Author: Tumanian Talar

York Daily Record, PA
Oct 15 2004

SOUND PLUS VISION EQUALS INTRIGUING EXHIBIT AT YORKARTS
Friday, October 15, 2004

Most people walk past their television sets and don’t give them much
thought. But it’s almost impossible to ignore the strange boob tube
currently on display at YorkArts.

When visitors pass by the TV, a sensor is tripped that causes a nearby
telephone to ring. The voice on the phone then recites passages from
a self-help book.

“It’s kind of the idea that sometimes people turn to the television
for advice,” said Justin Ayala, YorkArts’ program specialist. “And
sometimes it’s not the most sound advice that comes from the
television.”

“Idiot Box,” a piece by Matt Glick of West Chester, is one of several
featured in the audio-visual exhibit “Eye & Ear.” The show features
the work of 13 artists from around the country and continues at
YorkArts, 10 N. Beaver St., York, through Nov. 29.

Other pieces in the exhibit:

– “Ron & Duncan”: Scott Kaplan’s piece features a large shipping crate
with a circle cut out in the bottom. Visitors sit in a chair under
the box, and when they put their head inside the upholstered hole,
a story is told about a group of friends that go on a trip. One
of the friends gets lost and turns up dead. “It elicits a lot of
questions,” Ayala said. “It gets you walking away from it thinking,
‘Is this a real story?'”

– “88”: Eighty-eight piano keys are bound together by a piece of hemp
rope, forming a circular sculpture. Ayala said some pieces in “Eye &
Ear,” like this item by Jerry King Musser, imply a sound rather than
featuring actual sound.

– “Bread Series & Immigration”: The piece by Armenia native Apo
Torosyan features four paintings that have pieces of toast embedded
inside of them. Six-hundred pounds of earth has been dumped in front
of the paintings.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday, but the gallery
usually stays open until about 5 p.m.

Big Day Out organisers continue to attract biggest and best names
TUTAKI Denise

The Daily News (New Plymouth, New Zealand)
October 14, 2004, Thursday

HI-OCTANE trio the Beastie Boys has been named as one of the headlining
acts for next year’s Big Day Out.

Tickets for the event go on sale tomorrow and promoters say the line-up
solidifies the reputation of the Big Day Out organisers to produce
a series of events that offer intelligent, quality, energetic acts.

Powderfinger is one of the biggest acts to emerge across the ditch
in the last decade and has been booked for the 2005 Big Day Out. It
will perform live off the back of its forthcoming best of compilation
titled Fingerprints.

The duo of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, aka the Chemical Brothers,
returns again to the Big Day Out. Arguably the first arena-sized
group in the electronic movement, the Chemical Brothers keep the
crowd moving by working through unmissable samples from familiar
guitar riffs to vocal tags to various sound effects.

System of a Down is no stranger to our shores and has a reputation
as the thinking person’s metal troupe.

System of a Down is currently working on its fourth album and over
the last eight years has revived and revitalised heavy music with
its manic brand of post-everything hardcore.

Its disparate tastes, which range from Jaco Pastorius and Slayer to
the Beatles and traditional Armenian folk music, have ensured System
of a Down will always be a band less than ordinary.

Locals The D4, Misfits of Science, Trinity Roots and Steriogram all
take to the stage, joined by Aussie heroes Grinspoon and the John
Butler Trio.

Brit-pop landed itself new heroes in the new millennium thanks to
the popularity of quartet The Music. Comprised of school chums, the
Music emerged from the suburbs of Leeds in 1999 and by 2001 it had
been hailed as the best unsigned band in Britain. It has been signed
along with one of the most innovative and audacious artists to come
out of the UK in recent years, Mike Skinner.

Skinner is the mastermind behind The Streets, whose debut Original
Pirate Material saw him tap into a potent mix of hip hop, rap, garage
and glam-inspired rock. With a follow-up released this year, A Grand
Don’t Come for Free, The Streets has received myriad critical acclaim
across the musical spectrum.

