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June 5, 2009
1. Emo in Yerevan: Eccentric and emotional teenagers challenge society
2. First Time for Some Things: City Council election aftermath
unique
3. Violation techniques: Episodes from the municipal elections in
Yerevan
**4.** Double move over Teghut: What are the former and current first
ladies of Armenia against?
5. Winner takes all: Coalition `heavyweights’ to take charge of
Yerevan as opposition withdraws in protest of `disgraceful’ vote
6. One Step: California State Senate approves Genocide Awareness Act
7.** Weathering the Storm: the significance of Armenia’s emerging
middle class
8. Eye Witness Report: Dangers and disappointment on Election Day
9. Business or office?: Skepticism lingers over government move to
enforce either/or choice for officials
10. Talking Talks?: Armenia, Azerbaijan in fresh summit on Karabakh **
11. Vital concerns: Impact of iodine deficiency still felt in [officially
recognized] iodine deficiency-free Armenia
12. Anti-crisis smell: businessman in Vanadzor sets up garlic powder
production**
13. Sport: Armenia U-21 soccer team to play Swiss, Turkish coevals in
Euro-2011 qualifiers**
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1. Emo in Yerevan: Eccentric and emotional teenagers challenge society
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
When Argam and Nelly walk along the street together, many passers-by turn
around to check them out. The teenagers dressed in black and pink attract
attention with their haircuts with a front fringe closing one of their eyes
and eyes heavily painted in black
Argam and Nelly, both 18, are representatives of emo culture. (A popular
youth movement mainly in the United States and Europe, with a wide internet
community such as: )
Emos initially used to be fans of emo rock, and later emo culture was
formed. The word `emo’ is derived from the English word `emotional.’ Emos
are usually 12-18-year-olds; they wear either black or pink clothes, tight
jeans, fingernails painted in black and listen to Emo music (Tokyo Hotel,
AFI, Avril Lavine, etc.). (The first emo appeared in Yerevan in 2007.)
Argam Babayan, 18, is believed to be the only `Emo boy’ in Yerevan. Argam
does not exclude that there might be other emo boys in the city, too,
however, they are afraid to go out dressed like emo teenagers.
`I am not afraid, I dress like this all the time, and I do not want to
change myself. However, when I walk in the street folks can insult me any
time. They point at me, they say that I am a girl, or they ask whether I am
a boy or if I am gay,’ says Argam, who might be mistaken for a girl because
he wears his hair long and also wears pink bracelets.
Emo teenagers say that there are about 20-25 emos in Yerevan, however only
five of them are active in the theme. Argam says that it is because of the
difficulty of being an emo in Armenia.
`The real emo must have a very expressive appearance and only a few would
dare to dress emo style here,’ says Argam. (Besides emos there are minority
groups of goths, punks, Satanists and other youth movements in Yerevan)
Teenagers who consider themselves to be emo, are typically either sad or
depressed, or they are extremely happy. Emos try to show the state of their
mind to people around them by all means. Emo teenagers are never ashamed of
their tears, and they can cry in front of many people. Depressed emos even
try to hurt themselves, and cause psychological and physical pain to
themselves. That’s why the suicide rate is higher amongst emo youngsters
than ordinary youngsters. (No emo suicide has been reported in Armenia
though).
Extremists even claim to believe that emo teenagers must commit suicide once
they are 18 years old.
`Sometimes we are simply very, very sad, and then we may become unruly,’
says Nelly Movsisyan, who is an emo since she turned 16, but whose family
disapproves.
Once Argam, who has problems especially with his father, after quarrelling
with him took too an overdose of aspirin and he slept, but in the morning he
woke up quite healthy.
`I do not understand why my father does not accept me the way I am. I do
not
do anything wrong, I do not smoke, I do not drink alcohol, I do not take
narcotics,’ he wonders.
`Now he does not live with us, he lives with his second wife in Echmiadzin
after my mother’s death. But when he comes to Yerevan, he always provokes
quarrels with me. And then I want to leave home,’ Argam says.
Now Agram lives with his two sisters. He works nightshift at a plastic
bottle production shop at the Aparan waters plant. Argam says he got the job
with great difficulty.
`I worked in a supermarket, and one day my boss came and told me to cut my
hair the next day and only then come to work. And without saying anything I
simply quit the job,’ says Argam.
Nelly’s father is more tolerant. She says her father works in Russia and
some of his friend’s kids are also emos.
The emos Argam and Nelly meet very often, they go for walks in downtown
Yerevan, more often in the city’s area known as Cascade.
`When nobody understands you, you try to find someone who would entirely
understand you. Now I am very happy that we have met,’ says Argam.
*************************************** ***********************************
2. First Time for Some Things: City Council election aftermath unique
Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Yerevan City Council Elections proved no different from previous votes in
terms of apparent fraud. Post-election developments, however, are proving
unique.
The first surprise was the oppositional Armenian National Congress’s
decision not to accept mandates, an unprecedented event in the history of
independent Armenia.
ANC, led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, said they earned at least
35 mandates and that the 13 they were `given’ came from the government
rather than the people.
`=85If we had accepted those mandates that would be from the authorities –
fraudulent authorities, and so: no, we will not accept mandates,’ declared
Ter-Petrosyan an opposition rally on June 1.
Many at the rally responded with anger saying that their votes were wasted,
and maybe the opposition would have been able to take some steps as a member
of the City Council.
`This resembles Stepan Demirtchyan’s step in 2005, when `Ardarutyn’
(Justice) opposition alliance boycotted the process of holding rallies and
did not come up with a constructive proposal, when, in fact, it was possible
to change something,’ Minas Sargsyan, master of political sciences, who was
present at the rally, told ArmeniaNow.
The political parties have a more restrained attitude to ANC’s decision;
People’s Party leader Tigran Karapetyan welcomed it, assuring that he would
do the same thing in a similar situation.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation party’s parliament faction leader
Vahan Hovhannisyan as well gave positive assessment.
`This is one of the cases, when I understand their logics, maybe if we had
won places in the City Council but had witnessed the whole disgrace of the
election process, we, too, would refuse to work in such a council,’ former
NA vice-speaker Hovhannisyan told ArmeniaNow.
The Republican Party representatives are convinced that the opposition has
disappointed its voters by taking such a step.
`The City Council has serious liability and authority and those numerous
voters gave their votes for that very reason, while this is a way of
avoiding responsibility – something unacceptable not only to me personally
but, I am sure, to the voters as well,’ Republican Party spokesman Eduard
Sharmazanov told ArmeniaNow.
The second important novelty of May elections is the (also unprecedented)
active involvement of the Prosecutor General’ office, although many consider
it an imitation of justice aimed at distracting from major violations and
fraud.
The day after the elections the prosecutor’s office placed an order for
recount of ballots, and moreover, detained a member of the Republican Party
of Armenia (RP), member of the election commission of the polling station #
8/05 Norayr Eghiazaryan and an RP supporter Armen Ohanyan for committing
election fraud.
Eghiazaryan was responsible for sealing the envelopes and overseeing the
ballot-box at the polling station, and taking advantage of lack of knowledge
on the part of 16 citizens that they themselves had to put their enveloped
ballots into the ballot-box and gave those to him, Yeghazaryan did not put
them in the box and took them out of the polling station.
There he met a voter of that same polling station Armen Ohanyan and handed
him those 16 ballots.
`At home Ohanyan discovered that only one of the ballots was for the
Republican Party, so he made 15 photocopies, placed those in the same
envelopes and took them back to the polling station,’ says an investigator
of Special Investigation Service Gorik Hovakimyan.
