SAMVEL KARAPETYAN – "WE FACE A CRISIS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS, NOT AN ECONOMIC ONE"
tyan-2/
2009/10/05 | 18:18
Feature Stories society interview culture Sona Avagyan
Dear Readers: Samvel Karapetyan Responds to Your Questions
Many of you have responded to our request to ask questions of Samvel
Karapetyan, who heads the Yerevan branch of the Research on Armenian
Architecture NGO.
Due to the large number of questions received and the fact that
the answers graciously supplied by Mr. Karapetyan are detailed and
extensive, we will be publishing them in installments, in the order
received.
So if you don’t see your question here this week rest assured it,
along with Mr. Karapetyan’s response, will appear in "Hetq’s" October
12 and 19 editions.
Dear Mr. Karapetyan, which historical monuments located in the RoA
are in the worst condition and most in need of repair?
It depends on what standards one uses to evaluate the situation. One
can point to 2 or 3 monuments or give a list of tens of
sites. Sometimes, given the resources at hand, certain monuments
cannot be renovated even though there is the need. For example, all
the pieces exist on site and there are no questions as to how work
should proceed and complete restoration can occur. However, due to
a lack of resources, the best one can hope for is that the site be
reinforced so that further erosion doesn’t take place.
There are many such monuments in the RoA that can be noted –
Bardzraqash Saint Grigor at Dsegh, Qarasnits Mankants Church close to
Dsegh village, Aghtchots Monastery in the Khosrov Preserve, Havouts
Tari Monastery.
First, I would like to thank "Hetq" for this wonderful opportunity
to ask questions of Mr. Karapetyan. He and his team of dedicated
researchers are carrying out important work. How can one make a
donation to his organization?
I would like to first thank this individual who appreciated our work
and would like to donate. Those who wish to assist us can get in
touch with the organization. We have all the contacts -a telephone
number and 2 websites.
Our organization has been registered in Armenia since 1998 but we’ve
been around since Armen Hakhnazaryan founded the organization 35 years
ago. To date, we have received no assistance from the government but
are working to rectify the situation.
To date, we have relied solely on personal resources and random
donations. I feel embarrassed to admit this since our organization
carries out important work that has direct strategic importance (it
could be any other organization as well). When we travel to western
Armenia and look for fragments of what is left of the monuments of
forefathers built, when we photograph, record and map this evidence,
of course it first assists Armenian studies and other sectors, but it
also has inherent significance regarding certain political matters;
in particular compensation demands, the Armenian Cause, etc.
I especially find it puzzling that those political parties or groups
who purport to pursue the Armenian Cause aren’t interested in this
work that we do. Individuals have shown an interest. Even certain
church officials have taken an interest and I have good contact
with some. But again, it’s on a personal level. The Armenian Church,
as an institution, seems uninterested in our work.
What I find incomprehensible is how such vital work, the collection
of our forbearers’~R remaining memories, can be entrusted to the
capabilities of a mere NGO? It’s as if we are being told to "just do
what you can".
Every April 24 we go to lay flowers in memory of our innocent martyrs
but never realize that the collection and preservation of their
inheritance is surely the most fitting of memorials we can offer
them. An entire government with all its personnel and others go to
lay flowers, while at the same time they don’t even take the time to
respond to our petitions.
Can interested individuals volunteer their time and efforts to help
your organization here in Yerevan?
Of course you can volunteer. For example, every year 1 or 2 individuals
from the "Depi Hayk" organization assist the work of our organization
for a couple of months. Our experience has shown that these young
people from the diaspora who have come to the office to help us out
have not only become permanent staffers but have also resettled in
Armenia and become citizens.
Do you receive any assistance from the RoA Ministry of Culture or
the Diaspora Ministry?
We’re on speaking terms but we haven’t received any assistance from
the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs to date. I actually would prefer not
to receive assistance but rather to collaborate. I’ve never missed
a chance to tell employees at the Ministry about the irreplaceable
documents and information we possess and the potential we have at
our fingertips to prepare projects for our diplomats, our foreign
affairs and defense ministries.
In some of our military units there are propaganda posters still
hanging on the walls from the Soviet period. We could prepare really
good posters that actually instil a sense of healthy patriotism in
the ranks. I believe that our organization has any inexhaustible
wealth of material that can be used to prepare material for five of
our ministries – foreign affairs, defense, diaspora, education and
culture. We are like a weapons depot and can supply these ministries
with the weapons needed for each to more effectively carry out the
responsibilities they have assumed; for the benefit of the nation
It would appear that they have no comprehension of the potential
weapons at our command. None of these ministries have ever approached
us in this regard. It is quite an abnormal situation.
In your estimation, does the Armenian government pay adequate attention
to the issue of monument research and does it understand the importance
of such work from the perspective of national interests?
Just recently, in the Ministry of Culture, on a deputy ministerial
level, a meeting took place that for the first time placed importance
on documenting monuments still standing in the territories of
historical Armenia.
They also called me and it appears that such work will begin next
year. I must confess such a proposal was unprecedented for me. Most
likely the project will start off small but it’s a historic start.
It’s like a dream come true for me. I always found it more than
insulting that such work, with such governmental significance, be
left to individuals and their personal resources.
For example, on the left bank of the Kur River some 3,000 Armenian
monuments located in about 300 Armenian villages in 12 administrative
districts have been documented, photographed and measured. We will
soon be publishing the results. We cannot say how long it will be
when an Armenian once again can set foot on those lands; the other
half of Azerbaijan.
These are exceptional materials. Much of these structures probably no
longer exist; like in Nakhijevan. But as Armen Hakhnazaryan would say;
at least they are saved on paper. I have done all this for years at
my own expense and always found it insulting that no one in government
was able to grasp the pan-national significance of this work.
It’s good that they are now coming around to the fact that we must
recognize and document these monuments since we have lost our homeland
and have only come to know a small part of it. The first generation
of our researchers, Marr and Toromanyan had just gotten started and
were too late. 1915 had already happened.
Toromanyan conducted work out of his own pocket. We had a government
in 1918-1920 and had it been possible to work in western Armenia
I’m sure that the government would have assisted Toromanyan. But we
lost the homeland first and only later had a government. We missed
the opportunity to get to know it. Today, 90 years later, all we
have are fragments, bits and pieces. But a people that respects its
national legacy must also stand watch over and assume mastery of
these fragments.
These fragments are disappearing before our eyes, not with each
passing year but with each passing month and day. In essence, we are
in a race with time. Will we reach there first with our measuring
equipment and cameras or will the Turks, who use the army to wipe
out any remaining traces of our cultural legacy. As long as there are
fragments to document attesting to our presence and culture on those
lands our work will continue. The question remains will we complete
the task before the Turkish army or Kurds seeking treasure.
Thus, I can only smile when faced with the inaction of our political
parties, whether traditional or current, who claim to be more patriotic
than the others.
(To be continued)
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