RISING INTERESTS: WELCOMED INCREASE IN WATER LEVEL RECORDED AT LAKE SEVAN
By Suren Deheryan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Lake Sevan, the jewel in Armenia’s crown of nature, is on the rise, to the
delight of ecologists, nature lovers and the thousands whose livelihoods are
connected with fishing.
Having suffered 70 years of artificial drainage, this year, the water level of
Sevan (one of the highest fresh water lakes in the world) is higher than in
decades, raised by 1 meter, 33 centimeters over the past three years.
Over the past three years, measures have been implemented to reduce drainage
and get the vital lake’s capacity back to previous levels, but the past years’
increase is unprecedented. It’s current level of 1,898.22 meters is the
highest in more than 20 years, when 200 million cubic meters of water were
annually pumped into the lake through the Arpa-Sevan tunnel.
For a decade beginning in 1991, vast drainage (for energy and agricultural
purposes) took some 6.1 billion cubic meters of water out of Lake Sevan –
twice as much as in the previous decade – reaching a critical point of
1,896.46 meters in 2001.
Though the tide of drainage has been turned, the lake is still the equivalent
height of a seven-story building lower than in 1933 (when water from Sevan was
first used for hydroelectricity).
Each centimeter’s rise means new hope for the reanimation of the lake’s
ecosystem.
The change in current water lines, easily seen by even casual visitors to the
lake, reflect actions taken within the `Complex Program on the Rehabilitation
of the Sevan’s Ecosystem’ which was developed as part of the law `On Lake
Sevan’ adopted by the National Assembly in 2001. Since that year, water
drainage from Lake Sevan reduced at least twice – down to about 150 million
cubic meters a year.
The rehabilitation program envisages raising the level of the lake by 6 meters
within 30 years at the expense of minimal drainages (20 centimeters every
year), thus taking it to the level of 1,904 meters above sea-level – a height
it has not seen since 1957.
Scientists say it is at this level that the lake’s endangered ecosystem will
finally recover.
Already `endangered’, and potentially creating a separate ecological problem,
however, are some 450 hectares of shore that have been submerged by the
water’s rise. Nearly half of that territory is man-made forests that, if left
under water, might turn the shallows into swamp.
`In the shores of the Sevan that are situated on a plain, even in the case of
a 5-centimeter rise in the lake’s level, vast territories submerge. In some
places today water has covered 100-120-meter-long offshore parts,’ says the
head forester of Sevan National Park Suren Aghajanyan.
According to a government decision, stage-by-stage work on the cleaning of the
offshore areas began on September 15. During the next two months an area of 92
hectares is to be cleaned of trees and bushes, for which the state has
allocated 47.1 million drams (about $107,000).
According to Aghanjanyan, some 50 hectares have already been cleared. `In some
places it seems that we pull the trees already from a swamp, the smell was so
bad,’ Aghajanyan told ArmeniaNow. `There are places where bushes already are
submerged under water and I have no idea how to clean them.’
Chairwoman of the NGO `For Sustainable Development’ and Armenia’s Minister of
Nature Protection in 1993-94 Karine Danielyan claims that the rise in the
lake’s level should have been accompanied by preparatory works.
`But it was not done in due time, and in fact they just begin these works,’
says Danielyan. `Of course, it is good that this work is done at least today,
however those territories had to be cleaned beforehand so as to prevent a
single tree from submerging under water. Now it will be difficult to clean,
but even in these conditions one should get down to business as quickly as
possible.’
Tourist to this summer’s Lake Sevan, were surprised when they went to the
lakeside and saw that the beaches they had chosen as their favorite spots in
the previous summer, this year simply disappeared.
`Do you see the trees sticking up from under the water. My cottages used to
stand between these trees, and farther there was a summer-house,’ Razmik
Mkhitaryan says. `Now these trees are 50 meters away from the shore.’
Mkhitaryan, 65, is one of the dozen entrepreneurs who are engaged in a beach
business at the lakeside, letting out cottages and summer-houses. Many of the
beach businessmen had to relocate their makeshift cabins several times farther
from the shore as water was rising. And some of them have no room to retreat
anymore.
`At first, we placed our cottages at the shore. Holiday-makers like it when
they can open the window and admire the view of the lake. But who could
imagine the water would rise so high? It is the third year that cottages are
taken far from the rising water, while water keeps rising, overtaking the
cottages,’ says Mkhitaryan.
It is predicted that, eventually, nearly 30 kilometers of highway near Sevan
will be retaken by Lake Sevan, along with properties built when the big body
of water was in decline.
`The government will compensate those individuals or companies that have
licensed capital constructions on the level below 1,908 meters,’ says First
Deputy Minister of Nature Protection Simon Papyan.
According to Danielyan, any capital construction that was built at a level
below 1,908 meters is considered illegal, since the program on the restoration
of the Sevan’s level existed still during the Soviet times.
`Perhaps there are official permissions for them, however according to all
laws those structures are illegal. And it is not the state that must
compensate these individuals, but those who allowed such constructions,’
Danielyan says.
On September 1, the Government of Armenia approved the draining of an
additional 30 million cubic meters (on top of this year’s 120 million
allocation). Environmentalists charged that top officials were trying to
protect their self interests as owners of private and commercial property
built below the legal line.
The reply of the deputy minister is as follows: `There is a strategic decision
for the purpose of raising the level of Lake Sevan which was made by the
government, and we will be guided by this decision in our further activities.’
(Inferring that the government needs to be able to control the level by which
the lake rises each year.)
Head of the Environmental Department at the Gegharkunik Governor’s Office
Hambartsum Hambartsumyan says that nothing must obstruct the rise in the
lake’s level.
