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LIFE IN PRISON FOR SAFAROV: HUNGARIAN COURT REACHES VERDICT FOR KILLER OF
MARGARYAN
By John Hughes
>From Internet news reports
Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani Army officer who admitted hacking to death
Armenian Army Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan was sentenced to life in prison by a
court in Budapest, Hungary Thursday.
In handing down its sentence the district court said Safarov’s murder
was `premeditated, malicious and unusually cruel’. It is the harshest sentence
allowable by law in Hungary, where the death penalty was abolished in 1990.
Safarov, 29, was also found guilty of plotting to kill another Armenian
officer, although the plan was not carried out. He will be eligible for parole
in 30 years.
On February 19, 2004, Safarov attacked Margaryan while the victim was asleep
and, using an axe, mortally wounded the Armenian, nearly decapitating him.
“Compassion and remorse were completely missing from (Safarov’s) testimony,”
Judge Andras Vaskuti said, announcing the sentence. “During the whole case we
waited for him to be at least a bit sorry for the Armenian soldier he killed
brutally and for (Margaryan’s) family.”
The officers were participants in an English-language regional training
program, ironically titled `Partnership for Peace’, sponsored by NATO in the
Hungarian capital.
The killing enflamed smoldering anger between publics in Armenia and
Azerbaijan, bitter enemies since the late 1980s, when the Armenians in
Karabakh initiated a movement to secede from Azerbaijan in the Armenian-
populated Nagorno Karabakh. The enclave had been under Azeri rule since the
days of Josef Stalin. The countries have been in an uneasy ceasefire since
1994, after a four-year war.
Earlier this year passions were again stirred when an Azeri political party
named Safarov `Man of the Year’, sparking angry public demonstrations in
Armenia, and leading a fringe party leader to announce a bounty on Safarov’s
life, should he not receive the maximum sentence.
Safarov has said the murder was a revenge killing, carried out to avenge
losses his family suffered during the war.
During a statement in court Thursday, however, he denied that the killing was
premeditated, saying it was provoked because Margaryan had ridiculed and
insulted him during the training program.
“My conscience was clouded as a result of the insults and humiliating and
provoking behavior, and I lost all control,” Safarov told the court. “It would
not be correct to consider it as merely a premeditated act caused by the
awakening of revenge and hate upon seeing the Armenians.”
Safarov’s lawyer, Gyorgy Magyar, said he would appeal the verdict. He also
said it was not clear whether Safarov would serve the sentence in Hungary or
be extradited to Azerbaijan. (Republic of Armenia Ministry of Defense
representative Hayk Demoyan, who participated in the trial, told A1+ news
agency that Hungarian law stipulates that Safarov’s sentence be served in
Hungary.)
Margaryan family attorney Nazeli Vartanyan called the outcome `a good decision
for the Hungarian court and for Armenian society’.
ARMENIANOW EXCLUSIVE: FORMER COACH HENK WISMAN TALKS ABOUT DISPUTED CONTRACTS,
UNFIT PLAYERS AND THE SORRY STATE OF ARMENIAN FOOTBALL
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Editor’s Note: In the past four seasons, the Armenian National football team
has had four different head coaches. It has had as many coaches as victories
in that period. Henk Wisman, the latest to get the axe from the Armenian
Football Federation says officials are unrealistic in their approach to the
sport.
Wisman spoke exclusively with ArmeniaNow to give his assessment of the soccer
state of affairs.
Fired national football team coach Henk Wisman wants his contract with the
Armenian Football Federation respected and intends to stay in Armenia until
his deal expires or until his claims are satisfied.
The Dutchman was hired to coach Armenia’s national football team and football
club Pyunik last May, but was sacked last week. He claims he has three months
left on his contract. The Football Federation says it fired Wisman because of
his record of one win, one draw and six defeats over nearly a year. Meanwhile,
the 48-year-old Dutchman argues that he has been fired for his `realistic
approach to Armenian football.’
Originally Wisman had a 7-month plus 2 years contract with the Federation,
meaning that after seven months if both sides agreed he would sign a contract
to coach Armenia for two years. He says in late December, the Armenian
Federation proposed a two-year contract to him. But, according to him, he
asked for an intermediate contract until July 1, after which he would decide
on further extending his contracts.
