Author: Andres-Papazian

StarNewsOnline.com , NC
April 2 2011

Kure Beach couple looking forward to new assignment in Armenia

By Judy Smith
Special to the StarNews

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of articles about Kure
Beach residents Dave and Judy Smith’s experiences in the Peace Corps.

My husband, Dave, and I are a very small minority of Peace Corps
volunteers over the age of 65. While on assignment in Niger earlier
this year, we celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary.

We found Niger to be primarily a desert country possessing a harsh
climate, endless health challenges, frightening food scarcity,
overwhelming population growth and an unbelievable illiteracy rate.
Because of the people we met, we value the experience and gained an
overwhelming appreciation for life in the United States. The people
welcomed us to their villages with open arms and beautiful smiles,
immediately treating us as members of their family and giving us the
Nigerien names of Nassirou and Sherifa.

But Dave and I were in the small rural village of Bangou Banda, Niger,
for only eight days.

We had been officially sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers after
surviving 10 weeks of intense training and living in a thatched roof,
mud hut without electricity or running water. We had learned to eat
with our right hands only, and I learned to keep my knees covered at
all times as expected in a primarily Muslim culture.

We learned about malaria, dysentery and dehydration – and preventative
measures for each – as we adjusted to our new environment. We learned
the safe places to visit and the dangerous ones to avoid in the
capital city of Niamey since safety is a high priority with the Peace
Corps.

We each began learning and planning for our respective projects in
farming (Dave) and health (Judy). In fact, I assisted in the campaign
to immunize villagers who waited many hours in line to be protected
against meningitis, a rampant disease in Niger.

Dave was already in the process of teaching villagers how to grow food
during more than one season of the year to offset starvation during
those times. The most intense training for us involved learning the
local tribal language of our village, Zarma, and this was a major
effort for older adults. We enjoyed the training experience and
working with the local Nigerien trainers, the Peace Corps staff and
our 42 fellow volunteers, many of whom were recent college graduates.

We gained a new respect for these young people who, as we had done,
put their lives on hold to serve 27 months in the Peace Corps. Each of
us, regardless of our age, had the desire to work toward the goals set
forth by the Peace Corps when it was established 50 years ago despite
the stresses it placed on us as individuals.

Last January, on the eighth day of our service, Dave and I each
received phone messages advising us that due to safety and security
concerns in Niger, the Peace Corps Bureau in Washington, D.C., was
ordering evacuation of all 98 Peace Corps volunteers in Niger and
suspending service in the country indefinitely.

I found myself saying `wow’ and `oh, no!’ to the taped voice. We all
knew there had been a kidnapping and murder of two French
non-governmental workers in Niamey the week before. We knew the
incident had occurred not far from the Peace Corps Bureau and hostel
in Niamey and were aware of an 8 p.m. curfew for any Peace Corps
volunteers in the city. We also had been asked to inform the Peace
Corps Bureau in Niamey of any travels outside our villages and to the
capital city. Still, the evacuation was unexpected and abrupt.

Within two days of the call, Dave and I each packed what belongings we
could into our two allotted bags and gave everything else, including
food, to the villagers. We informed them that we were leaving
permanently and, no, it was not due to anything they had done or not
done.

That’s all we could say, and in our basic Zarma language, we did not
do that too well. That’s really all we knew, although we did learn
later that Peace Corps staff returned to each village and spoke with
the people about the evacuation and what it meant, and also to express
gratitude to them for being hosts.

We were soon picked up and taken to Niamey where we spent a restless
night at the Peace Corps hostel with 48 other volunteers. At 2 a.m. we
left for the Niamey airport and were flown to Rabat, Morocco, for a
transition meeting, where we’d learn of our options for continued
serviced with the Peace Corps. Exhausted, sad and a bit dismayed at
leaving the country so abruptly and so soon after getting settled into
the village, we shared emotions with the other volunteers, many of
whom had been in the country between six and 18 months and felt this
trauma with much more intensity.

Our plane landed in Casablanca, Morocco, which under other
circumstances would have been exciting and romantic. We were met by
Peace Corps Morocco staff and volunteers and whisked away to a bus for
a 90-minute ride to Rabat and Hotel Challah. Most of us had eaten
mostly rice for the past few weeks and, as we entered the hotel we
were immediately taken to a huge Mediterranean style buffet lunch. We
could not believe how beautiful and luscious the food looked. We had
not had significant meat, vegetables, milk or fruit for weeks, and all
of that was now before us.