`Even if the government has no funds for cleaning the areas, villagers will
readily and for free uproot the trees and will use them as firewood. Let them
only permit it,’ says Hambartsumyan.
Kim Sargsyan, 66, a resident of the village of Chkalovka, was a fisherman in
the past, and now he is a cattle-breeder, sitting on a rock on the way to the
village, waiting for cows to return from pastures. Looking at Lake Sevan, Kim
says:
`Let it rise to become more beautiful!’
The place where Kim was waiting for his cows is said to have been under water
in 1940. Today the water is 700 meters away. But getting closer . . .
`STATE NEED’?: AND WHAT OF THE NEEDS OF BUZAND STREET FAMILIES?
By Vahan Ishkhanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
News Analysis
With apparent disregard for a pending court order, a platoon of law
enforcement estimated by observers to be about 40 strong, went into the home
of Astghik Hovhannisyan last Friday and evicted the six-member family as it
has dozens of others in what used to be the placid neighborhood of Buzand that
has become Yerevan’s battleground for citizens’ rights.
Children returned from school with no home to return to as members of the
Republic of Armenia’s `Red Beret’ special forces acted on orders traceable to
powerful and politically-connected oligarchs who are buying up prime real
estate at ghetto prices.
It is no longer news that families such as the Hovhannisyans are being
displaced because they have become an inconvenience. Dozens have shared their
fate since the first blade of urban renewal fell in the city center
neighborhood this spring.
But what continues to make news and noise in the capital is the fact that the
very bodies entrusted to uphold the law themselves flagrantly ignore it. To
explain:
While Astghik Hovhannisyan’s chairs and cupboard and nightstands – the
artifacts of more than 60 years at 17 Buzand Street were being carried out by
hired-hands, an appeals court had not yet issued a ruling on the family’s
complaint that a development company’s offer of compensation was not only
unsuitable, but insufficient according to the law.
The Hovhannisyans lost their home because they did not agree to accept the
$10,500 offered to get them to leave, by Vizkon Ltd. a development company
under the direction of Gevorg Vardanyan, former Minister of Nature Protection.
Astghik’s father, 61-year-old Hrachik Hovhannisyan, has never known another
home. Four of his family members have permanent registration at the address.
According to a government decision reached to cover compensation for the
current city-center redevolpment, relocation payment should be $3,500 per
registered occupant. (In the case of the Hovhannisyans, $14,000.)
(Evictees have different status. Some of them are evicted from their own
territory, some of them did not have time to privatize the territory and are
also subject to eviction. And some are evicted from the territory in which
they had lived for years and have registration. The two latter groups are
called apartment users.)
The latest report of the Republic of Armenia’s Ombudsman Office criticizes the
government decision: `It is well known that the territories of the capital
that are declared `alienation zones’ are territories mainly occupied by
private apartments, and still during the Soviet times, the owners of these
apartments registered in their apartments their relatives, friends,
acquaintances, and also others, legal and unlicensed additional constructions
were created – sometimes even bypassing limitations by often-unjustified
Soviet laws, buildings were transferred from one to another with a purchase
and sale agreement signed in an internal order. This way, these territories
became extremely densely populated. For residents it was considered though not
convenient but nevertheless a place to stay, a family did not consider
themselves to be homeless.’
The Ombudsman concludes that one should have consider the rights of residents
having all types of statuses no matter whether they are owners, have permanent
or other registration.
The Hovhannisyans are a family having the status of registered, of whom by the
government decision compensation can be received by those who have permanent
registration. `We don’t need money, we told Vizkon, give us 40 square meters
to live,’ says Astghik.
Initially, Vizkon offered to pay $7,000, representing two residents. A court
ruled that they must pay for a third ($10,500). The Hovhannisyans also wanted
compensation for a fourth, eight-year old David Hovhannisyan. Vizkon refused
and court ruled in favor of the developers. The Hovhannisyans appealed.
While the Hovhannisyans waited with empty hopes (the court has not ruled in
favor of residents even one time) a decision from the cassation court,
bailiffs emptied their home.
For Hrachik Hovhannisyan, a few hours of tense standoff and subsequent display
of force, rewrote his history.
Crying, his sister-in-law advised: `Hrachik jan, forget that you were born
here.’
After the eviction, bailiffs refused to allow Hrachik to return inside for a
change of clothes. Only after long persuasions Astghik and her mother were
allowed to go inside and take their documents. But in the turmoil they failed
to find all their belongings which according to them they kept in a bag (gold,
and $2,000 they had borrowed).
While the bailiffs took the property out, a demolition squad had torn down the
walls of the house, the roof and dislocated the windows for the house to
become uninhabitable.
The order under which they have been evicted is designed to accommodate `state
needs’.
By that definition, the state `needs’ a district of elite buildings that will
never fall into the budget of the Hovhannisyans or their neighbors, while
turning profits for oligarchs who enjoy the privilege of power and the
protection of a judiciary that has proven unsympathetic to the `needs’ of
common citizens.
`We have been pressured for a year for state needs,’ says 32-year-old Astghik
crying. `We will go out and sit in the street, we don’t know how to escape
from these beasts, simply we don’t know. We don’t have a tent to hide in.’
Finally:
While the Hovhannisyans things were being removed, news came that the court
had suspended the eviction, however the bailiffs continued to take the
property out. In their haste to finish the job, plates were broken and the
cupboard damaged.
Half an hour after a loaded truck drove off and the bailiffs went away, a
lawyer brought a letter of the appeals court chairman addressed to Tigran
Tadevosyan, head of the Yerevan Police Department’s Bailiff’s Office Eviction
and Population Division informing the latter that the court decision had not
come into legal effect, meaning that the eviction had to be stopped, and
demanding the return of the order that was given for eviction.