`I said I needed half a year to make an evaluation, because I wanted a lot of
things in Armenian football professionalized, like players, accommodation,
medical equipment and facilities, clothes,’ Wisman said in an exclusive
interview with ArmeniaNow. `If no progress was made, I would then stop the
contract. And likewise the Federation could refuse to extend a contract with
me if they were unsatisfied with my work.’
Wisman says he has been paid for the first three month of the year and now,
after being sacked, he wants his salary for the remaining three months paid as
well. (Neither Wisman nor the federation would say how much the coach was
being paid. Football journalists speculate that the position pays anywhere
from $60,000-200,000.)
`It is normal that when a club or federation fires you they pay you till the
end of your contract. It is so in Holland,’ he says, adding that the
Federation broke the contract unilaterally. Meanwhile, the Federation says
that they have not received any claim either from Wisman or from the Dutch
Football Federation regarding the payment of the salary.
Federation spokesman Arayik Manukyan told ArmeniaNow that they had an
agreement after the seven months of Wisman’s contract expired that they would
make the decision about further extending it after the draw for Euro-2008,
which took place in January.
`As it was officially stated by the Federation, the contract with Henk Wisman
was not extended by the Federation president after they failed to come to
agreement during the negotiations,’ Manukyan said, without elaborating. He
said the Federation did not have any information regarding Wisman’s claims.
But now Wisman says it is a legal matter between the Armenian and Dutch
football associations.
Wisman, who played for Ajax for eight years and was involved in the Dutch U-18
and U-21 national teams, stopped playing football young to take up a coaching
career. He was hired by the Armenian Federation following the transfer of
Armenia’s young talented striker Edgar Manucharyan to FC Ajax (Amsterdam) as
the Armenian Federation then expressed a desire to hire a coach with Ajax
background.
Now he continues to attend football matches in Armenia, as a spectator,
pending a solution to his dispute with the Federation.
Meanwhile, the Federation is reportedly looking for another foreign coach to
succeed Wisman.
Wisman, who sounded optimistic about his future weeks ago in an interview with
, says the decision of the Football Federation was a surprise to
him.
`The only explanation that I heard was that players were not in physically
good shape. We became champions with Pyunik, we won the Super Cup, we
qualified for the semifinal in the CIS Cup in Moscow for the first time, while
opting out of the match with Azerbaijan’s champion Neftchi was not my
decision. It cannot be a reason to fire me.’
Regarding the national team, Wisman says that he has played the best possible
football with the set of players he had.
`Armenia does not have a strong national championship, there is no strong
competition in the country and most of the few players who play abroad are not
involved in strong leagues,’ Wisman says. `One should understand that not much
can be expected from a team that plays against competitors of a much higher
level and quality.’
Wisman says he wants Armenia to play the Dutch way, but as he says with the
given team he could not play offensive football against the strong national
teams like Holland, the Czech Republic, Romania in the latest WC-2006
qualifying round.
`But when I saw an opportunity for that, I played the team the Dutch way, such
as in the match against Andorra when we dominated the field and played very
attractive and spectacular football,’ he says. (Armenia beat Andorra away – 3-
0).
Wisman says the team accepted his tactics and he was satisfied with how the
players realized his designs on the pitch.
Armenia and Pyunik veteran defender and captain Sargis Hovsepyan, 33,
describes Wisman as a good specialist. `I am satisfied with the work with Henk
Wisman, with the trainings that he had with us, with the exercises and
tactical schemes he proposed. He tried to train us to play Dutch football, not
only running about the field with the ball, but also thinking. He had normal
relations with all players,’ he told ArmeniaNow.
Hovsepyan says Wisman was also satisfied with the way the team realized his
tactics on the pitch. `I agree that Armenia should play realistic football
now. You can’t play offensive football against Holland or other leading teams
if you don’t have a sufficient level,’ the veteran defender said.
`If the coach cannot achieve a result with lots of high-level footballers
playing in strong leagues, then he is to blame for the failure, but in my case
I didn’t have the required level of players to oppose strong European sides,’
Wisman explains.
`Edgar Manucharyan, who is now in Ajax, is a very talented player, but he has
been injured most of the time. Why? Because the Ajax level is too high for
him. The intensity and frequency of the trainings are high for him. His
physical fitness is not good enough for them at this moment. Maybe he will be
good enough for them in a year or two. I am sorry, but that’s the deference
between Holland and Armenia. It is a reality.’