On June 3 the recount of ballots of the polling station # 8/05 took place at
the prosecutor’s office, the Republican’s sack had 498 valid ballots written
on it, whereas there were 454 valid, 7 non-valid and 15 photocopied ballots
– the ballots copied by Ohanyan and Yeghiazaryan.
Even more interesting was the content of sack with unused and cancelled
ballots, where 77 valid ballots were found in favour of RP, and 98 torn
ballots voting again for the Republicans.
This was explained as a `mistake’, however, the Heritage party member,
parliamentarian Anahit Bakhshyan defines this as an apparent violation.
`I am absolutely positive that those ballots had been voted for the
Republicans and ready for ballot stuffing, but failed, so they ended up
being torn and put among the unused and cancelled ballots,’ Bakhshyan told
ArmeniaNow.
The drama of the 15 photocopied ballots still continues – the issue is under
investigation by the prosecutor’s office, meanwhile no attention has been
paid at a more important fact that when the voting was over the number of
late night and early morning voters grew by 5,000.
This was noted by Heritage party representative at the Central Election
Committee Zoya Tadevosyan.
`It is not clear what happened during those few hours, since the total
number of voters reported by all election districts in the evening, somehow,
increased by 5,000 in the morning. I personally had talked to members of
election commissions of our election districts and they had told me the same
number as the one reported to CEC at night,’ Tadevosyan said.
During the CEC session on June 1 Tadevosyan tried to find out how the number
of voters grew so drastically within a few hours, to which CEC Chairman
Garegin Azaryan responded:
`I cannot say why the number rose. Some polling stations might have missed
the results from some polling stations while entering data on election
districts. Or we might have had irresponsible commission members who did not
count all the signatures,’ he said.
Tadevosyan disagrees, saying that it is possible not to count 10 or 20 or
even a 100 signatures, but not 5,000.
`If Azaryan doesn’t know, then I do know very well why the number changed:
of course in order to drastically increase the number of votes in somebody’s
favor. It is crystal clear,’ says Tadevosyan adding that this incident
proves that Armenian elections are held by Stalin’s principle. `It doesn’t
matter how they vote, the way we count is what matters’
**************************************** **********************************3. Violation techniques: Episodes from the municipal elections in Yerevan
By Karine Ionesyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Sunday’s municipal elections in Yerevan were held with minor violations,
according to the Central Electoral Commission, while the monitoring
organizations came up with negative evaluations of the process, registering
a number of violations.
The Civil Society Institute, a Yerevan-based nongovernmental organization,
observed the Sunday elections with the use of `ambulance cars’ and
registered at least 100 cases of violations. Besides, the hotline of the
organization got more than 100 calls from citizens, and the ambulance cars
responded to 74 cases. (The Civil Society Institute has conducted election
observations since 2007. They provide free legal consultations, as well as
register violations at polling stations.)
`Amassing in and outside polling stations, cases of repeated voting, wrong
installation of ballot boxes, campaigning, and ballot-box stuffing were the
most often reported cases of violations,’ says Artak Kirakosyan, the
hotline’s coordinator.
One of the cases of violation was registered by proxies of the opposition
Armenian National Congress (ANC) – Marine Nahapetyan and Karine Harutyunyan
and proxy of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun –
Valeri Khachatryan, who reported wholesale ballot-box stuffing at polling
station 8/24.
`About 15-20 tall and well-built men came and blocked our way. Each of them
took about 15-20 ballots out of their shirts and started to stuff them into
the ballot box. Two people stuffed about 40 ballots, and when the third man
tried to do the same, the proxy attempted to stop them from doing that,
opening the ballot box. But they closed it on her hands,’ says another ANC
proxy Karine Harutyunyan.
Proxy Marine Nahapetyan, who tried to prevent the third man from stuffing
the ballot box suffered a finger injury.
`It was clear that it was going to happen because before the incident
amassing was registered here,’ says Nahapetyan.
The chairperson of the commission and her deputy were not at the scene when
the ballot box stuffing was being done. Witnesses drew up a report
mentioning even the license plates of the cars by which the men had arrived.
`We were not here, and we do not know what had happened. We went to disperse
those amassed outside, but later we heard some noise, and when we came it
was already late,’ said Seda Hakobyan, the commission’s chairwoman, who
eventually refused to register the case.
Already the next day proxy Harutyunyan said that they had lost more than 200
empty ballot-papers that were later stuffed by the above-mentioned young
man. `So we could not later differentiate which ballots were stuffed, and
which were not. But our polling station is already in the focus of
prosecutors’ attention. And we are planning to demand a re-count, since
other violations were also registered.’
Coordinator of the hotline Kirakosyan says that a greater panic rose at
about 3.50 pm, when the fourth car registered gunshots near secondary school
142. According to the preliminary data, the commission member from the
Republican Party shot at the Prosperous Armenia Party’s member, who was
injured. However, this information was later refuted in spite of the fact
that later people told representatives of the hotline that they heard
gunshots. Besides, the heavy presence of police at the polling station
looked strange.
During the previous elections lawyers were taking care of the revelation of
the most evident violations. But during these elections, as Kirakosyan says,
they did not want to continue the cases from the legal point of view. `The
experience of the previous years shows that people do not keep on struggling
till the end, they withdrew their claims halfway through. So this time we
will discuss the cases only with the help of sociologists, and we will
provide the public with detailed information later.’
Earlier this week, the Armenian Prosecutor’s office announced arrests of
two
persons on suspicion of committing electoral fraud in the course of the
elections. In a report released Tuesday it identified the suspects as Norayr
Yeghiazaryan, who was a member of the district electoral commission at
polling precinct 8/05 on May 31, and Armen Ohanyan, a voter at the same
polling precinct.
Additionally, the Prosecutor’s Office reported that a criminal case had been
instituted based on media publications alleging violations and fraud at
polling stations 8/01, 8/05, 8/08, 8/09, 8/21, and 8/24.
(On Election Day, ArmeniaNow reporter Karine Ionesyan worked on one of the
20 Civil Society Institute `ambulance cars’ providing rapid response to
reported cases of violations)
************************************************ **************************
4. Double move over Teghut: What are the former and current first ladies
of Armenia against?
By Karine Ionesyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Armenia’s former and current first ladies made environmentalists happy by
effectively joining their longstanding campaign against a major industry
project that conservationists say has a damaging environmental effect. Only
several days later they realized they had put their signatures to a document
they did not quite understand the essence of.
Several days ago the signatures of ex-first lady Bella Kocharyan and current
first lady Rita Sargsyan appeared next to the signatures of 5,000 supporters
collected by activists of the Teghut Protection Group in favor of the
struggle against the destruction of the Teghut forest and establishment of
a
copper-molybdenum mine there, one of the most controversial environmental
issue of recent years in Armenia.
In putting their first-lady hands to the petition, they inadvertently
opposed the signatures of their husbands who, as heads of state signed
orders paving the way for development of the mine.
Assistant to the current first lady Vika Voskanyan confirmed that the ladies
had signed the documents but insisted that they did not fully know what they
were signing.
`They were simply asked whether they join their campaign of protection of
green areas. And they singed as citizens and not as wives of the
presidents,’ Voskanyan said.
However one of the environmental campaigners, Mariam Sukhudyan, insists the
ladies were aware what they were signing, moreover, Rita Sargsyan, as she
says, made a clarification: `You mean the problem of Teghut mines?’ And she
got an affirmative reply, according to Sukhadyan.
Under Decree 1278-N of the Government (in 2007), during the whole period of
the Teghut mine (Lori Province) exploitation works the logging of an area of
357 hectares was allowed in accordance with the Armenian legislation.