Later, workers told the Hovhannisyans that the Vizkon managers had given
them `a good working over’ for not razing the house to the ground at the time
of the eviction and left an opportunity for the Hovhannisyans to return there.
During another eviction on the same street, workers had ruined the house so
much that the residents could not live there and live near the ruins (click
here for the previous article).
Tuesday (October 4) a lawyer for Vizkon visited the Hovhannisyans and
expressed his bosses’ threats that if they did not leave the place in two days
their house would be leveled with a bulldozer with the assistance of the `Red
Berets’. The lawyer, apparently embarrassed by his duty, refused to answer
ArmeniaNow’s questions.
The Hovhannisyans returned to their apartment – emptied, and with a wall
knocked down and the windows destroyed. The children have gone to live with
relatives. Other residents repaired the windows and brought a folding bed and
live in what is left of 17 Buzand . . .
AUTONOMY VS. IDENTITY?: GEORGIAN-ARMENIANS MAKE A PLAY FOR POWER AMID
DIMINISHING CLOUT
By Aris Ghazinyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A meeting by the presidents of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey in Tbilisi next
Tuesday (October 12) is expected to draw pointed attention from the Armenian-
dominated region of Samtskhe-Javakheti, on Georgia’s border with Turkey.
The subject of trilateral discussions will focus on projects passing through
the territory; projects that benefit the three nations, but cut Armenia out
and, potentially, cut Armenia off. Specifically, at issue is construction of
the Kars – Akhalkalaki – Tbilisi – Baku railway and the Georgian section of
the Baku – Tbilisi – Ceyhan oil pipeline.
Located in the extreme southwest of Georgia, the province of Samtskhe-
Javakhetia is one of the key strategic regions in the South Caucasus. Here,
the interests of neighbors Turkey, Russia, Georgia and Armenia collide.
Here, too, long-term communication projects such as the building of the Kars
(Turkey) – Akhalkalaki – Tbilisi – Baku railroad and the Baku – Tbilisi –
Ceyhan oil pipeline are localized. The 62nd Russian military base is also
stationed in the town of Akhalkalaki, in this province.
Nearly half of Samtskhe-Javakhetia’s 240,000 population are Armenian. Almost
from the beginning of Georgia’s independence (in 1991), the Armenian
population of `Javakhk’ (as it is known in Armenian) has repeatedly appealed
to Tbilisi for autonomy.
In common terms, the Armenians have asked for the right to govern themselves
in issues of local concern.
Applications have landed on the desks of three Georgian presidents – from
Zviad Gamsakhurdia to Mikhail Saakashvili – asking that Javakhk be granted
this sort of quasi-secession.
And, while the personalities and politics of the sitting presidents vary
widely, their response has been the same: Denied.
The result has been a deepening of resentment between Georgians and Armenians,
and the increasing of tensions, as the movement to `Georgianize’ ethnic
minorities in the republic has been met with considerable rancor by the
Armenians, the largest (representing ?? percent of the population) of
Georgia’s minorities.
It was in this climate that Georgian-Armenians held their third conference in
less than a year in late September to debate `Integration, but not
Assimilation’. Organized by the Council of the Public-Political Organizations
of the Samtskhe-Javakhetia province of Georgia, the conference concluded with
the adoption of the latest proposal on the issue of autonomy.
In part, the resolution calls upon Georgia to recognize a status
that `supposes the formation in the territory of Georgia of a new federal
entity whose population is given broad powers on self-government, including
the right of electing all institutions of local government and giving the
status of the second official language in the region to the Armenian
language.’
Tbilisi’s official response came in Yerevan last week when Georgia’s Prime
Minister Zurab Nogadieli told a press conference: `There will be (and are)
three autonomies in Georgia – Ajaria, Abkhazia and Tskhinvail. The part of the
public organizations that put forward demands for the status of an autonomy
for Javakhetia is only a small part of the population and cannot represent the
opinion of the whole area.’
For his part, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan probably made no
friends among his Georgian compatriots when he supported Nogaideli, saying: `I
think that there is no such question. Such a question is raised every time
when someone needs it.’
Georgian Armenians expecting support from Yerevan cry of betrayal, while
Nogadieli’s concession to three autonomies was regarded by many as Georgia’s
return to the socialist past.
(During the Soviet period, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia comprised
two autonomous republics (Abkhazia, Ajaria) and one autonomous region (South-
Ossetia — Tskhinvali). The total area of Georgia’s autonomous entities made
15,500 square kilometers and equaled 22 percent of its territory. Azerbaijan –
with Nakichevan and Nagorno Karabakh – held the only other autonomies.)
While Azeri political analysts accuse Russia (in compliance with
the `Dashnaks’) of instigating the Armenians’ resolution, Armenian
counterparts say Georgia’s refusal to grant the right is an indication of
Tbilisi’s favoritism to Ankara and the Georgians’ desire to see an inflow of
Turks and an exodus of Armenians. Since joining the European Council in 1999,
Georgia has been engaged in a program that would resettle Georgian-Turks into
Javakhk, thus diluting the Armenian predominance of the region.
`Modern Armenia is surrounded by a Turkic ring,’ says demographics and
emigration analyst at Yerevan State University Hrachya Khachatryan. `The road
through the Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakhetia remains Armenia’s only
gateway lying not on Turkic soil. A plan on the resettlement of Meskhet-Turks
to this area and outflow of the Armenian population from the province is being
implemented today for the purpose of closing `the Turkic ring’ around of the
Armenian statehood.’
The region of Samtshe-Javakheti was formed in the mid-90s and consists of two
historical areas – Samtskhe and Javakheti. In Government emigration and
refugee analyst Viktor Solakhyan’s opinion, the merger of two geographically
and ethno-culturally very different territories was aimed at `correcting” the
demographic panorama of the region where Armenians had always constituted an
overwhelming majority of the population.