Unlike his predecessor, French coach Bernard Casoni, who was fired for not
being `in touch’ with Armenian football, Wisman has stayed in Armenia on a
permanent basis.
He says he knows all players in Armenia and outside and knows their strong and
weak sides well enough.
Wisman says that there are a lot of conditions needed for Armenia to become a
strong football nation, like an improved economic situation, more investments
into football on all levels, a good level of the national championship and
players playing in strong foreign sides. Acknowledging Football Federation
President Ruben Hayrapetyan as a man who takes care of Armenian football
matters and tries to promote investments in this sport, Wisman says that above
all he wanted from him more time.
`The Federation president is doing a very good job for Armenia. But he must
be realistic and give more time and responsibility to the coach to work on it.
He shouldn’t expect a miracle to happen within a few months. I think it is too
much to change four foreign coaches in as many years,’ he says.
GAS AND HOT AIR: SELL OF ENERGY FACILITIES RAISES DEBATE
By Marianna Grigoryan
The decision by the Government of Armenia to sell off another section of a
thermal power plant and partial rights to the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline to
Russia as a barter for reduced gas prices has been called an `attempt to
prolong the incumbency’, `illogical’ and even `national treason’ in the wake
of last week’s announcement.
On April 5, President Robert Kocharyan told the public that gas prices would
increase by only 10-15 percent, rather than the expected 52 percent. The next
day, it was learned that a deal with Russia for Armenian energy facilities
paved the way for the reduction of prices. The latest agreement puts nearly
70 percent of Armenian energy in the hands of the Russians.
Officials in Armenia have not yet confirmed the pipeline deal, although the
Russian agency GazProm says it is completed.
Critics say the latest `property for debt’ agreement turns Armenia into
a `gubernia’ – a province of Russia.
`In this situation maintaining an energy ministry appears needless,’ says
renowned economist Eduard Aghajanov. `According to our authorities the more
energy structures we sell the more independent we are. The activities of the
authorities in the energy sphere defy logic.’
Aghajanov explains the problem is not the price of the power bloc but the
principle. He says a country shouldn’t sell almost all its energy resources to
a foreign country.
`There is nothing anti-Russian in my words,’ says the specialist. `I mean the
alternative; it is inadmissible to give all to one country. The energy
security of Armenia demands other players in our market. The challenge is that
Russia in fact owns not only the power production resources but also its
distribution structure. Russia can thus form a rigid structure that will
deprive Armenia of energy security.’
But while economists, political analysts and common citizens are likening the
sale to `selling the cow for the price of milk’, authorities say the deal is
favorable to Armenia.
`The deal was good business and was sold in a proper way,’ says the RA Prime
Minister Andranik Margaryan.
`The fifth bloc (of the power plant) is like a three-storied house with only
the basement built, and nothing else,’ says the RA Minister of Defense Serge
Sargsyan. `There are non-governmental groups and people who perceive the
word `Russia’ like a bull perceived the red color.’
Sargsyan says it was not practical to keep total control of the bloc.
`The bloc would cost at least $180 million. And the expenses would at best be
compensated in 10 years,’ he said. `That is, we would have an enterprise
working with profits in 2017 at best. What would be the profit? How much would
the gas price grow by that time, would there be profit or not, only
Nostradamus would say, what would happen in 11-12 years.’
Sargsyan says the Russian side had offered to buy the 5th bloc several years
ago, but the Armenian authorities have only recently accepted the offer.
`What do we need as a nation, as a state now? To sell something that does not
exist for $250 million now, or wait till 2017 when we may get very little,’
says Sargsyan.
But Aghajanov holds to his opinion.
`Gas is a geopolitical instrument for Russia that it uses to solve all of its
political problems,’ says the economist. `It’s not a new thing as Russia has
always had a policy of colonization.’
LOVE-HATE SONG: ARMENIA’S EUROVISION ENTRY CAUSES DEBATE AND THREATS
Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
On May 18th and 20th Armenian pop singer Andre will appear before the European
TV viewing public under the Armenian flag at the Eurovision international song
competition in Athens. He will perform a song that has become the focus of
debate and even political speculation, even gaining discussion among
Parliament Members.
Critics say the song `Without Your Love’ does not represent Armenian music and
that it is in fact Arabic or Turkish and that Armenia is pandering to European
tastes by presenting such a song.