All-female rockers The Donnas have been described as a cross between
the Ramones and the Runaway. Formed in 1993, the Donnas are now
veterans, with nine albums tucked under their belts.

Donna A, Donna F, Donna C and Donna R gained a cult following and
considerable media attention in the late 90s when they scored a record
deal straight out of high school.

Other Kiwi acts the Bleeders, drum and bass outfit Concord Dawn and
Shihad have also been signed.

Tickets for the event, to be held on Friday, January 21, are available
through Ticketek or at Energy FM, Raw Music and Sounds.

A second line-up of artists will be announced next month.

President calls on Azerbaijani people to unite

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Oct 14 2004

President Ilham Aliyev returned home from his official visit to Romania
late on Tuesday. Aliyev told journalists at the Heydar Aliyev Airport
that he is satisfied with the results of the visit. “The documents
signed will be a favorable legal base for future cooperation between
Azerbaijan and Romania,” he stressed.

President Aliyev and his Romanian counterpart Ion Iliyesku discussed
the issue on settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over
Upper Garabagh. Aliyev regarded Iliyesku’s statement, “Romania backs
the solution of the conflict within the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan”, as very important.

President Aliyev recalled that several heads of state have issued
similar statements over the recent years.

“This once again shows that there should be no double standards. All
issues should be considered only under international legal norms and
certainly, Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity should be restored. The
earlier Armenia understands this, the better.”

President Aliyev said that a mechanism should be set up for
implementation of the decisions passed by the UN and OSCE. Expressing
his disappointment with the fact that no sanctions have been imposed
on Armenia yet, Aliyev said: “The conflict can be settled soon if
international legal mechanisms are set up and applied.”

Commenting on a report on the Upper Garabagh conflict by Terry
Davis, the former rapporteur on Upper Garabagh of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), President Aliyev said it
was impartial and contained realities. The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
will be discussed at the PACE session in January, he noted.

Aliyev voiced his confidence that the report would confirm the
occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia and emphasize the need
for imposing sanctions on Armenia.

The President stated that Azerbaijan calls on the Council of Europe
to give a political assessment of the conflict.

“We will achieve our goals when each Azerbaijani citizen – the
President, parliament members and the press, unite to denounce Armenia
as an aggressor,” he added.*

Armenia ec forum to solve long-term tasks of country development
By Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
October 12, 2004 Tuesday

YEREVAN, October 12 — The international Armenian economic forum
is designed to help resolve long-term strategic tasks of Armenia’s
development, president of the World Armenian Congress and the Union
of Russian Armenians Ara Abramyan told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

At the forum that will open on Wednesday concrete business projects
will be worked out and implemented in order to promote the social
and economic development of Armenia and use the existing political
and economic potential of the diaspora more effectively, Abramyan
emphasized. He is confident that “serious successes can not be achieved
in the solution of national tasks, the just solution of the Karabakh
problem cannot also be achieved, if the Armenian people does not
manage to pool its efforts and provide conditions for the effective
social and economic development of the country.”

According to Abramyan, on one hand, for this it is necessary to
consolidate efforts of business circles of the diaspora and Armenia,
strengthen involvement of businessmen of the diaspora in the republic’s
economy. On another hand, there is a persistent need to involve the
Armenian economy and businessmen in international business structures.

“Armenian economy and business should find its place in the
international economic community,” Abramyan pointed out. According
to him, the goal of the World Armenian Congress is to try to raise
Armenian business to a new level of foreign economic relations that
corresponds more to the current stage of globalization.

JEWS TO ATTACK ARCHBISHOP NURHAN MANUKIAN

Azg/am
13 Oct 04

Yaser Arafat, president of Palestinian National Authority, condemned
the Israelitesâ^À^Ù attack on Deputy Armenian Patriarch Archbishop
Nurhan Manukian. Arafat held a telephone conversation with archbishop
inquiring about his health following a wanton assault as he was leading
the religious procession of the Orthodox Armenians, Palestinian Wafa
news agency reports.

