, thousands of Armenian khachkars (cross-stones) were leveled with the help of heavy equipment.
The desecration of the monuments began back in 2003 and continued through 2006 onwards, reaching its end only in 2006.
Speaking to Tert.am, Samvel Karapetyan, a monument expert studying samples of Armenian architecture in and outside of Armenia, described Azerbaijan’s vandalism as an act encouraged first of all by Turkey, the country traditionally considered its more powerful brother.
“The ancient site of international significance does not exist for ten years, so we are not able to do anything to return [it]. But we can, of course, raise the world’s awareness of the crime committed. To rule out such brutalities, that country must be condemned and punished. Otherwise, such incidents will always repeat themselves. And they do; while we are talking now, the Azerbaijanis are destroying [more monuments]. That’s also because their ‘elder brother’, Turkey, wasn’t punished for that.”
International reaction to Azerbaijan’s vandalism from European Commission to UNESCO
Azerbaijan’s vandalism received an international reaction by such authoritative institutions as the European Commission, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and even the Holy See of Vatican and the Greek Orthodox church’s Synod, as well as the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). World-renowned scholars and politicians also voiced their criticism over the act of desecration.
On February 16, 2006 the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the destruction of a medieval cemetery in Jugha, as well as the historical monument on Azerbaijan’s territory and demanding that the European Parliament representatives be allowed to visit the country.

The question is raised at almost every session of the PACE. A European parliamentarian has once even proposed organizing a visit to Jugha, but Azerbaijan strongly rejected the idea.
In comments to Tert.am, Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, recalled the screening of the movie “20th Century Vandals” at a joint session of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. The Armenian parliamentarian, who then headed the Committee, remembered the strong reaction to the move.
“And it was unprecedented, as we managed to break the Azerbaijani lobbyist resistance to organizing the screening. Of course, numerous notes of protest by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry followed, but we believe we did manage to attract European organizations’ attention to the problem,” she noted.

Different international scholars, joined by US senators, so-signed a letter to the UNESCO and other international bodies, condemning Azerbaijan’s aggression. Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, the director of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, described the violence as an act tantamount to a crime. A British member of the European Parliament, Charles Tennock, compared it with Taliban’s move to destroy the monument of Buddah.
Adam Smith, an anthropology professor at the Chicago University, condemned the vandalism as “a shameful episode in humanity’s relation to its past, a deplorable act on the part of the government of Azerbaijan which requires both explanation and repair.”
In 2010, a cross-stone park with 20 replicas of the vandalized khachkars opened near the Church of Holy Savior of All in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city.

Armenian Bread Declared Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO

November 27, 2014 by administrator

The Moscow Time

The lavash puts Armenia, a small, ancient South Caucasus nation of 3 million, ahead of much of the pack with a total of four entries on the Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

The UNESCO cultural and scientific organization has decided to include Armenian flatbread on its intangible cultural heritage list, recognizing the importance of the foodstuff to the country’s inhabitants.

Lavash, a staple of Armenian cuisine, is a type of soft and very thin flatbread that can be consumed as a wrap for cheese, meat or vegetables. It is also popular throughout the South Caucasus, and in Iran and Turkey.

According to a note on the UNESCO website, preparation of lavash “requires great effort, coordination, experience and special skills” and “strengthens family, community and social ties.”

Lavash was accepted onto the list on Wednesday, with the UNESCO organization saying on its site that it acknowledged “the preparation, meaning and appearance of [the] traditional bread as an expression of culture in Armenia.”

The Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, a daring attempt to recognize and preserve immaterial culture, have been compiled since 2008, and entries from 103 countries are currently recognized by UNESCO.

Examples include Argentinian tango, Mongolian calligraphy, Middle Eastern falconry, Vanuatu sand paintings and even the Mediterranean diet.

The lavash puts Armenia, a small, ancient South Caucasus nation of 3 million, ahead of much of the pack with a total of four entries on the Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

Other Armenian entries recognized by UNESCO include the reed wind instrument duduk, the performance of the medieval epic “David of Sassoon,” and the art of stone cross making.

Russia has only two items on the list: The culture of the Semeiskiye Old Believer sect, and the Yakut heroic epic “Olonkho,” which sees songs comprising up to 36,000 verses performed by singers over the course of several nights.

China is the runaway leader with 38 entries, followed by Japan (22) and Croatia (14). Neither the U.S. nor Britain have a single item of intangible heritage to contribute so far, according to UNESCO.