`If Europe loves it today we serve it, if it wishes Indian, we will write an
Indian one. Armenian is not in respect, forget it,’ says the Chairman of the
Union of Composers of Armenia Robert Amirkhanyan, then dismisses the song as
not being worth his criticism.
The music was written by the leader of the State Jazz Band of Armenia,
composer Armen Martirosyan, with instrumental arrangements by Ara Torosyan
(Murzik) and lyrics by Katrin Bekian.
`Yes, Europe is inclined towards Eastern (culture), but we are not the West
either,’ says arranger Torosyan. `Armenians have not heard their folk songs
for so long that they don’t differentiate between the Armenian and the
Turkish; this song is a compilation of the European and the Eastern, just as
we are between Europe and the East. Here there is no deviation from
ethnographic music and the Armenian tune.’
Other pop singers view the song as well-suited for the competition, which is
held annually. The winner is selected by means of phone and SMS messages and
the number of votes also decides the top ten countries to participate
automatically in the next year’s finals. One of the important preconditions is
that a country cannot vote for its own song.
`There is no need to make a scandal,’ says singer Shushan Petrosyan. `We have
numerous other reasons for talking about Arabic and Turkish motives in the
Armenian pop music; this is not the case, we just need to be willing and do
everything for Andre to win.’
Singer Aramo says he likes the instrumental arrangement of the song more than
the lyrics and the video. Aramo says the song does not fit Andre somehow, and
the East is embellished in the song, which is not typical to Armenian music.
But conductor Tigran Hekekyan says there is no need to present a piece of
national cultural value in such a festival. He describes the competition as
a `market’, adding that the best chance of winning is whatever `sells’.
Hekekyan also says that the debate over eastern influence in Armenian music
seems a little late.
`The song is not born occasionally, it’s the mirror of a whole cultural layer
and there is a need in discussing the problem of that layer existence and not
cling on one song,’ says Hekekyan.
Debate on the matter is useless, says the Chairman of the Board of the Public
Television Alexan Harutyunyan, since he is the one to decide the song and the
singer to be sent to the competition.
`This is the musical competition of the European broadcasters union and the
choice of the song to be presented is ascribed purely to us. I could make the
decision myself but I listened and took the opinion of the best musicians and
(popular music) authorities of the republic,’ says Harutyunyan.
And while Armenians are discussing the song, Azerbaijanis are flooding Andre
with threats. A month ago the Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan addressed a
letter to Eurovision protesting Andre’s participation, citing the fact that
the singer was born in `Nagorno Karabakh Republic’ an `occupied territory’ of
Azerbaijan.
The singer has even gotten death threats on Internet forum discussions.
`Nobody can kill me, they simply envy me,’ Andre told ArmeniaNow. `For me it
was more unpleasant at first to hear the criticism on the Armenian side, but I
don’t pay attention to them either. Let them not listen to my song if they
don’t like it.’
FAVORITES: ANB SAYS BBC AWARD `FOR ALL ARMENIANS’
Gayane Abrahamyan
Armenia Now reporter
Members of the Armenian Navy Band met with media Wednesday to say that winning
the `Audience Award’ of the BBC World Music competitions was `a victory for
all Armenians’.
Last Friday night in London, the group was named winner of the award,
described by BBC as `intended to reflect the musical popularity of different
groups across the whole spectrum of World Music and listeners voted online for
the group or artist they admired most.’
Group leader and founder Arto Tuncboyaciyan was called to London, where he
received the award from African musician and emcee of the ceremony Hugh
Masekela at the Brixton Academy Hall.
`Arto was invited to take part in the award ceremony but he didn’t know why he
was going – to receive the award or to return empty-handed, everything was
surprising,’ says ANB saxophone player Davit Nalchajyan.
The 12-member band was also nominated for Best Group from Europe, an award
that went to Fanfare Ciocarlia of Romania. Over the years, the Audience Award
has gone to such prominent performers Chronos Quartet and Cesaria Evora.
`For us it is very important that we got especially the Audience Award since
this is a true, sincere evaluation,’ says saxman Armen Hyusnunts.
