Month: November 2009

Tert, Armenia
Nov 13 2009

Witnessed First-Hand: New Reports Suggest Teaching Rules of Law to
Armenian Police
15:23 ¢ 13.11.09

Today, the report Monitoring of Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in
Armenia, carried out by the Armenian Helsinki Committee, was presented
at the Yerevan Congress hotel. Ambassador of OSCE Yerevan Office
Sergey Kapinos, Special Representative of CoE in Armenia Sylvia Zehen,
Deputy Head of OSCE Human Rights Department Assia Ivantcheva, as well
as experts from the Council of Europe and Armenia participated in the
report’s discussion.

The experts, touching upon the necessity of peaceful assemblies, spoke
very mildly on the violence during those demonstrations and the
attempts at hindering them. They spoke more about the necessity to
improve and develop the corresponding laws on assemblies.

OSCE/ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights)
expert Nil Jarmann stated that much work has been done ever since 2004
in order to improve the law on freedom of peaceful assembly and in
order to adjust them according to international criteria, but,
according to Jarmann, the law is only good on paper if it is
implemented well. After the speeches, Armenian Helsinki Committee
President Avetik Ishkhanyan presented the report.

Ishkhanyan said that the work presented in the report was carried out
from September 26, 2008, to June 30, 2009. It is stated in the report
that political rallies prevailed in the overall rallies, during which
unjustified actions by police officers, skirmishes, apprehension, use
of force, and so forth, were bserved. They also observed that police
officers were quite well armed in the case of 46 rallies. The report
also states that in case of any opposition rally, artificial
impediments were created for the organizers of the rallies. The report
also referred to the well-known `case of seven,’ political prisoner
Tigran Arakelyan’s arrest, and so on.

Referring to police officers’ behaviour during the rallies, Ishkhanyan
stated that they are often unaware of the laws, therefore they suggest
that police officers receive special training on the rules of the law.
He also said they included in the report what they witnessed
first-hand.

Tert, Armenia
Nov 13 2009

Armenian Genocide Matter of Freedom of Speech, But Not Life’s Only
Subject: Orhan Pamuk
11:02 ¢ 13.11.09

On November 10, Orhan Pamuk was a guest at Queens College in New York,
where he answered questions and talked about his latest novel, The
Museum of Innocence (`Masumiyet Müzesi’ in Turkish), which was
released in the U.S. on October 20.

During the question and answer period, Hayk Martirosyan, former host
of ArmNews TV’s `Comment’ programme, stated that he directed the
following question to the Nobel Prize winner:

`Mr. Pamuk, you were perhaps one of the first in Turkey with the late
Hrant Dink who had the courage to speak about the Armenian Genocide
and with that, to initiate a certain modernization in Turkey in some
way. However, recently, it seems that you have accepted a certain
indifferent position in that issue. Anyhow, there is an opinion which
states that you are avoiding referring to this issue. Is this perhaps
a result of the criminal persecution previously enforced against you
or is your silence bound by other circumstances?’

As stated by Martirosyan, Pamuk responded by saying, `Firstly, that
was for me an issue of freedom of speech, and secondly, it’s not my
life’s only subject. There are more important issues. Apart from that,
these matters must be discussed first and foremost by the Turkish
people.’

Institute for War & Peace Reporting IWPR, UK
Nov 13 2009

IWPR PROBES SHUSHI PRISON CONCERNS

Prison authorities allow reporter in to check conditions following
claims inmates are mistreated.

By Lusine Musaelyan in Shushi

For over a century, criminals in Nagorny Karabakh have feared the
Shushi fortress, a prison considered one of the toughest in the
Caucasus.

Now, following allegations of mistreatment by ex-prisoners and human
rights groups, the prison administration has allowed this IWPR
reporter behind its walls to see the conditions at first hand.

`The little black cat hasn’t committed a crime, but it’s in prison
too,’ said one of the prisoners in a rare joke. They were only allowed
to speak in the presence of a warder, and normally confined themselves
to praising prison conditions.

