Author: Andres-Papazian

ARMENIAN DEFENCE MINISTER MEETS US, BRITISH MILITARY EXPERTS

Mediamax
Dec 20 2010
Armenia

Yerevan, 20 December: Armenian Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan has
received a consultation group of the USA and Great Britain.

Mediamax was informed in the press service of the Armenian Defence
Ministry that the joint consultation group renders Armenia assistance
in the process of the Strategic Defence Review.

At the meeting they discussed issues, related to progress in the
sphere of review implementation, they coordinated spheres, which need
consultation assistance in 2011.

Consultation group was in Armenia on 13-18 December. Within the
framework of the visit, consultations were rendered concerning
realization of the last stage of the strategic review on Public
Awareness.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY: TENSION OVER US CHAMBER VOTE ON ARMENIAN MASSACRE

ANSAmed
December 21, 2010 Tuesday 3:01 PM CET
Italy

(ANSAmed) There is renewed tension between Ankara and Washington over
a vote scheduled for today in the American House of Representatives
on a resolution to recognise as ‘genocide’ the massacre of Armenians
by Ottoman Empire troops between 1915 and 1917. Turkey has always
denied that one and a half million Armenians killed were victims of
genocide and has always claimed that they died as part of a civil war.

The US Congress Commission of Foreign Affairs gave its verdict in
March with 23 votes in favour and 22 against resolution number 252.

The Presidency and the make-up of the House of Representatives will
change in the new year, with Presidency shifting to the Republican
party. This means that the motion voted by the Foreign Affaris
Commission automatically lapses. A number of Turkish commentators
say that it is this lapse that has lead the Speaker of the Chamber,
Nancy Pelosi, to accelerate the vote in favour of the motion, in
order to make it law.

All Turkish papers are reporting on the issue today, quoting the
letter sent yesterday by the Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, to
the US President, Barack Obama, in which the Turkish head of state
underlines that the approval of the resolution “could damage the
relations between the two countries”.

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIA INSTALLS AIR DEFENCE COMMAND CENTRE IN ARMENIA

Mediamax
Dec 20 2010
Armenia

Yerevan, 20 December: An Anti-Missile Defence Command Centre has been
opened in Armenia as a result of cooperation between the country’s
Air Forces and the 102nd military base of Russia, deployed in Armenia.

Mediamax was informed in the press service of the Ministry of Defence
that due to super modern equipment, this centre is capable of revealing
a threat to the air borders within a few seconds and coordinating
and managing destruction of the air targets.

Armenian Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan was present at the opening
ceremony of the command centre. He stressed that this is a new quality
dimension of military cooperation between Armenia and Russia, which
evidences strategic importance of the bilateral relations.

Defence Minister also participated in the opening ceremony of Armenian
buildings in one of the units of anti-missile defence of Armenian
Armed Forces, got familiar with the conditions of service and the
work of S-300 zenith-missile complexes.

Seyran Ohanyan visited the military-industrial enterprise and got
familiar with the work conditions of the military plane repair
production workshop.

From: A. Papazian

TURKISH EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON STEPS UP LOBBYING AGAINST ARMENIA BILL

Anadolu Agency
Dec 21 2010
Turkey

Washington DC, 21 December 2010: Turkey’s embassy in Washington DC
has intensified lobbying efforts against a possible approval of an
Armenian resolution at the US House of Representatives that calls
for the recognition of Armenian allegations over the incidents of
1915 back in the Ottoman Empire.

Diplomatic sources close to the ongoing efforts said Turkish ambassador
in Washington DC Namik Tan personally telephoned Congress members
to win their support against the resolution as the ambassador also
called former US secretaries of state and defence as well as national
security advisers.

The Turkish Embassy also had contacted officials with the US Chamber
of Commerce to have them exert pressure on Congress members and warn
them over possible damage of the resolution on business relations
between Turkey and the United States.

The resolution “H. Res. 252” – labelling the 1915 incidents which
took place shortly before the fall of the Ottoman Empire as genocide
– was approved by the Foreign Relations Committee of the US House of
Representatives by a vote of 23 against 22 last March.

The adoption of the resolution caused wide reaction in Turkey,
which recalled its ambassador, who returned to Washington, D.C. a
month later.