`WEAK’ BUT NOT `FAILED’: AUSTRIAN SPECIALIST ASSESSES ARMENIA IN `CHANGING
WORLD’
By Vahan Ishkhanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A member of the National Defense Academy of Austria Martin Malek describes the
phenomenon of collapsed and weak states that emerged beginning in the second
half of the 20th century in his article `Collapse of States as a Phenomenon of
International Relations’. Several of the definitions of weak states fit
Armenia.
The article is published in an 825-page book `Armenia in a Transforming World’
by the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS).
A presentation of the book took place on Wednesday at the center
().
The three parts of the book present analyses of Armenian experts dealing with
regional conflicts and solutions to energy problems, the revolutions in CIS
countries, Armenian-Russian economic relations, the Iranian nuclear problems.
Malek’s article is the only view from outside. He writes that unlike
historical states that disappeared because of military conquests, in the
modern world states are ruined from within. There are many countries whose
state institutions are so wrecked that their presence on the maps, in the UN
and other international organizations is only explained by the fact that
unlike previous times there are none willing to occupy them.
Malek defines Failed States with several characteristics (unformed,
collapsing, insolvent) – sovereignty (when public force centers and non-
governmental organizations gain part of sovereign rights), the quality of
democracy (states that play democracy), the lack of legitimacy of power,
security problems, control of territory and borders, efficiency of state
institutions, corruption, etc.
He writes: `In collapsing states at best the executive power works, and the
legislature, if it exists, is a tool in the hands of the executive
authorities. Democratic orders are very vague or are absent. The judicial
power is corrupted and depends on the executive, and because of that citizens
do not pin hopes on courts, especially in matters with the state.’ There are
countries where there is nothing left to collapse, for example in Afghanistan
and a number of third world countries. However, CIS countries are not among
them.
Malek classifies two of the republics of the South Caucasus among the failed
states: `Already for 15 years Georgia and Azerbaijan have not controlled parts
of their territories on which the monopoly of state power is not spread. For
this reason they are classified among failed states unlike Armenia, although
in this states a number of state institutions are weak, corruption is
thriving, the judicial power is ineffective.’
Collapsing and weak states become a threat for the West, as terrorist
organizations are formed in them, they become sources of disseminating drugs,
and refugees from these countries pour into Europe.
Malek says that there is no threat of terrorism from the countries of the
South Caucasus, the flow of refugees is insignificant. The only problem for
the West is that this territory has become a transit corridor for drugs from
Central Asia to Europe.
CRIME REVIEW: POLICE CONCERNED ABOUT INCREASE OF `HEAVY’ CRIMES
Arpi Harutyunyan
The latest report on crime by the Yerevan Police shows an increase this year
over last.
During the first three months of 2006, 1,098 crimes were committed in Yerevan,
an increase of 127 over the same period last year.
Police department head Nerses Nazarayan, however, says the increase can partly
be attributed to better record keeping.
Drug related crimes were among the growing number, as police made 80 arrests
for drug dealing and 309 for possession. Police confiscated more than two
kilograms of illegal drugs, though they would not specify what type.
Yerevan city law enforcement are particularly concerned that the number of
murders more than doubled during the time period. During the first three
months, the capital recorded 8 homicides, compared with three in the same time
last year.
Police say the number of home burglaries has increased from 57 to 110 during
the time period. Many, Nazaryan said, involved copied keys.
The Police Mashtots Division has recently arrested a criminal group of two
that has committed seven attacks using firearms (6 of the attacks were made in
recent years). Another criminal group of two apprehended by the Police Malatia
Division committed 116 robberies.
The Yerevan community of Arabkir has been noticed this year not only for
robbery, but for other types of thefts as well. Burlaries of basements have
become regular. In the last two months basements of four residents have been
robbed at Aram Khachatryan 10 in Arabkir community. The details of these four
robberies have not been yet disclosed.
Gagik Madoyan, Deputy Head of the Police Arabkir Division on Operative Issues,
also says the number of burglaries has grown in general. He says criminal
gangs from Georgia are partly to blame, for the upswing in crime.
TRADITION CHALLENGED: FEAR OF EGGS NOT LIKELY TO HAMPER ARMENIA’S EASTER
RITUALS
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
Beginning in the middle of every March 75-year-old Shoghik Markosyan starts
collecting onion peels, for use in dying Easter eggs. It is an awaited and
special ritual for her. She carefully arranges dry onion peel in a copper
bowl, arranges the eggs, adds a spoonful of salt, then closes the lid and puts
the pot on a low fire.