Administrators of the fortress, which was established in the 1860s and
was an infamous detention centre for Armenian dissidents in the Soviet
years, refused to say how many men were locked behind its walls,
revealing only that its capacity was 250 and that the inmates were
treated well.

Facilities were basic. In the cell I was allowed to visit there was a
metal bed, covered with a thin bedspread, along with a small cupboard.
An aluminium plate and cup sat on the cupboard, with some fried
potatoes, vegetables and chicken. Judging by the bits of tin foil, and
the fact that inmates are supposed to eat in the cafeteria, this food
appeared to have been provided by relatives.

The cell was decorated with icons, and its floor was of concrete.
Administrators said the prison was always warm, however, despite its
antiquated appearance.

They said the Shushi institution was known in Soviet times as `The Red
Zone’, because inmates were forced to behave well, without any of the
tolerated hierarchies and violence of other prisoners in the Soviet
Union.

Samvel Petrosian, governor of the prison, says the reputation was
deserved and to this day the prisoners were forced to obey only the
regulations.

Human rights groups and former inmates, however, say he was not
telling the whole truth, and that Shushi was as violent a place as
other prisons.

`In this prison, a criminal is not rehabilitated, he is just made more
aggressive and suppressed,’ said Hamo, who spent five years in Shushi
for assault, and asked not to be identified by his surname.

`There the prisoners have to obey the governor’s collaborators. I am
opposed to this, since there is supposed to be law, and normally the
demands of the law and the collaborators were different.’

The state ombudsman of Nagorny Karabakh, which governs itself as an
independent state but is considered to be a rebel part of Azerbaijan
by the United Nations, confirmed that inmates were not treated as they
should be.

`There are definitely violations in the prison,’ Ombudsman Yuri
Hayrapetian said. He wrote in the summer that regulations had been
changed to give prisoners the right to use a telephone, but there is
still no way for them to talk to the outside world.

Prisoners are also obliged to work for the jail ` this journalist saw
one working in the garden, some making furniture, one fetching tea and
one cleaning the courtyard ` despite a law stating that they cannot be
employed without payment.

Other facilities laid on for the prisoners also seemed minimal. A
computer class had just two dusty computers, which did not appear to
have been used for some time. A library also looked abandoned and had
few books.

Petrosian, the prisoner governor, said IWPR could talk to an inmate
but only in his presence and in his office. He chose Raphael
Tadevosian, a 21-year-old from the Armenian town of Hrazdan, as a
suitable interviewee.

`The administration helps us, and I am very grateful for this,’ he
said, but required prompting from Petrosian to say anything else.

`Tell about the food, and about how you don’t go hungry,’ ordered the governor.

`We eat meat as a starter and main course six days a week. For
breakfast, we are given porridge, fish, bread. They feed us well,’ the
young man said quickly, in words echoed by two other prisoners.

`We will not return here,’ said one of them, who did not want to give
his name. `But we approve of the demands made on us. I shave, I eat
well, I am not oppressed.’

According to Karabakh law, prisoners’ food should cost 1,000 dram
(about three US dollars) a day, which is sufficient to buy bread,
buckwheat, pasta, oil, sugar, vegetables, meat, fish, tea and juice.

The administrators say they receive all of this, but also said some
inmates had become so accustomed to prison life that they could not
survive on the outside and would commit crimes so as to return when
let out.

Lusine Musaelyan is a reporter for Radio Liberty in Stepanakert, and a
member of IWPR’s Cross Caucasus Journalism Network.

PRESS RELEASE
Date: November 14th, 2009
ARMENIAN PROFESSIONAL NETOWRK OF COLORADO
Contact: Hasmik Nikoghosyan
E-mail: [email protected]

ARMENIAN PROFESSIONAL NETOWRK OF COLORADO HOSTS A GROUP OF MUNICIPAL
OFFICIALS FROM ARMENIA

DENVER, CO, November 14th, 2009 — The Armenian Professional Network
(APNOC) of Colorado welcomed a group of municipal officials from
Armenia who were invited to the United States as part of the
International Visitor Leadership Program. The State
Department-sponsored delegation came to visit U.S. public and private
sector organizations, to participate in meetings and confer with their
professional counterparts.

