Read this post to continue on from facebook...Armenian News... A Topalian

Ariel detergent advert in their 'what happens next 'filmed in Yerevan; 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ua_dmfm9k 


Kavkazskiy Uzel website, Moscow
Oct 10 2015
Karabakh says Azerbaijani helicopters flying over its territory
The defence ministry of Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagornyy Karabakh has
said that Azerbaijani helicopters are carrying out test flights over
the territory of the separatist region. The defence ministry also said
that Azerbaijan has fired a total of 10,000 shots in the direction of
Karabakh.

"The Azerbaijani side fired on the Karabakh positions more than 10,000
times and the shots were made from fire arms of different calibres,
including 60.82 mm mortars and AGS-17 grenade launchers," a source in
the defence ministry said.

Earlier, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said six Armenian soldiers
were killed in a firefight with Azeri troops in the conflict zone on 9
October. 


armenpress.am
Armenian side had no casualties during night's combat
10 October, 2015


STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 10. The situation on the
Artsakh-Azerbaijan border is calm and Karabakh Defense Ministry fully
controls the border security. Senor Hasratyan, spokesperson for the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic Defense Ministry, denied during his
conversation with `Armenpress' the information spread by Azerbaijani
media that the Armenian side had casualties during the night combat
against the Azerbaijani side. The latter does not correspond to
reality.

`The Armenian side had no casualties. This is regular misinformation
spread by Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. According to the preliminary
data, the Azerbaijani army had casualties. Currently they have
announced that one person was injured,' Senor Hasratyan informed.

The adversary made an attempt of a subversive action in the
northeastern direction (in direction of Talish) of the line of contact
between Karabakh-Azerbaijan opposing armies at about 03.05, October
10.

Frontier troops of Artsakh Defense Army identified in due time the
advance of the Azerbaijani subversive group, took preventive measures
and forced them back causing casualties to the Azerbaijani side. The
Armenian side had no casualties resulting from the combat. 

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Oct 10 2015
Six killed, many wounded during fighting in area of Nagorno-Karabakh 

conflict
Oct 10
Today the press service of the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan
published the losses incurred by the parties yesterday, during hard
fighting on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed
forces in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

As Trend writes, the Armenian Armed Forces have lost up to six people,
many Armenian soldiers were injured due to attacks of the Azerbaijani
army. One soldier of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces was also injured.

According to the report, the Azerbaijani army is monitoring the
operational situation on the front line.
RFE/RL Report October 10, 2015 Saturday 05:33 PM GMT+4 Sisak Gabrielian
10.10.2015

Turkish military helicopters twice violated Armenia's airspace earlier
this week, according to a senior Armenian government official.

"We had such incidents on October 6 and October 7. There were border
incursions from Turkey and they lasted for 2-4 minutes." Artyom
Movsesian, head of Armenia's Directorate General on Civil Aviation,
was quoted on Saturday by the Yerevan daily "Hraparak" as saying.

Movsesian told the paper that the Turkish military helicopters flew
into the airspace over Armenia's Armavir province bordering the Igdir
and Kars provinces in northeastern Turkey. The provincial capital,
also called Armavir, is located 45 kilometers west of Yerevan.

In Movsesian's words, Armenian civil aviation officials were quick to
demand explanations from their Turkish counterparts. The latter
attributed the airspace violations to bad weather, he said.

"Air traffic controllers in Ankara said that the helicopters chose
that route in order to bypass an area of bad weather conditions,"
added the official.

Armenia's defense and foreign ministries declined to comment on
Movsesian's claims on Saturday. A Defense Ministry spokesman told
RFE/RL's (Azatutyun.am) that it has nothing to add to them yet.

The reported incidents occurred just a couple of days after Russian
warplanes violated Turkey's airspace while carrying out bombing raids
in Syria. The Turkish government and NATO, of which Turkey is a
member, condemned those incursions, dismissing Moscow's claims that
its Su-30 jets accidentally strayed into Turkish territory due to bad
weather.

The Russian ambassador to Turkey was twice summoned to the Foreign
Ministry in Ankara in the following days. President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and other Turkish officials have warned of serious damage to
Turkish-Russian relations.