Already, an area of 21 hectares has already been cleared of vegetation. ACP
Company, the same `Vallex Group’, has the license for Teghut mines
operation.
The young activist, who used to protest in front of the buildings of
different state administrative institutions, met the first ladies of Armenia
in Victory Park where under their aegis Armenian showbiz celebrities were
selling ice-cream for charity purposes. Before signing the petition,
according to the activist, they attentively read it and it was mentioned
that they demand to immediately cancel the project of exploitation of the
Teghut copper-molybdenum mine in the northern Lori province, and to suspend
all the preparatory works.
It was mentioned in the petition the toxic wastes (sulfur, lead, arsenic,
etc.) which appear as a consequence of the mine exploitation will penetrate
into the soil, air and water. The existence of heavy metals in them causes
cancer, sterility, birth of both mentally and physically handicapped
children. And these cases are already registered in populated areas
(Kajaran, Kapan in Syunik Province, and Alaverdi in Lori Province, etc.)
near other mines.
`So they (the first ladies) were against the program, which is implemented
thanks to their husbands. And seeing their act Armenian showbiz celebrities
– Shushan Petrosyan, Leyla Saribekyan joined them,’ says environmentalist
Sukhudyan.
The representatives of the Teghut Protection Group do not know how much this
petition may help, because up to now they received many promises from state
departments, which remain unrealized. For example, last year they were
received by Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan. They say he tasked the
Armenian Ministry of Nature Protection to carry out an investigation for a
25-year-program for the usage of the territory, and only then to exploit the
mine.
Sona Ayvazyan, representative of Transparency International, says that they
suggested the Armenian Government should turn to the Netherlands’
Independent Expert Commission, which could carry out the works even free of
charge. But it was not done either. So they decided to take another step.
`Taking into consideration the fact that many administrative acts have been
adopted by different competent government bodies since 2001 and many
violations were made in their adoption, such as violations of our
intergovernmental laws, the Armenian Constitution, as well as different
international laws, and no one takes it into consideration, we have decided
to turn to the administrative court,’ lawyer Hayk Alumyan, who is in charge
of the case, told ArmeniaNow.
Vahram Sahakyan, representative of `Vallex Group’ Company, says that he is
not aware of the accusations that the protectors of the forest are planning
to submit. So, he says he cannot provide any comments. Sahakyan also
discards environmental threats mentioned by activists, such as further
pollution of air and water, extinction of many animals that are in the
so-called Red Book of endangered species.
`We do not do anything illegal, we said that from the very beginning, we
cannot exclude all environmental threats. We plan to plant trees in 714
hectares in different parts of Armenia instead of the deforested 357
hectares. Besides, deforestation of a slight part will be made daily, so we
cannot do animals any harm,’ Sahakyan asserts.
As for the pollution of waters, he entirely denies this, saying that they
are going to use a closed system of circulation, and there will be no
flowing off.
Nevertheless, Teghut protectors reject all the reasoning, saying that they
will present their viewpoint with proven facts in court. And meanwhile, on
Friday, the day of Environment Protection, they planned a procession not
only to Teghut, but also to other places having environmental problems, and
trying to raise awareness about them once again.
They plan to send the collected signatures to President Serzh Sargsyan,
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan.
Parliament member Zaruhi Postanjyan also plans to raise this issue in the
Council of Europe in June.
*************************************** ***********************************
5. Winner takes all: Coalition `heavyweights’ to take charge of Yerevan as
opposition withdraws in protest of `disgraceful’ vote
By Sara Khojoyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The process and results of the first Yerevan municipal elections satisfy
only two out of six political parties and one bloc that ran for the body
–
the ones that will share between themselves 52 seats in the capital’s
65-seat municipal assembly, while the rest either demand a recount or just
ignore the results of the vote.
The main opposition force – the Armenian National Congress (ANC) that
cleared the seven percent hurdle, taking third place, announced that they
refuse their 13 mandates. (During the upcoming four years they will remain
vacant). The same day that the ANC declared its decision, the Supreme Body
of
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), which failed to
clear the legally required vote barrier) announced that their representative
at the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) will not sign the final report of
the elections (this, however, will not affect the outcome of the elections).
`What happened now has happened before. Once again the `district’ and
oligarch authorities, election bribes, as well as the implementation of
administrative levers had great role in the elections,’ Dashnaktsutyun said
in an announcement, appealing to the authorities to show political will and
annul the results of the elections in the polling stations where violations
were registered.
Just over half of Yerevan’s roughly 771,000 eligible voters went to the
municipal assembly polls on Sunday, with more than 47 percent of them
casting their ballots in favor of the Republican Party of Armenia, according
to the official preliminary results released by the CEC.
The ruling party is followed by its junior coalition partner, Prosperous
Armenia, with about 23 percent and the opposition bloc ANC – with about 17.5
percent of the votes.
Four political parties, namely Orinats Yerkir, Dashnaktsutyun, the Labor
Socialist Party of Armenia (LSPA), and the People’s Party failed to overcome
the legal vote threshold. (Only one of these parties, Orinats Yerkir, gave
a
positive assessment to the elections. The party said its members did not
register major violations and they only applied to the CEC for a re-count in
several precincts.
Political analyst Yervand Bozoyan foresaw that Orinats Yerkir and
Dashnaktsutyun would not poll enough votes to enter the assembly. Clarifying
his foresights, Bozoyan said that both parties are `in deep crisis.’
`After the 2008 presidential election, Orinats Yerkir lost the electorate
that trusted it after striking a deal with the authorities and now the party
is in a real crisis, since no tool is left to recover that trust,’ the
analyst says. `After being represented in power for the last ten years,
Dashnaktsutyun, quitting the governing coalition because of the disagreement
concerning the issue of Armenian-Turkish relations, found itself in an
indefinite situation. Dashnaktsutyun considers itself to be opposition,
whereas in public perception it is not yet, because two months are too short
a period for the public [to get that perception].’
`Dashnaktsutyun is in crisis and it depends on its leaders whether it will
ever overcome the crisis. And as for Orinats Yerkir, it will hardly ever
manage to do that,’ Bozoyan adds.
The ANC, an umbrella structure for nearly two dozen opposition political
parties and forces, that participated in the Yerevan elections as a bloc,
has indicated reluctance to work with the current authorities as explanation
to its decision not to pick the mandates it won.
As the ANC estimates, the elections were accompanied with disgraceful
violations, intimidation and held in an atmosphere of violence.
`The authorities once again displayed their criminal essence. The criminal
world, led by Samvel Alexanyan, even beat and kidnapped reporters, proxies,
observers at Malatia [Malatia-Sebastia community],’ declared ANC coordinator
Levon Zurabyan at a press conference shortly after polls closed on Sunday
evening.
Analyst Bozoyan says the ANC also has its share of fault in the
`disgraceful’ elections.
`Authorities always try to commit violations and they will always do that in
a country in transition such as Armenia. However, it depends on how strong
or weak the country’s opposition is to be able to prevent these violations.
In this respect we can state that the opposition has gotten weaker,’ says
Bozoyan.
As he believes the reason for the ANC’s getting weaker is the policy that
they pursued for a whole year.
The People’s Party leader Tigran Karapetyan compared these elections to
buying and selling and markets, where all the votes where purchased.
`I am not satisfied with these elections. I think the overwhelming majority
was given money, I compare the elections with buying and selling. What
happened yesterday was market from top to bottom, where coalition parties
were buying votes,’ Karapetyan told ArmeniaNow.
Movses Shahverdyan, leader of LSPA, with the least number of votes, defines
the Yerevan City Council elections as unfair, dishonest and lacking quality,
as he says `the way they really were’.
`At the polling station I went to vote – school #145 – our proxies counted
20 votes by the second half of the day, whereas by the end-of-the-day
calculations we were given only 10 votes,’ says Shahverdyan.
`That’s not the issue, however, the issue is the phenomenon itself. It’s not
about us being upset because we did not pass [became a member of the City
Council] and others did, but because the elections were held in such a way
–
elections mustn’t be held that way, as it might bring our statehood to an
end,’ he added.
**************************************** **********************************=
6. One Step: California State Senate approves Genocide Awareness Act
By Arpi Harutyunyan
The California State Senate June 3 passed Senate Bill 234, the `Genocide
Awareness Act’. On April 29, the Senate Education Committee voted
unanimously in favor of SB 234, the `Genocide Awareness Act’. The Armenian
Assembly of America (), an early proponent of the measure
introduced by State Senator Mark Wyland (R), activated its ARAMAC grassroots
network in California to encourage support and passage of the bill.
`The AAA works closely with elected officials and others to address issues
concerning genocide recognition, genocide prevention and education. These
are all related. Without education, genocide recognition and prevention are
in jeopardy. SB 234, the `Genocide Awareness Act’, is about education.
Once
passed, it will provide California high school students a unique opportunity
to hear firsthand the witness accounts during some of the darkest times in
human history. Hearing these oral stories will be one of the most compelling
and gripping educational tools for anyone studying genocide,’ said Assembly
Country Director Arpi Vartanian.
The Armenian National Committee of America () also led efforts
of the Armenian American community in the support of the legislation,
sending activists to the California capital, Sacramento, and launching a web
fax campaign to senators.
`Truth and our commitment to education won today. Having worked with
students in the classroom on this subject I know that oral histories are
fundamental in helping convey the lessons we need to learn in order to
prevent genocide and punish its perpetrators,’ remarked Shant Hagopian, an
ANCA Leo Sarkisian Internship alumnus and recent graduate from the
University of California, Berkeley where he also volunteered with the Genocide
Education Project <;.
Durin g the public witness hearing, Armenian Genocide denier Bruce Fein and
the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) testified against
treating the Armenian example and parallel cases in Cambodia and Darfur as
genocide. In response to the opposition’s testimony, State Senator Joe
Simitian (D), a member of the Education Committee, expressed his
disappointment, especially given the incontestable historical fact of the
Armenian Genocide and asked, `Why is it that genocide happens over and over
and over again?…It happens because we are unwilling to step back and
confront man’s inhumanity to man.’ The truth of the Armenian Genocide,
Simitian stated, `has long been settled.’
State Senator Christine Kehoe (D), Chair of the Senate Appropriations
Committee, moved the bill directly to the Senate floor for a vote, stating,
`The continuing events in Darfur remind me of the words of philosopher
George Santayana who wrote: `Those who do not learn from history are doomed
to repeat it.’ Those horrific events only serve to raise the importance of
acknowledging and learning from past events like the Armenian Genocide and
the Holocaust. Making sure that Senate Bill 234 becomes law will help make
sure that the Armenian Genocide is not forgotten for this and future
generations.’
AAA commends the efforts of State Senator Mark Wyland (R), State Senator
Christine Kehoe (D), State Senator Joe Simitian (D), as well as all those
who supported this bill, for believing that education is key to Genocide
Awareness.
`The Armenian Assembly applauds Senator Kehoe for promptly bringing this
legislation to the floor for a vote,’ stated Yeghig Keshishian, the
Assembly’s Western Region Director. `The Assembly would also like to commend
Senator Wyland for introducing this legislation and thereby once again
placing California in the forefront of national politics as it
pertains to human rights education and genocide prevention.’
Upon successful passage in the California State Assembly, State Senator
Wyland’s `Genocide Awareness Act’ would then be signed into law by Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bill requires the California Curriculum
Commission to vote on the inclusion of an oral history component related to
genocides as part of its high school curriculum, including the Armenian
Genocide of 1915-1923. California pioneered new education standards by
adopting the Model Curriculum for Human Rights and Genocide, which includes
the Armenian Genocide.
`The efforts of California’s Armenian community were instrumental, and
I am
confident the community will continue to make its voice heard on this issue
so that the truth and lessons of the genocide are not forgotten. The
Assembly continues to lead efforts in working with the community and the
State Senate to get this bill signed into law,’ Vartanian stated.
*************************************** ***********************************
7. Weathering the Storm: the significance of Armenia’s emerging middle=class
By Richard Giragosian
Of the many negatives effects on Armenia from the global economic crisis,
one of the most significant long-term obstacles for the economic development
of Armenia relates to the impact on the country’s emerging middle class.
Any
threat to the emerging Armenian middle class is a serious concern, mainly
due to its significance as a foundation for both society and the state.
In this role, the emerging middle class serves as the foundation for both a
vibrant market-based economy and as the bedrock of political stability
within the broader society. In this way, the middle class is more than a
traditional bourgeoisie, however, but is defined by three specific
characteristics: entrepreneurship in economic and commercial activity,
activism and participation in politics, and unimpeded mobility in both
areas. But at its core, the most important facet of the middle class is its
independence and autonomy from the state.
Moreover, the development of a middle class is dependent on two important
factors, one short-term and another long-term. The first prerequisite for
the emergence of a vibrant middle class is one of access and opportunity.
The
structure of the society as a whole, and its economic and political systems
in particular, must not be closed or divided between a small wealthy and
powerful elite and a much larger impoverished and marginalized majority. This
precondition is an immediate need, required for a budding middle class to
emerge. But this is also a short-term need because once a middle class is
allowed to take hold it tends to prosper quickly and become far too
entrenched to surrender its position in society
Once in place, a middle class generally represents the interests of society
as a whole, rather than for any small ruling elite. It is this advocacy
role that buttresses political and economic reform and confronts economic
oligarchs and political demagogues alike. There is also a `trickle down’
effect, with the middle class both serving and fostering civil society, free
press and eventually a responsible political opposition.
The development of middle class societies in the West has rested on three
elements: employment, with rising wages, education, with expanding access on
all levels, and property, through the ownership of homes, businesses and
other properties. These three elements must be served by a second factor:
access to credit markets.
More specifically, the ability to secure and utilize reasonably priced, long
term credit is essential to home ownership, through mortgages, to small
business `start-ups,’ by providing business loans, and for post-secondary
education, through `student loans.’ Each of these three areas reveals
the
traditional features of a middle class and indicators of the state of the
middle class. But all are conditional on credit, which in turn is dependent
on the formation (and regulation) of a modern banking sector.
Thus, the development of capital markets in the region is essential for
access to credit. Given the obvious linkage between such access to capital
and credit and overall stability, economic growth and even poverty
reduction, the modernization and expansion of capital markets in Armenia
must become more of a priority for the government.
For Armenia, what is also needed is a new focus on middle class-oriented
development, with policies to promote access to capital and credit. Such
policies have already proven successful in a number of countries, like
Brazil, Mexico, and several Asian states. One of the most successful of
these policies is `micro-lending,’ an innovative development designed to
give ordinary people access to credit to start a small business. This has
contributed both to promoting economic growth and reducing poverty, as well
as helping to expand an emerging middle class.
Another related policy that holds promise for the country is a
`mini-lending’ program, a somewhat larger loan program for families and
communities, rather than simply individuals or corporations. Such
mini-lending programs offer targeted assistance for community-based business
ventures and family-run small businesses. This too holds significant
promise for national and local economic development in the face of deepening
poverty and mounting disparities in wealth and income.