The resolution may come to the House floor on Tuesday on a call by
Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

From: A. Papazian

AZERI SPEAKER PROTESTS MEP’S VISIT TO KARABAKH

ANS TV
Dec 21 2010
Azerbaijan

[Presenter] The Milli Maclis [Azerbaijani parliament] has protested
against a recent visit to Azerbaijan’s occupied territories paid
by Tomasz Poreba, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the South
Caucasus countries. At a plenary session of the Azerbaijani parliament
held today, Speaker Oqtay Asadov said that this concern of official
Baku would also be reported to the head of the European Parliament,
Jerzy Buzek.

[Asadov, at parliament session] Without coordinating it with anyone,
member of the European Parliament Tomasz Poreba violated Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity, travelling from Armenia to Nagornyy Karabakh.

In Nagornyy Karabakh, instead of backing issues relevant to the
resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani problem over the Nagornyy
Karabakh, exerted a negative influence on these issues and showed
his narrow-mindedness. Therefore, I tell you that I, as parliament
chairman, have already instructed – I am preparing [changes tack] –
I express my protest and discontent to the president of the European
Parliament, Jerzy Buzek. Nagornyy Karabakh is within Azerbaijan’s
territorial framework, its territorial integrity, and no-one, all
the more so international organizations, has a right to violate
Azerbaijan’s rights.

From: A. Papazian

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Armenian-American Groups In Last-Ditch Push For Genocide Recognition

U.S. — A US flag is displayed in front of the Capitol during a Flag
Ceremony hosted by the Tea Party Patriots in Washington, DC, 02Nov2010
22.12.2010
Emil Danielyan

Armenian-American advocacy groups were making last-ditch attempts to
push a resolution recognizing the 1915 Armenian massacres in Ottoman
Turkey as genocide through the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, despite what
appeared to be slim chances of success.

Democratic leaders in Congress raised hopes last week that the outgoing
House of Representatives will pass the resolution, endorsed by its
Foreign Affairs Committee in March, before completing its tenure in
early January.

Contrary to some expectations, the House did not debate the bill opposed
by the White House on Tuesday, and chances of that happening on
Wednesday were uncertain. The agenda-setting House Rules Committee did
not schedule a vote on it as of Wednesday morning.

Aides to the House Minority Leader John Boehner said in a morning letter
to other Republican congressional offices that the chamber may still
consider the genocide resolution. However, one Armenian-American leader
told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that it will take a “miracle” for the
vote to go ahead.

The renewed prospect of the resolution’s passage set alarm bells ringing
in Ankara. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday that
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sent a letter to U.S. President
Barack Obama asking him to prevent the vote and saying it could damage
ties between the two allies.

“We cannot allow the resolution to hang over Turkish-U.S. ties like a
Sword of Damocles,” Davutoglu was reported to tell the Turkish parliament.

U.S. – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi leans in as U.S. President
Barack Obama signs the Iran Sanctions Act at the White House in
Washington, 01Jul2010

According to “Hurriyet Daily News,” Davutoglu discussed Ankara’s
concerns with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week. The
English-language paper said Turkish officials have been heartened by the
Obama administration’s opposition to the draft resolution that was
voiced by a State Department spokesman on Friday.

Despite repeated campaign promises given to the influential Armenian
community in the United States, Obama has refrained from publicly
describing the 1915 mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire as genocide. He has said only that he has not changed his
views on the highly sensitive subject.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs insisted on Tuesday that Obama has
not pressed Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other pro-Armenian congressional
leaders to block the genocide bill. “I do not believe that the president
has made any calls specifically on this, and I think his views on this
are known,” Gibbs told journalists.

The two leading Armenian-American lobby groups, meanwhile, stepped up
this week their efforts to push through the bill. One of them, the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), urged supporters to call
House majority leaders and demand its immediate passage.

“We continue to look to the House Democratic leadership to schedule a
vote allowing a bipartisan majority to adopt the Armenian Genocide
Resolution, honoring the victims of this crime and to paying tribute to
the proud legacy of America’s humanitarian response to this atrocity,”
Aram Hamparian, the ANCA executive director, said in a statement on
Tuesday.