`Thus, administrative reform was carried out as a result of which a new
provincial unit of Georgia was formed on the basis of the merger of two
completely Armenian (Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki), three mixed (Aspindza,
Akhaltsikh, Adigen) and one predominantly Georgian (Borzhom) areas,’ the
demographer says.
The demographic picture of the new province (according to the data of 1997)
showed Armenians making up 52.5 percent of the population of the province. And
in the Akhalkalaki area, Armenians made 91.3 percent (62,814) of the
population against 4.4 percent (3,027) of Georgians, in Ninotsminda – 89.6
percent (34,697) against 1.2 percent (451), in Akhaltsikh – 42.8 percent
(23,644) against 46.8 percent (25,688).
`Despite all this, there are no Armenians on the provincial board sitting in
Akhaltsikh, which in different years had 30-35 officials on the average, at
best there are only one or two symbolic representatives,’ says Ludwig
Petrosyan, head of Armenian National Social Organization in Akhaltsikh. `The
authorized representatives of the president of Georgia to the province are
exclusively Georgians as well. The Armenian population of the area is not
capable of solving its problems – to support the activities of schools, or
protect monuments of Armenian architecture that are intensively falling into
decay.’
REBUILDING CONFIDENCE: ECHMIADZIN RESIDENTS PONDER MAYOR ELECTION IN LIGHT OF
CITY PROPERTY CONTROVERSY
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
Echmiadzin will elect a new mayor on October 16 and campaign passions have
recently focused on issues that have a physical, social and spiritual impact
on the community.
As the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the town is considered by locals
and Diaspora as a `second capital’ of sorts – and therefore holding special
significance.
It is its sacred place as home of the Holy See that gives Echmiadizin unique
recognition, but it is simply its place as `home’ to some 65,000 people, that
give these voters reasons to worry over recent changes in its makeup.
Specifically, over the past five years, 10 buildings of cultural significance
have been privatized, amid allegations that municipal authorities have
profited from the sales.
It is these very phenomena that are likely to influence voting, as many
residents say they are unhappy with the way Mayor Hrachik Abgaryan has used
his position. (Abgaryan has been in office since 2002, and is one of only two
mayors Echmiadzin has had since independence, 1991.)
`The two mayors did nothing for Echmiadzin,’ says Hamlet Nahatakyan, director
of Echmiadzin’s Nersisyan gymnasium. `On the contrary, they sold as much as
they could. They don’t have any steady work of which they could be proud.
Unauthorized and tasteless buildings, which destroy the architectural
appearance of the town, rise up from day to day.’
Along with new buildings there are also rumors about new territories for sale.
During the last months the territory near the monument to Komitas in the
square of the town and the hall of Music School N 2 were sold.
Voters say they don’t know don’t know whom to elect and whom to trust.
Four candidates, including ex-mayor Yervand Aghvanyan are in the running.
Abgaryan is not up for reelection.
Among contenders for the job is Susanna Harutyunyan, who lost her job as a
department head at city hall in a dispute with Abgaryan. (Last week
Harutyunyan scheduled a TV appearance inviting voters to call in and discuss
issues. During the 30 minutes for which the program was scheduled, the
electricity in Echmiadzin went out and came back on immediately after the
program’s conclusion.)
`At the time when I raised my voice against the sale of libraries, no one was
punished. Had it been stopped, the building of the local history museum, the
hall of music school N 2, the territory near the monument to Komitas in the
square would not have been sold today, but I promise to the residents of
Echmiadzin that I will bring everything back to the town,’ says Harutyunyan.
Deputy Mayor Artashes Baghdasaryan denies Harutyunyan’s accusation that those
buildings were sold.
`The hall of the music school has not been sold. At this moment, it is being
restored through the municipality’s efforts. And we indeed received an offer
regarding the territory in the vicinity of the Komitas monument, which we
rejected. We even discussed the matter with the intellectuals of the town. The
area of the monument is inviolable,’ he says.
Last year Abgaryan officially told ArmeniaNow the museum of local history was
not being sold. Some time later, however, the building was sold.
One mayoral candidate, Yervand Aghvanyan, who was the mayor of Echmiadzin FROM
1996 TO 2002, and city council chairman before that says: `What is happening
in Echmiadzin today is only part of the events happening in this country. All
this rather should be realized at the top starting from the president.’
According to Harutyunyan, the yards of buildings are sold for little money,
children are deprived of playing grounds, the sidewalks in the streets are
being taken over.
The deputy mayor says that the mayor’s office simply provides territory where
people set up their small businesses. The territories are provided without
breaking the town-planning norms.
The part in front of the town’s central department store situated close to the
square is surrounded by thick concrete walls today.
Baghdasaryan explains that the territory in front of the department store is
an illegally seized territory. It was provided to the owner by a government
decision. The mayor’s office has not given its consent till today.
A new two-storied facility is being built in the whole part of the yard of the
town’s school N3.
Only eight of Echmiadzin’s 16 kindergartens remain. Deputy Mayor Baghdasaryan
said that some of them had been sold still under the previous mayor. Only six
of the eight libraries remain.
`We only want to see good yards, have asphalted streets, be protected. Little
time remains before the elections, but people still cannot find their
bearings. What should these authorities do to make people trust them again,’
Nahatakyan says.
Despite the property issues, Armenian Center for National and International
Studies Director of Research, political analyst Stepan Safaryan, predicts that
local elections in Echmiadzin will pass rather passively.
`Echmiadzin is one of the specific regions of Armenia and everyone knows whose
territory it is (referring, without naming Manvel Grigoryan, widely considered
the primary `oligarch’ of the city),’ he says. `I think that 70 percent of
voters will not go to the polls in local elections as they do not trust local
authorities and feel disgruntled.’