As part of its close defense and security ties with Armenia, Russia
has a military base in the South Caucasus country which is
headquartered near another section of the Armenian-Turkish border. The
base's weaponry includes 18 MiG-29 fighter jets and a similar number
of combat helicopters.

Also, the entire frontier, which Ankara has kept closed since 1993, is
jointly protected by Russian and Armenian border guards subordinate to
national security services of the two states.

The Interfax news agency quoted a spokesman for the Russian border
guards in Armenia as saying that "relevant bodies" of Russia and
Armenia are now "verifying the information" about the Turkish
incursions.

According to "Hraparak," the governing body of President Serzh
Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) discussed on Thursday
the reported airspace violations at a weekly meeting in Yerevan. The
paper said that the HHK spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, did not
explicitly deny that.

Some Armenian analysts, meanwhile, suggested that the Turkish
helicopter flights were deliberate and geopolitically motivated. "I
think that the latest incidents are directly connected with what
happened on the Turkish-Syrian border," said Sergey Minasian of the
Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute. "The Turkish leadership apparently
regards them as retaliation against the Russians' actions."

"Turkish warplanes or helicopters had previously violated Armenian
airspace during the Cold War," Minasian told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am).

theguardian.com
Portraits of lives in poverty: Nick Danziger's tales from Armenia

Saturday 10 October 2015 
At the age of 13, Aida was acting as a mother to her young sister
Tatevik, doing all the housework and attending school ` all while
going hungry

Aida takes care of her younger sister Tatevik in 2005. All
photographs: Nick Danziger/NB Pictures

Aida and Tatevik: 2005

Aida, 13, is often `mother' to her two-and-a-half-year-old sister,
Tatevik, as their mother and 14-year-old brother seek seasonal work in
the countryside. At their home in Gyumri ` Armenia's second-largest
city, 125km north of the capital, Yerevan ` Aida gets up at 8am and
dresses her sister. At 9am they have a cup of tea with a small piece
of bread. Then Aida begins doing the housework and draws water from a
communal tap into plastic bottles to use at home. There is no
electricity, running water or heating in the house. Aida washes their
clothes and later plays with her younger sister, whom she dotes on.

At 3pm they have a small bowl of soup. There is nothing more till 9pm,
when they have a cup of tea ` but this time without bread. Aida is
worried about her sister's health. `I had two sisters who died of
pneumonia [one at two months, the other at two years], and the doctor
says that unless Tatevik receives good shelter and adequate food she
will also die of pneumonia,' she says.


Aida has never had a holiday. She does all the household chores and
attends school. Her weekends and holidays are spent looking after her
younger sister. In addition to preparing what little food they have to
eat, Aida does the shopping, cleaning and washing. Only when she has
finished all her duties does she have time to play with her sister.
The walls of their home are damp and some of the windows are broken.
Aida has no friends outside of school ` she says she doesn't like to
talk too much, preferring to be alone. Her dream is to have enough
money to look after her family. When she was asked what she would like
as a present, she asked for a coloured pencil.

Aida and Tatevik: 2010

After 2005, Tatevik (above, aged seven) contracted tuberculosis and
was taken into care. In a sanatorium five hours away from her home,
she recovered ` but wasn't able to see Aida for more than two years.
Aida got married, and by 2010, when she was 18, was pregnant with her
second child. She continued to live in dire conditions with no running
water, electricity or heating. Instead of worrying about Tatevik, she
feared for the health of her daughter as she couldn't afford to feed
her properly or to buy medicines when she fell ill. When her husband
was not away building roads and houses in Siberia, he washed cars to
earn money.

Aida and Tatevik: 2015

Today Aida squats with her four daughters (above) in a damp, two-room
apartment far from any playground or nursery. Clothes are bought on
credit. Heat comes from a single gas burner on which Aida also warms
the water to sponge-bathe the children, as they have no bathroom. Most
days the children survive on fried potatoes. In winter they can afford
to buy fruit and vegetables only once or twice a month. All week they
look forward to a Saturday visit from Tatevik (below, with Aida), when
she is released from Gyumri's residential school.




tert.am
CREMATORIES OR GRAVES? CONTROVERSIES CONTINUE IN

 ARMENIA - IRINA
09.10.15

People in Armenia should be given a chance to choose between
crematories or graves when it comes to burying the deceased, a
psychologist said today, highlighting the cost-effectiveness of
operating crematories.