“In the face of the continued denial campaign by the pro-Turkish lobby,
including defense industry representatives, we continue to press for an
affirmative vote,” Bryan Ardouny of the Armenian Assembly of America
said for his part.

The ANCA and the Assembly enjoyed the backing of at least 180 members of
the 435-strong House before this week. Armenian-American sources say
that support for the draft resolution among U.S. legislators began
growing on Monday and that its congressional backers outnumbered
opponents by a solid margin the next day.

But, they say, more than a hundred lawmakers, most of them sympathetic
to the pro-Armenian legislation, left Washington after a key budget vote
later on Tuesday, making the outcome of a possible resolution vote
highly unpredictable.

The Assembly is understood to be against putting the draft resolution to
a full House vote in these circumstances. Its leaders believe that a
defeat of the resolution would set the genocide recognition campaign
back by years.

U.S. — House Republican leader John Boehner speaks during the National
Republican Congressional Committee Election Night Results Watch event in
Washington, DC, 02Nov2010

“With Christmas here on Saturday, so many congressmen having left DC
yesterday and many other pro-resolution members planning to leave
possibly before a vote today would be scheduled complicates a vote,” a
senior Assembly representative told RFE/RL’s Armenian service from
Washington.

“We still see a majority voting for passage, but nobody wants to take a
loss in a floor vote in these circumstances,” he said. “The genocide
denial industry would like nothing better than defeating the resolution,
even in an unfair vote.”

The last-minute Armenian-American push for genocide recognition
reflected the realization that the next, Republican-dominated House of
Representatives will be extremely unlikely to adopt such a measure.
Republicans have traditionally been less supportive of Armenian causes
than their Democratic rivals. And virtually all Republican members of
the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted against the current draft
resolution in March.

Boehner, who is expected to become the next House speaker in January,
opposed a similar bill in 2007. News reports quoted him as saying at the
time, “I think bringing this bill to the floor may be the most
irresponsible thing I’ve seen this new Congress do this year.”

Opposition Party Raps Ter-Petrosian Bloc

Armenia — Zharangutyun party leaders Ruben Hakobian (L) and Stepan
Safarian at a press conference in Yerevan, 24Aug2010
22.12.2010
Tigran Avetisian

The opposition Zharangutyun (Heritage) party took a swipe at former
President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK) on
Wednesday, saying that it is seeking “hegemony” over other major
opposition forces through foul play.

Top Zharangutyun representatives drew parallels between the HAK’s
political strategy and the ruling Republican Party’s perceived attempts
to keep a tight rein over its junior partners in Armenia’s governing
coalition.

“Being one of the most important opposition forces, the HAK is
essentially doing what we see in the government camp,” said Ruben
Hakobian, the deputy chairman of the party led by former Foreign
Minister Raffi Hovannisian. He accused Ter-Petrosian’s bloc of spreading
“slander” against Zharangutyun.

“The HAK says that Levon Ter-Petrosian is the only alternative to the
existing president, that the HAK must be the only hegemonic force in the
future parliament, and all those in the opposition camp that … won’t
operate under the HAK’s tutelage are deemed beyond the opposition and
given labels. That could have very dangerous consequences,” Hakobian
told a news conference.

Both Hakobian and Zharangutyun’s parliamentary leader, Stepan Safarian,
said this will only make it easier for President Serzh Sarkisian and his
loyalists to retain control over Armenia’s parliament in the election
due in May 2012.

“If things continue like this, the main pre-election conflict will be
not between the opposition and the authority but within the authority
and within the opposition,” warned Safarian.

HAK spokesman Arman Musinian dismissed these claims as “totally
illogical.” “Let the society assess the veracity of such statements,” he
told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

Musinian said the Ter-Petrosian-led alliance bringing together 18 mostly
small opposition parties is ready to work together with any political
group sharing its goals. “If this elementary strategy is difficult to
understand, then I can only wish them a fruitful fight against that
monopolization [of opposition activity,]” he scoffed.

The verbal attacks are another indication of a deepening rift between
the two opposition forces. Zharangutyun backed Ter-Petrosian during the
2008 presidential race and the ensuing government crackdown on his
opposition movement. Relations between the party and the HAK have
substantially cooled since then.