A group of Jews assailed the religious procession of the Orthodox
Armenians in the morning of October 10. The procession set off from
the Armenian Patriarchate and passed through Hebron Gate and Suwayqiyat
Allun to reach the Christian neighborhood where a mass was to be held
at the Church of Holy Sepulchre in the holy city of Jerusalem. They
ripped the cross off the archbishopâ^À^Ùs chest, slapped him and
threw his mitre on the ground in an extremely aggressive way that
showed disrespect for men of religion.

Lawrence Journal World, KS
Oct 12 2004

Technology bridges international classes
New program links KU students with worldly peers

By Terry Rombeck, Journal-World

Lee Grignon was trying to write a collaborative essay examining
theories of democracy.

But all his partner on the project wanted to talk about was President
Bush.

“I think he is not smart enough,” said the partner, Zumrud
Mammadzade.

The conversation might not seem out of the ordinary for a Kansas
University class, considering the U.S. presidential election is less
than a month away.

What made the exchange unusual was the geography.

Grignon was in a Wescoe Hall classroom, and Mammadzade was in a
classroom at Western University in Bacu, Azerbaijan.

The students are part of a State Department-sponsored pilot program
that connects U.S. college students with students at universities
around the world using video phones and Internet chat rooms. KU is
one of 12 U.S. universities participating.

“We need to build global understanding, whether it’s for exercising
U.S. foreign policy interests or simply building peace and prosperity
in the world,” said Erik Herron, assistant professor of political
science who is teaching the KU class. “I think that’s why the State
Department is so interested in the program. It’s not designed to help
people like Americans, it’s designed for world citizens to understand
the U.S.”

Tech troubles

Dubbed the Virtual Classroom Project, the program debuted last year
at East Carolina University.

At KU, 15 students in Herron’s introduction to comparative politics
honors class spent a month working with students at Western
University and recently switched to working with students at Osh
State University in Kyrgyzstan. They’ll also collaborate with
students at Mongolian National University.

At 8 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Herron dials into a
computer network that brings up a video connection to classrooms in
the other countries, including Kyrgyzstan where it is 7 p.m. What
appears looks something like the video phone footage sent back by
news correspondents in Iraq.

Students and professors take turns talking in slow, deliberate
speech. Each side has a red flag to wave if it can’t understand the
audio.

Classes are divided between a lecture by Herron and student
discussions, both with the video connection and in chat rooms.

“Unfortunately, because of the technology, it’s difficult to engage
in full dialogue,” Herron said. “Despite all the complications and
problems, it’s worth it.”

Political talk

That’s because students are being introduced to cultures few knew
much — if anything — about.

“I didn’t know Azerbaijan even existed before this class,” said
Grignon, a Brookfield, Wis., freshman.

Meanwhile, students in Azerbaijan have been following developments in
the United States closely.

“A great amount of students oppose the Iraq policy of George Bush but
significantly support George Bush on his struggle against terrorism,”
said Elvin Majidov, one of the Western University students. “That’s
because we have seen what the terror is.”

Azerbaijan has been in a sometimes-bloody conflict with Armenia over
the Nagorno-Karabakh territory for 15 years.

“It was a pity to learn my partner (in the KU class) didn’t support
the Azeri side in Karabakh conflict,” said Nana Atakishiyeva, another
Western University student. “I cannot say that he supported the
Armenian side — he had a neutral position.”

In fact, KU student Nina Mosallaei said, none of the KU students was
familiar with the conflict.

“Apparently they’ve been fighting for many years,” said Mosallaei, an
Overland Park sophomore. “I had no idea.”

‘Direct experience’

Mosallaei said she hoped the class would be a model for more
international courses.

“I think it’s a really good experience to have, especially nowadays,”
she said. “We’re always in our little bubbles, and we think we’re
always right. I think it’s a fantastic idea, to talk to people around
the world. If we did more of that, maybe we wouldn’t fight as much
and we’d get along better.”

Herron, the KU professor, said he planned to teach the course again
next fall.

Adam Meier, a spokesman for the State Department, said the government
planned to add more universities to the program.