In spite of being disgustingly dirty, we ate ravenously – all 48 of us
– until the buffet table was sadly empty. The hotel wait staff
probably knew little of our group’s story or that 50 more Peace Corps
volunteers would arrive in two days to repeat the same actions.

For the next week we met and gradually learned of options we had with
the Peace Corps. A few volunteers opted to not pursue other
assignments, and a small number were immediately placed in open
positions around the world. Many of us returned to the U.S. to
re-enroll and await new, expedited assignments.

Dave and I have now been reassigned to Armenia in Eastern Europe with
departure from the U.S. June 1. We will begin another 27-month
journey, starting with three months of training, just as we did in
Niger.

Niger and Armenia vary from each other in almost every possible way –
climate, culture, religion, language, health concerns and job
assignments. Dave will work in small business development and I will
teach English as a foreign language to high school students.

We expect the Armenian people to be just as welcoming as the Nigerien
villagers. We’ve started studying our new language, Eastern Armenian,
which includes learning a new alphabet, just like children who start
to school in the U.S.!

Our challenges as Peace Corps volunteers in Armenia will be different
– cold winters rather than year-round heat, Eastern Armenian rather
than Zarma and mountainous terrain versus sandy deserts.

We read that there will be art, music and wonderful food in Armenia.
We are enjoying our unexpected sabbatical and relish the travel we are
pursuing to visit our children, other family members and friends.

We miss Niger and its people but are eagerly anticipating June 1 and
entrance into another part of the world through service with the U.S.
Peace Corps.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
April 2 2011

Armenia not affected by Mediterranean Sea earthquake

April 02, 2011 | 14:37

On April 1, at 5:29 p.m. Moscow time, a 6,3 magnitude earthquake hit
the Mediterranean Sea, Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research
Institute at Bogazici University reports.

The first tremor was registered in Turkey, particularly in the
province of Antalya, Mugla, as well as in Greece, Cyprus and Egypt.

The Armenian Seismic Protection Service did not record a tremor, the
Armenian Emergency Situations Ministry informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
April 2 2011

Armenian intellectuals stage sit-down strike in Liberty Square

April 02, 2011 | 14:42

A sit-down strike, organized by Armenian intellectuals, will start
today in Liberty Square of Yerevan. The MP from Heritage Party Larisa
Alaverdyan, ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan and scientist Anahit
Tonoyan will open the event.

`They will continue protest action staged by Raffi Hovannisian,’
spokesperson for Heritage party Karine Hakobyan told Armenian
News-NEWS.am.

Leader of Heritage Party Raffi Hovannisian went on 15-day hunger
strike in March.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
April 2 2011

Armenian Government must support science, researcher says

April 02, 2011 | 13:53

Armenian science should not hope for foreign grants, but it is the
Armenian Government that must support scientists, Armen Sargsyan, a
researcher, Institute of Physiology, Armenian National Academy of
Sciences (ANAS), told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

`We can often hear that foreign grant programs are a way out of the
crisis for Armenian scientists. It is an erroneous opinion, however. I
have wide experience in using foreign grants. They must be aid rather
than the principal financing,’ A. Sargsyan said.

He pointed out severe competition for grants as many scientists
present high-quality papers. One more problem facing scientists is to
find partners abroad. `For example, a grant issued by the Council of
Europe requires a European partner. Other grants require partners from
at least four countries, which is difficult even for famous
scientists,’ A. Sargsyan said.

`To establish contacts and reach agreements, scientists have to take
part in international conferences. Hardly any scientist will start
cooperating after receiving an e-mail message from an unknown person
when he does not even know where this particular country is,’ A.
Sargsyan said. The Government must sponsor scientists’ participation
in conferences.

`The Government must allocate as much funds to scientific centers as
they need to send at least three to four scientists to international
conferences a year,’ the Armenian scientist said. He pointed out a
more serious reason why foreign grants must not be hoped for.

`Why should the French Government sponsor Armenian science? They have
their own interests – using our scientists’ work and ideas and
applying them in France. If they give money, they enjoy the result.
You have to prove your work is useful for Europe rather than for
Armenia,’ A. Sargsyan said.

`It is a tale that the Armenian Government has no money. No one
believes it. If they can give U.S. $500,000 to Swiss scientists as an
award, they have money,’ A. Sargsyan said.