He thinks that only 30 percent will participate, of whom 15 percent will
vote `against all’ and the remaining 15 percent will be people voting under
the influence of administrative resource.
TAKING STEPS: ABRAHAMYAN SETS PLANS FOR WORLD CONGRESS, UAR DURING YEREVAN
CONVENTION
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Last week was marked by the traditional days of two influential Diaspora
organizations in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh as a 500-member delegation of
writers, scientists, businessmen and public figures of the World Armenian
Congress (WAC) and the Union of Armenians of Russia (UAR) visited Yerevan and
Stepanakert.
The initiator of these days held from September 28 through October 1 was the
Russia-based Armenian businessman, UNESCO goodwill ambassador Ara Abrahamyan,
who is the founding chairman of these two organizations.
The Union of Armenians of Russia was established five years ago and has been
known for its activities far beyond Russia and Armenia, and the World Armenian
Congress was set up later, in 2003, `to contribute to the unification of
efforts of worldwide Armenian Diaspora in the name of defending the national
interests of Armenians.’
Among the events held by representatives of the two organizations in Armenia
were the presentation of the three-volume book `Genocide of Armenians . . . ‘,
and the magazine `Memory Against Oblivion’ dedicated to the 90th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide. A 50-member delegation visited Karabakh and the
Armenian provinces.
While in Armenia, Abrahamyan was received by President Robert Kocharyan and by
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vardan Oskanian.
During his visit Abrahamyan also answered the question of mechanisms of
cooperation between the UAR and the government of Armenia. In a press briefing
he said that no concrete means have been developed yet, but expressed a hope
that such interaction would come soon.
Abrahamyan said the UAR hopes to open an affiliate office in Yerevan soon, but
that it will not be engaged in politics.
`There are many politicians here as it is,’ he said, at the same time
adding: `We cannot but participate in the political processes of the country,
since more than 400,000 citizens of Armenia live in Russia today.’ According
to Abrahamyan, the organization led by him will provide assistance in the
holding of parliamentary and presidential elections in Armenia, `without
breaking the laws of Armenia.’
The visit also offered a chance for Abrahamyan to reveal the little-known
details of his involvement in the June release of Armenian commercial airline
pilots and crew who were held for more than a year in Equatorial Guinea.
He said the release of the men had cost him a sizable `investment’ in the
economy of the African state. `I have fulfilled by 100 percent my promises to
the president of Equatorial Guinea,’ he told the media. `We have invested more
than $2 million in building a water-supply system in that country.’
Abrahamyan is currently leading a similar initiative in Nigeria where a group
of Russian sailors are in jail on smuggling charges. Abrahamyan said he will
be in Nigeria when the trial of the sailors begins later this month and will
work towards their release.
But he added: `Money alone cannot buy freedom of prisoners. It requires a lot
of work and many people’s involvement.’
In an address to the public, party and state organizations of Armenia, the WAC
chairman reiterated the efforts of the worldwide Armenian Diaspora and the
people within Armenia to get the international recognition of the genocide as
well as thanked the states that have contributed to the cause.
Establishing a public organization of Diaspora Armenians and getting the
recognition of its status as an NGO registered in the UN and its corresponding
establishments, the WAC hopes to raise the efficiency of its efforts.
`We think that the necessary grounds for raising the level of our struggle,
i.e. raising the Armenian Question in international political and judicial
bodies – have already been laid through the WAC’s efforts and the efforts of
other public and political organizations of the Diaspora,’ Abrahamyan said.
WAC proposes convening a conference of representatives of public and political
organizations of the Diaspora, the Republic of Armenia and the NKR in Yerevan
next May to set up goals, structure, procedure rules and charter of this
organization.
The deadline for NGOs, party and state organizations to make concrete
proposals on the raised issue is set on November 15, 2005.
REAL TV?: `CUBE’ CAPTURES A VERSION OF `REALITY’ THAT HAS ARMENIA WATCHING AND
TALKING
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Five or more years since the genre became a sensation in other parts of the
world, Armenia audiences long deprived of the joy of voyeurism now have their
very own `reality TV’ program.
For nearly two weeks television sets within the reach of TV5, have been
burning to broadcast such intriguing and necessary information as whether
group hairdresser Knarik will come up with a new design for Michael, whose
hair this week was dyed in a pattern rather like a spider’s version of a
soccer ball.
The thrill of knowing what 16 bored youth have for lunch is mixed with the
edge-of-seat drama of whether the Armenian girl will show what she’s sleeping
in (having been careful to use the covers for, well, cover, to protect her
proper Armenian self from the 24-hour camera she agreed to live in front of
for 30 days).
The show is called `Cube’, and if local viewers aren’t captivated by the
actual program, they nonetheless cannot avoid its advertisement, looping
scores of time an hour in commercial rotation promising: `New Show! Exciting
Show! Reality Show! Wow!’
This is no scaled down model of tell all television, either. This,
scorekeepers, is international competition! Wow!
Contestants, a total of 16, were selected from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus,
Georgia; 4 girls and 4 boys are from Armenia.
The essential rules of the game are to not get drunk (200 grams of cognac or
vodka, or 400 grams of wine per day are the limit), don’t use physical
violence, no profanity and – this is crucial – no whispering. Within those
restrictions, viewers get to (as the advertisement faithfully
promises): `Watch them dance! Train! Argue! . . .’ And: Subscribers to the
Super System satellite network can watch the action 24 hours a day. Wow!
All of this takes place in a 1,000 square meter studio that includes one
bedroom for the guys and one for the girls, a gym, kitchen, bathrooms
(mercifully camera-free zones), and, in some designer’s inflated idea
of `reality’ in Armenia, two Jacuzzis.