“These are the future leaders in their countries,” Meier said of the
international participants. “Time and time again, we hear of people
rising to power who have had a direct experience that led to a better
understanding of American cultures.

“I think everyone would agree it’s in our best interest to have
(foreign) leaders with a better understanding of who we are, rather
than potentially relying on skewed media in other parts of the world.
You’d rather have that direct experience.”

COULD THE ‘DEAL OF THE CENTURY’ STILL LIVE UP TO ITS NAME?

CENTRAL ASIA – CAUCASUS ANALYST
Wednesday / October 06, 2004

By Pavel K. Baev

On 20 September 2004, Baku staged major celebrations, with Turkish
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvily present among the guests
of honor. The cause for the festivities was the tenth anniversary
of the first contract on delivering the Azerbaijani oil to the world
market, dubbed ‘the deal of the century’ by the late president Heydar
Aliyev. Many expectations were frustrated during this decade but
the fast-approaching inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
pipeline could make good on many of the old promises.

BACKGROUND: Ten years ago, on 20 September 1994, the newly-forged
consortium of several international oil companies, called
the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), signed the
agreement with the government of Azerbaijan on the development of three
oilfields: Azeri, Chirag, and Guneshli. It was BP that had worked
hardest and lobbied the smartest in preparation for this agreement,
but it had to cut in Amoco, Pennzoil, and Unocal from the U.S.,
Statoil from Norway and several minor operators (Exxon joined the
next year). What was more, seeking to secure a neutral or positive
attitude from Russia, Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) invited
Lukoil to join with a decent 10% of the total package, explaining
the presence of a representative of Russia’s Ministry for Fuel and
Energy at the signing ceremony.

In those days, however, powerful bureaucrats in the Yeltsin government
were not accustomed to inform one another about their policies, so
Foreign Minister Evgeni Primakov was furious at being kept in the dark.
Three months later, the first Chechen War was unleashed and this
unfolding disaster made Moscow even more nervous and disagreeable about
Western plans for the Caspian. That started a chain of setbacks for the
AIOC: a sharp drop in oil prices, downwards re-evaluations of the oil
reserves in the Southern Caspian, disagreements about export routes,
and endless quarrels about maritime borders and even an incident
(fortunately, a single one) involving Iranian patrol crafts.

In retrospect, three key sources of troubles for the project, as well
as several other contracts signed in its wake, can be identified. The
first was the (sometimes unnecessarily rude) rejections of Iran’s
proposals to channel some of the prospective oil flows towards
the Gulf through its territory. The second was the failure to give
Russia a meaningful stake in the project, thus making a partner with
a clear interest in the success. The third and most complex Pandora
box of troubles was full of local conflicts, and the oil contracts,
excitingly promising as they were, failed to make any contribution
towards their resolution. All these shortcomings are still present
but at the start of the second decade of implementation, the situation
looks significantly more promising for AIOC and its local partners. It
is not only the unstoppable rise of oil prices that improves the
overall prospects, but also the completion in the coming months, after
many delays and complications, of the strategic Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline that could deliver as much as one million barrels of Caspian
oil a day to meet steadily growing world demand.

IMPLICATIONS: The intensity of geopolitical competition for Caspian
oil has visibly subsided since the late 1990s when Russia and the US
appeared to be at loggerheads over the control of prospective Caspian
pipelines. The present-day relative calm, however, might be misleading
and the absence of any Russian guests at the celebrations in Baku (as
well as the total silence about them in the Russian media) is a warning
signal. While the technicalities of the ten-year-old deal are mostly
resolved, its implementation is still threatened by three regional
risks and three external challenges. The former are the uncertainties
about President Ilham Aliyev’s ability to control infighting among
interest groups in Azerbaijan’s ruling elite, the desperate efforts
of President Mikhail Saakashvili to keep Georgia mobilized around his
program of reforms, and the fragility of the ten years old cease-fire
in Nagorno-Karabakh with a perfectly deadlocked peace process.

