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FOR THE RECORD: GENOCIDE DOCUMENTATION TO BE PUBLISHED BY NATIONAL ARCHIVE
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow Reporter
The National Archive of Armenia will for the first time publish a book
entitled `Eyewitness Evidence about the Genocide’ this month. The book
will present 600 documents.
`These documents have never been paid attention to. Genocide was
presented by official, diplomatic documents’ says National Archive
Director Amatuni Virabyan. `An individual, a person has not been
featured. We always said that 1.5 million people had been
exterminated, and it was said abstractly, in an unaddressed manner,
there were no concrete people. Now if we say that 25 people were
killed, we will mention each of them name by name.’
The facts on the basis of which the book will be published were put
down from the words of emigrants in 1916 by journalists of the `Mshak’
newspaper published in Tiflis. They toured all Eastern Armenia, and
even met survivors in Russia and documented their stories.
Virabyan says that the stories of all eyewitnesses have one common
scheme. The teller depicts the general situation of the village, how
many Armenian residents it had, how many churches there were, and
finally how the massacres began.
For example, case No. 439 presents the massacres of Sasun’s Aghbi
village in the province of Bitlis. The 9-page story was accounted by
journalists on November 5, 1916 in Tiflis, from the words of
40-year-old eyewitness Nure Yeritsyan.
`There were 150 houses in the village. I had three sons, Sogho, Misak
and Azat, with me and one son, Sedrak, was in Russia, one daughter,
Azniv, two daughters-in-law. We were rich. We had 700 honeycombs bees,
150 rams, 40 heads of cattle, 50 land-plots, a watermill and other
riches. I was the only survivor from our house. I reached Tiflis and
now live with my son Sedrak.’
Thereafter, Nure tells of how they fled the village, how they hid in
the Andok, Tsovasar, Kanasar mountains. During the escape she lost her
daughters-in-law, sons, grandchildren.
`November 1915. We slept inside rocks, in dry grass, there was nothing
to eat. We even ate dogs and cats. Finally, we even started to eat
human flesh. When we were thirsty we used to drink each other’s
urine. In December-January there was no longer human flesh left, we
began to eat the remaining hide of cattle, leather shoes, and then
animal and human bones. We warmed them on fire and ate grinding them
with our teeth,’ Nure tells.
Virabyan says it is natural that Turks should deny it, saying that
there was no organized massacre. According to them, there were
deportations and it was quite possible that people died on their way.
`Our goal is to show with 600 horrible human stories that similar
brutalities were repeated everywhere, in all provinces, villages,’
says the archive director.
There are 12,000 documents kept in the National Archive today. Besides
the book to be published soon, another one will appear in autumn. The
facts for this book were collected by the well-known writer Hovhannes
Tumanyan in 1918. `A public committee was set up upon the writer’s
initiative to decide the losses incurred by the Armenian people. They
drafted a special questionnaire and visiting different places asked
people to fill in them. The eyewitnesses filled in their names, age,
village of residence, and, most importantly, how many members of their
families were massacred and how many survived,’ Virabyan explains.
In the data collected by Tumanyan people often mentioned themselves as
the only survivors from their families. Virabyan says: `A man
mentions 26 family members name by name and then says that he was the
only survivor. The stories are horrible. On the Andok hill surrounded
by Turks and Kurds starvation led the Sasun folks to eat the flesh of
those who had died. They tell of how Turks cut a child into pieces,
boiled and forced the parents to eat it. At first the editorial board
decided to publish the names of those people, but later we abandoned
that thought.’ Director of Turkish Studies at the NAS Institute of
Oriental Studies, Associate Professor Ruben Safrastyan says that such
publications are important and should have been accomplished
earlier. They are also indispensable original sources for scientific
researches.
And the archive director says that the recent statement made by Turkey
that archives in Armenia are closed is baseless.
`I deny it, no Turkish historian or journalist has yet turned to me, I
am ready to receive any Turkish historian and open the archives, all
the facts pertaining to the Genocide. I made this statement long ago
and there are responses,’ he says.
A number of foreign journalists have turned to Virabyan, she says,
including one New York producer who is making a film about the Ottoman
Empire.
The director also says that they have close ties with the Turkish
National Archive and that they in turn invite them for studies of the
Turkish archives.
And Safrastyan notes that it was in 1989 that Turkey for the first
time declared its archives open. `The US-based Zoryan Institute set
up a group of Armenian specialists from the Diaspora and Armenia, of
which I was a member, and asked the Turkish government to give
permission according to their statement. The reply was a denial.’
