Armenia

The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in... southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. As the war progressed, Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet Republics, entangled themselves in a protracted, undeclared war in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave's parliament had voted in favor of uniting itself with Armenia and a referendum, boycotted by the Azerbaijani population of Nagorno-Karabakh, was held, whereby most of the voters voted in favor of independence. The demand to unify with Armenia, which proliferated in the late 1980s, began in a relatively peaceful manner; however, in the following months, as the Soviet Union's disintegration neared, it gradually grew into an increasingly violent conflict between ethnic Armenians and ethnic Azerbaijanis, resulting in claims of ethnic cleansing by both sides.
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The region of Nagorno-Karabakh is considered to be one of the most heavily mined regions of the former Soviet Union. Mines were laid from 1991-1994... by both Azerbaijani and Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. The United Nations and the U.S. had estimated the number of mines in Nagorno-Karabakh at 100,000, but after its 1998 assessment mission, the UN Mine Action Service concluded that the mine problem was not nearly as bad as original estimates portrayed. Nagorno-Karabakh has stated that it has never produced or exported mines, and has not purchased new mines since 1995; its mine stockpile consists of mines left over from the former Soviet Union . There were no official reports of new mine use in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2004 or the first half of 2005. It is impossible to give the exact number of people injured or killed in Nagorno Karabakh on landmines because of lack of any records during the war itself, as well as no complete information available up until 2000.
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The Battle of Kelbajar took place in March and April 1993, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. It resulted in the capture by Armenian military forces of... the Kelbajar region of Azerbaijan. Kelbajar lay outside the contested enclave of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, but within Nagorno-Karabakh geographic region of Azerbaijan, that Armenian and Azerbaijani forces had been fighting over for five years. The offensive was the first time Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh had advanced beyond the boundaries of the enclave. Kelbajar rayon, located between Armenia and the western border of fomer NKAO, was composed of several dozen villages and its provincial capital, also named Kelbajar. According to Russian sources mountain troops from the 128th Regiment stationed in Armenia participated in the seizure of Kelbajar in a blitzkrieg operation. After initial heavy resistance, the Azerbaijani defenses quickly collapsed and the provincial capital fell on April 3, 1993. Kelbajar is currently under the control of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
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The 1993 Summer Offensives of the Nagorno-Karabakh War saw the capture of several Azerbaijani regions by Armenian military units in a series of... battles from June to August 1993. As bombardments against the Nagorno-Karabakh's indigenous civilian population emanating from Agdam intensified, on July 4, an artillery bombardment was commenced by Armenian forces against the region's capital of Agdam. As the civilians began to evacuate Agdam, so did the soldiers. As house to house fighting took place, the Azeris, conflicted by desertions, undisciplined troops, and low morale, made little effort to defend the town. Within the end of the month, Armenian forces had taken hold of Agdam and an estimated 120,000 civilians had left the Agdam region. On July 29, the second UNSC resolution, 853, was passed condemning the offensive and reaffirming the previous points it had made. Despite calls to halt their advances, the Armenian government said that they had no control over the enclave's military leaders in order to call off the offensive. Facing a military collapse, Aliev attempted to mediate with the de-facto Karabakh government and Minsk Group officials.
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Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the... former Soviet Union; 22 states are members. It was first proposed as an American initiative at the meeting of NATO defense ministers in Travemünde, Germany, on 20–21 October 1993, and formally launched on 10–11 January 1994 NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium. Twelve former member states have subsequently joined NATO. On April 26, 1995 Malta became a member of PfP; it left on October 27, 1996 in order to keep its security intact. On March 20, 2008 Malta decided to reactivate their PfP membership; this was accepted by NATO at the Summit in Bucharest on April 3, 2008. During the NATO summit in Riga on November 29, 2006, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia were invited to join PfP after which they joined PfP on December 14, 2006. Cyprus is the only European Union member that is not participating.
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The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs. The World Bank's official... goal is the reduction of poverty. According to the World Bank's Articles of Agreement all of its decisions must be guided by a commitment to promote foreign investment, international trade and facilitate capital investment. The World Bank differs from the World Bank Group, in that the World Bank comprises only two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association , whereas the former incorporates these two in addition to three more: International Finance Corporation , Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency , and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes . The World Bank is one of five institutions created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. The International Monetary Fund, a related institution, is the second. Delegates from many countries attended the Bretton Woods Conference.