The external challenges are the disgruntlement of Iran, which seeks
for means to reduce the international pressure focused on its nuclear
program; the overstretched U.S., which is stuck in the quagmire of
Iraq and seems to have few political resources left for the Caucasus;
and the confused Russia, which seeks to expand its regional influence
but remains unable to contain the war in Chechnya. Recent Russian
efforts at re-orienting its foreign and security policies towards
the ‘war on terrorism’, triggered by the horrible tragedy in Beslan,
are particularly worrisome. The doctrine of military prevention has
been made an integral part of these efforts, and there is a visible
desire to show the ability to deliver on the promises made by Minister
of Defense Ivanov and Chief of General Staff Baluevsky. The Pankisi
Gorge in Georgia has long been identified as the most probable area
for a Russian ‘counter-terrorist’ operation, but it is entirely
possible that targets for ‘surprise attacks’ could be found further
south in Georgia and in Azerbaijan. The military base in Akhalkalaki,
Georgia, would then prove its value and the radar station in Qabala,
Azerbaijan, may provide a useful pretext – and if such a penetrating
‘counter-terrorist preventive strike’ would also prevent oil from
flowing to the West by damaging some of the BTC infrastructure,
nobody in Moscow would be greatly upset.

Such a scenario might appear entirely hypothetical, and its
repercussions could be far more serious then a post-factum exchange
of stern diplomatic notes. Every balanced assessment of immediate
consequences and further implications would warn against reckless use
of military instruments in the Caucasus, but the Russian leadership has
been departing further and further away from its trademark pragmatism
and increasingly shows the predisposition to inadequate responses in
crisis situations.

CONCLUSIONS: The renewed enthusiasm around the decade-old ‘deal of
the century’ is fueled by record-high oil prices and pinned on the
forthcoming unveiling of the high-capacity pipeline. In unstable
areas like the Caucasus, however, huge profits tend to attract
big trouble. The recent cancellation of NATO Partnership for Peace
exercises in Azerbaijan was certainly not an isolated diplomatic
incident; the lack of real partnership is certainly an open secret
but the absence of real peace needs to be addressed urgently. The
list of things that might go wrong with delivering the Caspian oil
to the world markets is excessively long, from implosion of regimes
in the South Caucasus to Russia’s aggressive move in reasserting its
dominance. The deal would have deserved the pretentious name if it
was used for promoting stability in the region. It may not be too
late to give this emphasis to the oil policies, but the currently
prevalent benign neglect is not the way to proceed.

AUTHOR’S BIO: Dr. Pavel K. Baev is a Senior Researcher at the
International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO).

The CENTRAL ASIA – CAUCASUS ANALYST is a publicaton of the Central
Asia-Caucasus Institute at the Nitze School for Advanced International
Studies, at Johns Hopkins University, in Washington, DC.

Boston Herald, MA
Sept 30 2004

Style calendar
By Raakhee P. Mirchandani

Join the Armenian International Women’s Association’s New England
affiliate for a fashion show featuring the latest designs from the
Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts in Armenia. The event on Oct. 10
begins at 5 p.m. at the National Heritage Museum, 33 Marrett Road,
Lexington. The fashion show starts at 7:30 p.m. For more information
or to buy tickets, call 781-729-6457. Tickets are $50 and include an
Armenian buffet.

ARMENIAN PREMIER FOCUSES ON ECONOMIC PROJECTS AT MEETING WITH BULGARIAN HEAD

Noyan Tapan news agency
6 Oct 04

YEREVAN

Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan received Bulgarian
President Georgi Purvanov, who is on an official visit in Armenia, on
5 October.

The prime minister spoke about problems in Armenia’s integration into
Europe and in regional policy, including processes aimed at conducting
democratic reforms. He said that Armenia attached great importance to
regional cooperation, in particular, within the framework of the OSCE
and the Council of Europe. In this context, the prime minister noted
the importance of further active involvement of our country in the
economic projects being implemented under the aegis of the European
Union. He also spoke about our country’s cooperation with NATO.