This being the `Dali’ version (later versions will be based on other famous
art), Dali-esque decorations add surrealism to this `reality’. Twenty-four
cameras assure that nothing is missed, whether it’s a lover’s quarrel or
(especially) gossip about other cast members.
Particularly salacious this week was the breakup of Michael from Olga, as the
above-mention soccer head turned his affections to Yana. Prime time viewers
caught the spurned tears of Olga and the puppy-love joy of Yana.
At the end of the day, stress levels rise in Cubeland. That’s when each
contestant takes a pellet pistol, aims it at a lineup of fellow contestant
photographs, and `shoots’ the person he/she wishes to be dismissed from the
group. At the end of the week, the person whose photo is most bullet-riddled
is dismissed – pending, also, call-in votes from viewers.
TV5 won’t say how many calls the show gets, but ArmeniaNow’s unofficial
Cubecount puts it about 300 on one day and 600 on another.
`This is a big test, to live in a closed area for 30 days, to communicate with
the same people all the time, get along with totally unknown people, there are
times when you can’t get along even with your own sister,’ 22-year old
contestant Knarik Davtyan told ArmeniaNow.
Participants were selected by the organizers of the game (the board of
the `Armenia’ TV). Appearance was the main criteria. Fluency in Russian is
also required since, what `reality’ in Armenia would be accurate unless the
official language were Russian?
The show’s host, Mark Saghatelyan, says the aim of `Cube’ is to show `real
nature’ in different situations. (The aim, for contestants, however, is
somewhat less philosophical: They’re competing for a Grand Prize of $4,500.)
Saghatelyan promises that passions will become aroused as `Cube’ progresses.
Passions among viewers are also being inflamed. Whether Armenia needs such a
show has become a topic of café conversation and on Internet sites such as
Viewer Mariam Mkhitaryan, a 21-year old student says `Cube’ is the real
deal. `Go to any discotheque, the same thing goes on there; Russians have had
such shows long ago, it’s good we also got one, I would also like to take
part.’
Bryusov University classmate Anna Harutyunyan, argues that `Cube’ represents a
decline of Armenian moral values.
`As an Armenian girl I am ashamed when I see Armenians with half naked breasts
walking before the cameras, not to mention their lack of education, talking in
repulsive jargon, where every second word is `blin’ (a jargon word in Russian
meaning “pancake”, but also slang for “whore”).
Milena Arzumanyan says her 12 and 14 year old daughters are `Cube’ addicts,
who `do not move away from the TV set’.
`I am afraid they will begin resembling those clowns, since children always
have the longing to be shown on TV and this show says one should be at least
immoral to achieve it,’ says Arzumanyan, a pediatrician.
Hakob Ghazaryan, 18, says he calls the show regularly.
`It’s good we have a show like this,’ the teenager says, `but I don’t let my
sister watch it . . .’
THE SONG SURVIVES: SHMAVON AND HIS MEMORIES OF LIFE IN ZRCHI
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
He sings in a low voice, almost whispering, a song about Yaghluja mount. Tears
fall from his 93-year old eyes and wash away the present and take Shmavon
Sahakyan back to Zrchi, the foothill village of his distant youth.
Shmavon stops singing, and collects his thoughts, to tell his story without
confusion.
`I cannot forget our house, our yard, our orchards. I am thinking of them day
and night. It may happen that I see them again one day, but I don’t think I
will. I wish at least my son Samvel could go there to see it, I don’t know,
the whole world is making efforts today for these lands to be returned,’ he
says.
Samvel is Shmavon’s youngest son. He spreads on the table the map of Zrchi
drawn by Shmavon and says: `Everything is drawn in detail. Here was our
ancestral house, here was the watermill of the village that again belonged to
them. I think that one day I will certainly visit the village to see my
father’s birthplace.’.
Zrchi was one of the 859 villages of the Kars province (according to data from
1913). It was situated between the cities of Kars and Kaghzvan and home to
about 1,500.
Shmavon, the grandson of Mkrtich and Maro, says with pride that theirs was one
of the richest families in the village. He remembers his father, Sahak, and
mother, Noyem.
`My mother was very beautiful. They say that when my father brought my mother
to the village as a bride on horseback, his fellow-villagers said: `Hey, man,
what a marvelous woman you have brought!’ To preserve her beauty they even
bathed her in milk,’ says grandfather Shmavon and continues: `We had a van,
carts, many hectares of grain and barley fields.’
Color turns to black and white when the old man’s memory turns to `the
stampede’.
The Kars province of Western Armenia was near Eastern Armenia. Its location
made it more secure, or so it was supposed. The few such as Shmavon, left to
tell of villages like Zrchi, know terribly well that no Armenian territory was
safe against Ottoman Turk aggression.
`The massacres had begun long before 1918. News about brutalities was reaching
us. Like others my grandfather decided to take his family towards Alexandrapol
(today’s Gyumri), which was 50-60 kilometers away from where we lived,’ he
remembers.
They emigrated in April 1918, when Shmavon was six. There were four brothers,
including Shmavon – Hayko, Vagharshak, Vorontsov. They had one sister, Varsik.
In conditions of famine and poverty in Armenia the grandfather, grandmother,
uncle died.
The `rich’ family had lost everything by the time they settled down in
Armenia, in the village of Aramus (then later to a village, the name of which
Shmavon has forgotten, on the bank of the Akhuryan River).
Poverty became so severe that the father decided to take the family back to
Zrchi. There, they found only ruins.
`They plundered everything. We didn’t have anything for our living. I remember
how we took the logs of our house, hewed them and put on our backs. This is
1919 year. We were taking them to the mountain, to the Kurds who had their
yaylas (tents) and exchanging them for firewood and tan (the popular Armenian
drink made of yoghurt, water and salt) to have something to drink. We were so
hungry that we ate grass,’ he remembers.
Shmavon’s father saw the only salvation for his children in an orphanage.
`I feel as if it was yesterday. My father took us in turn on his back to the
other bank of the river Akhuryan. We also brought with us the sewing-machine
of our mother to sell it so that we could live for a few days,’ says Shmavon.
In the autumn of 1919, they were already in Gyumri’s orphanage with four
children, as he himself says in `polygons’district. His eldest brother Hayko
died still in `that country’ (Western Armenia). He had gone to Kaghzvan to
bring flour for his starving family. There he contracted cholera and died.
For 10 years, Shmavon lived in the Gyumri orphanage.
In 1935, Shmavon married Anechka Sahakyan, from the village of Azatan, near
Gymri.
Six years later, like thousands of other Armenians, Shmavon went to war. After
fighting for 5 years, he returned to Gyumri, where he and his wife Anechka
raised 4 children. His wife died in 1996. Today Shmavon has 10 grandchildren
and 14 great grandchildren.
With such a vital connection to the present, Shmavon lives more by the past.
His memories never betray him: `All of us in the orphanage had the same fate.
All of us had pain in our hearts. Many had lost all of their family. We became
more courageous as we gave hope to each other.’
The hand-drawn map is Shmavon’s inseparable companion. With shaking hands he
shows the school, the steep bank, the church, their house.
`My brightest memory is connected with my grandmother. Every morning she got
up, stoked the tonir and prepared a tan soup. Then, she baked lavash. We ate
and ran up the Yaghluja hill to play there.’
And again the sounds of a song are on his lips: `Yaghluja is high… Yaghluja
was our mountain.’
`PORTAL’ FROM POTS: NEW BOOK OFFERS FUN FACTS ON FAMILIAR FOOD
By Marianna Grigoryan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Who was the first foreign guest to attend an Armenian Party? What role did
coffee play in Armenian marriage rituals? What are the rules for toasting at
an Armenian party? What exotic herbs and fruits are sold in Yerevan markets?
Even if you think you know the answers to these and other quirky but
fascinating questions concerning Armenian culinary culture, you may find some
surprises in a new book that digs into the topic like David of Sassoon
into . . . Well, what exactly did the `Armenian Hercules’ eat? Read the book.
In `Armenian Food: Fact, Fiction & Folklore’, writers/researchers Irina
Petrosian and David Underwood unwrap the dolma, so to speak, on Armenian food
habits and give a context to the `why’ of rituals and recipes.
Don’t go looking for the `best matsun’ recipe or a chapter on how to choose a
pumpkin for ghapama.
The 272-page book, presented as `Hayastan’s first modern food guide written in
English,’ is not a recount of `how’ but a fresh look at `why’.
Why, for example, is the word for `eat’ also the word for `steal’ in Armenian?
Find the answer on page 226.
Irina Petrosian, a native of Armenia, is a professional journalist who has
written for Russian, Armenian, and US-based newspapers. She says that her
interest in the food culture of Armenia was inspired by the many questions
asked by her husband, David Underwood. He is from Indiana, USA, and has been a
newspaper staff member at The Indianapolis Business Journal and other American
publications.
`Our goal was to create an informative, easy-to-read narrative that would also
be entertaining,’ Underwood said. `When I first visited Hayastan six years
ago, I realized that there were no books written in English that fully told
the fascinating story about Armenia’s delicious foods. Most Armenia travel
guides barely touch the subject. The story of Armenian food is a portal into
Armenian life and culture.’
Petrosian says the book answers meaning behind the myth of cooking, while also
having fun with Armenian folklore.
`The way of the creation of the book is very interesting,’ Petrosian
says. `However, the most interesting thing to me was the opportunity as a co-
author of my husband to look at Armenian tradition and lifestyle from aside. I
saw many interesting things I wouldn’t notice before.’
The book was published in Yerevan, and is the result of two years of research
and writing.
`We carefully documented our sources with an extensive bibliography. In fact,
we compiled so much information, we could only include a fraction of it all in
this first edition,’ Petrosian said shortly before returning to the States
after several months with her family in Vanadzor.
What’s the story behind Winston Churchill’s purported love of Armenian cognac?
How did the USSR years influence the Armenian cuisine and further development
of the lifestyle?
Answers were collected by the authors during travels across Armenia to visit
ethnographers, restaurateurs, historians, housewives, even cab drivers and
tatiks (grandmothers) who work in bazaars. Hundreds of hours were spent in
musty libraries, pouring over ancient texts and tomes.
`It is quite amazing that there is an ancient Armenian fable that warns
against the concept of genetically-modified foods. It was one of many
remarkable discoveries we made while researching and writing this book,’
Underwood added. `In the United States, fruits like Red Delicious apples have
been altered to look red and ripe, even though they’re still green inside. As
we explained in our book, Armenian fruits and vegetables are natural and
delicious, untainted by such artificial, flavor-destroying processes. We think
that one of the most interesting sections is the descriptions of vegetables,
fruits and herbs that are virtually unknown to Westerners, like avelook, a
dried green that is sold in beautiful long braids.’
The first edition printing was aimed mostly for English-speaking tourists to
Armeina, but Petrosian says they hope to do a second, more colorful, version
in the USA.
For information on how to purchase a copy of `Armenian Food: Fact, Fiction &
Folklore’, write to [email protected].
FICTION ABOUT FACT: DIRECTOR HOPES `ARAKEL’ WILL BE TOOL FOR GENOCIDE
RECOGNITION
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
`Arakel’, a new fictional film about the Armenian Genocide, will make its
premiere October 15 in Yerevan’s Moscow cinema.