During the reception held in Denver, Simon Maghakyan of APNOC welcomed
the 45 guests, including Mr. Aramayis Baghramyan, member of Gyumri
Council of City Representatives, Mr. Karen Grigoryan, Mayor of
Echmiadzin, Mr. Aghasi Hakobjanyan, Mayor of Sisian, and Mr. Karen
Ter-Lazarian, Deputy Mayor of Goris.

Earlier in the day the delegation visited the Colorado State Capitol
Building and toured the capitol grounds, including the Armenian Garden
where the Armenian Genocide Memorial Plaque is.

`We are excited to meet Armenians who live and work throughout
Colorado,’ said Mr. Hakobjanyan of Sisian, Armenia. `We’ve gained an
appreciation of the community in Colorado and will work towards
strengthening relations between Armenia and the United States.’

`Armenian Professional Network of Colorado is composed of Armenian
American students and professionals who are brought together to build
a highly motivated network and to encourage the involvement of young
Armenian Americans in local opportunities,’ said Amalya
Amirkhanyan. `We are thrilled to host tonight’s reception and look
forward to future professional exchanges between our two countries.’

APNOC is a part of Armenians of Colorado, Inc. (AOC), which was
established in June 1980 as a 501(c)3 non-profit cultural
organization. Its purpose is to create a cohesive Armenian community
and to further the understanding of Armenian history, culture,
language, customs, and heritage. AOC actively supports issues and
concerns of the Armenian-American community in Colorado as well as
those identified within the Armenian Diaspora throughout the world.

For updates and photos visit the Armenian Professional Network of
Colorado Facebook page at
18

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Interfax, Russia
Nov 12 2009

Armenia to switch to digital TV, radio by 2015 – minister

YEREVAN Nov 12

Armenia will switch to digital television and radio broadcasting by
2015, Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsian said at a news briefing on
Thursday.

The Armenian government endorsed a concept of transition to digital
television and radio broadcasting on Thursday.

The country will need about $200 million for completing the transition
to digital television and radio broadcasting, Yeritsian said.

Part of this money will be invested by the government, and the rest
should be provided by donor countries and international organizations,
he said.

Public debates on the transition to digital TV and radio broadcasting
should be arranged by the end of 2009. Amendments to the law should be
passed and a technical plan and licensing terms should be developed by
summer 2010, he said.

Interfax, Russia
Nov 12 2009

Attempts to resolve Karabakh issue "fruitless" – Aliyev

MINSK Nov 12

Azerbaijan will continue to seek justice and restoration of its
territorial integrity, said country’s President Ilham Aliyev.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was forced on us even before the
collapse of the Soviet Union. A war was launched against Azerbaijan,
ethnic cleansing began, and over a million of our citizens became
refugees, while about 20% of our territory is occupied. Azerbaijan’s
cultural monuments, our cemeteries, other objects were either
destroyed or looted," Aliyev told the alumni of the Belarusian State
University in Minsk on Thursday.

Armenia is not complying with the United Nations resolution on the
withdrawal of its forces from Azerbaijan, he also said.

"All attempts to resolve the issue peacefully are fruitless," Aliyev said.

Armenia’s latest struggle – the battle for tourists

This country is emerging from troubled times. The ceasefire is holding
with Azerbaijan and the border with Turkey is due to reopen. Now it’s
welcoming new visitors. Mark Leftly reports

Sunday, 15 November 2009
Independent/uk

On a hillside in the outskirts of Yerevan, capital of Armenia, there
is a black-and-white picture of a 24-year-old man. A
head-and-shoulders shot, he is dressed in military uniform, has thick
eyebrows, a wide nose and slightly cauliflower ears. So detailed is
the photograph that even the curvature of his Adam’s apple is clear.

He stares slightly away from the camera lens, a look suggesting
irritation that the army has forced him to have his picture taken. On
his grave lie two dried-out yellow flowers.