The Armenian prime minister also noted that Armenia was interested in
building a road linking the South Caucasus with Europe. He,
particularly, spoke about the possibility of building joint railway
and ferry links between the (Black Sea) ports of Kavkaz and Varna,
which had been supported earlier by Bulgaria as well.

The recent developments in the Nagornyy Karabakh negotiations and the
possibility of cooperation in a number of economic fields were
discussed. The prime minister thanked the Bulgarian president for the
authorities’ benevolent attitude towards the Armenian community of
Bulgaria.

Armenianow.com
Oct 2, 2004

Grounded: Abovian’s “satellite town” has lost its orbit

By Arpi Harutyunyan
ArmeniaNow correspondent

The hometown of his memory hardly resembles the place where Aram Khachatryan
lives today.
”Biureghavan was the richest city of our region,” says the 67 year old
retiree. “We used to make huge production for the republic. And we used to
live in such conditions that we couldn’t complain.”
Now, there’s little to do but complain. And few are listening.
There is hardly a city, town or village in Armenia that hasn’t suffered the
destructive fallout of political, social, economic upheaval. Some 15 years
since socialism started to crumble some societies have fared better than
others. In Biureghavan, a settlement of 5,000 or 11,000 depending on who you
listen to, about 16 kilometers north of Yerevan, recovery seems as distant
as Khachataryan’s memory of a different time.

The mayor sees a different picture than his citizens.
“Our city was one of the best places in Armenia,” recalls 72 year old Asatur
Manukyan. “People had no problems. We had good jobs and we lived in good
conditions. Every man had several jobs and maintained his family very well.
People from the city even used to come here, work and again return.”
If it is now forgotten, Biureghavan was once one of Armenia’s per capita
leaders of manufacturing.
The town covered 250 hectares of residential area and an area nearly half as
big (120 hectares) in factories.
At its peak, Biureghavan was home to 27 factories and enterprises.
”Thanks to technologies created by our specialists we began producing
cut-glass from Armenian stones,” explains Giulnara Sargsyan, head of the
Department of Education, Culture, Youth Affairs and Sport of the Biureghavan
municipality, adding that methods of stone production created in Biureghavan
were adopted by factories in the US, Italy, Greece.
Chandeliers produced in Biureghavan are hung in the Yerevan underground,
inside the Opera House and inside the Karen Demirchyan Sport Complex.
Unlike other Armenian towns, Biureghavan was not a settlement that grew on
the foundation of early settlers. Comparable to the history of cities in the
American mid-west, industry built Biureghavan.
It started out as an area of practically no vegetation about 60 years ago,
when the first labor dwellings were referred to as “mud settlements”. In
those days, it was also occupied with prisoners who had been paroled and
given houses, called “white houses”. Laborers who were working on nearby
health resorts were settled in Biureghavan and, later, refugees from
Azerbaijan.
Until about 1968 Biureghavan was not thought of as a town, but as a workmen’s
settlement – a place to live while work was carried out somewhere else. In
fact it was called “Arzni” settlement because most of its occupants were
employees of the Arzni water bottling plant.
But then came the factories. And with them, people. Hostels were constructed
and then permanent residences. And then more factories and more people,
drawn to the once “muddy settlement” to work at places such as Almakar
(stone processing) and Siunenergashin (producing electrical poles) and
Hayapaki glass factory.
In 1974, the town was given official urban status and its new name. (Named
for the largest factory which produced “Biuregh” . Literally, the name means
“Crystal Town”.)
The population exceeded 10,000, almost all with jobs, and some with more
than one. Biureghavan had four schools, four kindergartens, a music school,
sports school, a vocational-technical school, hospital, cinema, library,
arena, public parks.
But for all its growth, Biureghavan was largely considered an annex of
Abovian, the regional center.
“That’s why there is now a great difference between Abovian and
Biureghavan,” explains Sargsyan. “It seems our city was Abovian’s
satellite. We were producing and they were benefiting from it. And our
leaders were taking care of the essential social needs.”