According to Safrastyan, only one specialist of Armenian nationality
from the United States worked in the Ottoman archives – Ara Sarafian,
and that wasn’t in regards with the genocide issues, but he studied
demographical issues. `Hilmar Kaiser, a German, worked in those
archives. His studies specifically focus on genocide issues. But as
the Turks knew what sort of work he was going to do, they began to
raise obstacles. Two years ago Kaiser published an open letter among
fellow scientists in which he mentioned the attitude showed towards
him by the Turks. He was unfairly accused of breaking laws and making
unauthorized copies.’
The 1915 documents are in Ottoman Turkish, which greatly differs from
modern Turkish. It is written in Arabic letters and is read from right
to left.
Safrastyan explains that knowing only Ottoman Turkish is not enough
for working in Ottoman archives. One should first be familiar with
handwritings and their different varieties. Each Ottoman state
department of that time had its own system of record-keeping.
`The researcher must know not only the Ottoman Turkish, but the whole
system of Ottoman statehood,’ he says.
OUT OF THE LOOP: AZERBAIJAN SAYS GEORGIA MUST STOP ASSISTING TRANSPORT
TO ARMENIA
By Aris Ghazinyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
A special agreement between the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan
and the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia
banning the shipment of cargoes designated for Armenia via Georgian
territory is expected to be signed soon on the Azeri-Georgian border.
This document was to have been signed in January, but was postponed.
Azerbaijan, which has been blockading Armenian communications since
1989, maintains active railway communication with Georgia via the
Baku-Tbilisi rail. This communication is vital to both states:
Azerbaijan thus ensures its gateway to the Black Sea ports of Georgia,
and Georgia, in view of its blockade of Abkhazia, gets the only
possibility of railway communication with the outside world via
Azerbaijan’s territory.
At the same time, official Baku repeatedly expressed doubts over the
`non-purposeful’ use of this mainline. In its opinion, among the
cargoes shipped from Azerbaijan through the Georgian border are also
containers designated for Armenia which are shipped from Tbilisi to
Yerevan through the functioning Tbilisi-Yerevan railway. Thus, as the
Azeri authorities claim, the blockade of Armenia is disrupted at the
expense of its mediated involvement in regional commodity
turnover. The agreement is intended to prevent a further exploitation
of the situation.
On February 22, during inspections conducted by the State Customs
Committee and the Ministry of Transport of Azerbaijan, about 200
carloads of oil products were found on the Azeri-Georgian border, at
the Beyuk-Kesik station. These cargoes were to be shipped to Armenia
via Georgia. As the `Sharg’ agency reports, this cargo was shipped via
the Caspian railway of Azerbaijan to Georgia. A total of 420 carloads,
of which 297 were with grain, 75 with diesel fuel, 7 with tires, 2
with engine oil, 32 with liquefied gas, etc. were stopped on the
border. As a result, a sharp deficit of liquefied gas was felt in
Armenia, which led to a sharp increase in prices for it.
During a November Russian blockade of transport following the Beslan
terrorism by Chechens, an inspection of cargo bound for Georgia via
Azeri rail found undocumented goods believed to be bound for Armenia.
`What would be Georgia’s reaction if Azerbaijan began supplying diesel
fuel or other products to Abkhazia or South Ossetia?’ said
Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Tbilisi Ramiz Hasanov in this regard. `I
think that this would be an infringement of Georgia’s national
interests.’
On November 30, a working group of Azerbaijan’s State Customs arrived
in Tbilisi. The group got down to the documentation of cargoes.
Commenting on the situation, the first Vice-Premier of Azerbaijan’s
government Abbas Abbasov said that Azerbaijan would not allow cargoes
to Georgia if they were designated for Armenia.
`Baku has signed a number of international acts-agreements on transit,
transportation and export, as well as on the Free Trade Zone, with the
only condition – non-admission of the use of Azerbaijan’s territory
for the transit of cargoes to Armenia,’ the vice-premier
emphasized. `A similar agreement has been signed also between Baku and
Tbilisi, and therefore Georgia must abide by its commitments. We
demanded that the Georgian authorities should strictly prohibit the
transit of Armenian cargoes. But if this process continues, Azerbaijan
will stop all cargoes heading for Georgia without exception.’
Official Yerevan has not yet responded to the possible signing of the
Azeri-Georgian agreement, whose `anti- Armenian’ essence is not even
concealed. The Armenian side continues to focus attention on the
`Abkhazian section’ of the railway, whose operation ensures Yerevan’s
exit to Russia bypassing Azerbaijan.