This year, Shoghik feared there’d be no such tradition, due to concerns about
bird flu.
`I thought if that bird flu continued we would not dye eggs, but it is good
that passions started to calm down and they now speak less about this
disease,’ she says.
Like Shoghik all housewives throughout Armenia were worried, but not
contradicting the tradition of the festival many of them will dye eggs.
`How can one imagine Easter without eggs. My children can’t wait till that day
comes,’ says housewife Anahit Margaryan.
For many the ritual of dying eggs begins on the Thursday preceding the Easter
Sunday when according to tradition seven eggs must be already dyed in the
evening.
Shop assistant Marine Grigoryan says egg sales – by customers previously shy
of poultry products – have doubled since the beginning of the week. Her shop
is selling about 300 instead of usual 150 eggs a day. (The price of one egg
fluctuates between 40 and 60 drams, from 9-13 cents).
`They say, we’ll take them to catch bird flu, let’s see what it is,’ Marine
tells jokingly.
At Echmiadzin resident Vardan Abrahamyan’s home, however, eggs will not be
dyed. Abrahamyan slaughtered his chickens in February, fearing that they may
have bird flu.
`I don’t trust anyone,’ Abrahamyan says. `I only trust my own instincts. We
will not eat eggs at Easter, we will only eat fish and pilaf. God will not
take offense on us until all this calms down. How come that bird flu was
reported in Georgia and Azerbaijan, and we don’t have it?’
With the biggest day for poultry products at hand, bird flu does have some
impact.
At at least one café in Yerevan Wednesday, customers ordering Ajarian
khachapouri were told no egg dishes were being served, due to bird flu
concerns.
Cactus restaurant manager Agata Hovakimyan says the demand of poultry dishes –
which make up a third of the restaurant’s menu – is down by 20 percent since
February.
And at Mister Toaster bistro, director Tom Rostomian says that problems
connected with poultry products are considerable.
`Eighty percent of chicken is not sold,’ he says. `We had sandwiches that
sold well, now if we sell just one such sandwich we consider it something.’
Meanwhile, poultry product produces continue insisting there’s nothing to
worry about.
On Sunday, it is likely even the skeptical will believe the businessmen, or at
least put their faith in tradition on this Easter.
YEREVAN’S CAFÉ CULTURE: WHAT IS THE PRICE OF `A CUP OF COFFEE’ IN THE CAPITAL?
By Vahan Ishkhanyan
In 1998, there were 197 cafes in the city center (`Kentron’) of Yerevan. At
the end of last café season there were 427. Considering the center’s
population of about 130,000, that means there is one café per 304 residents.
And as this season has begun, the number continues to increase.
Comparisons must rely on approximation rather than hard data. But a casual
stroll in Yerevan any night between May and October would offer evidence that
this may be the per-capita café capital of this continent. (They are
not `cafes’, officially, but `objects of public catering’, a hold over
category from Soviet times.)
Where once city parks held green spaces and benches for public rest, a seat
now comes with a price – at least the cost of a cup of coffee (about 50
cents), and open greenery has been replaced with jarringly bright
advertisement umbrellas. The latest trend, in fact – proudly displayed in such
places as Astral and Jazzve – is to pave over parks and replace them, not with
simply chairs and tables, but with plush accommodations that turn the out-of-
doors into something approximating open-air living rooms.
For about six months out of the year, these cafes apparently bring enough
revenue to justify the fact that they are limited to seasonal operation. (In
some cases, owners of cafes also own restaurants with indoor service year-
round.)
>From easy business opportunity to phenomenon
`In the beginning the reasons for building cafes were different than now,’
says Lyudmila Harutyunyan, the Head of the Sociology Department of the Yerevan
State University. `Medium-sized business was not developed and it was
difficult to produce competitive goods for foreign markets. The market was
narrow, the borders were closed (and remain so).
`As the sphere of service required little investments people began to open
cafes. If it was possible to earn money on something, they capitalized on
that. Today the situation is different. Running a café became a lucrative
business. The jostle for vital locations is constant. Competition is for a
narrow territory and it is clearly seen how they seize sidewalks and lawns.’
A good monthly income of a café in central Yerevan is about $12,000.
But one owner of one of the most popular cafes says that he gets an average of
3,000 customers per day. And only about 10 percent are there simply for a 50-
cent cup of coffee.