Once industrial, now foodshops are Biureghavan’s main enterprises.
In 1994 Biureghavan was given the status of a city. It celebrates its 10th
anniversary this year. But for most residents there is little to celebrate.
For, even before it was designated a city, Biureghavan, made redundant by
the collapse of the system that created it, had started to decline.
Production stopped. Debts didn’t. The city plunged into widespread
unemployment. Personal savings held from the glory days, dwindled.
While some residents of other Armenian cities turned to agriculture and
cattle breeding for sustenance, Biureghavan – not suited for life on the
land – had nowhere to turn.
Mayor Shavarsh Sedrakyan says the city will have a modest celebration later
this year to mark its 10th anniversary.
It is a city without its own telephone code, no gas system, no 24-hour water
service, no city market, no church, no maternity home.
According to Vardan Avetisyan, head of the city health center, there is
little need for the latter.
“Last year, for instance, only 110 children were born, meaning one birth
every three-four days,” Vardanyan says. “Before, there were more than 300
children born each year.”
Biureghavan now has two schools of general education, one special school and
one kindergarten. All are in bad condition.
“They say children are our future. But today there are no conditions for
them,” says Anahit Sargsyan, head of the kindergarten. “The building of the
kindergarten has never been fully repaired: toilets are in a bad state,
there is oil-cloth on the windows instead of glass, there’s not enough
dishes, furniture and toys.”
Place of leisure are out of the question. Beginning with evening hours the
town starts dozing. There is no cinema, theatre, concert hall, park or a
cafe. Youngsters complain there’s nothing interesting in their town. “There’s
no action here. Life is dead here. That’s why youngsters spend their leisure
either in Abovian or in Yerevan. As for me, I would use the first chance to
move to Yerevan,” says Ani Gasparyan, 20.
Today, in Biureghavan, not only the youngsters, but also men who take care
of families have nothing to do. Most of them are in Russia. Many have moved
with families.
“Half of the town is empty. There isn’t such a building where four or five
doors are not constantly closed,” says 67 year old Nikolay Sargsyan,
bitterly. “People leave for good. If you count now, there can hardly be more
than 5,000 citizens.”
Nikolay gathers with other elderly to play nardi.
He moved his family from Yerevan to Biureghavan in 1969 and worked in a
factory. Now, other nardi players are his family.
“My whole family got separated. My children went to Russia. What could they
do? There was no job,” Nikolay says. “Here, there are several private
enterprises where employees are being cheated, they make them work but pay
trifling sums.”
His bitterness is not unique.
“We have no jobs. Men are playing nardi or cards, just to do something,”
says Misha Margaryan, age 65. “Many are in Russia and a significant part is
unemployed. Eighty percent of men have left here. Biureghavan has become
Armenia’s poorest town.”
While Misha’s assessment exaggerates conditions, it is certain that life in
his town is far from what it used to be.
“Today, even women with their children are collecting bottles from the
garbage and sell them to live. In winter, we cut and burn the trees that we’ve
planted with our own hands, in order to get warm, otherwise we’ll die from
cold,” continues Yurik Manucharyan, who is 64.
Mayor Sedrakyan sees a different Biureghavan. He says that 50 percent of the
population is employed and that “we’re pretty well provided for, socially”.
Only four factories – each with about 100-150 jobs – are now in operation,
according to the mayor. Those four have been privatized, but the mayor does
not know who the owners are.
According to the mayor: “At present there are 11,500 people living in
Biureghavan. The number was the same before. During some period people would
go to Russia but now there is a certain influx.”
His constituents laugh at the mayor’s assessment, and say that because he
lives well doesn’t mean they do.
Sedrakyan has made some improvements since becoming mayor in 2002. Trees
have been planted, there’s a garbage pick up service, street lights have
been installed . . .
“Our republic is going up in a rocket and we’re not falling behind,”
Sedrakyan says. “Biureghavan is in a rocket, too. I assure that in 2005 not
only the town will be well off, but all the citizens will be socially
provided. They will all have jobs.”
But for the nardi players and the teachers in crumbling schools and the
families separated by hardship the “rocket” city, once a satellite of
progress, is going nowhere.