`The restoration of the cargo and passenger traffic on the Abkhazian
section is also in the interest of Georgia itself,’ Armenia’s Minister
of Transport and Communication Andranik Manukyan told REGNUM news
agency on February 25. `After all, today Tbilisi has to use transit
via Azerbaijan’s territory.’ `The blockade of the Abkhazian section
in fact does not deprive Abkhazia of communications with the outside
world, as the Sukhumi-Sochi railway branch is operated,’ Armenia’s
President Robert Kocharyan emphasizes in this regard. The context of
this statement by the Armenian leader is evident: to make it clear for
the Georgian authorities that it is Armenia and not Abkhazia that
suffers from the Abkhazian blockade.
BIG PLANS: RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN BUSINESSMAN HAS EXPENSIVE IDEAS FOR
ARMENIA INVESTMENT
By Julia Hakobyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
A well-known Armenian-Russian businessman announced this week his
plans for a multi-million dollar investment into development of
tourism infrastructure in Armenia’s resort town of Tsakhkadzor. Ara
Abrahamyan, president of the Moscow based Union of Armenians of Russia
said that if his plan is approved by Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan he envisages to invest $100 million in the first phase of
hotel construction in Tsakhkadzor. Abrahamyan demonstrated to
journalists a sketch of the hotels network in the area, which will
take over 100,000 square meters. He said that Tsakhkadzor, a popular
skiing area in Armenia can become an attractive tourism destination
and mentioned that for example in Austria 35 percent of its budget
comes from tourism.
`We have already come to the agreement with the Russian Minister of
Sport that 500 Russian sportsmen will take rest and training in
Tsakhkadzor year round,’said Abrahamyan, adding that the hotels will
be 3 and 5 stars. Abrahamyan, 48, who is also a founder of the World
Armenian Congress told journalists that last year his organizations
distributed more than 5,000 computers in the schools of Armenia and
Karabakh.
However the businessman blamed Armenian authorities for their
insufficient efforts toward strengthening Armenia- Diaspora ties. He
mentioned that both his organizations do a lot in uniting Armenians
throughout the world and promoting Armenian issues, but without
support from the Armenian government the efforts of his both
organizations are not effective enough.
He mentioned that he donated $200,000 last weekend to the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation for promoting genocide recognition. In all
$1.7 million was raised at the February 26 banquet in Paris to
contribute to the activity of Hai Dat (for genocide recognition).
Abrahamyan who is known for his close ties with the Kremlin mentioned
that Russian President Vladimir Putin is to visit Armenia later this
month.
`This year we plan to erect a monument dedicated to Armenian genocide
in Moscow’s Victory Park,’ he said. `Until now there is not one
monument in Moscow in memory of genocide victims, except a khachkar in
the yard of an Armenian church. Also, a discussion on genocide has
been suggested in the Russian State Duma.’
Referring to the process of passing of a number of Armenian
enterprises to Russia to reduce the Armenian debt, he said that the
deal was profitable both for Armenia and Russia. However he said that
sufficient work was not done for their exploitation and creating of
jobs.
(In exchange of debt of $93 million Armenia has passed five
enterprises to Russia, such as Hrazdan Heat Power Plant, `Mars’ plant
and others.)
Abrahamyan complained that he is unable to complete construction of
buildings in a plot of land he acquired in the North Avenue complex –
the area of elite businesses and residences under construction now in
the center of Yerevan. `I have desire, I have money but it is not
possible to work. It is a paradox.’ Abrahamyan however refused to
explain the reasons and did not specify whom he accuses in stagnating
construction. He only said that he knows that people who lived in that
area are unsatisfied with the compensation they got to leave their
houses which were demolished for the avenue construction.
`I was accused that I bought land and did not pay money to people, but
I had nothing to do with compensation. I deal with municipality and
agree that they did not pay enough money to the people,’ he said.
AIR APPARENT: LEGAL MEASURES AIM TO MAKE ARMENIA SMOKE FREE
By Julia Hakobyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
Armenia took a step toward combating smoking this week as the `Law on
Restriction of Tobacco Realization, Consumption and Usage’ came into
effect March 2.
The law which is to be implemented in three phases envisages that by
next year smoking in public places, such as hospitals, cultural and
education institutions, public transports, sport halls and complexes
will be forbidden. The sale of cigarettes to minors (below age 18) is
forbidden since the beginning of this month. Before the end of this
year both public organizations and state institutions should allocate
a room for smokers, while the rest of its offices should be
smoke-free. This restriction applies also to restaurants and cafés,
where non-smoking areas should be designated.
The law was passed by the National Assembly last month after being
twice rejected by the lawmakers, some of whom are the republic’s
biggest importers of tobacco.