From: A. Papazian

Day Press News , Syria
April 2 2011

The riches of Syria
(Simon Scott Plummer | Dp-News The telegraph)
The modern state of Syria, now the focus of so much Western interest,
lies on one of the great crossroads of history. Babylonians, Hittites,
Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs,
Ottomans and the French have all made their mark.

This extraordinary procession of civilizations has left the country
with an astonishing range of monuments and a mosaic of religious
beliefs and ethnic groups. The majority of the population are Sunni
Muslims but there are Shia Alawite, Druze and Ismaili minorities.
Armenians, Turkmen and Circassians add to the mix.

Aleppo, Syria: hotels, restaurants and packages
Preserving Heritage
Syria holiday
Syrian Private Luxury Holidays

The Christian presence is diminishing but even more varied. The
skyline of the Jdeide quarter of Aleppo is punctuated by the domes of
Maronite, Greek Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Gregorian Armenian and
Syrian Catholic churches. In the village of Maalula, Arabic has only
recently replaced Aramaic, which was spoken by Christ, as the language
of communication. And in Straight Street in Damascus, you can visit
the supposed house of Ananias, where Paul took refuge after his
conversion to Christianity, eventually escaping the wrath of the Jews
in a basket lowered from the city walls.

As well as its demographic mix, history has bequeathed to Syria an
extraordinary variety of monuments. Many will be familiar with the
Roman ruins at Palmyra and Apamea, but these are spring chickens
compared with the Bronze Age sites of Ebla, Mari and Ugarit.

Looking forward from the classical era, there are the wall paintings
of the synagogue of Dura Europos, now in the National Museum in
Damascus; the Byzantine ruins of Serjilla and of St Simeon’s
Monastery, where one of the sternest ascetics in history spent years
on a platform on top of a column; and the fortresses thrown up by the
Emperor Justinian in the desert and on the cold, green waters of the
Euphrates at Resafe and Halebiye.

For those with an interest in medieval castles, Syria is the
apotheosis. For its site, beauty of stone and ingenuity of design,
Krak des Chevaliers must take the palm. But in Marqab, its walls as
black as the volcanic rock on which it stands, Sahyun, with its 90
ft-deep rock-cut ditch, and the massive rectangular keep of Safita,
western Syria, has a wealth of castles second to none. They are only
rivaled by the fortifications built by Edward I in North Wales, but
these cannot match the scale of their Crusader cousins.

Gigantism is a feature of Syrian monuments and in this respect the
Arabs have proved no slouches. The centre of Aleppo is dominated by a
citadel standing on a mound reinforced by a stone glacis and
surrounded by a huge ditch. Its gateway is a masterpiece of Arab
military architecture.

In the south of the country, near the Jordanian border, the fortress
at Bosra encompasses within its walls and towers a Roman theatre with
room for between 8,000 and 9,000 spectators. That combination sums up
the historic splendour of Syria.

Then there are the great civilian structures, outstanding among them
the souk at Aleppo; the Ummayad Mosque in Damascus, with its shrine to
John the Baptist and its tower named after Jesus; and the Ottoman
legacy of steam baths, none more splendid than the Hamman al-Nasri in
Aleppo.

In Aleppo, we wanted to stay in Baron Hotel, patronised by Lawrence of
Arabia, Agatha Christie, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Theodore
Roosevelt, and my 85-year-old uncle, Nigel Davidson, who had been
posted to Syria as a Scots Guards officer during the war.

I suggested that he played the veteran’s card. The receptionist was
melancholic but said he could give us two rooms on the first floor.
The hotel was at that time extremely dilapidated. The wiring was
primitive and the bulb in the bedside lamp emitted only five watts of
light. Removing the plug from the bath simply let the water out onto
the floor. And the iron railings of the balconies rocked in their
wooden supports.

Two nights later, my uncle and I went to a nightclub which he
remembered from the 1940s. Called the `Casbah Folys’, it featured a
bored Russian troupe and a charming Syrian belly dancer. When we left
the place, my uncle regretted not having bought her champagne.
It’s a country that leaves an impression like no other. Let us hope
that, however the present crisis is resolved, it is without more
bloodshed and destruction.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
April 2 2011

Logic gaining upper hand over emotions in Baku, Armenian Deputy FM says

April 02, 2011 | 14:21

Logic is gaining the upper hand over emotions and unpromising childish
approaches in Baku, RA Deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan stated in an
interview with the Armenian Public TV as he commented on Azerbaijan’s
`softer’ statements on its intention to shoot down airplanes flying to
Stepanakert, as well as on the statements that Baku never used nor
will ever use force against civilian objects by Spokesman of the Azeri
foreign office Elhan Polukhov.

