Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Jan 26 2005
Armenia: Country’s Jews Alarmed Over Nascent Anti-Semitism
By Emil Danielyan
Armenia’s tiny Jewish community is growing concerned by what it says
is mounting anti-Semitism in the South Caucasus country. Virtually
nonexistent in the past, the issue has emerged over the past year
amid a rise in anti-Jewish propaganda and the desecration of a
Holocaust memorial in Yerevan. The government has so far done little
to address the Jewish community’s concerns.
Yerevan, 26 January 2005 (RFE/RL) — Rimma Varzhapetian says she
always felt proud of Armenia when she met fellow Jews from other
parts of the former Soviet Union.
`We always declare everywhere that there has never been anti-Semitism
in Armenia, that Armenia is a good place for Jews to live and, more
importantly, that Armenia is quite a stable country in political and
social respects,’ Varzhapetian says.
That is why the secular leader of Armenia’s Jewish community has had
trouble coming to terms with what she says is a recent rise in
anti-Semitic propaganda.
It began in 2004, when ALM, a private pro-government television
channel, began broadcasting a phone-in talk show hosted by the
station’s owner, Tigran Karapetian. For months, Karapetian used the
platform to air views that portrayed Jews as an unsavory race bent on
dominating Armenia and the wider world.
Varzhapetian says her office in Yerevan received threatening phone
calls after the first series of ALM broadcasts.
Karapetian’s rhetoric appeared to embolden Armen Avetisian, the
openly anti-Semitic leader of the Armenian Aryan Union, a small
ultranationalist party. Avetisian in a recent newspaper interview
alleged that there are as many as 50,000 “disguised” Jews in Armenia,
and promised he would work to have them expelled from the country. He
was arrested on 24 January on charges of inciting ethnic hatred.
A Holocaust memorial in a public park in the center of Yerevan also
came under attack in September, when vandals desecrated the memorial
on the final day of Jewish New Year celebrations.
Yet what shocked the Jewish community most was an interview with
Hranush Kharatian, a prominent ethnologist who heads the Armenian
government’s department on religious and minority affairs. Speaking
to the `Golos Armenii’ (Voice of Armenia) Russian-language newspaper
a month after the memorial’s desecration, Kharatian accused Jewish
leaders of preaching extreme intolerance toward all non-Jews.
In a recent interview with RFE/RL, Kharatian cited what she called
the “aggressive ideology” contained in the Talmud, the book of Jewish
religious laws. `I see in the Talmud numerous points which clearly
state that non-Jews, or infidels that are not Jews, are not human
beings and are animals,’ she said.
Varzhapetian and other community leaders, including Chief Rabbi Gersh
Meir Burshtein, met last month with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian to ask for help in addressing the problem. A ministry
spokesperson, however, said last week the issue is not sufficiently
serious to warrant government attention.
Mikael Danielian heads the Armenian Helsinki Association, a human
rights group that closely monitors anti-Semitic activity in the
country. He criticized the government’s failure to address the issue.
`I am surprised at the serenity of our state officials,” he told
RFE/RL. “It could have very serious consequences for Armenia.”
Armenia’s Jewish community is estimated to number less than 1,000
people. It is largely formed of scientists and other professionals
who moved to Armenia in the 1960s and ’70s to escape persecution in
Russia and Ukraine. Most integrated quickly into society, marrying
ethnic Armenians and adopting Armenian surnames.
Until recently, anti-Semitic sentiment in Armenia was limited to
occasional allegations by nationalist scholars that Jews had aided
the 1915 genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. The theory — which
is not supported by historical evidence — was first aired during the
presentation of an anti-Semitic book at a 2003 meeting of the
Armenian Writers Union. No one in the audience condemned the text.
A global report on anti-Semitism issued this month by the U.S. State
Department dedicates just three paragraphs to Armenia. But that was
sufficient to unleash a fresh wave of anti-Jewish criticism. ALM’s
Karapetian, who was cited by name in the U.S. study, responded with a
two-hour televised monologue lambasting the United States and the
contents of the report.
Several days later, Karapetian received an unexpected phone call
during an ALM broadcast. An Armenian woman living in Israel
criticized his sweeping bias against Jews, but was quickly cut off by
the broadcaster.
“If someone has offended you personally, or if you have problems with
your business, it doesn’t mean you should hold an entire nation
responsible,” the woman said in Russian. `Stop asking hysterical
questions on air,” Karpetian replied. “Shut up and listen to me. You
say it’s inadmissible to say `Jewish tricks.’ But is it permissible
to spit at a priest?’
Karapetian was referring to two recent incidents in Jerusalem in
which Jewish religious students spat at Armenian priests in a show of
their contempt for their Christian faith. The Armenian Apostolic
Church has had a presence in Jersualem’s Old City for centuries.
The incidents have been cited repeatedly in Armenia as supporting
claims of anti-Semitism. But Varzhapetian said Armenia’s Jews are
still hoping not only the government but also civil society will take
steps to stem the rising hatred.
`We are still awaiting a statement [of protest] from prominent
Armenians. Armenians themselves must express indignation. First of
all, because there are very few of us [in Armenia]. Secondly,
protecting ourselves is not quite appropriate,’ Varzhapetian said.
Varzhapetian and other community leaders sent an open letter to
President Robert Kocharian urging an end to the government’s
“conspicuous failure to see those inciting anti-Semitism.” But the
only response to date has been a statement by a cabinet minister
saying ethnic and religious discrimination does not exist in Armenia.