Last November Armenia also joined a Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control (FCTC), an international treaty negotiated by 192 member
states of the World Health Organization. (WHO) The FCTC requires
following the WHO standards of health warning, covering 30 percent of
a cigarette pack with information about the dangers of
smoking. According to the FCTC, the Armenian government should outlaw
cigarette advertising by 2010.
Armenia so far is the only member of the FCTC among Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS).
However statistics say that Armenia tops the list of European counties
in consumption of cigarettes. An estimated 70 percent of men are
smokers.
At present, the sale and advertisement of cigarettes dominates the
consumer market. Few places have designated smoking areas. Even the
Ministry of Health which is actively campaigning against smoking does
not have a special smoking area in its building.
According to the state custom service, 442 million cigarettes were
imported to Armenia over the first quarter of 2004, showing a 22.8 per
cent growth over last year. Cigarette production accounts for 3.3 per
cent of Armenia’s industrial output. In 2003 3.22 million cigarettes
were made by local producers, 14.4 percent more than a year before.
WHO statistics say that about 2,000 people die in Armenia annually
from smoking related diseases. Organizations in Armenia who campaign
against smoking hope that with the new law the number of smokers in
Armenia will stop increasing.
Yelena Manvelyan, the head of `Armenian Women for Health and Healthy
Environment’ ngo greeted especially the fact that smoking will be
prohibited in public transport.
`The drivers who smoke put in danger the health of passengers, who
become passive smokers,’ she said. `Of course enforcing the law in
Armenia where most of men smoke is not easy and it will take a long
time. However without taking first steps we can not go ahead.’
The Armenian Public Health Alliance and the Coalition for Tobacco Free
Armenia issued a statement yesterday which reads `Without an
exaggeration, this law can save lives, as it encompasses measures
aimed at preventing tobacco uptake by children, assisting smokers in
quitting, and protecting the right of non-smokers for a smoke free
environment.’
The WHO statistics say that tobacco is the second major cause of death
in the world. It kills one in ten adults’ worldwide (about 5 million
deaths each year). If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause
some 10 million deaths each year by 2020.
GROWING AWARENESS: AGENCIES COOPERATE FOR THE SAKE OF A GREENER ARMENIA
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmenianNow Reporter
An American government agency and Armenian environmentalists are
joining hands to save Armenia’s forests through education.
The main purpose of the two-day workshop, `Environmental Education’,
organized by the U.S. Peace Corps and the Armenia Tree Project (ATP)
in Yerevan was to promote cooperation between specialists from
Armenian NGOs and Peace Corps volunteers involved in environmental
projects and provide both with useful information about education in
this sphere.
The workshop organizers hope that, updated on environmental education
matters, the participants will spread on the knowledge in their
day-to-day work with members of the public, including in the country’s
regions. During the workshop local and international environmental
educators shared their theoretical and practical knowledge and
experience with the participants through original presentations. The
workshop also discussed such topics as fishery, forestry, food chain,
grafting, etc.
According to ATP Country Director Susan Yagubian Klein, Armenia may
face complete deforestation in 20 years unless it takes urgent action
to stop the shrinkage of forests today. Meanwhile, she said, education
and environmental awareness are an important component in the struggle
to preserve wildlife. `The only way that logging is going to be
stopped is for the public to become aware of the situation and the
best way to reach the public is through educating young people,’ said
Klein. `So, this is one way to make the public more aware of the
dangers to the environment.’
Klein cited the data of the `Millennium Challenges’ Program Report
according to which forests occupy only 8-10% of Armenia’s territory
today. Meanwhile, according to the same source, forests made 12% of
the country’s territory in 1990 and 25% at the beginning of last
century.
Since its establishment in 1994, the Armenia Tree Project has planted
and tended more than 580,000 trees in about 500 areas of Armenia. It
has two arboretums in two villages of the Ashtarak and Masis regions
where it grows about 40,000 saplings every year.
The US Peace Corps has been in Armenia since 1992. This year is the
seventh year of its cooperation with the ATP. Among the 85 Peace
Corps volunteers in Armenia there are also ten who are involved in
environmental projects. According to Peace Corps Environmental
Education Project Head Armen Tiraturyan, the organization’s volunteers
mainly work with young Armenians in all marzes (regions) of the
country except Armavir and Ararat. `We hope that after the workshop
they will be able to apply their knowledge in their practical work
with the public,’ he said.
Peace Corps Armenia Country Director Patrick Hart also stressed the
importance of their cooperation with the ATP. `Our volunteers teaching
in Armenia’s regions and trying to raise environmental awareness among
young Armenians will only benefit from their cooperation with the ATP
whose work is crucial to improving the environment,’ he said. Peace
Corps Armenia Program and Training Officer Deborah Wild said that one
of the reasons for the successful cooperation between the ATP and the
Peace Corps is that the two organizations share the same values. `We
share concern for Armenia’s long-term development and the future of
Armenia and its children,’ she said. `That is why we share our great
interest and enjoy collaborating in the area of education.’