On March 31, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated that
Azerbaijan’s threats to shoot down airplanes are similar to ones by a
terrorist organization. He announced his intention to be the first
passenger of the first Yerevan-Stepanakert flight.

Thereafter, on April 1, Polukhov stated that Azerbaijan never used nor
will ever use force against civilian objects.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
April 2 2011

Azerbaijan not ready for constructive dialogue, Armenian Deputy FM says

April 02, 2011 | 17:10

Progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process depends on the sides’
readiness for a constructive dialogue. Azerbaijan, however, is not
ready for that, RA Deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan stated in an interview
with the Armenian Public TV. Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have done
their utmost to follow the way of mutual concessions, he said.

`First, it would be just to demand that Azerbaijan return the occupied
territories of Nagorno-Karabakh. The OSCE Minsk Group intends to send
a field mission to the area – the Azerbaijan-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh
territories – and the Co-Chairs re-affirmed their intention,’ Sh.
Kocharyan said.

`Secondly, it would be just if both the Armenian sides demanded the
return of the territories, which would prove Azerbaijan is not any
more trying to clear Nagorno-Karabakh of Armenians. Thirdly, a just
demand for recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh has not been made,’ the
Armenian Deputy FM said.

To save the Azeri authorities’ face, the mediators proposed a
`deferred referendum’, with its results to be accepted by all the
sides. `Finally, the Armenian President stated recently we are ready
to move forward on the basis of three principles: nonuse of force,
peoples’ self-determination and territorial integrity,’ Sh. Kocharyan
said.

What is Azerbaijan saying? Repeated statements on the use of force the
Armenian sides are not at all afraid of. Secondly, Azerbaijan has its
own interpretation of peoples’ self-determination, viewing
Nagorno-Karabakh only as part of Azerbaijan. Thirdly, Azerbaijan
accepts the principle of territorial integrity, putting it own
interpretation on it. There is no moving forward in this way, Sh.
Kocharyan said.

`And if I point out one more fact, namely, Azerbaijan’s repeated
attempts to discredit the OSCE Minsk Group and get other agencies to
put the issue on their agenda, it is obvious that prospects depend on
Azerbaijan’s constructive approach,’ Sh. Kocharyan said.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
April 2 2011

Argentinean judge sustains claim of Gregorio Hairabedian against Turkey

April 02, 2011 | 19:07

An Argentine federal judge declared `the Turkish state committed the
crime of genocide against the Armenian people between 1915 and 1923′.

Judge Norberto Oyarbide sustained a claim of Armenian descendant
living in Argentina. Gregorio Hairabedian filed a lawsuit against
Turkey demanding to learn fate of his 50 relatives who disappeared
during the Armenian Genocide.

The judge also stated Turkey should help Hairabedian get information
about his relatives, reports Diario Armenia, newspaper of Argentinean
Armenians.

On January 10, 2007, President of Argentina Nestor Kirchner approved a
draft bill marking April 24 as `Day of action for tolerance and
respect between people’.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
April 2 2011

Armenian Red Cross Society urges to assist those affected by Japan’s
devastating earthquake

April 02, 2011 | 19:55

The Armenian Red Cross Society urged compatriots to join the
international movement to assist those affected by an earthquake and
tsunami in Japan.

The funds may be sent to the account of Armenian Red Cross Society
Haybusinessbank-11500 00234040500, it said in a statement.

Secretary General of Armenian Red Cross Society Anna Yeghiazaryan
stressed that Armenian people remember the assistance bythe
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement during 1988
devastating earthquake in Armenia.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
April 2 2011

Foreign citizens involved in drug smuggling in Armenia

April 02, 2011 | 20:09

Last year, Armenian law-enforcers detained 62 drug smugglers.

The press service of the RA Prosecutor General’s Office informed
Armenian News-NEWS.am that 50 of them were foreign citizens: 49
Iranian citizens and one citizen of France. Five of the 12 Armenian
citizens arrested for drug smuggling had previous convictions.

In 2009, a total of 1,238 drug-related crimes were registered, with
968 of them solved. Last year, 1,524 crimes were registered, with
1,206 of them solved.

A total of 56.8 kg of drugs were confiscated in 2009, and 126.5 kg in
2010. In 2009, 780 people were prosecuted, with 854 prosecuted last
year.

Last year, 49 drug smuggling cases were registered in Armenia.

From: A. Papazian