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The Armenian Weekly; Volume 74, No. 36, September 13, 2008
Features:
1. An Allegory for Our Times
By Lucine Kasbarian
2. Turkey Beats Armenia 2-0 in Historic Match
Turkish President’s Visit under International Spotlight
By Antranig Dereyan
***
1. An Allegory for Our Times
By Lucine Kasbarian
Imagine a brutal schoolyard bully 10 times your size. For years, he beats
the daylights out of you. He steals your lunch money. He seizes your seat at
the head of the class. He absconds with your homework, presents your
creations as his own, and receives high marks. You try to befriend him, to
reason with him, to protect what is yours-all to no avail. In desperation,
you appeal to the school authorities, only to have the bully call you a
snitch, and worse-a traitor.
To teach you a lesson for speaking out, the bully doubles his beatings.
Crestfallen, you accept that the only vernacular he understands is the
language of the fist. When you fight back to survive, the bully cries foul.
When both of you are called into the principal’s office, the bully complains
that you’ve waged a battle to destroy him; that you made him have to use
force on you. The principal studies the bully’s track record and questions
his qualifications for nomination into the National Elementary Honor
Society. The bully holds you responsible for this setback. Moreover, the
bully argues that your unfounded accusations and violent acts towards him
have given him a bad name and a persecution complex. He launches a campaign
to rewrite his report card. He throws his weight around. He recruits
schoolyard thugs. He bribes and blackmails the teachers and administrators.
Soon, no one notices your diminutive stature, your civility, your bruises,
your malnutrition, or your righteous indignation. Not even eyewitnesses.
Instead, you are viewed as an eyesore, as the one with the problem. In fact,
many begin to say you’ve been delusional and got what you deserved. You are
instructed to reconcile; to kiss and make up with the bully. Meanwhile, the
beatings go unpunished. The lunch money is not returned. The bully keeps
credit for your homework, and maintains your place in the classroom. Your
expressions of suffering insults and offends the bully. It is demanded that
you conceal your wounds, your malnutrition, your heartsickness, and your
longings for your rightful place in the schoolyard.
When the authorities are watching, the bully is polite to you and lauded for
good behavior and restraint. Rumors of his cheating are brushed aside.
Evidence has long been erased. Eyewitnesses change their testimonies.
Eventually, an announcement is made that the facts are unsubstantiated; that
your claims are unfounded. It is you who is bent on tarnishing the bully’s
reputation. It is you who stands in the way of the praise, honors, and
status that the bully feels he deserves. It is you who is being
unreasonable.
If you would simply keep silent and go along, the problems would resolve
themselves. In fact, if you are compliant and subservient enough, you might
be allowed to stay in school and wash chalkboards to earn lunch tokens. The
authorities might even get to congratulate themselves for brokering
reconciliation that some said could not be achieved.
—————————————- ———————————–
2. Turkey Beats Armenia 2-0 in Historic Match
Turkish President’s Visit under International Spotlight
By Antranig Dereyan
Armenia and Turkey have unresolved issues, but on Sept. 6, they let go of
the bitterness and came together for a soccer match-the first ever match
between these sides and the first match on the road to qualification in the
2010World Cup, which will be played in South Africa. (By luck of the draw,
Armenia and Turkey were drawn into the same group, Group 5, which also
contains 2008 European Champions Spain, Belgium, Estonia, and Bosnia and
Herzegovina.)
Even though this was just a soccer game, anything between these two sides,
is anything but. It is always about something more.
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian had made an offer that to this day has
the Armenian community rattled, both in the Homeland and throughout the
diaspora; he invited Turkish President Abdullah Gul to join him in Yerevan
to watch the match in his presidential skybox.
This gesture alone was shocking enough to some; even more shocking, however,
was that Gul accepted and made instant history by making the first ever
visit by a Turkish president to the post-Soviet, independent Armenia.
"I hope that [the visit] will help lift the obstacles that stand in the way
of rapprochement between the two peoples and contribute to regional
friendship and peace," Gul said to the Associated Press. "President
Sarkisian was brave in taking the opportunity of inviting me to this game,"
Gul made his way out of the plane and into his car, but not without
Armenians greeting him on the road with signs, in Armenian and English,
which according to AP read, "We want justice," "Turk admit your guilt," and
"1915 never again."