In a July speech, Zharangutyun’s top leader, Raffi Hovannisian, stated
that Ter-Petrosian, his presidential successor Robert Kocharian and
President Sarkisian share responsibility for Armenia’s political and
socioeconomic problems. Hovannisian also did not rule out his
participation in the next presidential ballot due in 2013.

Armenian Foreign-Language School Bill Passed

Armenia — MInister of Education Armen Ashotian faces a protest against
the foreign-language school bill outside parliament, Yerevan, 04Jun2010
22.12.2010
Karine Kalantarian

The National Assembly adopted in the final reading on Wednesday a
controversial government bill allowing the existence of a limited number
of foreign-language schools in Armenia.

The bill involving amendments to two Armenian laws met with fierce
resistance from opposition and civic groups as well as prominent public
figures after being unveiled by the government in May. Critics believe
that it would jeopardize Armenian’s constitutionally guaranteed status
as the country’s sole official language.

The outcry led the government to water down the proposed amendments
before pushing them through parliament in the first reading in June. In
particular, the government agreed to restrict to two the number of
foreign-language private schools that would be allowed to operate in the
country.

The altered bill also stipulates that up to nine foreign-language high
schools can be opened elsewhere in Armenia in accordance with
inter-governmental agreements signed on a case-by-case basis.

The changes failed to satisfy the critics, who have staged street
protests outside the parliament and government buildings in Yerevan.
They have vowed more protests and legal action against the bill.

“The law contains no threat to our national identity, the preservation
of the Armenian language or the development of our national school,”
Education Minister Armen Ashotian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service after
the parliament wrapped up final debates on the issue on Tuesday.

Parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamian said the government has addressed
critics’ concerns and echoed government arguments that foreign-language
schools will help reverse a post-Soviet decline in educational
standards. “We will be more flexible in the organization of education,
more competitive and more receptive to the best international education
programs,” Abrahamian said during the debates.

The two opposition parties represented in the 131-member legislature
remained adamant in rejecting the bill. “With this package, we are
clearing the way for the entry of [foreign] sects into our language
sphere as well,” said Artsvik Minasian of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun). “And this is a matter of national security.”

All of the two dozen lawmakers affiliated with the Dashnaktsutyun and
Zharangutyun parties boycotted Wednesday’s parliament vote on the bill.
But it was backed by 69 other deputies representing the parliament’s
pro-government majority.

Armenia To Upgrade More Hospitals With World Bank Funding

Armenia — A newly refurbished hospital in Goris, 22Dec2010.
22.12.2010
Emil Danielyan

The World Bank has approved a new $19 million loan for Armenia that will
be used for upgrading more hospitals and smaller medical centers outside
Yerevan.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the bank said the low-interest
loan will finance the second phase of an Armenian government program to
modernize underfunded and obsolete healthcare facilities across the
country. The government will contribute $6.3 million of its own
resources to the effort, it said.

The statement specified that the funding will be mainly spent on
building a new hospital in Gyumri and providing modern equipment to
hospitals in a dozen other Armenian towns. The money will also be used
for improving physical conditions of 14 rural ambulatories and
retraining their personnel, it said.

World Bank officials said the release of the fresh loan repayable in 25
years was made possible by the success of the first phase of the
healthcare project launched three years ago. The bank lent Armenia $22
million for that purpose in late 2007. The sum is due to be utilized in
full by the end 2012.

The Armenian government has already refurbished five regional hospitals
with World Bank funding over the past year. One of them, located in the
southeastern town of Goris, was inaugurated by President Serzh Sarkisian
and Health Minister Harutiun Kushkian on Wednesday. The government put
the total cost of the facility’s modernization at about $3 million.

According to the World Bank statement, more than 150 rural health
centers have also received new medical equipment, furniture and other
necessary items as part of the scheme. “Under the World Bank project,
1200 family doctors and more than 1300 family nurses have been trained,”
it said.

“The process of modernization of hospitals in the regions has already
resulted in a consolidation of services, improvement in efficiency and
reduction of costs, better access to quality health care in five regions
of Armenia,” Asad Alam, the World Bank director for the South Caucasus,
was quoted as saying.

The latest loan underlined the bank’s status as Armenia’s leading
external lender and, in particular, the main source of funding for badly
needed infrastructure projects. It raised to more than $1.4 billion the
total amount of loans disbursed to the country by the Washington-based
multilateral institution since 1993.