(It is worth noting that, while the mushroom growth of cafes is phenomenal,
café culture has always been a distinguishing mark of Yerevan. At a time when
Soviet cities were made from the same mold, Yerevan was known throughout the
USSR for its abundance of open-air cafes. It was even joked that cleaning
ladies would bark at lingering customers: `Those of you who have been sitting
here since yesterday, get out!’)
Today, the image of `the poor Armenians’ is hardly upheld if café season in
the capital is the scale by which well being is measured.
And nowhere is the picture of a city at ease more vivid than in the area
around the Opera House, a Yerevan landmark.
Where, in the late 1980s, thousands stood in the yards to rally for a free
Karabakh and give the place its informal name `Freedom Square’, today
thousands sit and sip in what has become a café mall, practically obscuring
the famous and recently renovated majestic home of the musical arts.
The park is some 50,000 square meters, and over the past four years has been
divided up – mostly by government officials who have taken over the property
out-right, or by having it purchased in the name of a relative – into 15 cafes
with about 300 tables where empty seats are a summertime rarity.
In the greater area ringing the park, there are 70 cafes on 115 hectares.
While the city center has become a capital of casual consumption, the expense
has been the destruction of green space that once was a haven of free escape
from the noise and dirt of a compact city.
(There are significantly fewer cafes in the suburbs. For example, in the
district of Ajapnyak, five kilometers from the city center, there are about 20
cafes. With 106,600 residents, there is about one café for every 5,330
residents.)
Even official architects admit that the appearance of the city center has been
distorted by cafes taking over green areas.
`Of course, all this is abnormal, but we need to be patient, it will get to
normal,’ says Armen Lalayants, deputy to the chief architect of the city. He
hopes that the time will come when the café phenomena will pass as a fashion,
and the way will be cleared again for green areas.
`Visiting a café in Armenia is the reflection of a Mediterranean culture,’
says Harutyunyan. `Armenians like living in a community which is not typical
for northern peoples.’
The cost of `a cup of coffee’
At least 130 cafes have been constructed on property that was previously a
public park.
According to the data of the Social-Ecological Association, between 1995-2002
the city lost more that 1,000 hectares of public green territories because of
construction (including cafes). Meanwhile, green space decreased to 3.6
percent. It was 30.6 percent in 1986.
Srbuhi Harutyunyan, head of the Social-Ecological Association, is among
activists who are disturbed to see construction in general, and oligarch-owned
cafes in particular, rob Yerevan of its greenery.
She cites a World Health Organization study that says city residents need 50
square meters of green territories per resident to have healthy oxygen intake.
According to Harutyunyan’s research, in 1986 Yerevan had 42.3 square meters of
green for each resident. By 1995, the number had decreased to 27.6 square
meters. And, today, there are only 4.5 square meters of green space for each
of the capital’s one million residents.
During a 60-year period of development in Yerevan city planners created 1,930
hectares of public green space. Today there is only 503 hectares left. And,
significantly, 77 percent of the loss occurred in the past eight years – long
after Armenia’s energy crisis was the cause for the cutting of trees.
(One of the most outrageous examples cited by journalists as a moral violation
was a report in 2004 that the Minister of Nature Protection, the very guardian
of Armenia’s ecology, had dug up evergreen trees from one of the republic’s
few nature preserves and replanted them around a café owned by his wife, where
the trees soon wilted and died.)
Stopping the further loss of green space has become a celebrated cause in
Yerevan media. Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have been founded with
the express purpose of saving whatever is left. But protests have had
practically no impact.
Harutyunyan, the sociologist, says that one of the causes of the easy
appropriation of green areas is that Yerevan retains a village mentality and
has never formed a culture of a modern urban society. (It is not accidental
that in some suburbs, cows are pastured in lawns.)
`The small city was destroyed in the 1960s, the village filled the city and
the village absorbed the city in itself instead of the opposite,’ Harutyunyan
says. `As a result, the tradition of city values (especially parks) has
disappeared.’
The sociologist says, too, that the popularity of cafes (in spite of the
disdain with which they are viewed by some) is an indication of an emerging
middle class.
`The cafes of the center became the sitting place for bourgeoisie,’ says
Harutyunyan. `Who visits a café? Those who visit it are a newly born middle
class but not a stratum that forms the country’s policy. . .’