The majority of the hundreds of headstones in Yerablur cemetery have a
reproduction print of the deceased’s face on them. Here lie the
Armenian victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, which waged for six
years to 1994, when an unofficial ceasefire was reached.

Armenia and its easterly neighbour, Azerbaijan, are technically still
at war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Most importantly, Armenia’s
old enemy to the west, Turkey, supported Azerbaijan and closed its
330km (205 mile) long border with the land-locked country. Finally, in
October, some real progress was made on economic and diplomatic
co-operation between the countries, with the signing of protocols that
will soon open up a common border.

Chief among the Armenian government’s economic ambitions for the
Turkey agreement is to boost the country’s burgeoning tourism
industry. The Ministry of the Economy estimates that 422,500 tourists
visited the country in the first nine months of this year, up five per
cent on the same period in 2008, and it hopes to increase this number
further with stable borders.

Armenia has been openly wooing potential visitors: in September the
country celebrated its first International Tourism Day, while earlier
this year the entry visa at Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport
was slashed by 80 per cent to 3,000 drams, about $8 (£4.75). However,
not having any local currency on me, I was charged 15 bucks.

Back in the graveyard, the heavily tanned man maintaining the graves
(blue-collar workers tend to be darker skinned than the wealthier
classes in Yerevan) shakes my hand, as though we have shared a common
ordeal, which makes me wonder if the people will undermine the tourism
push with their heavily anti-Turkey stance.

Later, a waiter tells me: "Most think these protocols are not good, 60
or 70 per cent are very angry. They think we will forget [the past]."

Many of Yerevan’s major attractions symbolise its anger at a country
that today governs more than 60 per cent of historic Armenia.
Overlooking the centre of Yerevan, which is shaped like an
amphitheatre as the city’s altitude ranges from 900m (2,900ft) to
1,300m above sea level, is Mother Armenia (pictured on cover). Erected
in 1967, Mother Armenia stands 21m high and sits on a plinth 43 metres
tall that once formed the base for a statue of Stalin. She stares at
Mount Ararat, now in Turkish territory, which is sadly largely
obscured by smog the day I visit in an unseasonably warm, rainless
October.

In Mother Armenia’s right hand is a sword, lowered so it runs in front
of her stomach. From a distance the silhouette of body and weapon
forms a cross, apt for a country that was the first to adopt
Christianity as its state religion. In front of the statue, written in
the 1,700-year-old Armenian alphabet, are the words "We don’t know
your name, but your courage is immortal".

"She is ready to raise her sword to protect her sons," explains Elya,
my tour guide, who hails from the northern provinces of the country.
"It’s kind of threatening towards Turkey." She says this last part
with a chuckle, but there is seriousness behind the joke.

Elya describes herself as "a typical Armenian – that means
patriotism". Armenians, she claims, have always been in danger of
"being eliminated from this earth". Elya cites the words of one of the
Young Turk leaders of the remnants of the Ottoman Empire early last
century: "Only one Armenian must be preserved in the world, and that
as an exhibit in a museum."

This vile statement repeats in my head as I travel from Yerevan, on
the north-eastern plateau, to a hill to the west, where the Genocide
Memorial and Museum is located. Here, the Armenian people set out
their major grievance against Turkey. The museum, carved into the
ground like a bunker, details the massacre of 1.5m Armenians by an
extreme nationalist faction of the Young Turks.

A result of cultural and religious tension, the genocide is generally
said to have started in 1915 in the wake of divided Armenian loyalties
in the First World War. The museum’s fluent English-speaking guide
shows me exhibits related to Armenians who had won Olympic medals for
the Ottomans in 1912, and then a gruesome photograph of their
countrymen being hanged by that empire in Aleppo four years later.
There are proclamations condemning genocide from international
leaders, including a recent letter from California governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger.

Turkey denies Armenia’s version of events, and it is this that divides
Yerevan today. Unless Turkey acknowledges the genocide, many Armenians
do not want to sign any agreement with their old enemy. Interestingly,
the museum’s guide does not take this view. "It is natural for
neighbours to have good relations in a global world," it says.