ATP Community Tree Planting Project Coordinator Anahit Gharibyan also
commented on the significance of the workshop. She said that the
event had brought together people who are genuinely concerned over the
country’s environmental problems. `The level of environmental
awareness among children and young people is very low in the country,’
she said. `I think that young people and children must be educated on
environmental issues from early age.’ According to the workshop
organizers, `Environmental Education’ is going to become an annual
workshop in Armenia.
HANDS ACROSS HAYASTAN: ARMENIANS HOPE TO DANCE INTO THE RECORD BOOK
By Marianna Grigoryan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
This year Armenians will have a chance to celebrate the First Republic
Day, May 28, in an original way. A move is underfoot, literally, to
have more than 160,000 Armenians join in a `Round Dance of Unity’.
`All our nation will unite around the round dance of unity,’ says Aram
Karapetyan, the head of the Nig Aparan Compatriots Union and the
headquarters of the `Round Dance of Unity’ initiative.
Karapetyan says the idea of the initiative has been circulating for so
long nobody can tell where the idea comes from.
`All of us hand in hand will dance the round dance of unity at two
o’clock that day,’ says Karapetyan. `The people are so excited we
couldn’t have expected, and we feel excited of it even more. People
come to register with families and organizations bring long lists of
participation.’
Karapetyan says the round dance will start at the new bridge in
Ashtarak and make a circle that will include the cities of Ashtarak,
Talin, Artik, Aragats, Alagyaz of two marzes, and the dance will close
on the Ashtarak Bridge again.
According to a special plan, participants will arrive at the main
roads where they will join hands. Diaspora are expected among the
guests.
Karapetyan says delegations from Kazakhstan and Belarus will arrive in
Armenia to take part in the event. The Karabagh delegation headed by
the Prime Minister will also arrive. Ten applicants from Turkey have
wished to participate, two of them ethnic Turks.
`This is a dance when scientists and craftsmen, artists and doctors,
peasants and citizens will be hand in hand,’ says
Karapetyan. `Well-known artists, officials, scientists, doctors will
be present, who will address the people in special videos broadcasted
by TV before the event.’
Karapetyan says all these will be shot from one or two helicopters as
the round dance hopes to get recognition in the Guinness Book of World
Records.
`There has not been such a thing in the world before when so many
people joined hands,’ the excited leader says (having apparently not
heard of the `Hands Across the World’ phenomena). `The representatives
of the Guinness book will also be present that day and we will be
registered in the book of records.’
The territory for the round dance takes nearly 160 kilometers. It has
been estimated that ideally some 160,000 participants are needed,
although the organizers believe the number of participants will be
more.
`The participants are different,’ says Karapetyan. `Owing to the works
that started a month ago more than 110,000 have applied for
participation – individuals and mainly organizations with all their
staffs.’
At the same time for more variety of the round dance, according to the
organizer, the organizations will participate in their professional
dresses, – the doctors in white smocks, and the individuals the way
they prefer.
Educational institutions will also participate in the
initiative. There will also be participants on horses and in royal
coats. Each registered participant will get a special certificate of
participation.
`At present we work on providing national music all around the 160
kilometers,’ says Karapetyan. `Besides the national music, we have
planned participation of 1,600 professional dancers, although 10,000
have applied for it; they will make the event more lively.’
Within the frameworks of the event, 36 khachkars with Armenian letters
will be placed; they will also plant 200,000 poplars.
According to Karapetyan, the poplar has been chosen because these
trees do not need special care and there is no problem of regular
irrigation.
Karapetyan says everything is planned beforehand to escape
misunderstanding. The police will support the event with its different
regiments.
`We hope everything will be wonderful, and we will surprise the world
with this original initiative and will be registered in the Guinness
Book of Records,’ says Karapetyan. `People will stand hand in hand for
nearly an hour so that the helicopters manage to shoot the video; then
the national celebrations will start, with singing and dancing and
feasting, for which special tables will be installed.’
FILM STAR: SINGLE FATHER PLAYS OUT HIS OWN ROLE OF `TRAMP’
By Vahan Ishkhanyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
`My late mother would say: you love Raj Kapur so much that you will
end up being a tramp one day,’ Avo remembers his mother’s
prophesy. Raj Kapur was a Bollywood star whose movies were very
popular in Armenia in the 1970-80s. The `Tramp’, in which he starred
was always on the screens. Many know by heart the songs from this
movie. The mother was right. Whether it was the love of the film or
the economic hardship of his country, Avo became a tramp . . .