Press Review

22.12.2010

“Zhamanak” says most Armenians have no expectations of positive change
from the latest changes within their government. The paper says they
regard the high-profile sackings as being part of an “intra-government
squabble” that has no bearing on their day-to-day lives. But it believes
that the Armenian citizens should capitalize on President Serzh
Sarkisian’s latest pledges to combat corruption and tackle injustice in
order to “enhance their significance as a factor of influence on the
domestic political life.”

“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” notes that no government official has stated
that any of those sackings had something to do with corruption. This is
so, it says, because “corruption is a felony that requires a criminal
case.” “If those [sacked] people are corrupt, where is a court ruling?
If they are not, then on what front is Serzh Sarkisian fighting against
corruption?” asks the opposition paper.

In an interview with “Hraparak,” the national police chief, Alik
Sargsian, dismisses as “slander” speculation about his impending
sacking. “I don’t think that I will be dismissed at this point,” he
says. “There has never been such talk. I visited the president of the
republic several days ago. I received normal treatment, normal
instructions that are not connected with one or two days, that are
connected with the coming months and even year.” Sargsian also says that
he will not agree to take up a less high-ranking government position in
case of his dismissal.

“Aravot” reports that the European Court of Human Rights is close to
accepting an appeal from Mushegh Saghatelian, an Armenian opposition
figure who was jailed in 2008 and released on parole last month. His
lawyer, Vahe Grigorian, is quoted as saying that the Strasbourg court
has sent written inquiries to the Armenian government regarding
Saghatelian’s suit.

“In the Armenian market, small and medium-sized companies and individual
entrepreneurs carry the biggest tax burden,” writes “Kapital.” “Such a
conclusion is contained in a tax study conducted by the International
Finance Corporation.” The business daily say the IFC called for specific
reforms that would “simplify the tax process and improve the overall
business environment in Armenia.” “The corporation expects that its
study will help Armenia’s government identify the areas that need to be
improved,” it says.

(Aghasi Yenokian)

Reprinted on ANN/Groong with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2010 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN PROTESTS TO EU AFTER RAPPORTEUR’S VISIT TO KARABAKH

APA
Dec 21 2010
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has protested to the EU following a visit by a member of
the latter’s parliament to its breakaway region, the Baku-based APA
news agency reported.

It quoted the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press service as saying
that the head of the representative office of the European Union and
the Polish ambassador to Azerbaijan had been invited to the ministry on
21 December and given a note of protest following the visit by Tomasz
Poreba, Polish member of the European Parliament and rapporteur on
the South Caucasus, to Armenian-controlled Nagornyy Karabakh.

From: A. Papazian

TURKISH PM SAYS DEVELOPMENTS ABOUT US ARMENIAN BILL WATCHED CLOSELY

Anadolu Agency
Dec 21 2010
Turkey

Ankara, 21 December: “Of course, we are following the process. It is
not on the agenda now. But, it certainly does not mean that it will
not be eventually placed on the agenda. Something may happen at the
last minute. We are closely watching now. We are keeping a close eye on
it.” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said about the possibility
of a draft resolution about the incidents of 1915 amid speculation
that it may be placed on the agenda of the US House of Representatives.

Erdogan and Syrian Prime Minister Naji Itri also responded to questions
put by journalists at a news conference held at the Prime Minister’s
Office.

“Have you received a response to your letter to US President Obama
about the pro-Armenian resolution? The official agenda of the House
of Representatives does not include an item indicating that the
pro-Armenian resolution will be debated. There are signs that they
are in the Christmas mood. There are reports that the US President has
flown to Hawaii. Have you had any contact and received a signal that
the draft resolution will not be put on the agenda?” a reporter asked.

Erdogan replied: “Of course, we are following the process. It is not
on the agenda now. But, it certainly does not mean that it will not
be eventually placed on the agenda. Something may happen at the last
minute. We are closely watching now. We are keeping a close eye on it.

But, we have always been told that Nobel is about peace and affection.

I believe that those who advocate peace and affection will stand
by them.”