I make my way to the centre, in search of cheerier experiences. It is
the cleanest big city centre I’ve ever seen, washed and tidied each
morning. This is very much for show – the view from Victory Bridge,
which spans the Hradzan river, reveals tin-roofed slums on a
not-too-distant hillside.

However, the centre is where most of the restaurants and bars are. And
it is an urban planner’s dream. There is a distinct road grid that
neatly divides the city into easily navigable chunks, surrounded by a
ring of green belt. There are fountains everywhere, none more
impressive than those in front of the National Museum in the
architectural extravaganza that is Republic Square, with its huge,
beautiful buildings built between the 1920s and 1950s. Every day, just
after 8pm, the museum’s fountains are illuminated in blues, reds and
greens, and dance to the notes of classical music.

Time for dinner, and I risk the veal tjvjik, an unholy dish consisting
of heart and lungs, at the popular Caucasus restaurant. Remarkably, it
is the overpowering taste of onion that ruins the meal. Other dishes
are generally delicious, from the simple but usually well-spiced pork
barbecue, to kyalagyosh, a porridge-like mixture of unleavened bread,
beef, yoghurt and spicy garlic and lentils.

The restaurants are a little smoky, due to what seems to be the
national pastime of puffing on a cigarette, but they are inexpensive.
For example, Our Village, which is highly recommended by a local and
is in the heart of what amounts to a tourist trap area surrounding the
imposing Opera House, comes to little more than $30 for a meal for
two, including starters, main courses, beers and extraordinarily
powerful fruit-flavoured vodkas. Overwhelmed by the vodka and
generally unimpressed by the beer – most locals prefer Kilikia, as
watery and bland a lager as its 3.8 per cent strength would suggest –
I am far more taken by the superb Ararat brandy.

Marspet, a taxi driver, sums it up best as we drive past the company’s
headquarters with its big yellow Ararat sign. "Very good," he says
giving me the thumbs up and a wide grin of gold-capped molars. Such
friendliness is typical of Yerevan. The people are also highly
attractive and well dressed, bar the all too common sight of men and
even little boys wearing Miami Vice-style white suits. However, the
homogeneity of society – 98 per cent of Armenian society is indigenous
– has an apparent downside. In one restaurant, a Frenchman of African
descent snaps when asked the same question for what seems to him a
hundredth time: "What does it matter where I am from?" Anyone who is
not white and dark haired is going to stand out a mile here. Perhaps
more tourism will change that.

I visit the Erebuni district to the south-west of the city. This is
where Yerevan was founded in 78BC – 29 years before Rome. I stroll
around the ruins of the Erebuni Fortress, which was known as the
"Fortress of Blood" due to the number of red tulips growing on this
hillside. The graffiti on the remaining walls here is quite
affectionate by western standards, with big hearts and the word
"kiss".

Protecting an overseas dignitary who is looking around the ruins are
members of the military, a two-year service which is mandatory for men
unless they are studying for a PhD or preparing for a religious life
at a seminary. It is not hard work: they are laughing and flirting
with my guide Elya, while the extraordinary sight of Ararat once again
emerges on the horizon. The 24-year-old lying in Yerablur cemetery
would be 40 today. As it stands, these men will not share his fate.
Perhaps it is time to move on. Not forget, but move on.

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In warning to Russia, Iran says it can build S-300

press tv
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:22:20 GMT

"If Tehran obtained the S-300, it would be a game-changer in military
thinking for tackling Iran," says long-time Pentagon advisor Dan
Goure.
With the delivery of an advanced air defense system to Iran long
overdue by Russia, Tehran says it is capable of mass-producing
replicas of the controversial Russian-made missile in the near future.

Speaking to Mehr News Agency on Saturday, Head of Iran’s Foreign
Policy and National Security Commission in Parliament Alaeddin
Boroujerdi said Tehran and Russia have a long history of military
cooperation and it is crucial that Russia honors its commitments with
respect to Iran.