"In 2006, Armenia adopted a law allowing the operation of crematories.

But building a crematory requires considerable money which the state
doesn't have. Psychologically though, our people are not ready to
have a crematory in Armenia," Irina Tsaturyan told reporters.

She called for taking a more dynamic approach to the issue,
highlighting the need of getting adjusted to the developments of the
permanently changing world.

"We have no more soil [on the territory of Armenia]. We have graves
which have broken open as a result of landslides. At times even waters
wipe away graves," the psychologist said, stressing the importance
of changing stereotypes.

Arman Safaryan, a deacon also attending the news conference, cited
the Holy Book precept that a human being is destined to turn into
earth to enrich the soil of which he was created.

"When a human being is buried, the body decomposes within 50 years.

The only problem appear to be Artesian waters with can mix with earth.

But if grave are in woodlands, there will be no problem at all. It
is just necessary to organize everything properly," he said, calling
for proper government efforts.

The priest proposed building new graves on the basis of old ones,
a practice he said is allowed by the church canons.

"Our church does not have an official stance on crematories; the
problem has not sufficiently matured in our society for the church
to express an opinion," he added.


RFE/RL Report
Council Of Europe Official Lauds Armenian Constitutional Changes
Karlen Aslanian
09.10.2015

The head of an influential body monitoring legal reform in Council of
Europe member states reaffirmed on Friday its largely positive
assessment of controversial changes in Armenia's constitution planned
by President Serzh Sarkisian.

Gianni Buquicchio of the so-called Venice Commission also said that
Sarkisian has managed to muster broad-based political support for his
draft amendments envisaging the country's transition to the
parliamentary system of government. He argued that they were backed by
an overwhelming majority of Armenian lawmakers earlier this week.

"I think that with this latest major change -- the new constitution --
Armenia is taking a step forward," Buquicchio told RFE/RL's Armenian
service (Azatutyun.am). "Now the final word belongs to the Armenian
people."

He noted that an Armenian presidential body accepted most of the
Venice Commission's recommendations and made corresponding changes in
the constitutional package before submitting them to the National
Assembly over a month ago.

In its second "preliminary opinion" released on September 11, a team
of Venice Commission experts concluded that the proposed amendments,
if enacted, will be a "further important step forward in the
transition of Armenia towards democracy." According to Buquicchio, the
constitutional law experts will deliver their final and comprehensive
verdict later on the draft this month.

The Venice Commission chief, who met with Sarkisian on Thursday,
expressed hope that a referendum on the constitutional changes slated
for December 6 as well as the next elections in Armenia will be
democratic. "Unfortunately, you have had in the past elections that
did not meet international standards," he said. "I hope that from now
on elections in Armenia will be free, fair and in full conformity with
international standards."

Buquicchio agreed that the amended constitution and laws alone will
not lead to clean elections unless they are properly enforced by the
Armenian authorities.


thegaurdian.com
TIGRAN HAMASYAN, THE PIANIST GIVING JAZZ AN ARMENIAN 

TWIST
He's the hottest pianist in jazz and he likes to mix things up,
whether it's bebop, thrash metal or dubstep. But his heart is in the
folk music of his native land Tigran Hamasyan: 'I get into different
types of music and really immerse myself in each one.' PR

John Lewis

Somewhere, there's home-movie footage of a three-year-old Tigran
Hamasyan at his childhood home in rural Armenia. He is listening to
Black Sabbath's Paranoid and freaking out on a toy guitar. "That was my
childhood ambition," he laughs. "Still, to this day, if I could become
a killer guitar player in a couple of years, I'd quit playing the
piano and start learning now. I'd love to front a thrash metal band!"

Thankfully, thrash metal's loss has been jazz's gain. At the age of 26,
this tiny, impish Armenian-American is the hottest pianist in jazz,
selling out arenas and earning fervent praise from the likes of Chick
Corea, Brad Mehldau and Herbie Hancock (the latter declared: "Tigran,
you are my teacher now!"). But Hamasyan isn't even sure if he makes
jazz music. "I suppose it's jazz in the sense that I'm improvising,"
he says. "But the language I try to use when I'm improvising is not
bebop but Armenian folk music."