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The Council of Europe is an international organization promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human... rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It was founded in 1949, has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens, and is an entirely separate body from the European Union , which has only 27 member states. Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe cannot make binding laws. The two do however share certain symbols such as the flag of Europe. The Council of Europe has nothing to do with either the Council of the European Union or the European Council, which are both EU bodies. The best known bodies of the Council of Europe are the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights, and the European Pharmacopoeia Commission, which sets the quality standards for pharmaceutical products in Europe. The Council of Europe's work has resulted in standards, charters and conventions to facilitate cooperation between European countries.
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The United Nations , is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security,... economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions. There are 193 member states, including every internationally recognised sovereign state in the world but Vatican City. From its offices around the world, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout the year.
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Sergey Khachatryan is an Armenian violinist. He was born in Yerevan in 1985. He made his New York City debut on August 4, 2006, playing the... Beethoven Violin Concerto in Avery Fisher Hall under the baton of Osmo Vänskä. 2000: 1st Prize at the International Louis Spohr Competition for young violinists 2000: 1st Prize at the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition 2000: 2nd Prize at the International Fritz Kreisler Competition 2002 : 2nd Prize at the Indianapolis International Violin Competition 2005: 1st Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition At the Queen Elisabeth Competition, he won the 1708 "Huggins" Stradivarius violin on loan to him from the Nippon Music Foundation for four years. He has four CDs at Naïve Classique: 1. Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto/Aram Khachaturian Violin Concerto 2. Shostakovitch Violin Concerto 1,2 3. Franck Violin Sonata in A major/ Shostakovitch Violin Sonata, Op. 134 4. J.S. Bach: Sonatas & Partitas, BWV 1001-1006 He has a debut CD at EMI Classics, released October 7, 2002.
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Alexander Grigorevich Arutiunian , also known as Arutunian, Arutyunyan, Arutjunjan or Harutiunian was a Soviet and Armenian composer and pianist,... Professor of Yerevan State Conservatory , widely-known particularly for his Trumpet concerto described as flashy by the New York Times. He was awarded by the Stalin Prize and State Prize of Armenia , People's Artist of the USSR and Armenian SSR honorary titles, Aram Khachaturian Prize , "St Mesrop Mashtots" and "Khorenatsi" Armenian medals, "Alexandrov" Gold medal , the Orpheus Award and "St Sahak and St Mesrop" Order by Holy Etchmiadzin . Arutiunian was born in Yerevan, Armenia, in the family of Grigor and Eleonora Arutiunian. His father was a military serviceman. At an early age Arutiunian met famous composer Alexander Spendiarian. In 1927 Arutiunian became a member of the Yerevan State Conservatory’s children group, then, at the age of fourteen, he was admitted to the Conservatory to the studios of O.Babasyan , and S.Barkhudaryan and V. Talyan .
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Siranush Harutyunyan , known simply as Sirusho , is an Armenian pop singer. She began her music career singing live in Canada, in the Armenian... diaspora music scene, when she was seven years old and, at the age of nine, she received an Armenian Music Award for her song "Lusabats". Her first studio album, Sirusho, was released in 2000, and its follow-up, Sheram, in 2005. In the same year, she was awarded The Future of Armenian Music, Best Album and Best Female Performer awards in the first Armenian National Music Awards. The BBC describes her success as making her a "national treasure" in Armenia, and its news service has gone on to report that she is popular in both Armenia and "throughout the Armenian diaspora throughout the world". She currently studies diplomacy in Yerevan State University, having majored in international relations. Sirusho also sings in the Greek language and, in April 2009, released her first Greek single "Erotas" in Armenia, Greece and Cyprus. The song is an up-tempo dance record with heavy Greek laiko musical influences which is apparent from the dancing and dress in the music video.
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Hayk Hakobyan , better known as Hayko , is an Armenian singer who won Armenia's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki.... He represented Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest in the final with the song "Anytime You Need". The song won the eighth place in the contest. Hayko was trained in music at a music school after T.Chukadjyan, and then went on with a music college after Romanos Melikyan. He attended the Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas.
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Georgia /ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and... Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is almost 4.7 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy. During the classical era independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. A unified Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 11th–12th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, becoming the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and part of the Soviet Union.
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Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western... Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest. Azerbaijan has an ancient and historic cultural heritage. The country was among the birthplaces of mankind and is located at the heart of ancient civilizations. Furthermore the country is known to be among the most progressive and secular Islamic societies. Aside from having been the first Muslim country to have operas, theater plays, and a democratic republic, Azerbaijan today is among the Muslim countries where support for secularism and tolerance is the highest.
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