"The Russians should meet their commitment on the delivery of the
missile system, which will only be used to defend the country’s
territory," said the Iranian lawmaker.

He was referring to the Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile
system, which can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km (75 miles)
away, features high jamming immunity and is able to simultaneously
engage up to 100 targets.

Boroujerdi went on to warn Russia that "Iran is not a country which
would stop short of action in dealing with countries who fail to
deliver on their promises."

He said that while the Islamic Republic will be able to mass produce
the system in the near future, Russia’s commitment to the deal could
lay the ground for future cooperation.

The remarks come as Russia and Iran clinched a deal on the sale of
S-300 system in December 2007. Unofficial reports claim that the
Russian-Iranian contract on the sale of the S-300 missiles is worth
$800 million.

The delay on the delivery of the system comes as earlier in September,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a secret trip to Moscow
during which he is believed to have discussed with Russian leaders
measures to hold off on providing the ultramodern anti-aircraft
missiles to Iran.

After the media spilled the beans on the controversial visit, Sergei
Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, refused to deny the reports about
the Israeli official’s secret trip.

"I am only going to say: to verify the rumor you should go to the
source of the rumor," he said. "Our co-operation with Iran is quite
legitimate. We are not selling offensive weapons to Iran."

Lavrov described the S-300 system as purely defensive, adding, "As far
as the trade of military elements goes, Russia has not violated [its]
international obligations."

Despite the remarks by the Russian foreign minister, Russia has yet to
deliver the system to Iran and military officials in Moscow are yet to
give an explanation about the delay.

Meanwhile, as rumors began to circulate that Moscow had scrapped the
deal, deputy director for Russia’s federal service for
military-technical cooperation Konstantin Biryulin said on Thursday
that the matter was still under consideration despite mounting Western
pressure over military dealings with Iran.

"The issue of S-300 deliveries is still under discussion," he was
quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

Reacting to the delay, a top Iranian military official urged Russia on
Friday to honor its military contract with the Tehran government and
deliver the promised S-300 surface-to-air missiles.

Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed
forces, said that Moscow was now six months late in delivering the
S-300 missiles to Tehran.

"Don’t the Russian [political and military] strategists consider the
geopolitical significance of Iran in ensuring Russia’s security,"
asked Firouzabadi.

Iran says it has opted to acquire the sophisticated S-300 defense
system – which, according to Western experts, would rule out the
possibility of an Israeli airstrike on Iranian nuclear sites – to
protect the country in case of any such attack.

Israel has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities,
including the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz or the country’s
first atomic power plant, which has been under construction by Russian
workers in Bushehr for years, arguing that the country’s nuclear
activities are an existential threat to Tel Aviv’s security.

This is while Tehran says its nuclear program is aimed at the civilian
applications of the technology and has called for the removal of
weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.

Veto-wielding China says ‘no’ to Iran sanctions

press tv
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:01:36 GMT

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang
As US President Barack Obama plans to pay his first official visit to
Beijing, China signals its opposition to new sanctions on Iran over
its nuclear program.

The Chinese government believes that negotiation sides should make
efforts to settle issues regarding Iran’s nuclear case through
"political and diplomatic" talks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang
told IRNA on Saturday.

He added that a diplomatic and permanent solution to Iran’s nuclear
issue will help bring about peace and stability to the Middle East.

As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has
the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, said the
spokesman.

Qin’s remarks came one day ahead of a scheduled visit by President
Obama to China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Obama
is expected to discuss Iran’s nuclear case with his Chinese
counterpart.

Major world powers, spearheaded by the US and Israel, accuse Iran of
efforts to develop a nuclear bomb and based on such allegations have
threatened to impose more sanctions against the country.

This is while Obama, in a Thursday letter to the Congress, renewed US
sanctions against Iran for another year.

Tehran, however, has denied seeking nuclear weapons and called for the
removal of all weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from across the
globe, including those held in the US.

Although the accusations have never been proven by any of the powers
or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – which has been
monitoring the Iranian program extensively and inspecting its
facilities since 2003 – the United Nations Security Council has
imposed three rounds of sanctions resolutions against Tehran.