The director and his son have roles in the film
Director and screenwriter Zohrap Bek-Gasparent, of Yerevan follows in the
footsteps of director Atom Egoyan (`Ararat’) in using a fictionalized story to
tell of a real event that changed the history of a nation.
`It is a difficult and a painful topic to all us, and very few directors have
turned to the topic,’ Bek-Gasparents told ArmeniaNow. `Films are the most
powerful weapon to present our case to the world. We should do everything to
have `Arakel’ shown in Turkey as well.’
The film is based on the story of Bek-Gasparents’s great uncle, and is about
an Armenian family from Adana. The hero of the film – Arakel – falls in love
with their housemaid, which was an unacceptable thing for a traditional
Armenian family. The young man leaves his home and becomes a recluse.
In 1915 Arakel returns home finding everybody killed ruthlessly save for his
brother’s five year old son and his beloved girl. The road of refuge and
sufferings begins, but at the same time, their love affair also begins.
`They say the best film about war is the one where there are no shooting,’
says the 32-year old director. `My film is a historical melodrama. Of course
there are pictures of massacres, but the pivotal issue of the film is the
Armenian faith and the idea of survival by means of the power of love.
`Love and faith – these are the major ideas of the film that I show to present
the Armenians as Christians, whose first virtue is forgiveness, but only in
case the murderer accepts his guilt and asks for apology. If they confess
their guilt deeply understanding it, we will forgive for sure.’
The 80 minute film was shot in Stepanavan, Yerevan, Gyumri and near Lake Sevan
at a cost of $100,000.
Bek-Gasparents says big desire overcomes small budgets, adding that each
Armenian `should do our best, even the impossible, to come closer to the
recognition of the Genocide.’
Yerevan actors Karine Janjughazyan, Shahum Ghazaryan, Zaven Abrahamyan play
the major roles in `Arakel’; Zareh Bek-Gasparents, the director’s 5-yes-old
son, plays Arakel at 5.
`This film will take one step forward toward the solution of the hard issue of
recognition of the Armenian Genocide; this is a story of life that embodies
the tragedy of a whole nation, its faith and great love,’ says Armenian film
director Aram Jilavyan.
SPORT DIGEST: ARMENIAN SPORTSMEN BUSY IN INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Chess
An international chess tournament currently in progress in the capital of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Stepanakert, has drawn leading chess players from
Armenia, the United States, Russia, China, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain,
Finland, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and Moldova.
The ten-day event (October 1-11) is the second international chess tournament
to be held in Karabakh after last year’s Tigran Petrosyan Memorial (dedicated
to the 75th birthday of the twice world champion in 1963 and 1966).
The tournament is organized by the Chess Academy of Armenia in conjunction
with the Government of Nagorno Karabakh.
It consists of two tournaments (the `A’ and `B’) of ten players each running
in parallel.
Headlining the event are five players who have recently been rated 2700 or
more, namely the Grandmasters Ivanchuk (Ukraine’s top player), Aronian
(Armenia’s highest rated player), Dreev (perennial Russian team star), Sokolov
(the top Dutch player), and Bologan (Moldova’s number one).
`This tournament is very significant for the chess world,’ one of the
organizers of the event, member of the governing board of the Chess Academy of
Armenia Aram Hajian told RFE/RL this week. `There has never been a tournament
of this strength held anywhere in the Caucasus – in Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, nor has such a tournament been held in the Middle East. It is one of
the top chess events happening this year anywhere in the world.’
For live games, commentary and news from the tournament visit
Football
Armenia head coach Henk Wisman has invited national team players for training
assemblies beginning today (October 7) in preparation for next Wednesday’s
clash against Andorra – the last match for both teams in the World Cup 2006
qualifying campaign.
If Armenia manage to beat Andorra on October 12, they will be able to snatch
the sixth spot from the Andorrans who now occupy this place with five points
(before their last game in this qualifying campaign, Armenia have only 4
points after 11 matches played, a point less than Andorra, and lie bottom in
Group 1). A defeat or a draw in next week’s match will mean that Armenia will
finish last in the group.
Armenia and Andorra so far have played four times, with Armenia winning in all
the four matches, including a memorable 3-0 away victory in October 2001. In
the current qualifying campaign Armenia already beat Andorra in Yerevan – 2-1.
(According to the Football Federation of Armenia)
Wrestling
The world championships in Greco-Roman wrestling ended in the Hungarian
capital of Budapest recently. None of the seven athletes representing Armenia
managed to win medals. Meanwhile, Armen Nazaryan (60 kg) performing under
Bulgaria’s flag won the world champion’s title. (A1 Plus)
Weightlifting
Arayik Mirzoyan from Echmiadzin (62 kg) has won a silver medal in the European
junior weightlifting championships that began in Slovakia this week. Mirzoyan,
the son of Olympic champion Ogsen Mirzoyan, showed the result of 270 kg in
snatch, clean and jerk combination.
Mirzoyan was the first of the weightlifters representing Armenia to have
engaged in the competition. The team’s head coach Ashot Mkhitaryan and coach
Ogsen Mirzoyan expect good results also from the rest three athletes
representing Armenia – Aghvan Melkonyan from Gyumri (77 kg), Aren Hakobyan
from Vanadzor (more than 105 kg), and Tigran Martirosyan from Gyumri (69 kg).
(Armenpress)
Boxing
Armenian boxers had a successful performance in an international boxing
tournament that took place in the Czech city of Ostrava. Gabriel Tolmajyan (54
kg), Hrachya Javakhyan (60 kg) and Andranik Hakobyan (75 kg) won in their
weight categories. Artyom Hovhannisyan (64 kg) and Samvel Matevosyan (69 kg)
won the bronze. The only Armenian boxers who returned from the tournament
empty-handed are Artak Malumyan and Edgar Manukyan. (A1 Plus)