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The Armenian Weekly; Volume 73, No. 33; August 18, 2007
Interviews:
1. Walking Club Foot Down the Freedom Trail
Alex Sardar, Counterpart International’s Armenia Country Director, Talks
About Armenia’s Future
By Andy Turpin
2. An Interview with Camp Haiastan Director Roy Callan on the 2007 Season
By Andy Turpin
***
1. Walking Club Foot Down the Freedom Trail
Alex Sardar, Counterpart International’s Armenia Country Director, Talks
About Armenia’s Future
By Andy Turpin
Founded in 1965, Counterpart International is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to building a just world through service and partnership. Since
1993, Counterpart has built, developed and strengthened over 10,000
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the former Soviet Union alone.
Working with local communities to build their capacity to act on their local
problems in the way they want, Counterpart programs include humanitarian and
relief assistance, education, healthcare, democracy and governance, food
security, enterprise and business development, sustainable tourism and
natural resource management.
Alex Sardar is Counterpart’s chief country director for Armenia and spoke
via phone from Yerevan to the Weekly in an interview conducted on August 13,
appraising the geo-political progress of Armenia from the multi-faceted
perspective of Counterpart’s involvement on the ground in the country.
A.W.-Tell me about your background and how you came to be country director
of Armenia for Counterpart International?
A.S.-Well, I’m from Los Angeles. I’m an Armenian-American from LA. I moved
to Armenia about 5 and half years ago, in early 2002. I came over to work on
a USAID project with the Parliament. It was called the "Legislative
Strengthening Program." Two and a half years into my stay, Counterpart was
granted this project, the Civic Advocacy Support Program, by USAID, and I
decided to move here. I now serve as country director here.
A.W.-What are Counter-part’s projects and goals for Armenia at present?
A.S.-Counterpart’s Civic Advocacy Support Program is a non-profit NGO
development program through an advocacy prism. What we do is provide grants
to indigenous Armenian organizations to conduct advocacy activities of their
choosing in accordance with their mission. So we don’t tell them what they
should be doing, what subject area they should be working in. We simply
support their activities. We also provide capacity building assistance, for
example, how to advocate with the government, how to mobilize communities,
how to work with the media, how to write policy briefs and so on.
And our projects run the gambit. We have NGOs that work in support of
disabled persons, women’s rights, child labor issues, anti-corruption
matters and consumer rights. We have a fairly broad portfolio of
organizations that we work with.
In addition, we support the strengthening of three ISOs, or Intermediary
Service Organizations. Those are the closest things to non-profit
foundations in the U.S. These organizations are created and strengthened to
provide long-term civil society NGO sector support in Armenia to other NGOs
here. And they become intermediaries for funding, grants, programs and also
capacity building that is reinforced and institutionalized here in the
sector.
A.W.-How are these endeavors progressing this year?
A.S.-They’re doing well actually. One of our ISOs is the Goris Teacher’s
Union; another is the Civic Development and Partnership Foundation; and the
third is the NGO Center-Vanadzor Branch. All three have actually surpassed
their sustainability indicators in terms of service provision, fundraising
and financial diversification.
And all of our advocacy programs have progressed very well over the last two
and a half years, but particularly this last year, given the particular
interests from political quarters on policy issues because of the elections.
Many of them have been able to drive forward their policy agendas fairly
astutely. So it’s been a very good year in terms of moving forward issues.
A.W.-What are your expectations for Armenia in the next 10 years in regards
to its geo-political role in the Greater Caucasus region?
A.S.-I’ll say this, not from an expert perspective, but as someone who’s
observing the process right now: Armenian is positioning itself very well to
stay in the middle of the road. Its government has been able to balance
interests from the East and the West with all of its neighbors, excluding
obviously Turkey and Azerbaijan because of political issues there. But Iran,
Georgia, Russia and certainly the United States have a very important
presence here. I expect that Armenia will continue in that direction.
I can’t speak of the Karabakh conflict, or any other issues that may come up
that will change the geo-political balance in the region. What I can say is
that Armenia, without having gone through a revolution and without having
any major natural resources, has been able to "stay the course" very
effectively and, in fact, in the three southern Caucasus republics, has
registered-relatively speaking-some of the biggest economic growth
indicators over the last five years. I mean, double-digit growth in the face
of what essentially amounts to a blockade and lack of natural resources. So
all the signs are there for Armenia to succeed and certainly to build on its
successes so far.
A.W.-So you think it may not be a leader, but it’s not going to be dead
weight?
A.S.-Oh I certainly don’t think it’s going to be dead weight, and you know
the leader question is arguable. I think Armenia is leading in setting the
standards for stable, peaceful progress, as opposed to sudden jolts of
change and certainly oppressiveness and oppressive polices. Again, they’ve
done a very good job of staying somewhere in the middle in that gray area.