Hamasyan has an omnivorous musical diet. He devours traditional songs
from Armenia, Scandinavia and India, and has studied classical music
to a high level (he has suggested a budding jazz pianist would be
better off playing Bach or Chopin than studying bebop), while his
iPod playlist is that of the twentysomething hipster - J Dilla,
Flying Lotus, Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Skrillex and a heavy dose of
thrash metal.

But the music he makes doesn't really sound like any of the above. We
meet after he's played to a sold-out 2,000-seat theatre in Toulouse,
where his 90-minute set lurches from delicate, impressionistic
versions of eastern orthodox hymns to bursts of electronica; from
Keith Jarrett-like meditations to full-on jazz-rock.

"I get into different types of music and really immerse myself in each
one and then move on," he says. "But I try to retain that intensity
whenever I revisit any particular music." In the past 18 months
alone he has collaborated with Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu,
Tunisian oud player Dhafer Youssef, dubstep collective LV, oddball
hip-hop producer Prefuse 73, along with fellow Armenian-American Serj
Tankian from prog-metal outfit System of a Down.

Hamasyan was born in Gyumri, near Armenia's border with Turkey.

Neither of his parents were musicians (his father was a jeweller, his
mother a clothes designer), and he grew up listening to his father's
heavy rock collection - Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and
Queen. By three, he was picking out pop melodies on the family piano;
from six he attended a specialist music school. "We can be grateful
to the old Soviet Union that we had classical education systems
in place," he says. "Everybody had a piano in their house, whether
they were musicians or not." By the age of nine he began to immerse
himself in jazz, and even guested as a singer with a local big band
("I was this weird, talented kid who sang a couple of standards and
a Beatles song, Oh Darling").

As a young teenager, he moved on from bebop to experiment with Armenian
folk music. "My idea was to try to weave these folk melodies into
jazz improvisations," he says. "My first attempts were terrible!

The challenge is that folk music is modal, with no chord changes. So
you are trying to find harmonies for a music that's not supposed
to have harmonies. That's tough." Few Armenian jazz musicians had
tried this; instead Tigran was inspired by classical composers Avet
Terterian and Arno Babajanian, who "took Armenian folk music into
insane territory".

At 16, he left to study in California ("there are probably more
Armenians there than in Armenia," he jokes), where he has lived ever
since. He quickly made connections on the LA jazz scene, recording his
first album when he was only 18. His fifth and latest, Shadow Theatre,
features a varied lineup, mixing Hamasyan's piano and wordless vocals
with touches of baroque, jazz-rock and electronica. One Armenian folk
song (Drip) is transformed into juddering dubstep, another (Pagan
Lullaby) resembles Sigur Rós. But, if the settings are expansive,
the melodies are simple and direct.

"I've been stripping away layers of complexity with each album,"
he says. "You can play a bunch of fast stuff or write a complicated
melody, but the musical part of that is to make it flow naturally." He
will often do that by singing along with himself as he solos, in the
style of Keith Jarrett or Glenn Gould. "Singing along can help to make
your improvisation sound natural," he says. Sometimes you can hear him
beatboxing while he plays, or singing rhythmic patterns in the style
of an Indian tabla player. He will often deliberately restrict himself
to a small range, soloing within the space of a single octave. "When
I solo I tend not to think of myself as a pianist. In my head, I'm
playing a violin or a guitar, say. Often it's all about just finding
a sound and sticking in that register."

Hamasyan has spent much of the past year back in Armenia, which has
made him all the more fascinated by its traditional music. "Folk is
like the first form of expression. Nowadays, if you're a musician,
you're supposed to be cool or special or something," he says. "But,
back in the day, everybody was a musician. Every action, every
ceremony, was accompanied by music. You watch women churning butter
and there's a folk song that accompanies each movement in that
process. You go to parts of rural Armenia and you see people singing
and harmonising, spontaneously. It's amazing, like watching the birth
of music itself."

Shadow Theatre is released on 4 November on Verve. Hamasyan

plays Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on 19 November as part of 

the London jazz festival. 

Also Louys i Louso concert tomorrow as publicised before.