Avetik Khachatryan, 40, still sings songs from those Indian films. He
also named his children from movie references. Hrach, is 10 (he named
him in honor of Raj Kapur), and his daughters are Gita, 6, and Zita,
4, (from the `Zita and Gita’ movie). Even the birthmark on Gita’s back
is reminiscent of India’s map. He calls himself and his son tramps
(`brodyaga,’ in Russian) – brodyaga Hrach and brodyaga Avo.
He loved Indian movies so much that in the `80s Avo learned to speak
Hindi from Indian students and translated three movies into
Armenian. He remembers the words of his Indian friend, which he says
in Hindi and then translates: `Armindar was right when he said that
life is worse than death.’
Avo’s life has also turned into an Indian movie. He has become a kind
hero who is without a proper job, raising three children alone. He is
not the father of the youngest of the children, but he considers it
his duty to father her too: `Blood doesn’t count here,’ he says. His
wife left him, leaving the children behind. Sometimes she pays visits
and takes little Zita with her and then she brings her back again.
In the 1990s Avo’s brothers ran into debts, sold their father’s house
and then left for Russia. Avo rented an apartment where he lived with
his mother and worked at a construction site. He got married in
1994. A year later Hrach was born. His wife left but then came back
and Gita was born, and again she left with Gita.
Avo lost his job as a construction worker. He could no longer pay the
rent. The two tramps – Avo and three-year-old Hrach – found themselves
in the street, homeless and hungry.
`I knocked at somebody’s door, a woman opened. I asked her to let me
stay with her for one night because I had nowhere to sleep and to pity
my child. She asked if it was a new way of robbery. I told her I
wanted to stay for one night and suggested that she tie my feet with a
rope to make sure I wouldn’t run away. She believed me, led us to the
bedroom upstairs. And in the morning she gave us tea.’
For two days Avo fed his child from garbage cans. Then he learned
about bottle collecting.
Avo joined the large army of the poor going from home to home
collecting bottles and handing them to reception points for cash. `For
many years I was collecting bottles with Hrach in my arms or in the
pram. We have our own anthem – the song from `Tramp’: `Give way, they
are calling you.’
At first collecting was difficult. Many people drove him from their
doorsteps and cursed him and some even wanted to beat him for knocking
at their door. But now he has permanent residents who know him and
keep bottles especially for him.
Soon, he took a second `job’. He dumps garbage that people leave on
their doorsteps. Some pay 200 drams (about 50 cents) a month; others
pay 50-100 drams a day. All in all, he manages to earn 5,000 drams
(about $9) a month by dumping garbage.
Occasionally Avo picks up odd jobs. Recently he hauled 39 sacks of
sand up four flights of stairs. He was paid about $4.30.
For four years the `tramp’ has managed to rent a 12-square-meter room
in Yerevan’s Nork district where he lives with his three
children. There is no kitchen; the toilet is outside. It costs 8,000
drams a month. The landlord wanted to raise it to 10,000, but then he
felt sorry for Avo and left it unchanged. Every morning Avo goes
collecting and dumping, leaving his three children alone. Since Hrach
began to attend school he doesn’t go with him: `I said, Hrach jan, you
must attend lessons, you don’t have to come with me anymore. If they
ask you at school about your daddy’s occupation, tell them he is
engaged in commerce.’
Avo is glad to see February pass. People don’t drink so much in
winter, leaving fewer bottles. He was short by half on the February
rent. And the electric bill of about $15 is due.
`Well, summer will come soon, everything will be alright,’ Avo says.
Avo always wears clean clothes, a white shirt. He used to wash his
clothes by hand. Now he has an old Soviet-type washing machine which
residents gave him as a gift. It leaks water, but anyway it is better
than doing laundry by hand.
The single father manages enough for food, electricity and rent. The
family’s possessions, including cassettes with Indian songs and a
small TV-set that has lost colors are gifts from residents.
Varduhi Manukyan, who lives on Baghramyan Avenue, says that people
like Avo very much: `He is a guy who will always lend his helping
hand, he knows a lot, he is not a simple poor man,’ he says. `I give
him bottles and also clothes and equipment that I don’t want to throw
away. He has a son, Brodyaga. He used to come with him before.’ The
residents do not know about his two daughters.
`It is said in the Bible: I have dressed flowers in colorful clothes,
but you, human being, if you love me as much as a mustard seed,
honestly, won’t I be all the more sure to clothe you?’ says Avo,
without feeling that his life has given the Biblical passage a new
sense.