A.W.-Do you think the U.S. or the international community may be grooming
Armenia to become an intermediary when it comes to relations with Iran?
A.S.-That’s a tough one. I don’t think Armenia’s in a position to play that
role. I think Armenia’s open border with Iran and its interests
economically, certainly politically and energy-wise, will play into that
equation. But I can’t say that Armenia necessarily has the political clout
or political leverage to play an intermediary.
But it can be the host to, or facilitate, the process of any kind of talks
between any number of counties, including Iran and the United States. I can
see that as a possible scenario.
A.W.-Do you see any future facilitation by Armenia in places like Kosovo
where there are Armenian UN peacekeepers that are well respected?
A.S.-With Iraq and Kosovo, and generally speaking with a national image of
being an international community player, Armenia certainly has a role to
play. To what extent Armenia wishes to extend its own forces and resources
in that direction, however, remains to be seen. But I think there is a lot
of room for Armenia to continue building on its international involvement in
this region and in other regions of the world.
A.W.-Do you think Armenia should be concerned about the possibility of a
Kurdish state being officially founded along the borders set forth by the
1919 Woodrow Wilson map, especially if it opens up the possibility of
Armenia expanding as well?
A.S.- I can’t competently speak on the expansion of borders in my capacity
at Counterpart International, but I do believe that any change in this
region-and I don’t mean just the Caucasus, but extending south and west into
the Middle East-certainly will have an effect on Armenia. We’re seeing the
effects of what’s happening in Iraq in terms of migration into Armenia of
Armenians from Iraq. So any significant or even small change in that region
has a ripple effect on Armenia.
A.W.-How do you view Armenia’s role in combating transnational crime and
oligarch politics, which are so ingrained in Armenia itself?
A.S.-I think one of the positive effects of Armenia’s closed borders is that
transnational crime is contained, at least to a certain extent. There is
still a lot of questionable movement into and out of Armenia. I think for
any country to succeed and to have effective national and state policy,
these kinds of issues have to be dealt with on a domestic level, but also on
a regional and intra-national level.
Armenia is party to a number of conventions and international treaties that
address some of these issues, but I also see that civil society in Armenia
is pushing for greater and more palpable manifestations of these national
obligations and commitments in the forms of laws and regulations in Armenia.
And that’s in terms of transparency, government and the economic sphere, but
also in terms of how Armenia deals with its neighbors and the international
community in general.
So the Armenian government has a very important role to play and the
Armenian citizenry have an important role to play. At some point the meeting
of these interests will create a very strong and effective policy framework.
I see the steps being taken towards that. It’s a little slow, it’s a little
dragging, but I think it’s on its way.
A.W.-And is that anti-corruption gauntlet being picked up democratically,
compared to similar efforts being made in Georgia or Russia?
A.S.-I think democracy building is a process certainly, and I think along
that continuum Armenia is moving forward. I think there are things that
could be done better, and there are things that have improved dramatically.
I actually have seen that in the last five years.
But one thing I always explain to people not that familiar with Armenia is
that if one wants to see the incremental building of a democracy, Armenia is
the perfect example because Armenia is taking very small, very decisive
steps in building a democracy.
To the plain eye, unfortunately, it’s not visible because these are very
concrete and functional things that happen. They’re not sexy or flashy
enough to be seen outside of the system. But it is along the continuum and
it is moving forward.
There certainly could be speedier movement or more decisive policy-making,
but it’s a young country in transition without a major tradition in
democracy. What it has achieved is commendable and it certainly is committed
to achieving more.
——————————————– ———————
2. An Interview with Camp Haiastan Director Roy Callan on the 2007 Season
By Andy Turpin
FRANKLIN, Mass. (A.W.)-The following interview was conducted at Camp
Haiastan on July 29.
A.W.-How has this summer been shaping up?
R.C.-This has been the best of four summers since I assumed the executive
directorship from Baron Bob Avakian in 2004. Attendance increased again for
the third summer for the "Zartonk" Teen Session for 15 and 16 year olds. The
new one week Day Camp, in its second season, was again full of 5, 6, and 7
year olds. Sessions 1 and 2, for 8-14 year olds, were at near capacity and
Session 3, also for 8-14 year olds, had the highest attendance out of the
past four summers.
A.W.-Tell me the story of the new pavilion installed this year.
R.C.-What to do with the old swimming pool site had been a discussion point
among many in the Camp Haiastan community. Over the winter of 2004-05, the
Camp Board approved my idea to erect a pavilion on the old pool site in
honor of the thousands of camp alumni who have enjoyed the magic of Camp
Haiastan since the first camp session in 1951.