Putting politics aside and focusing on the actual soccer game though,
Turkey, after having their national athem booed by the sellout crowd of
mostly Armenians, came out strong, building on their impressive run at the
2008 European Cup, where they went all the way to the semi-finals. They ran
fast, hard, and tried to out-power the Armenians, but the Armenians stayed
with them, matching their runs and strong play.
However, as the second half kicked off, it was the Turks who controled and
didn’t look back. The Turks were out to prove that the odd-makers who
predicted them to finish second in Group 5 was no fluke.
In the 60th minute, striker Tuncay Sali (of Middlesborough, the English
Premier League) scored to put the Turks up 1-0, and in the 78th minute,
Semih Senturk (who plays his club soccer for Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce)
doubled Turkey’s tally with a header from a cotner kick that beat Armenia’s
34-year-old goalkeeper Roman Berezovski, of Football Club Khimki of Russia.
>From there, the Turks went on cruise control, stopping Armenia at every
point. Armenia tried to get into the game and score, but Turkey became too
formidable a foe as the final minutes ticked away and it claimed victory,
2-0.
Armenia and Armenians should not be ashamed of this result, however. Armenia
as a team is young, inexperienced, and inconsistant when it comes to World
Cup play. During this match, Armenia’s best scorer, Edgar Manucharyan, was
injured late in the first half and was never able to get into the game. By
the 65th minute, he was subsituted off and Armenia started to look lost
without him on the field. It is no big surprise, then, that Turkey scored
when Manucharyan was injured and eventually off the field completely.
When Manucharyan left, the team was never able to regain the strength it had
shown in the first half.
They never ran through the middle of the field or gained any control around
Turkey’s goalkeeper Volkan Demirel’s six-yard box. (In contrast, most
scoring in this game occurs when the ball is played in the opposing
goalkeeper’s six-yard box.)
Armenia’s wingers were never able to get a good cross or corner kicks in and
when they did, no strikers were in place to take the cross, to have a
scoring chance. Manucharyan ran, got into the path of the crossed ball, and
basically carried the Armenian team on his back, and it showed when he was
non-existent in the second half.
The game showed that Armenia, as a team, still has a long way to go before
they can match up with the likes of a Turkey on the international soccer
stage.
Turkish players play in the best leagues around the world and their club
teams-Fenerbahce, Galatasaray, and Besiktas-are always in competion if not
in the premier European club competions (Champions League and UEFA Cup) year
in and out.
Most of Armenia’s players play in Armenia, and the best teams there-Football
Club Punik and Football Club Yerevan-never make it past the fourth round of
any of Europe’s club competitions.
Armenia’s best scorer, 21-year-old Manucharyan, plays for the Dutch team
Ajax Amsterdam, which is a good team in Dutch soccer; when it comes to
Europe, however, they do not perform well and as a consequence, Manucharyan
never gets to play at the top level in Europe.
The captain of the Armenian team is midfielder Sargis Hovsepyan, 34, who has
only played for two teams outside of Armenia, Zenit St. Petersburg of Russia
and Torpedo-Metallurg of Russia, which is now called Football Club Moscow.
Neither of those teams made it into a European club competition while he was
on the team. Hovsepyan has scored only once for his national team since his
first game in 1998.
Experience in club football (or soccer) converts into success at the
international level. That’s not to say that having vast experience at the
club level makes champions out of any international team-just ask
England-but it helps. Armenia and its players do not have that experience.
Turkey and their players do.
So, do not be overly concerened about Armenia’s poor showing; a combination
of nerves and lack of experience played a big role in this lopsided outcome.
Remember, this is the same Armenian team that tied Portugual and 2004
European champion Greece in back-to-back games last year. They have shown
that they can play great at times, but must do so more consistently.
In time, Armenia, with its young players maturing, learning how to play
together, and acquiring a better work ethic, should be near the top of the
powers of international soccer. Just be patient.