Four years ago Avo asked his landlord to go to the village after his
wife and ask her to come back. Before he went, the wife showed up with
a newborn baby in her arms.
`Avo came and said, `Uncle Vagho, you see, there is no woman in the
house, it is difficult, I want to bring the mother of my children
back.Will you go to Lernavan to speak for me? Perhaps she will listen
to you and come back’,’ says the landlord, Vaghinak.
A few days later he looked out the window and saw a woman holding an
infant. The wife came and stayed. Three or four months later she
weaned the baby and left. Avo kept that child too. She calls him
daddy, she hasn’t seen another daddy.
Now his wife shows up once or twice a month: `The mother of the
children is not 100 percent, she is a 30-percent mother,’ says
Vaghinak. `What will be their end now, I don’t know.’
And the Indian movie continues, with good and bad people, love and
betrayal, compassion and cruelty. . . And the `tramp’, who dumps
garbage and picks bottles, and waits for the happy ending.
WINTER WATER WORLD: JERMUK HOPES TO REVIVE YEAR-ROUND TOURISM REPUTATION
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmenianNow Reporter
While mild weather has been welcomed in the capital, about 170
kilometers south-east of Yerevan, the forested resort town of Jermuk
is still deep in winter.
Here on the plateau, 2070 meters high above sea level, the thick snow
layer of Jermuk glows under sun rays as if shedding light of diamond
grit. The only noise-maker of the local nature, still enjoying winter
sleep, is the waterfall, which from 60 meters height flow into Arpa
River running through the town.
Once famous for its curing complex and water treatment, today Jermuk
is trying to again attract winter guests by restoring heating systems
in health resorts.
In comparison with Tsaghkadzor known for providing active winter rest
in Armenia, the main advantage of Jermuk with its typical mountainous
climate is the curable mineral water.
The curing complex of seven resorts of the town includes inner and
outer usage of thermal waters, diet therapy, gymnastics, walk therapy
in the open air, climatic and physiotherapeutic procedures.
`In the past our curing complex was dealing with visitors arriving
from all the former Soviet republics the whole year round,’ says
Stepan Avagyan, the head of Jermuk Business and Tourism Association
`Fifteen years have passed, and today our main goal is to return that
very contingent to Jermuk.’
In the city, founded in 1935 on the basis of mineral waters, today the
visiting card is still the mineral water gallery, where one can enjoy
several natural springs free of charge. The lowest temperature of the
waters is 30C, with 65C the highest.
In 1951 the first factory of mineral waters was established in the
town. During Soviet times its production, that is mineral water
Jermuk, was exported into 50 countries. Today the leading companies
here, producing mineral waters, are `Jermuk Group’ and Jermuk Parent
Enterprise.
Here patients with diagnosis of the alimentary canal, liver,
gall-bladder diseases, diabetes and gynecological illnesses pass
courses of water treatment.
The flow of visitors to Jermuk, mainly from the regions of Armenia,
begins in May and last till September. During Soviet times, however,
all the year round the town with 2,000 resort beds received 20,000
visitors annually from Russia only.
The first step of fame rehabilitation of Jermuk among CIS countries
took place last week, when local businessmen invited ambassadors of
Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus in Armenia to acquaint themselves with
the opportunities of the resort winter rest in Jermuk.
The weekend getaway was supported by Urban Institute financed by
USAID. Last year the Urban Institute helped finance and organize
Jermuk’s new tourism association, as part of similar involvement in 12
towns throughout Armenia. According to the specialists Jermuk
business and tourism center is among the most successful ones, where
the powers and businessmen are already united.
`It is so pleasant that all the businessmen involved in Jermuk tourism
business take part in the development of the economic
association. That means that in all the projects related to Jermuk
they will be present with an associated team,’ says Ara Petrosyan, the
Deputy Minister of the Trade and Economy Development of Armenia.
Two years ago the previous state health-resort complex in Jermuk was
actively privatized by businessmen.
`Today problems put in front of us are changed. The private owners
understand that they should repair the resorts to return their
visitors. Today the customer pays and demands up-to-date service: he
is not satisfied with the former conditions,’ says Stepan Avagyan.
In Jermuk’s health-resorts depending on quality of service, one-day
rest ranges from $18-80. Businessmen assure that during the first five
years all the city’s medical and rest buildings will meet contemporary
requirements. `Today increase of `nostalgic’ tourism is registered in
CIS countries: that is the tourists visit the places they have been
during Soviet times. It is conditioned on the likeness of the
mentality and customs, as well as on the absence of language
obstacles,’ says Deputy Minister Petrosyan.
According to him Armenia has a great potential of tourism development,
the proof of this is the statistics in the mid of 80s, when the number
of visitors into Armenia surpassed 600,000.
LOOKING FOR REFUGE: APARTMENT DISPUTE HIGHLIGHTS FRUSTRATIONS OF REFUGEES
By Zhanna Alexanyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
A refugee family faces eviction from an apartment they have occupied
for nearly 15 years and are caught in the confusing legal quagmire
that affects some 300,000 Armenians who escaped from Azerbaijan in the
late 1980s and early ’90s. In October of the last year a civil court
ruled that 72-year old Albert and Raya Lazaryan must leave the
two-room apartment they took in June, 1990.
At issue is whether the Lazaryans are rightful owners of the
apartment, according to a law that gave refugees the right to own
apartments they had inhabited for at least 10 years.
After escaping Baku and living for a year with relatives, the
Lazaryans learned of an apartment that had been vacated. (There were
many such cases of abandonment in the early 1990s in Yerevan.) They
say they got assurance from the proper authorities that the apartment
was indeed unoccupied, then moved in.
Over the past 14 years the Lazaryans have made attempts to buy the
apartment and say they were defrauded of $1,600 by police for that
purpose. In 2001, the Lazaryans got Armenian citizenship and at that
point stepped up efforts to buy the apartment. They were told,
however, that the apartment had already been privatized, by its
previous owner, the Meliksetyan family, since 1994. In 1996,
according to Lazaryan, the municipality had attempted to move another
family into the apartment, but were prevented by laws that protect
refugees. `If the Meliksetyans had privatized this apartment in 1994,
why did they want to give it to someone else?’ asks Lazaryan. In 2001
the Court of the First Instance satisfied the Lazaryans’ appeal `to
recognize the right for use of living space and property ascribed to
Hasmik, Karen, Armen Meliksetyans as lost’. The decision also mentions
the defendant `has presented false information’ on inhabiting
apartment since 1990. But another court overturned the ruling,
recognizing ownership by the Meliksetyans. The Lazaryans believe
officials were bribed into back-dating the ownership transaction.
Advocates for refugees say the Lazaryans are caught in a situation
confronted by many refugees who have tried to make their status in
Armenia permanent.
According to data collected by the Helsinki Committee of Armenia none
of the nearly 50 suits in various court instances on depriving
refugees of apartments or temporary asylums have been solved in favor
of the refugees during recent years.
`Absolutely all the court instances infringe the refugees’ rights
prescribed by the law. As a result refugees who have become citizens
of Armenia are being ousted from the place they live’, reads the
annual report of the Helsinki Committee for 2004.
On February 4 the Department for Ousting and Inhabiting Issues at the
Compulsory Implementation Department postponed the ousting of the
Lazaryans `because of the actual lack of free dormitory room or space’
(according to another decision of the government in similar cases the
Refugee Committee provides an identical apartment). Seemingly
overlooked in the dispute is Item B of the Republic of Armenia
Decision number 588 of November 18, 1992. According to that
legislation, it is prohibited to issue deeds of ownership to someone
other than the occupant for those apartments that have been inhabited
by refugees even illegally.
Like others among the approximately 65,000 refugees who have earned
citizenship, the Lazaryans are caught in a `catch 22′ in which
becoming citizens has actually been to their detriment. That is to
say, they are no longer eligible for benefits that apply to those
having refugee status.
Since 2000, Albert Lazaryan has been disabled by a heart
condition. But when he applied for poverty benefits allowing for his
condition, he was told that he would not get the allowance, because he
was already getting a free apartment.
`At last the court deprived me of both allowance and apartment,’ says
Lazaryan, who claims that he is being `deported’ for a second time,
`this time from my homeland’.
The Lazaryans daughter live with them, but she is unemployed. Their
only son was killed in a car accident two years after moving to
Armenia. Their monthly income is an old-age pension of about $35.
`I always buy yesterday’s bread to pay some 30 drams less than the
usual price,’ says Raya Lazaryan. `This cruel winter we passed without
having heated our home.’
Six days after moving to Armenia Albert Lazaryan started working in a
bus depot. Later, when it was liquidated, he worked as a driver in a
garbage collection service.
`I have done every kind of work to provide for my family. While
working on the bus depot I have served 20-25,000 people a day. What
else should I do for this country not to be ousted from my legal
apartment’ he says. In Baku, the Lazaryans owned a three-room
apartment that they still hold the deed to.
Lazaryan’s former colleague, Lendrush Sahakyan who knows him since
1985 when they worked on an international transportation system, says
his friend was respected and lived a comfortable life in Baku.
`The illness and the illegalities have made him poor. They can now do
anything to him – he has neither money nor other means,’ says
Sahakyan.