From: A. Papazian

THE VISIT THAT NEVER ENDS
by Emily Yoffe

Slate Magazine
December 21, 2010 Tuesday

Soon you’ll be home for Christmas, sleeping in your childhood bed for
a few days, or camping on some relative’s basement sofa. Millions
of Americans caught in the Great Recession, however, have been
experiencing a visit home that never ends. They are living like the
Waltons, the fictional Depression-era family that had three generations
under one roof, and which frequently took in lost, flat-broke souls.

We asked Slate readers who have had to return home or who have
taken in friends or relatives to tell us what it’s like to live in a
multi-generational household. We heard from people who are now staying
with grandparents, parents, in-laws, siblings, and friends. These
impromptu arrangements can mean the difference between a warm bed and
living in the car, but the experience is emotionally roiling. People
described alternating surges of shame and gratitude, their relief at
having a safe place to land tempered by worry about ever being able to
get out. Many people wrote of unexpected, sweet moments of connection
they never would have experienced in better times. But just as often,
they hoped for those better times to return, so that they can get
their stuff out of boxes and kiss their loved ones farewell.

“Hey, Baby, I’m Unemployed and I Live with My Parents.”One effect
of the recession not captured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is
what living with your parents does to your eligibility as a romantic
partner. A few years back, a reader who calls himself Rajni put
his administrative career in higher education on hold to follow his
successful girlfriend as her career took her around the country. They
broke up, and he moved in with his parents for what he thought would
be a few months until he landed a job. Then the recession landed,
and now he is heading toward year three of living at home. He writes,
“I never imagined I’d be unmarried at 37. When I hear the slurs we
use for adults living at home, like ‘man-child’ or ‘mama’s boy,’
they sting, even though I don’t think they apply to me. Still, I know
most women want an established man with a great career. Even if I’m
emotionally mature with great life experiences, my unemployment makes
me a work-in-progress. I used to think I was a catch; every passing
month makes me less of one. Should I try to make my case on Match.com
with brazen, unemployed honesty? With a profile picture that’s got
my folks in the background, holding a sign that says ‘It’s not as
bad as it looks’?”

Grandpa, His Lady Friend, and MeThe downturn has been particularly
brutal for young people entering the job market. Those who went to
graduate school knew they’d be taking on huge debt, but they saw it
as in investment: Their degrees were supposed to allow them to choose
among the most alluring jobs. Laura Sankey graduated from law school
in 2009, but after a fruitless 18 months attempting to start her
legal career, she is now looking for jobs unrelated to the law, and
her hard-earned degree now feels like “$100K of gambling debt.” She
is being kept afloat by the fact that her grandfather has a big,
mostly empty house. Her belongings are stacked in his garage, and
she lives in his basement.

“Most nights, he goes over to his lady friend’s house for dinner and
a movie or TV program-they both are big fans of Jon Stewart and The
Office. I often get invited, and I usually tag along about one night
a week,” she writes. Grandpa pays for the utilities and keeps the
kitchen stocked, and Sankey, a vegetarian, does her part by cooking
him occasional dinners. “He’s of a meat-and-potatoes generation,
so when I cook for us both, his first impression is always, ‘This
looks … interesting,’ with a bit of a raised eyebrow. He’s always
game to eat what I make, though he’s vetoed any tofu recipes.”

She feels indebted to her grandfather and despairs about how to get
on with her life. “I hate that I turned 29 a couple weeks ago and I’m
once again dependent on my family for my survival. I know that I’m
lucky to have family to fall back on, and that there are plenty of
people who are much worse off than I am. It’s hard not to feel like
I’m taking advantage, though, no matter how much my grandpa claims
there’s no problems with me being there.”

One of Sankey’s biggest fears is that the rest of her relatives,
struggling to keep a family business afloat, might also find themselves
in need of her grandfather’s largesse, “I’m crossing my fingers that
my grandpa’s house doesn’t fill up with my parents, brother, aunts,
uncles or cousins, since we’re all just barely holding it together.”

“Any Plans for Dinner?”It’s easy to understand the anguish of people
who are forced to move back in with their family. But one letter
from a middle-aged father who wishes to remain anonymous tells how
draining this life-sustaining hospitality can be for the hosts. Two
years ago, Mr. X’s daughter and son-in-law moved into his house, where
he and his wife work out of home offices. Even though the son-in-law
has finally landed a job, long-term unemployment has left the young
couple’s finances in such shambles that they can’t afford a deposit
for an apartment of their own. So their elliptical trainer continues
to dominate the family room, and their stuff spreads through the house.