The new pavilion, it was decided, would serve not only as the gateway to the
lower camp, but would also provide a much needed outdoor gathering area and
covered shelter from inclement weather and hot sun. In addition, the
pavilion would be used for the recreational, social and educational needs of
the camp. Thus, the idea of the Alumni Pavilion-as we first called it-was
born.
The next order of business was to investigate designs, costs and
feasibility, and then from there announce a camp community wide fundraising
effort. All this was accomplished over the winter and spring of 2005 with
seed donations coming from the Armenian Youth Foundation, the Leo Boodakian
Trust of Detroit and the Armenian-American Veterans of Milford, Mass. Soon
to follow was a major appeal by the Board of Directors, and by the time that
the 2005 camp season opened in June, we had amassed about one half of the
necessary $180,000 needed for the project.
In the late spring of 2005, the camp Board of Directors was approached by
Michael Bahtiarian, brother of Linda Bahtiarian Demarest, who was a former
camper and AYF member and current camp parent of Kaitlin and Mickey
Demarest-both of whom would attend camp in 2005.
Michael shared with the Board that Linda was losing a five-year battle with
breast cancer and was approaching hospice care in the summer while her
children would be attending camp. Linda had expressed a desire to leave a
portion of her estate to the camp and wanted Michael to approach the Board
regarding a significant project that her donation could be applied toward.
When she learned of the Alumni Pavilion project, she quickly approved her
donation to the camp for that project and actually increased the size of her
donation as well.
In addition, Linda challenged her family to join her efforts and raise
additional funds after her passing so that together with her donation the
amount would be significant enough for the Board to approve the renaming of
the pavilion to The Hye Hope Pavilion (in honor of Linda Bahtiarian Demarest
and family). The Bahtiarian family not only took Linda’s challenge but
surpassed it, raising more than one-half of the monetary support for the
project.
In January 2007, the old pool was excavated and the site filled in so that
construction could begin in early spring. In early June, the pre-engineered
steel structure arrived in Franklin from the manufacturer in Michigan and
was erected on the concrete slab and footings. The roof was then put on and
the site landscaped in time for the opening of camp on June 24.
On July 22, a beautiful Sunday afternoon, a formal dedication ceremony took
place at camp before some 400 to 500 persons, including Bishop Anoushavan
Tanielian presiding, area clergy, the Camp Board of Directors, honored
guests and camp supporters. All witnessed a celebration of the life of Linda
Bahtiarian Demarest, who along with her family made the Hye Hope Pavilion
possible. The ceremony befittingly concluded with the cutting of the
ceremonial ribbon by the Bahtiarian grandchildren.
A.W.-How are the staff this year compared to past years?
R.C.-Our staff has been absolutely outstanding this season. We have talented
young men and women from many parts of the United States and the world,
including Armenia, Italy, Qatar, the Eastern seaboard, the Midwest and as
far as Minnesota. Most staff are cabin counselors for our 14 camper cabins.
Our counselors have done an outstanding job of mentoring and guiding our
campers. In addition, our staff includes a 24-hour nurse, cook and food
service director, aquatic director, and instructors for "Hye Time," arts and
crafts, aquatics, archery, sports, and special day and evening activities.
A program that we are most proud of is our Staff-in-Training, where we give
entry-level staff positions to 17 year olds to facilitate their transition
from their last year as campers to camp staff.
The staff is lead once again this year by Peter Jelalian, camp director, and
assisted by Knar Callan, assistant camp director.
A.W.-Do you know of any external factors that have affected enrollment this
year?
R.C.-By far the most common external factor for campers not returning year
after year to Camp Haiastan is the newfound accessibility of Armenia as an
extended vacation destination. We hear this reason given repeatedly for
families who opt for their children not to return and attend a particular
season. How can one argue against such a wonderful experience of being in
Haiastan instead of attending Camp Haiastan for two weeks? Generally our
percentage of new campers each season exceeds 35 percent, so that more than
makes up for the loss of campers who go to Armenia with their families
rather than attending camp.
A.W.-Why do you keep doing this?
R.C.-I have found that the most fulfilling times of my life have been spent
working with our children, our Armenian children. I started in this endeavor
almost accidentally as a young 24-year old in Detroit, Mich., teaching at
the AGBU Alex Manoogian School and directing Camp Ararat in northern
Michigan in the summers. I’ve also been a religious education teacher,
athletic coach and volunteer in the Armenian community for over 30 years. I
guess a good habit is hard to break!
A.W.-Are there any new efforts or endeavors to look for at camp next year?
R.C.-Look for the continued upgrading of our facilities and new facilities.
Look for a push to increase camper attendance to the point that we may need
to consider building additional camper cabins in the future. Look for our
ability to support the ever-increasing number of families who can not afford
the cost of camp for their children. And look for more Armenian groups and
organizations local to the camp to feel comfortable using the camp during
the off-season for a variety of uses and purposes.