(This article appears in the latest issue of AGBU magazine, )
SPORT ROUNDUP: KICKING, WRESTLING, THINKING, FIGHTING . . .
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Football
A draw for the 2006 Intertoto Cup held at the UEFA headquarters in Switzerland
pitted an Armenian club that will qualify for participation in the tournament
in June against a team from Georgia.
The most likely participant in the Intertoto Cup from Armenia is Yerevan’s FC
Kilikia, fifth place finishers in the national championship last season.
Its Georgian opponent is not known yet either. Armenian and Georgian clubs
have already played each other as part of UEFA club competitions in the past.
In the latest match Yerevan’s FC Banants eliminated Tbilisi’s FC Lokomotiv in
the UEFA Cup last year.
If the Armenian club manages to overcome the first hurdle in the 2006
Intertoto Cup it will face an Austrian representative (not known yet either).
The first match between the Armenian and Georgian clubs will be played on June
17 or 18.
Today (April 14) FC Pyunik (Yerevan) and FC Gandzasar (Kapan) will play at the
Vazgen Sargsyan `Republican’ Stadium and Gyumri’s FC Shirak will play FC Mika
(Ashtarak) in Gyumri to open the 15th national championship of Armenia in
which eight clubs participate. April 15, FC Ararat (Yerevan) will play FC
Banants (Yerevan), and FC Ulis (Yerevan) will play FC Kilikia (Yerevan).
(Based on reports by A1 Plus, the Football Federation of Armenia)
WRESTLING
Four Russian freestyle wrestlers have received permission from the Wrestling
Federation of Russia (WFR) to continue their career in the national team of
Armenia, Regnum news agency reports, quoting a document signed by WFR
President Mikhail Mamiashvili.
The move is part of the plan of Armenian National Olympic Committee President
Gagik Tsarukyan to secure medals for the Olympic team of Armenia at the Games
in Beijing. In particular, in mid-March Tsarukyan said that eight Russian
wrestlers, including world and European champions, will join the national
wrestling team of Armenia. According to a preliminary agreement, in the event
of winning the 2008 Olympics each of the Russian wrestlers will receive
$500,000 from Armenia’s National Olympic Committee; in case of winning the
Olympic gold Armenians will receive $700,000.
The most famous of the four whose names have already been confirmed is Ruslan
Kokayev (up to 74kg) who became the European champion in his weight category
in 2004 performing under Russia’s flag. Vadim Laliyev (up to 84kg), Shamil
Gitinov (up to 96kg) and Ruslan Basiyev (up to 120kg) are also considered
strong athletes in their respective weight categories.
All the four are included in the preliminary application of Armenia for the
European championships to be held in Moscow on April 25-30. But their actual
participation in the tournament is still under question.
CHESS
Armenian chess players GMs Artashes Minasyan, Ashot Anastasyan, Tigran L.
Petrosyan, IMs Arman Pashikyan, Tigran Kotanjyan, WGMs Lilit Lazarian, Elina
Danielyan, Nelli Aghinyan, WIM Siranush Andreasyan are participating in the
7th European Men’s and Women’s Individual Chess Championships held in Aydin,
Kusadasi (Turkey) on April 4-17.
After eight rounds of the tournament Armenian grandmasters Ashot Anastasyan
and Artashes Minasyan have 5.5 points each and share 3rd-19th places, half a
point behind second-placed Vasiliy Ivanchuk (Ukraine). The leader is Croatian
Zdenko Kozul with 6.5 points.
Tigran Kotanjyan and Tigran Petrosyan are in the middle of the table with 4.5
points, and Arman Pashikyan has 3.5 points.
Among women Elina Danielyan and Lilit Lazarian have 5 points each and share
11th-30th places and still have chances to finish among the top three if they
win their games in the remaining three rounds. Siranush Andreasyan and Nelli
Aghinyan have 4.5 points each and share 31st-44th places.
JUDO
The President of the European Judo Union Marius Vizner (Romania) was on a
three-day visit to Yerevan this week at the invitation of the Judo Federation
of Armenia.
It was agreed that one of the most prestigious judo tournaments, the Grand
Prix, will be held in Yerevan in October 2007.
As the host of the tournament in 2007 Armenia will have one participant in
each weight category. $250,000 will be spent on the tournament, including a
$100,000 prize fund. (A1 Plus, Armenpress)