Mr. X writes, “My work day is punctuated with one or both of the young
relatives appearing to ask, ‘What are we doing for dinner?’ which
means, ‘What are you providing for us today?’ ”

He worries about how long it will be before the economy will be
strong enough for his children to live on their own and pay off
their student debt. And he contemplates what could be a great real
estate idea for aging parents and their underemployed adult children:
“Maybe the new fad will be the construction of ‘children’s apartments’
in retirement homes.”

He adds, “Please say something on behalf of the millions of people
who are doing this proudly, if not always completely happily, for
their kids. And when those kids say, as Peggy Lee did, ‘Is that all
there is?’ when they get their inheritance, hopefully it will come
with a note reading, ‘You spent it all in the Great Recession.'”

Built-In BabysittersThree years ago, Autumn and her husband were newly
discharged from the military and trying to figure out their transition
to civilian life. So they took up her divorced mother-in-law’s
invitation to move into an existing multigenerational household. The
mother-in-law lived in an apartment attached to her parents’ house;
the young couple was offered the upper floors of the home. Two children
later, there are now four generations under one roof.

“While I felt defensive at first, I no longer do when I explain why we
live like this. It was refreshing to hear from a foreign coworker that
living any other way would be abnormal in his culture,” she writes.

Yes, there have been adjustments. In deference to the sleeping habits
of their older relatives, the young couple no longer hosts late night
parties. Then there was the time she had to let out a sick dog in the
middle of the night: “That was the same time Grandpa decided to walk
to bathroom in his birthday suit because, hey, that’s how he slept
in his own house and why would anyone be up?” She says such living
situations are not for controlling personality types, but adds:
“With patience, humor, and extra bathrobes it can be a blessing.”

The blessings are charmingly quotidian: “Once in a while, the laundry
fairy visits and my clothes have magically moved from the dryer and
are folded in a basket at the bottom of the stairs.” Most important
is the relationship her children have with their grandmother and
great-grandparents. “My 2-year-old enjoys going downstairs in the
morning in her footie pajamas to sneak a piece of bacon from the early
risers. They entertain her, or, more accurately, she entertains them
until I’ve had a coffee fix.” Autumn knows this arrangement is not
permanent. But, she says, “This time is a gift that I wouldn’t trade
for any McMansion.”

A Friend IndeedHaving a single woman friend move in with a married
couple is a premise well-suited to farce. But Leslie realized there was
nothing farcical about the financial situation of a friend who lost
her job 18 months ago. The friend qualified for a worker-retraining
program, but there was no way she could afford both tuition and
rent. Leslie and her husband had an empty guest room, so they offered
her a place to stay rent-free while she completed her studies and
looked for work.

Before the move, Leslie and her husband worried that a strange power
dynamic might develop with a friend who would be living on their
largesse. Other questions also loomed: “Would we resent her presence?

Would we feel like we couldn’t make noise during sex? What if she met
a guy we didn’t like and started having him sleep over all the time?”

Instead, Leslie has found, “We are simply all adults who try to be
considerate of each other. We keep the common areas clean, have a
Saturday morning brunch ritual which includes NPR’s Wait, Wait …

Don’t Tell Me!. We had a good time integrating her belongings with
ours and rearranging the house so that it reflects all of us.”

Occasionally Leslie and her husband treat themselves to a hotel for
some private time, and her friend’s been too busy with school work
to do much dating. Leslie says of the experience, “We’ve become more
than friends-we’ve become a second family. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Our Ceramic Toothbrush HolderWhen people move in with friends or
family, they must often say goodbye to their possessions, if only
temporarily. The first night after Caitlin Seidler and her boyfriend
moved into his parents’ place, she tried to imagine all the belongings
she had boxed up and put in storage: “Our ceramic toothbrush holder,
our rubber spatula, our set of juice glasses with red roosters painted
on them. I genuinely missed these things.”