An Emerging Middle Class as a National Resource
For Armenia, especially in the wake of the global economic crisis, the
middle class can also be seen as a natural resource, but quite different
from the case of its neighbor Azerbaijan, for example, whose natural
resource wealth has tended to significantly hinder political modernization
and economic development in far-reaching ways. For the Azerbaijani model,
there was an interesting lesson offered by a groundbreaking study that
examined a set of 97 developing countries over a two-decade period and
demonstrated that endowments of natural resources were found to be strongly
linked to patterns of fundamental economic failure and distorted
development.[1] <#_ftn1> Although followed by an impressive body of related
studies, this 1995 study was one of the first to demonstrate that, on
average, the more states are endowed with abundant natural resource (in
terms of minerals and precious metals, energy, or even agriculture) wealth,
the slower the rate of economic growth. The study further noted that states
with little or no such resources enjoyed the highest rates of economic
growth. And for states with moderate amounts of resources, economic growth
rates stood at levels in between both cases.
The study went on to trace the correlation between resource wealth and slow
economic growth to the fact that such `unearned riches’ hinder the
development of political institutions and weaken the rule of law. Such
resource-rich states, in the words of Fareed Zakaria in his 2003 book The
Future of Freedom, merit the designation of `trust-fund’ states, relying on
the attractively easy revenue derived from energy or other resources rather
than facing the challenging task of forging institutions and economic
structures capable to garner national wealth of their own.[2] <#_ftn2>
Examples
of such `trust-fund states’ abound among the oil producing nations and
are
geographically diverse, ranging from Saudi Arabia to Nigeria, but also
including Azerbaijan. Clearly, the lesson for Armenia is to value and
promote its own national resource, its emerging middle class, and avoid
Azerbaijan’s dangerous over-reliance on energy as its natural resource.
=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85=85= 85.
Richard Giragosian is the director of the Yerevan-based Armenian Center for
National and International Studies (ACNIS). `Weathering the Storm" is a
weekly column exclusively for ArmeniaNow.
*********************************** ***************************************8. Eye Witness Report: Dangers and disappointment on Election Day
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
I’m not as mysterious as I look, behind my huge, black sunglasses. This
week I grew weary of explaining to anyone who asked that I injured my eye
while fulfilling my journalistic duties.
`Do not tell tales. They injured your eye deliberately, and you still say
that they did it accidentally. (And by `they’ it is understood to mean
the
commonly placed thugs who rig elections here.) Is there a need to work
during those days, it’s in vain. Those who should win will win,’ says
saleswoman Yebraxia, who works at the shop in our neighborhood.
There is some truth in her words. As political analyst Yervand Bozoyan says,
it is already long ago that no elections take place in Armenia, and the
country needs systemic changes. Saleswoman Yepraxia and the analyst express
the same opinion.
I did my job during the Yerevan City Council elections as I did during the
previous elections.
On May 31, at 12:00 pm the top candidate on the ruling Republican Party,
incumbent Mayor Gagik Beglaryan was entering the polling station.
Photographers and cameramen started running immediately. The photo cameras
start working. The journalists, especially the TV journalists got excited;
they wanted to appear in the first lines. After a rude squash, everybody
managed to take their places.
Getting out of the ballot cell Beglaryan approached the ballot-box.
Journalists and cameramen cried: `Look at us, once again, please, smile,
and
only then throw the envelope!’ He did what he was asked to do. And later
he
approached the journalists to answer their questions. I looked at
Beglaryan, and I thought that he smiled very victoriously. And at that very
moment I felt a sharp blow on my face.
Because of the unbearable pain everybody – journalists, Beglaryan, the
chairman of the commission swam in front of my eyes. I tried to stand in my
place, so that I managed to record at least a few phrases. Because, it is
all the same, in such cases they usually do not speak long. But I felt that
my sight was going weaker and weaker, and then my right cheek got warmer,
something was streaming down my cheeks, yet not my tears.
`Oh my God, did they’ve punched out my eye,’ I thought.
I touched my cheek, and I saw that I was bleeding. I forgot about the
elections, I forgot Beglaryan and I ran out of the crowd. The blood was
streaming down my face when Aram, press secretary of Beglaryan’s
headquarters, approached us: `What has happened, which mass media are you
from? Be quick, be quick, bring ice, bring a car, get her to the hospital,’
he was saying.
In front of many fellow journalists my face was bleeding, and none of them
stopped to help me: Beglaryan was in the center of everybody’s attention.
Even after the interview none of my colleagues approached me to ask what had
happened. Not even the one whose microphone scraping my face nearly blinded
me.
Later we were at Erebuni Hospital. The employee of the reception hall
registered the details of the incident. I told them that I was a journalist,
that the incident took place during my work; that it was not deliberate; and
they looked at me with surprise. They asked me `Are you sure?’ And I
answered `Yes, I am sure.’ And I read the glance of the reception hall’s
employee: `May be they were beating each other; and it is good that they
did
not manage to take the poor girl’s eye out.’
To me, the Yerevan City Council Elections started and finished by
Beglaryan’s voting, by his wide and victorious smile, during which I got
the
blow on my face.
An hour later I got phone calls from my acquainted journalists working at
different mass media; they were saying, `Gayane, they say that a
journalist’s eye was injured, that it was taken out, was it you, Gayane,
oh,
we are so sorry.’ And thus, I got many phone calls and letters. It turned
out that everybody saw what had happened, yet nobody approached me, and did
not ask me anything at that moment. Instead, they left and reported here and
there that a journalist had been injured.
In every election we report violence against journalists and condemn the
perpetrators and stand united to stop it. It saddens me that a fellow
journalist has not even apologized at nearly crippling a colleague by her
own recklessness while scrambling to get the same sound bites that a dozen
others would also have.
The ophthalmologist told me that if the blow had been a millimeter higher
I’d be blinded. I’m supposed to feel `lucky’. And I guess I’m supposed to
wink when I tell strangers that it was an Election Day `accident’. Except I
can’t.
************************************** **********************************9. Business or office?: Skepticism lingers over government move to enforce
either/or choice for officials
By Sara Khojoyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A recent government initiative to take a harder line on business owning
officials in Armenia has drawn a familiar chorus of skepticism, with some
experts branding it as populist and even ridiculous because of the numerous
loopholes that they say still remain for those in power to continue to
engage in entrepreneurial activities.
To this effect, the government is set to railroad amendments through
parliament to the laws `On Civil Service’ and `On the Declaration of
Incomes for Individuals’, as well as the Criminal Code.
At a cabinet meeting last month Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said if
approved, the amendments would constitute a serious step, since the
institution of interest disclosure will be introduced.
`This means that the law creates actual mechanisms to prevent officials
–
parliament deputies, government ministers – from being involved in business,
to have them disclose/declare their interests, solve the issues with their
dependants, so that the public, people have a chance to oversee, from now
on, the full implementation of that constitutional norm in Armenia,’
Sargsyan underlined.
The Constitution clearly forbids officials – ministers and parliamentarians
– from being involved in business or any other profit-seeking activity, with
the exception of teaching or lecturing.
That constitutional provision, though, is not followed in Armenia, since a
number of parliamentarians are publicly known as successful businessmen.
Some of these officials have monopolies, which many economic experts believe
are the main obstacle to Armenia’s economic development, especially in
conditions of the continuing global economic crisis.
By initiating this move the government also hopes to tackle the broader
issue of corruption.
`There is a need for public discussions of this law in the future in order
to raise public awareness about the mechanisms to be applied,’ said Premier
Sargsyan.
The draft amendments have not yet been put for parliament debates. But many
experts in the field consider them useless.
Ara Nranyan, a member of the National Assembly representing the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF) faction, believes there is no need for such
amendments in the legislation.
`Our legislation seems to have solved all those issues: not only prohibiting
public officials from being involved in business, the system of declaration
of incomes is in place and all the officials, as well as businessmen,
declare their income,’ says Nranyan, who sits on the National Assembly’s
Standing Commission on Economic Issues.
Beginning in January 2009, by the law `On the Declaration of Incomes for
Individuals’, not only officials (even if they worked as such one day only)
and their dependents (wife, children) are obliged to fill in and submit a
declaration of incomes, but also individual citizens of Armenia who have
purchased or sold during one fiscal year more than 50 million ($135,000)
drams’ worth of real estate and /or over 8 million ($21,000) drams’ worth of
movable property.
The State Revenues Committee is giving assurances that this is a step
forward in the anti-corruption policy implementation and disclosure of
officials involved in business, since people not being the businessman
official’s dependants, whom his/her property may legally belong to, will
have to declare the sources of their income.
Previously the law concerned only the officials. In 2003-2007, about 55,000
officials holding senior or medium level positions in government filled in
tax declarations, however none of the publicly known businessman-officials
lost his post or mandate.
In Nranyan’s opinion, the issue is in enforcing the law and ensuring
control.
`We have a problem of expressing political will,’ he says. `It is possible
to find out who is involved in what kind of business right now; all one has
to do is to check their incomes. If a businessman registers a major
acquisition as of one of his relatives, then that relative has to write a
declaration as well stating the source of the income with which he or she
made such a big purchase.’
`If the entity belonging to the official’s relative is paying taxes and is
transparent, then naturally it won’t matter who is registered as the owner,
however, most such enterprises, taking advantage of being under their
patrons’ umbrella, are enjoying `privileged tax’ terms, meaning that
the
businessman is looking after his own business, which, on paper, belongs to
his relative,’ adds the young parliamentarian with a background in
economics.
Political analyst Yervand Bozoyan is convinced that the standard of living
in Armenia needs to be raised to the level when people universally pay taxes
before it becomes possible to achieve a separation of business and politics.
`Now an official can register his business as if belonging to his nephew
or
cousin; whereas, when everybody has to declare their income that mechanism
would not work anymore. But universal taxing will become a reason for huge
discontent. And that is why the standard of living and welfare of the
country has to rise,’ he says.
`And until that happens in Armenia, it is not serious to talk about
preventing officials from being engaged in businesses activities,’ stresses
Bozoyan.
Economist Bagrat Asatryan, who headed Armenia’s Central Bank in 1994-98,
shares this view.
`There are outrageous phenomena and no one utters a word about them. They
have to at least make a step to prevent or get rid of those and then only
start talking. Otherwise, all of a sudden they stand up and declare – from
now on, we are going to be honest. It can impress only people of nursery
school age, and nobody else,’ says Asatryan.
`If the government wants to struggle against public officials’ involvement
in business, let those members of the government who have accumulated huge
wealth and property during their time in office be disclosed. That’s when I
will start to believe, but not any sooner,’ the economist concludes.
************************************ **************************************10. Talking Talks?: Armenia, Azerbaijan in fresh summit on Karabakh
By Aris Ghazinyan
Armenia and Azerbaijan announced no breakthrough but said they agreed to
continue negotiations to find a solution to the longstanding
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, an international mediator announced after the
Thursday meeting between the two countries’ leaders in Russia.
President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and President Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan
met to talk about Nagorno-Karabakh again on the sidelines of a major
international economic forum in St. Petersburg – exactly a year after their
first meeting in the Russian city.
In-between the St. Petersburg summits, the two South Caucasus leaders,
helped by international mediators brokering a solution to the longstanding
dispute, held three more meetings — in Moscow, Zurich and Prague within a
year that proved eventful for the process – but not for a solution.
The period after the previous Sargsyan-Aliev meeting in the Czech capital
was marked, on the one hand, by activated communication in the sphere of
Armenian-Turkish relations and, on the other hand, by Ankara’s repeated
moves to scuttle that activation by means of expressing a biased standpoint
on the Karabakh issue that Armenia wants to be regarded separately from the
context of its relations with Turkey.
As widely expected, the meeting in St. Petersburg resulted in no
breakthrough as the sides only announced an agreement to continue
negotiations.
`Nothing was signed, we had no such expectations – it was a simple exchange
of opinions, the presidents exchanged ideas, opinions and now the work has
to be continued,’ said US co-chair of the Organization for Cooperation and
Security in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group Matthew Bryza.
`The presidents, as far as I understand, are going to meet again, but I
can’t say when exactly,’ Bryza said shortly after the meeting.
The one-on-one meeting between the Armenian and Azeri leaders took more that
two and a half hours. When the negotiations were over the two were joined by
the president of Russia and continued the discussion in a trilateral format
at an informal dinner.
Certain political forces and politicians expressed their ideas and
expectations before the St. Petersburg summit.
`I don’t see an objective moment for finding mutually acceptable formulation
in the course of the meeting between the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan,’ stated Vahram Atanesyan, Chairman of the NKR National
Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Atanesyan emphasized the priorities of Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence with
the borders acceptable to its people and the strengthening of the national
system of public administration and security. `At the moment I can’t see a
real perspective of consensus in Russia-US, Russia-EU and EU-US relations on
this issue,’ he said.
Vladimir Kazimirov, former co-chair of the Minsk Group from Russia, also
expressed his opinion before the latest meeting of the Armenian and Azeri
presidents.
`There is no clarity so far on when Nagorno-Karabakh will be back to the
table of negotiations. By delaying it Baku is setting a trap for itself.
‘
`Or maybe they are counting on Yerevan signing an agreement on behalf of
Stepanakert as well? Who will force Karabakh into accepting an agreement
that disregarding the NKR’s interests? Baku? Wow! And how? By force, maybe?’
said Kazimirov.
************************************* *************************************11. Vital concerns: Impact of iodine deficiency still felt in [officially
recognized] iodine deficiency-free Armenia
By Gayane Lazarian and Sara Khojoyan
ArmeniaNow reporters
The issue of shortage of iodine in water is considered a serious problem in
Armenia, which, as a landlocked mountainous country, far from oceans and
seas, is in the risk zone of IDD development (Iodine Deficiency Diseases)
The lack of iodine in the human body can cause serious pathologies of the
thyroid gland.
Because of losing major trade links in consequence of the Soviet Union’s
collapse in 1991, the population of Armenia was deprived of iodinated salt.
Even though now salt is being iodinated (the existed standard is 40+/-15
milligram per kilo) in some regions of Armenia the problem is still acute,
because the substance of iodine in salt is not enough to provide the
required amount of iodine.
According to the data of the Armenian Ministry of Health, in 2007
hyperthyroidism (during which the gland produces more hormones than
necessary, resulting in toxins being released into the system) was
diagnosed for the first time among 458 people; of 2,334 who already had the
problem. (The Ministry provides no data for 2008-2009)
In 2006, there were 2,563 reported cases of hyperthyroidism in Armenia, or
368 more compared to 2005. The same year, 724 people were diagnosed with the
disease for the first time: 300 people more than in 2005.
Armenia’s provinces, Syunik and Lori, are considered as regions with a high
risk of iodine deficiency because of the lowest substance of iodine in water
and soil.
Vruyr Hovhannisyan, head of Goris’ (Syunik province) south territorial
branch of `Jrmughkoyughi’ (water-pipe sewerage) CJSC, confirms that their
region, in fact, has the problem of iodine deficiency.
He shows the data received from Kapan’s territorial laboratory of
`Jrmughkoyughi’, which show that the percentage of iodine in Akner,
Mukhuturyan and Shakeh water springs, supplying the town of Goris and its
region, as well as the town of Kapan and its region, is zero.
Zemfira Ghazaryan, head of the Water Control Department at Lori’s
`Jrmughkoyughi’, says that there is no iodine in any of the seven water
pipelines supplying the town of Vanadzor (Lori province).
`There is no iodine in the springs. This is the reason why goiter is so
widely spread here,’ she says.
Mary Khurshudyan, general endocrinologist of Syunik Province explains that
because of the shortage of iodine the thyroid gland may enlarge.
`There are several types of goiter – no disorder in function, weakening, and
paralyzing (of the gland),’ she says. (Goiter is an enlarged thyroid gland,
it is developed when there is a stable lack of iodine in the blood, when the
amount of thyroid gland hormones in the blood is abruptly decreased.)
`The endocrine function of the gland is weakened in case of hypothyroidism.
The lack of hormones in the blood produced by it is expressed by sleepiness,
the work of the heart slows down, disorders of menstruation cycle are
registered, which, in its turn, brings to sterility,’ says Khurshudyan.
Armine Petrosyan, 36, from Goris, is diagnosed with hypothyroidism. `I feel
discomfort very often, especially in spring. I am short of breath. I have
terrible headaches, I feel weak, I get tired,’ she says.
Ara Kurenkov, endocrine-surgeon of the Surgical Department at the `Goris
Medical Center’ CJSC, explains what happens during hyperthyroidism or toxic
goiter: `In this case the gland produces more hormones than necessary, as a
result of which intoxication takes place. The heart starts working faster,
the nervous system becomes supersensitive, a person feels frightened, s/he
sleeps very bad and sweats all the time.’
General endocrinologist of Sisian (Syunik province) Armenuhi Dovlatyan says
that they have no official data, but she can say that at least one in ten in
their region has problems connected with disorder of thyroid gland’s
function.
`The number of people having diseases connected with thyroid gland
reaches15,000 in Sisian.
There are also people who suffer from toxic goiter. And the patients who
suffer from enlarged gland, when the function is not disordered are not
registered; however, there is really a great number of them,’ the doctor
says.
Edward Toromanyan, Head of `Armenia’ Endocrinology Center, says that only
cases of hyperthyroidism are registered in Armenia; and if only those
indexes are taken into consideration, it would turn out that there is no
problem of diseases in Armenia connected with the disorder of thyroid
gland’s function.
`The registered indexes of diseases are deceptive also because they might be
the numbers of those applying to policlinics. And that is a completely
different index, and it would not show the picture of the disease. For
example, there are people who have a slightly enlarged thyroid gland, and
since they do not feel discomfort, they do not turn to the doctor,’ he
explains.
The number of toxic thyroid-hyperthyroidism patients in Armenia
1990
1995
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Diagnosis for the 1st time according to years
644
331
286
441
417
398
421
433
384
724
458
Total number of patients
3438
2668
1953
1993
2009
2122
2362
2178
2195
2563
2334
In the late 1990s, UNICEF and the Armenian Government launched a program
that aimed at eliminating iodine deficiency.
In 2005, an epidemiological research was held at 30 schools, among 911
children (eight-ten-year-olds). It showed that Armenia overcame the problem
of iodine deficiency among the population by means of salt.
`The research showed that 97 percent of our households use iodinated salt,
and the limit is 90 percent, and if the index is more than 90, it means that
we have excellent results,’ says Mihran Hakobyan, an employee of the UNICEF
Healthcare Department.
After all, in August 2006, Armenia was recognized as a country that had
overcome iodine deficiency by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO),
and the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorder.
Zemfira Ghazaryan pointed out that even though the government solves the
iodization problem by means of iodizing table salt, in the Lori region 5 in
10 people have thyroid gland problems, especially women. `And queues to
endocrinologists are not getting shorter,’ she says.
Along with the growth of endocrine diseases, a low level of awareness is
observed among the population. Many people do not know that lack of iodine
in the body must be compensated for by properly using iodized table salt.
Satik Gevorgyan, a resident of Sisian, does not even know why iodized salt
should be used, although she suspects she has goiter: `I don’t even know
that there is no iodine in our water and that it can cause goiter. One must
be a doctor to know those things.’
Chief endocrinologist of Lori region Flora Elizbaryan also believes the fact
that thyroid gland function abnormalities are widely spread in Armenia is
related to improper use of table salt by the population.
`Is our population aware that iodine is destroyed in the salt under
sunlight, do they know that salt must be kept in a dry and closed container,
away from the sun to prevent it from going bad? Do our women know that salt
must be added to meals in the last place? All this is very important, I
think the increase in the number of diseases is immediately related to these
problems,’ she says.
The UNICEF representative, referring to the awareness stage of the project
on overcoming iodine deficiency, says that it was not realistic to
personally inform all the residents: `We used all the medical and
educational institutions to make it possible to raise awareness. Of course,
we cannot say whether or not they effectively carried out the
awareness-raising activities, but that is another issue.’
`One way or the other, now salt has such a quality that if a person uses
it
in normal amounts, the lack of iodine is compensated for,’ he adds.
Toromanyan, admitting all this, also points out that the problem of thyroid
gland diseases will always be present in Armenia: `We really have a problem,
and we always will, because we are an endemic zone.’
As proof of the above words, the `Towards healthy motherhood’ project was
carried out in Goris in 2007 by the `Goris Women’s Center’ NGO. The NGO used
the grant in the amount of 3.7 million dram (about $10,000) to organize
examination of the thyroid gland and diagnostics for 15-year-old girls in
Goris and four villages of the Goris region. More than 140 girls were
examined at the first stage of examination, of whom 43 (about 30 percent)
were found to have hormonal abnormalities.
However, the Ministry of Health, where examination data had been sent, did
a
new examination and found different data.
`Only 8 percent of those who underwent examination organized by the NGO
were
found to have hormonal abnormalities, (11 out of 140 girls who had been
examined). Of the 29 girls who underwent medical examination on the spot,
only two had clinical signs of thyroid function abnormality,’ stated the
Ministry.
Ekaterina Hayrapetyan, Head of the Laboratory of `Goris Medical Center’
CJSC, was one of the doctors of the examination (from `Goris Medical Center’
CJSC). She says that the Ministry of Health has not taken their study
seriously: `Although we detected quite a high percentage of cases against
the general background, the Ministry of Health gave us a hostile reception.
It is clear: they will deny it, because `if there is no problem, there is no
pain in the neck’.’
The head of the Goris Laboratory says that they have examined the hypophysis
gland (controlling growth). If the hypophisis hormone is abnormal, the
others will inevitably have abnormalities as well. Teenage girls will become
mothers in the future, and the problem may turn into sterility.
`Our aim was to have them accept the project and get the state to test the
hypophysis gland,’ Hayrapetyan says.
`It would be desirable that the examination be financed by the state, it
costs 9,000 drams (about 24 dollars),’ endocrine-surgeon Kurenkov says.
`In
medicine prevention is cheaper than treatment. I think the government should
stretch a helping hand and finance thyroid gland surgeries as well, because
those are among the most expensive surgeries.’
In Yerevan, nodular endemic goiter surgery costs 450,000 drams (about 1,200
dollars), in Goris – 100,000 drams ($270). According to Kurenkov, `for
residents of Goris region 100,000 drams is also a large sum of money, let
alone 450,000 drams.’
`There are people for whom 1,000 drams (about $3) is also a large sum of
money, but those people do not belong to any of the socially vulnerable
groups, defined by the state and cannot get state-financed treatment,’ the
endocrine surgeon says.
Head of the `Goris Women’s Center’ NGO Lena Hovsepyan says that another
reason why the Ministry of Health was opposed to their project is that the
project had not been preliminarily coordinated with the Ministry (this has
been written in official letter from Ministry of Health).
`We really fought for it, but we have come up to a wall, on which the
Ministry of Health wrote that the shortage of iodine in the country has been
overcome. But overcoming the shortage of iodine does not mean overcoming the
diseases that were caused by iodine deficiency in the past 15 years,’
Hovsepyan stresses.
This investigation is done with support from the Danish Association for
Investigative Journalism / Scoop ().
****************************** ********************************************12.** Anti-crisis smell: businessman in Vanadzor sets up garlic powder
production
By Naira Bulghadaryan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The first amount of garlic powder produced in Vanadzor was successfully
consumed in the domestic and international markets, encouraging the
producers to double the production of that piquant spice. (The powder is on
sale in Europe, Russia and Georgia).
The idea of garlic powder production belongs to businessman Armen Galoyan
from Vanadzor who conceived it while studying the local market. Galoyan
found out that local sausage producers use garlic powder of Chinese
production, which he says is of low quality. In February Galoyan and four of
his friends set up the production of garlic powder `Miasin’ (together)
in
Vanadzor with a loan from the World Bank (WB), which within the framework of
`Rural Enterprise and Small-Scale Commercial Agriculture Development
Project’ (RESCADP) allocated $37,000 (13.5 million drams).
Some 1.5 hectares of land were planted with garlic and three tons of garlic
powder was produced, which was sold out. The support from the WB and the
Ministry of Agriculture stopped in February, however, the partners decided
to keep on cooperation at the expense of the revenues obtained from this
production.
The next amount of powder product of `Miasin’ trademark, as the partners
foresee, will be produced in September, when the harvest will have been
gathered. This time they planted garlic in three hectares land instead of
the previous 1.5 hectares.
Galoyan says they plan to expand production; they have already made
arrangements with residents of several villages of the province concerning
garlic planting and selling. The only problem is the garlic of Chinese
production, which, as the authors of the initiative say, is rather cheap.
However, it is not possible to find garlic powder of Chinese make in
Vanadzor. Elmira Sargsyan, a 54 year-old housewife, even though has no
idea about the existence of garlic powder, but she says that she uses garlic
at her kitchen.
`If garlic powder is sold at shops, it will be more effective to buy it.
Let’s say, one kilogram of garlic powder can be used for a whole year,’ says
Sargsyan.
Galoyan’s estimations showed that the prime cost of Chinese garlic powder is
30 drams (8 cents) and one kilogram of this product sells at 1,500 drams
($4) in the Armenian market. Meanwhile, one kilogram of Lori garlic powder
is 6,500 drams
Despite a successful sale of the initial batch of the product locally, the
entrepreneurs still plan to focus on expanding to foreign markets. At the
same time, they say the enterprise is trying to gain a foothold on the
domestic market with such products as dried fruits and berries.
**************************************** **********************************= 13. **Sport: Armenia U-21 soccer team to play Swiss, Turkish coevals in
Euro-2011 qualifiers
By Suren Musayelyan
Soccer
Armenia’s U-21 National Team were in training in Yerevan June 1-4 before
leaving for Switzerland where they will play that country’s team as part
of
2011 Europe U-21 Championship qualification round.
The Switzerland vs. Armenia U-21 match will take place on June 5 (kickoff
time: 11.00 pm Yerevan time) at Bergholz Stadium in Wil. A Serbian referee
team led by Bosko Jovanetic will officiate the match.
Armenia U-21 will play their next qualifier in Yerevan against Turkey on
June 9. The match will be held at Republican Stadium in Yerevan (kickoff:
8.00 pm Yerevan time). The match will be officiated by a referee team from
Belgium led by Cristoph Virment.
Armenia U-21 National Team is in the 2011 Europe U-21 Championship
qualification round second group with Turkey, Ireland, Switzerland, Georgia
and Estonia.
Armenia U-21 head coach Flemming Serristlev in Yerevan spoke with respect
about the next rivals but added: `We should not be afraid of anyone.’
The Danish specialist said the main goal of any team below the senior level
is to prepare footballers for the main team. `We will get ready for every
game in a special way, with expectations to win=85 I never participate in any
game or tournament without a desire to celebrate victory,’ Serristlev added.
Earlier this week, President of the Football Federation of Armenia Ruben
Hayrapetyan urged soccer fans in Armenia to provide support to the team and
be `the twelfth player’ at the Yerevan stadium during the match against
Turkey.
Addressing a message to all fans Hayrapetyan said: `I am convinced that with
your help and great dedication of our lads we can achieve a success.’
Meanwhile, in the Armenian Premier League championship, leader FC Pyunik
celebrated another win last weekend beating FC Kilikia in an away game 3-1.
In other Round 10 matches Banants beat Shirak 5-1, Ulis beat Gandzasar 5-0
and Ararat lost to Mika 0-1.
Pyunik leads with 28 points, followed by Mika and Banants (23 and 21 points,
respectively). With 10 defeats in as many games, last season’s runner-up
Ararat is bottom in the eight-club league table, 7 points behind Gandzasar.
In the 11 round of matches this weekend Ararat will be hosted by reigning
champion Pyunik. Elsewhere, Banants will host Mika, Shirak will host Ulis
and Gandzasar will play Kilikia.
(Source: Football Federation of Armenia)
Boxing
Team Armenia finished successfully in the International Boxing Association
(AIBA) world junior championships (for 15-16-year-olds) held in Yerevan May
23-30.
Represented in all 13 weight categories, Armenia managed to win one gold,
two silver and four bronze medals.
Koryun Soghomonyan (46 kg) beat in the final an Indian coeval, while Jonik
Tonoyan (54 kg) and Hayk Khachatryan (70 kg) lost to a Cuban and Irish
boxers, respectively. Four Armenian boxers lost their semifinal bouts and
won bronze medals.
Thus, Armenia got an AIBA world junior champion for the first time.
In the team competition, Armenia finished third — behind Russia (5 gold and
4 bronze medals) and Cuba (2 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze medals).
By and large, AIBA has praised the level of organization of the
championships in Yerevan – the first-ever world boxing championships at any
level to be held in Armenia.
A record number of nations for this AIBA event, 42, were represented in the
Yerevan championships. The total number of athletes reached 255.
It emerged late last week that Armenia will seek to host European boxing
championships in 2010. At a press conference in Yerevan on May 30, President
of the Boxing Federation of Armenia Arman Muradyan said Armenia will make a
bid for the event.
Regnum.ru reported that AIBA President Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu, who attended the
press conference, evaluated as high Armenia’s chances for hosting the
continent’s championships.
Moscow is also known to be seeking to host the 2010 championships and has
already submitted its bid.
(Sources: Boxing Federation of Armenia, AIBA, Regnum.ru)
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[1] <#_ftnref1> Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Warner, `Natural Resource
Abundance and Economic Growth,’ National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Working Paper No. W5398 (Cambridge, MA: NBER, December 1995).
[2] <#_ftnref2> Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal
Democracy at Home and Abroad (New York: W.W. Norton, 2003), P. 75.