Diasporas Can Disappear, the Homeland is forever
Posted By Paul Chaderjian On November 13, 2009 @ 7:47 pm In Columns,
Featured Story, Three Apples | No Comments

Once there was and there was not …

… a neighborhood in a suburb of Kolkata, India, where a tall,
pristine white stone wall separates the grounds of a sparkling
Armenian church from a modern-day slum and its poverty, smells,
refuse, rabid dogs, and noisy rickshaws.
Security guards kept the native neighbors at bay as our group of
tourists entered and exited the church grounds. We were there a year
ago today, a group of Armenians from around the world making a
pilgrimage to India on the 300th anniversary of the founding of one of
the Armenian churches in Kolkata.
My stories of the journey and India are on the Internet, so there is
no sense in repeating Indian-Armenian history or reality. Why I write
this column is to convey abstract premonitions after my
nearly-month-long journey to the once-thriving Armenian community
there.
While the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin has done a remarkable job of
keeping our Indian-Armenian churches, schools, centers, and senior
home functioning, the once-thriving community has dwindled in
size. Armenians began leaving India after British merchants – backed
by the Empire’s banks – began to eat away at the prosperous businesses
they had established under the directive of the Persian Shah Abass.
Dwindling profits and opportunities in better places like Australia
and the Americas initiated the decrease of the Armenian population in
India. A traveler today will find a beautiful and hospitable Armenian
community in various parts of India. They will also find far-away
churches that go unused, forgotten cemeteries that are visited once
every six months, and markers that record the history of a
once-super-sized and now-downsized Armenian community.
Next Stop, the Twilight Zone
A few days after the 300th anniversary of the St. Nazareth Church at
the Taj Bengal Hotel, and a few days before the mass murders of
tourists on the streets of India, I left Kolkata to embark on the
longest journey I’ve ever taken in my life.
It was the third week of November of 2008, and my journey began with
an hour-long drive to the airport through frenzied freeways where no
one follows traffic laws. There was a two-hour wait in a humid, fly
and mosquito-infested airport and a three-hour flight to Delhi. After
six-hours at the Delhi airport, there was an eight-hour flight to
London, another four hours in London, and another half-day flying
across the Atlantic to Los Angeles.
The journey not only felt like I was coming from another place on the
other side of the planet, but it felt like I was coming from another
time. The flights were like time machines bridging an old world with
the new, bridging the 2008 world of India with the dark realities that
are also possible in Los Angeles 300 years into the future.
Standing outside Tom Bradley terminal at LAX, listening to the
whistles of traffic cops, the commotion of the cars, smelling the
disgusting vapors of the buses, I flashed forward and realized how
possible it would be for a group of Armenian pilgrims to be waiting
for their tour bus in the year 2308.
These tourists would be arriving for their pilgrimage if our
country’s corporations, politicians, and citizens keep on the
apocalyptic path they’ve been on for nearly a decade – a path of wars,
fear-mongering, fraud, and a path of ignoring the needs of the general
public.
I imagine if the rich and powerful in rich and powerful nations ignore
and abuse the masses, once-thriving nations become catastrophic
societies boiling over with poverty, ethnic and religious gangs,
lawlessness, and failing social systems.
The Armenians pilgrims would arrive from an elsewhere they would have
escaped to if our modern-day America becomes a place with an economy
so out-of control that our government could not feed, clothe, shelter,
educate, and employ its citizenry. Instead of humans evolving to
higher, more soulful creators, they would become dehumanized, banal,
and useless forms of life.
Apocalyptic America
In the apocalyptic America of 2308, the Armenian tourists would come
from a newer economy, from a society of abundance, from a future
elsewhere. They would arrive by ship from the Chinese province of
Hawaii, crossing the Great Ocean of the People’s Republic. They would
come to see where their forebears lived and made history in what would
in the future be the United States of Mexico.
The pilgrims would pile into an air conditioned bus and drive through
thick clouds of smog, eastbound on pot-holed avenues like Wilshire and
Santa Monica. Freeways would be dismantled by then, fallen into
ill-repair or destroyed in turf wars. Entire portions of the city