Seidler and her boyfriend had two years of graduate school ahead of
them and his parents had offered to host them so they could pay for
their studies without going broke. It all made sense, but Seidler soon
got tired of her fellow students’ reaction to her living arrangements:
“It was usually accompanied by a facial expression that indicated the
person would rather dive into a pool of glass shards then find herself
in my situation. And then there was the frequent follow-up question:
‘Do they let you sleep in the same room?’ ” (Yes.)

The couple got engaged and later married, all the while still living
with his parents. Over the years, Seidler came to appreciate the
financial wisdom of their offer, realizing that she and her husband had
saved about $40,000 in living expenses. Seidler and her husband are
a success story. They completed their studies, both found good jobs
in their field (education), and today they have their own place in
another city. As they contemplate eventually having a family of their
own, Seidler says her in-laws are “a model for the type of parents
we’d like to be.” Oh, and when Seidler finally reopened her boxes
two years later, she realized, “Most of the items, I had forgotten
about completely.”

Soviet StyleIn late 2007, Shannon Mitchell and her husband could no
longer afford the rent on their apartment. Mitchell, who works in
public relations, and her husband, who is a contractor, were expecting
their first child. They moved in with Mitchell’s grandmother-in-law,
an Armenian emigre who had lived under Soviet rule and who ruled her
house Soviet-style, too. “She owned a dishwasher, but used it to
store her tinfoil and wax paper; owned an oven, but kept her pots
and pans in it, preferring to use the stove top alone for cooking;
and owned a dryer, but used a clothesline religiously. Consequently,
hubby and I were not allowed to use these items, either. So I had to
wash dishes and baby bottles by hand, learn to make food on a gas
range, and ended up needing surgery on my knee after stepping in a
hole in the lawn while hanging laundry,” Mitchell writes.

Grandmother also believed that artificially warming or cooling the
house is bad for the body and definitely bad for the budget, so there
was no air-conditioning in the summer and no heating in the winter.

Fortunately, Grandmother no longer lived in Armenia but in southern
California. Her frugality was extreme. “When clothing became too old
to wear anymore, it was cut into squares and stored in the bathroom
as toilet paper. When she goes walking she brings a bag along to
collect bottles and cans for recycling.”

Mitchell and her family stayed for two years, but while they were hard
years, she says she learned many valuable lessons. Grandmother had
survived deprivation Mitchell could only imagine; she was a magnificent
cook, and she allowed Mitchell to stand in the kitchen and be the first
to write down the family’s Armenian family recipes. “She taught me how
to be a penny pincher, although you won’t catch me looking through
my neighbors’ garbage. But I do now know where to shop for fresh,
inexpensive fruit and veggies, how to get the most out of my local
markets, and to not be afraid of the thrift stores. Her wisdom has
rubbed off on me and made me a better person.”

A Do-Over “Rajni,” the 37-year old who worries about finding both
love and work, ended his letter with some thoughts on what it means
to be living with his parents a second time around. “Who gets a
do-over with his parents? After the first few months we figured out
how not to drive each other absolutely crazy, and since then we’ve
had these moments to reminisce and even share new experiences. I’ve
done landscaping with Dad, helped babysit my niece, obsessed over
the election with Mom. I’m surrounded by pictures of us together 10,
20, 30 years ago. And here they are now, pushing 70. For the first
time I see that not only will I not be young forever, I won’t have
them too much longer. I still desperately want to find new work,
move out, and start a family with all I now know. But I wish every
adult could spend a few months at midlife with his or her parents,
just to love them, or settle things, or share a few last moments.”

From: A. Papazian

OSCE OFFICE TO PRESENT SURVEY ON PERCEPTION OF CORRUPTION IN ARMENIA’S HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM

States News Service
December 21, 2010 Tuesday
YEREVAN

The following information was released by the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE):

An OSCE-supported study aiming to raise awareness and promote
discussion on corruption in universities and to involve students
in monitoring cases of corruption in universities will be presented
on Wednesday.

Carel Hofstra, the Deputy Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan and
Armenia’s Education and Science Deputy Minister Karine Harutyunyan
will open the event. Representatives of the student working group who
conducted the survey will present their findings and recommendations.

Journalists are invited to the report presentation followed by a
news conference at 15:00, on Wednesday, 22 December, at ‘Novosti’
International Press Centre (Vardanants 7, Yerevan, Armenia).

From: A. Papazian