would be abandoned or flooded by the L.A. River whose concrete walls
would have fallen apart letting nature control the flow of water in
our basin.
The bus would have to maneuver past cattle and donkeys, past hawkers
selling fragments of sidewalks from the Walk of Fame and pieces of the
Hollywood sign. The bus would have to get past abandoned cars, bricks
from fallen buildings, and drive through gravel or dirt roads to make
its way to our old churches in Hollywood or Montebello. The visitors
would tour our school campuses in Orange County and Pasadena, marvel
at how well-kept they are by the Holy See, and wonder why Armenians
had settled in the Americas, in this flooded and broken down Babylon.
Hispanic-Armenians would entertain the visitors with images downloaded
to the visitors’ hand-held computing and communication devices. These
images, sights and sounds, would be from school video yearbooks and
parades and dinner-dances.
The remaining Armenians of the Americas would recount for the visitors
the days when Armenian basketball teams were crowned regional
champions. They would talk about how Armenians ran the Hollywood
studios, the casinos, and the military-industrial businesses that had
eventually caused the failure of the most powerful nation in the
world.
They would gleefully talk about the Kardashian Clan and how it ruled
the sex and fashion industries while the Cult of the Partamians used
comedy to battle the Kardashians in their individuals quests for
ideological and TV ratings rule of the diaspora during the
democracy-through-television era entertainment wars between Armenians.
The tour guide in 2308 would even make arrangements for the visitors
to take smaller off-road vehicles on a day-long journey into the
mountains of Southern California, where the tourists would see the
camps where Armenian children spent summers before the devastating
fires that burnt all vegetation away.
Starbucks Fix at the Grove
Before the doomsday scenarios had a chance to ferment in my mind, my
friend Arsen who had picked me up from LAX suggested we stop at the
Grove and get some coffee in me. With the first sip of caffeine, the
scenarios of a doomed L.A. disappeared but the premonition of what
could happen to the American-Armenian community and to our beloved
America have stayed in my mind for the past year.
While the scenario of the dwindling Indian-Armenian community may be
probable for any diasporan community around the world, what would
remain true is what was true 300 years ago in India. The community
there always had its eye on the Homeland. Diasporan communities,
wherever they may rise-up in the future, will also have their eyes and
hearts on the Homeland.
In India 300 years ago, the visionaries dreamt of returning one day to
their beloved and mythical Armenia, their ancestral birthplace. They
wrote volumes about an independent Homeland, where all citizens were
equals. They sang songs about Ararat and about their historic culture
of heroes. They did as we do now and as our remnant communities will
do in 300 years.
A year ago, I deplaned from a jetliner, half-asleep, seeing the chaos
around LAX, and imagined they were the same as the sights and sounds
from the rat-infested, decrepit railroad station in Kolkata. I
imagined other diasporan communities being abandoned by our people as
we made our way to newer economies and newer nations with better
opportunities. I imagined Armenians taking their children away from
civil or foreign wars, from poverty, and from crime and chaos.
I imagined Armenians landing and making a community in more hospitable
lands, where the survival of our identity would be ensured. I also
imagined our footprint in Southern California resembling the
disappearing footprint of the Armenian community in India.
A year ago, I deplaned ready to rent a tux and raise money on
Thanksgiving to build infrastructure in the independent and liberated
homelands, knowing that while diasporan communities come and go, our
focus will always be the Homeland.
Even though I will not be asking you for your donations this
Thanksgiving, I ask you to always connect your identity, existence,
and essence to that place you may today love or hate, that place which
is your ancestral birthplace and your grand children’s final
destination.
Connect your identity to our Homeland and do what must be done to
ensure its survival not only for the next 300 years, but for another
3000 years.
And three apples fell from heaven: one for the storyteller, one for
him who made him tell it, and one for you the reader.

Article printed from Asbarez News:
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pples-diasporas-can-disappear-the-homeland-is-fore ver/

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress