Author: Badalian Vardan

The success of Thermobalancing therapy in the treatment of chronic
health problems: An interview with Dr. Simon Allen

12:32 06/07/2013 » HEALTH

Continuing our review of the Thermobalancing therapy with its unique
power to improve the well-being of people suffering from serious
chronic diseases, such as back pain, coronary heart disease, benign
prostatic hyperplasia, chronic prostatitis, kidney stones, and others,
Panorama.am has interviewed Dr. Simon Allen, the founder of this brand
new type of treatment.

– Your Thermobalancing therapy is somewhat surprising, as it proposes
an effective treatment for totally different diseases. How is this
possible?

– You are right; people ask a lot of questions because they cannot
understand how the same method can be used to treat the heart and
prostate, kidneys and back pain. However, the Thermobalancing therapy
is a new type of treatment of diseases at the capillary level, and not
a method of treatment of a single disease. Acupuncture has been known
for thousands of years and homeopathy has been around for centuries;
both of these therapies have been used for the treatment of various
diseases, and that doesn’t surprise anyone nowadays. Now the
Thermobalancing therapy is in the spotlight. We are constantly
receiving a great deal of positive feedback from the users of Dr.
Allen’s Devices from all over the world via the Internet and by mail.
Affirmative results should help the unique treatment with the
Thermobalancing therapy to gain a wider recognition.

– Our readers are interested in learning more about the results of the
treatment.

– Useful information is presented online at the Fine Treatment website
, where anyone can purchase Dr. Allen’s
Devices. Representatives of the Oxford Innovation Centre in the UK
were amazed at the treatment results with the Thermobalancing therapy
and recorded several video interviews with patients explaining their
health problems and how Dr. Allen’s Devices helped them. For example,
as a result of wearing the device for 2 years, a hugely enlarged
prostate gland of a user from England reduced in size from 130 grams
to 37 grams, with the norm being about 30 grams.

– What other health problems is the Thermobalancing therapy effective for?

– Its use dissolves all kidney stones. They gradually decrease in
size, on average by about 1 mm per month, so one can expect to
dissolve a stone of about 10-12 mm within a year. Chronic back pain is
significantly reduced within a few days, and sufferers stop taking
intoxicating pills. People with coronary heart disease gradually
improve the condition of their heart muscle, and stop considering
unnecessary surgeries. Chronic prostatitis makes men suffer hopelessly
for years but can now be cured without antibiotics. The effectiveness
of the Thermobalancing therapy is confirmed by concrete results.

– Please tell us what has led you to the creation the Thermobalancing
therapy and devices that do wonders.

– These wonders have solid grounds. I conducted scientific research in
Great Britain, the results of which let me conclude that there is a
single cause of all chronic non-communicable diseases, commonly
referred to by doctors as `internal diseases’, so they can be treated
in the same way. All tissues in the human body are fed and warmed via
the same principle, i.e. via the blood vessels that branch out to the
capillaries. They permeate the entire body. These capillaries are the
same everywhere: in the walls of coronary arteries, in the prostate
and kidneys. Therefore the Thermobalancing therapy and Dr. Allen’s
Devices work on a disease precisely at the capillary level, and treat
the underlying cause of the chronic disease, not simply its symptoms,
in contrast to medications and surgeries.

– In a recent interview, Professor Ivan G. Aghajanian has said that
our own clinical studies of the Thermobalancing therapy will take
place in Armenia. When will they start?

– Thanks to Professor Aghajanian, they have already begun on the scale
of urological diseases. It is a wide range. Patients with BPH can
avoid the complications of drugs and operations; sufferers with kidney
stones can escape shock waves; while men with chronic prostatitis can
avoid weakening and debilitating courses of antibiotics. First of all,
they’ll need to be examined by urologist from Professor Aghajanian’s
department.

– Everything that is new often faces obstacles. Has your therapy seen any?

– Generally people tend not to cut off the branch on which they may
have to sit. After all, my natural therapy targets very common
diseases, which currently do not have any other successful treatments.
Once I was referred to a website where someone posted some nonsense
about the Thermobalancing therapy. I then wrote to the owners of this
site explaining that there was a post with some totally groundless
information. And they removed this lampoon. Sometimes it happens that
angry competitors comment maliciously on youtube video clips. However,
all these little things do not diminish significance of the true facts
recorded on those videos. And overall people can value the benefits of
the Thermobalancing therapy themselves.

– What would you like to wish our readers?

– Take care of your health. Pills and surgeries can cause serious side
effects that are impossible to cure. Dr. Allen’s Devices are
completely harmless, and everyone can use them at home. I am glad that
my treatment gives people an opportunity to strengthen their health
and enjoy their life pain-free.

Source: Panorama.am

Armenian businessmen waiting for proposals of Saint Petersburg colleagues

July 06, 2013 | 11:43

Armenian businessmen are waiting for mutually beneficial proposals
from Russian colleagues, trade representative of the Armenian Embassy
in Moscow said.

Karen Asoyan participated in the discussion on establishing business
contacts between the two states which was held in Saint Petersburg.

Noting that Armenian goods are better presented in Moscow, than in
Saint Petersburg, the participants underscored importance of
presenting Armenian goods in the city.

The head of the Association `Saint Petersburg Interregional
Information and Business Center’ Lydia Prokhorova said that the
Russian government is doing everything possible to create an
attractive business environment. In St. Petersburg, about 30 percent
of the revenues of the regional budget is provided by medium-sized
businesses.

As an example of successful cooperation representatives of Yerevan
Municipality noted an agreement implemented jointly with `Omega’
company to install decorative lights in Yerevan streets. Russian
representatives expressed interest in deepening cooperation with
Armenian partners

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Istanbul’s police violence is no surprise to Turkey’s minority groups
SEMRA SEVI
The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Jul. 04 2013, 12:23 PM EDT

`Now do you understand what we have gone through?’ That’s what Kurds
and Alevis say to the protesters who have convulsed Turkey since May
31. Kurds are Turkey’s largest minority, and Turkey has long had a
policy of assimilating them. Alevis are a nominally Shiite religious
minority whose distinct identity and largely non-religious culture has
placed them at odds with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s devout
Sunnis. Both groups have been persecuted throughout Turkish history,
and in modern times Turkey has all but denied their existence,
outlawing the Kurdish language and Alevi organizations and pursuing,
until very recently, a policy of forced assimilation.

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The result of this has often led to violent confrontations: the kind
of violent police repression we have seen in Istanbul for the past
month has been happening in Turkey’s southeastern provinces for
decades, but Turks have often been unaware of these events.

The recent wave of protests, which began after a violent clearing of a
sit-in in Istanbul’s Gezi Park, has underlined divisions in an already
polarized society. Mr. Erdogan cracked down brutally on protesters who
objected to a plan to close the park and replace it with a shopping
centre. Since then, matters have spiralled out of control. Police
violence, excessive use of tear gas, water cannon, rubber bullets, and
the arbitrary detention of protesters, journalists, lawyers and
doctors are symptomatic of the shortcomings of Turkish democracy. But
tensions between these protesters and the Justice and Development
Party, AKP, has made the wider Turkish population acutely aware of the
sort of police and military mistreatment that has long been
experienced by Kurds, Alevis and other minority groups. Many of these
groups are now backing the protests, and this means that a wider group
than may be visible in Taksim are now organizing against the excesses
of this government.

The government’s response to these protests is nothing new. But for
the first time excessive brutality is happening in the centre of
Istanbul in the age of Twitter and Facebook and in full view of the
population at large. Despite the government’s intentions to keep its
people ignorant they are now becoming aware of the Turkish
government’s dark side.

Mr. Erdogan’s government has made every effort to cover up the nature
and scale of the recent protests. This has taken the form of
self-censoring by cowed state media outlets such as CNN Turk, which
showed a documentary on penguins when the protests broke out. The
government has gone further and blamed the BBC for being part of an
international conspiracy to prevent Turkey’s rise.

The prime minister has used strong words like `looters’ and
`terrorists’ to describe the protesters and repeatedly bent the truth
to discredit them. In order to foment the ire of religious Turks, Mr.
Erdogan has repeatedly claimed that protesters drank liquor in a
mosque when in fact the local imam had already denied these claims as
the mosque had been turned into an infirmary in the early days of the
clashes.

Kurds who have been the subject to ongoing oppression look at all of
this and remark how confidently Mr. Erdogan used the word `terrorist’
to describe peaceful protesters exercising their democratic rights.
Kurds observing the brutality of Mr. Erdogan’s recent crackdown have
every right to demand sympathy for what they themselves have endured.
Recently, police fired at protesters in Lice, a Kurdish-dominated
district in the southeast, for protesting against the construction of
a new gendarmerie outpost. Kurds note that while protesters in western
Turkey are subject to teargas and rubber bullets, they are often shot
at with real bullets.

While Kurds are very critical of the government’s handling of the
protests, they haven’t been out on the streets in full force as they
are engaged in a peace process with Mr. Erdogan’s government and do
not want to disrupt it.

But the Alevis, on the other hand, Turkey’s largest religious
minority, are very much involved in the protests. Alevis have felt
alienated by the increasingly sectarian nature of the ruling Peace and
Justice Party’s domestic and foreign policy. Their demands for
religious equality including recognition of their houses of worship,
called cemevis, have always been denied. Car bombings in Reyhanli, a
town close to the Syrian border where Alevis reside, on May 11 have
attracted great controversy because there was a court-enforced media
ban immediately after the attack and journalists who tried to cover it
were detained.

On May 29, the anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople, the
third bridge over the Bosphorus (currently under construction in
Istanbul) was named after Yavuz Sultan Selim. This was the last straw
for Alevis: Sultan Selim, who reigned in the early sixteenth century,
is infamous for having persecuted and murdered more than 40,000
Alevis. The Alevi minority reacted to this piece of state propaganda
with horror. But unlike the Kurds, who have a few organizations which
represent their views, Alevis have no recourse under Mr. Erdogan’s
oppression.

What does all this mean? The protests that began at Gezi Park
represent a watershed moment in modern Turkish politics. Turkish
minority groups may well find that their best hope is in unity against
Mr. Erdogan’s policies. If this is the case, then Kurds, Alevis, and
perhaps even Armenians and the few remaining Greeks in Istanbul may
well make common cause against Mr. Erdogan’s repression and agitate
for a more inclusive, multi-ethnic Turkish state. But the fabric of
Turkish democracy and secularism has worn very thin, and Mr. Erdogan
seems bent on crushing opposition. Though Turkey is indeed at a
turning point, it may well fail to turn.

Semra Sevi is a Masters student in Political Science at the University
of Toronto.

Our struggle for historical justice is still ahead: Armenian minister
of Diaspora

16:39, 5 July, 2013

YEREVAN, JULY 5, ARMENPRESS: On July 5 kicked off the second
pan-Armenian session of lawyers organized by the ministry of
Diaspora and pan-Armenian conference of lawyers. In the session take
part about 100 famous lawyers from Armenia, Artsakh and
Diaspora. `Armenpress’ was informed from press and public relations
department of Diaspora ministry that Minister Hranush
Hakobyan introduced during the session the address of President Serzh Sargsyan.

Welcoming the participants of the conference Hranush Hakobyan said:
`Before the 100 th anniversary of Armenian genocide it is very
important to put our struggle on a scientific and more organized
basis. 100 years have passed since genocide but Armenian nation
today exists, has two states and powerful Diaspora, so our struggle
for historical justice is still ahead’.

With a welcoming speech performed President of Constitutional Court
Gagik Harutyunyan, Minister of Justice Hrayr Tovmasyan,
Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan, Human Rights defenderKaren
Andreasyan, Minister of justice of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Ararat Danielyan. Congratulating the participants on occasion of
Constitution Day the speakers stressed the importance of further
actions
in legal sphere for recognition of Armenian genocide and for
overcoming international challenges the preparation of young
specialist of international
law who will introduce the legal discussion of the matter in
international field.

Village Youth Block Road to Teghout Mine
Larisa Paremuzyan

11:22, July 5, 2013
Young residents of the villages of Teghout and Shnogh began blocking
the road to the Teghout mine this morning at 5. The protestors are not
allowing mine employees to get to work.

Residents are protesting the fact that the mining company had fenced
off a parcel of land, thus cutting off access to a holy shrine in
Lorout and the forest in the mountain above.

Many local residents say they can no longer pick berries in the area.

The young protestors say they will continue to block the road until
the fence has been removed.

Azerbaijan does not have even 5 percent of our opportunities in
international justice – Armenian attorney general

July 05, 2013 | 15:22

YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan does not have even five percent of our
opportunities in the platform for international justice.

Armenia’s Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan noted the aforesaid
during the Pan-Armenian Conference of Lawyers, which is held Friday in
capital city Yerevan.

He added that Armenia needs to pass from emotions to cold
calculations, in the fight for the international recognition of the
Armenian Genocide, and to speak not solely about the crime that was
committed against humanity, but about compensation to the next
generations of the genocide victims.

`The matter of reparations should be brought back on the agenda,’
Hovsepyan stated.

`What I say goes for Azerbaijan, too. If it had at least five percent
of Armenia’s opportunities in the domain of international justice, it
would have used them a long time ago. But this country realizes very
well that it does not have a corresponding base of evidence and in no
way can it deny the modern-day crimes. [And] the unconscientious and
unruly slander [by Azerbaijan] is derived from this,’ the prosecutor
general maintained.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Meeting of senior officials of the Eastern Neighborhood in Strasbourg

15:09 05.07.2013
Eastern neighborhood

The meeting of senior officials of the Eastern Neighborhood Policy
took place in Brussels on July 4. Armenia was represented by the
delegation headed by chief negotiator at the talks on the Armenia-EU
Association Agreement, Deputy Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.

The meeting covered the current developments and perspectives within
the framework of the Eastern Partnership and determined the plan of
actions ahead of the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius.

In his speech Zohrab Mnatsakanyan attached importance to the role of
the Eastern Partnership, noting that the talks on the Association
Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Are have
entered the final stage. He noted that the Agreements with some
Partnership countries, including Armenia, will be pre-signed within
the framework of the Vilnius Summit. The Deputy Foreign Minister
stressed the importance of reinforcement of institutional capacities
for the further implementation of the agreements.

Speaking at the event, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European
Neighbourhood Policy, Åtefan Füle referred to the Association
Agreements, the facilitation of visa regimes, the progress registered
within the framework of the mobility partnership with the EU.

ARMENIE
L’Arménie tournée vers l’Europe : De hauts responsables d’Erevan en
tournées européennes

La quasi-totalité des principaux dirigeants de l’Arménie est en visite
en Europe ces jours-ci : le président Serge Sarkissian visite la
Pologne, le président du parlement Hovik Abrahamian et le Ministre des
Affaires Etrangères Edouard Nalbandian étaient partis pour une session
de l’Assemblée parlementaire du Conseil d’Europe à Strasbourg, et même
le Catholicos de Tous les Arméniens Karekin II a décidé d’effectuer
des visites en France et en Suisse.

Les responsables européens espèrent qu’en novembre l’Arménie, la
Moldavie, l’Ukraine et la Géorgie signeront des accords d’association
avec l’Union européenne. C’est ce qu’a déclaré le ministre des
Affaires étrangères de la Lituanie Linas Linkevicius lors d’une
réunion des ministres des Affaires étrangères le 25 juin au
Luxembourg. Lors de la réunion du Conseil des relations étrangères,
les ministres ont discuté des préparatifs pour le Sommet du
Partenariat oriental à Vilnius, en Lituanie, les 28 et 29 novembre.

Le président arménien Serge Sarkissian, qui était en visite en
Pologne, a confirmé l’intention d’Erevan de signer l’accord
d’association avec l’UE. Pourtant, il a davantage parlé sur la
possibilité pour l’UE d’influencer ses voisins la Turquie et
l’Azerbaïdjan, qui continuent de bloquer l’Arménie.

« Malheureusement, dans notre région, il y a des problèmes et des
circonstances qui font obstacle à une pleine utilisation des
possibilités détenues par le programme du Partenariat oriental de
l’UE. Malheureusement, pour certaines personnes, l’Europe reste
seulement un marché et non un système de valeurs », a déclaré le
président arménien lors d’une conférence de presse conjointe avec son
homologue polonais Bronislaw Komorowski.

« Tout en déclarant son chemin européen, un de nos voisins glorifie
simultanément un méchant qui a commis un assassinat ethnique, menace
d’abattre des avions civils et de priver les personnes vivant sur leur
terre depuis des millénaires de ce droit. Notre autre voisin, la
Turquie, qui s’efforce d’avancer à nouveau vers l’Europe et est membre
de l’Union douanière de l’UE, a fermé la frontière [avec l’Arménie]
dès les premiers jours de notre indépendance et rejette les relations
de bon voisinage qui sont essentiels au 21e siècle . Le pivot de nos
négociations avec l’Europe, c’est l’accessibilité réciproque des
marchés et la libre circulation des citoyens, mais la frontière de
l’Arménie avec l’Union douanière de l’UE reste fermée. Nous nous
attendons à une évaluation complète et claire de ce fait inacceptable
» a-t-il souligné.

Cependant, l’Arménie devra se pencher sur un certain nombre de
problèmes avec la Russie. L’intention de créer une zone de
libre-échange avec l’UE va inévitablement forcer l’Arménie à résoudre
la question de la protection des frontières. Maintenant, les
frontières de l’Arménie avec la Turquie et l’Iran (comme les
frontières extérieures de la Communauté des États indépendants) sont
protégés par les unités frontalières du Service fédéral de sécurité
russe. Il est peu probable qu’une zone de libre-échange sera établie
dans des conditions où des gardes-frontières d’un pays tiers
contrôlent la frontière arménienne.

Remarquablement, le secrétaire du Conseil de sécurité russe Nikolaï
Patrouchev, était en visite en Arménie au début de la semaine et au
cours de sa visite la coopération transfrontalière a également été
abordée. A en juger par les documents qui ont été signés à la suite de
la visite de Patrouchev, la Russie ne renoncera pas à défendre les
frontières de l’Arménie.

Les responsables russes et arméniens affirment que Moscou ne va pas
torpiller l’intégration européenne d’Erevan. Cela a également été
reconnu par le chef de la mission de l’UE en Arménie, l’Ambassadeur
Traian Hristea. Dans une interview avec le service arménien de RFE /
RL, il a dit qu’il ne voyait pas les pressions de Moscou concernant le
choix de l’Arménie. Cependant, il est évident que cette pression est
exercée et pas seulement sur Erevan, mais aussi sur d’autres
républiques post-soviétiques.

En particulier, l’Ukraine s’est vu offert un statut d’observateur non
seulement dans l’union douanière, mais aussi dans l’Organisation du
Traité de sécurité collective, un pacte de défense de six anciens pays
soviétiques, dont l’Arménie. Cette annonce a été faite par le
président de la Douma russe Sergueï Narychkine qui a également dit que
« quelqu’un entrave l’intégration eurasienne des anciennes républiques
soviétiques ».`

La question est maintenant de savoir si Sarkissian peut supporter la
forte pression venant non seulement de la Russie, mais aussi au sein
du système politique d’Arménie ou au dernier moment va reculer et
renoncer à la voie européenne. Et cette question est maintenant de
plus en plus importante dans les relations entre Erevan et Bruxelles.

Par Naira Hayrumyan

ArmeniaNow

vendredi 5 juillet 2013,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Washington Post
July 4 2013

`I have no place in the world to go’

By Mikhail Sebastian, Thursday, July 4, 7:06 PM

Mikhail Sebastian lives in Los Angeles.

Edward Snowden’s efforts to escape the transit zone of the Moscow
airport have turned a spotlight on the issue of `statelessness.’
Snowden, however, is not stateless. He has options, regardless of how
unappealing he may find them. But thousands of people in the United
States are stateless – and trapped. Congress should take steps to
address this issue and ensure that what has happened to me never
happens to anyone else.

I am an ethnic Armenian. My parents are from Nagorno-Karabakh, the
disputed territory in Azerbaijan. I was born in Azerbaijan in 1973,
when it was part of the Soviet Union. My family was in Turkmenistan
when the U.S.S.R. collapsed, and no one would give me citizenship.
Because I am of Armenian descent, Azerbaijan said I wasn’t an
Azerbaijani. Armenia said that I hadn’t adequately proved I belonged
there. After more than three years of discrimination, harassment and
fear, I was able to get a travel visa to the United States in 1995.
But my petition for asylum was rejected in 1996, and I was ordered to
leave the country.

.

I prepared to go, but I was not able to get a new passport to travel.
The Soviet Union, which had issued my passport, no longer existed, and
no country recognized me as a citizen. Because I stayed beyond the
deadline to leave, the United States processed a deportation order.
Immigration officials detained me in August 2002 and tried for months
to deport me. But U.S. officials couldn’t find a country willing to
accept me.

I was released from detention in February 2003 and was ordered to
report to the Department of Homeland Security every three months. I
was issued a permit to work – and I have held jobs as a travel agent
and a barista – but I have to reapply every year, a long, expensive
process that requires taking time off and puts my job at risk. I have
sought travel documents from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Britain, Japan,
Russia, Switzerland, Turkmenistan and more than a dozen others. None
has accepted me.

I have no place in the world to go.

In December 2011, after years of reporting to the U.S. government
every few months, I took what I thought would be a short vacation to
American Samoa. Even though I had checked with Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement and my airline before departing, my four-day trip
turned into a year-long trap. When I tried to fly home, my travel
documents were rejected. For months, U.S. officials said that by
traveling to the U.S. island territory I had self-deported. I was
stuck in American Samoa with no legal ability to work and only the
clothes I had packed. When I finally was able to return home this
year, I no longer had a job. My apartment and most of my things were
gone, and I had lost many friends.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates
that more than 12 million people in the world are stateless. Without
citizenship, no country protects us, and we cannot get travel
documents. Stateless people in the United States cannot leave even if
they want to. We are on hold, living in a dehumanizing space without
status or opportunity.

A provision in the immigration reform legislation that the Senate
passed last month would give status to stateless people who are not
legally recognized in the United States. But this measure could still
be cut from the final compromise with the House.

I consider myself lucky that after 15 months in American Samoa and
advocacy from attorneys, friends and even the UNHCR, U.S. officials
recognized the injustice of my situation and allowed me to return
home. But I remain in legal limbo. I fear being thrown into
immigration detention at any time, even though I have broken no laws.

The United States is not a signatory to the 1954 U.N. Convention
Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or the 1961 U.N.
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. It uses stop-gap
measures to provide relief to vulnerable people like me. The United
States ought to have a framework, as the European Union does, to
address statelessness. Congress could allow people who have proved
that they are stateless and meet certain criteria, such as not having
a criminal record, to apply for a more secure legal status. This would
permit people like me to live without fear of being arbitrarily
detained.

The United States has always opened itself to the world’s suffering
and oppressed people. A country with such a tradition of justice ought
to address this issue.

Winning Elections & Governing Well

Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013

“To build popular support, it is necessary to work with the people and
fight to protect their interests, consistently, and over the long
term.” – Ara Khanjian

BY DR. ARA KHANJIAN

In Armenia, working with people and exhibiting genuine interest in
confronting their difficulties and challenges significantly increases
a candidate’s chances of being elected. It is also the best method
for improving political and economic conditions in Armenia.

Recent examples come from the villages of Baghanis and Tidavan and in
the city of Ijevan, all of them in the state of Davoush, in the
north-eastern part of Armenia. Incumbent mayors from the country’s
ruling Republican Party, despite their leverage and strength, lost
elections when they faced candidates who were genuinely interested in
working with the people and addressing their concerns.

On October, 23, 2012, mayoral elections in the villages of Baghanis
and Tidavan – both located near the Azerbaijan border – produced two
young mayors from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, who defeated
the Republican Party incumbents. Villagers elected Hogop Saripegyan in
Tidavan and Nareg Sahagyan in Baghanis because of their active
involvement in efforts to improve the living conditions of their
villages. Nareg Sahagyan in Baghanis was able to defeat the incumbent
Republican mayor by just 12 votes, receiving 184 votes while the
incumbent received 172 votes. A third candidate received 120 votes.
Sahagyan is a young university graduate who returned to his village
and started working on the difficulties residents faced there.

Since being elected, both Sahagyan and Saripegyan have actively
introduced positive changes in their villages, improving the living
standards of the locals. Here are some of the improvements that both
mayors have achieved since their election, in just eight months:

– Both mayors have improved the quality of village roads. Sahagayan
has repaired the Baghanis’ roads partially with volunteer labor, while
Saripegyan in Tidavan has been able to convince the national
government to allocate funds to pave some 800 meters of road.

– Both mayors have been able to add lighting on the main streets of
their villages. Saripegyan has added 28 lights, while Sahagyan in
Baghanis has been able to provide lighting all along the main street
with a $2,000 donation.

– Both mayors have increased the amount of irrigation water available
to the villages. A main water pipe, built through the US Millennium
Challenge program, passes about one kilometer from Baghanis. Through
mayor Sahagyan’s efforts, the government has provided funding to lay
about one kilometer (roughly .6 miles) of pipe, which will allow the
village to receive additional irrigation water and increase the area
of irrigated, arable farmland.

– Through Mayor Sahagyan’s efforts, Baghanis acquired 20 garbage bins,
enabling proper waste collection.

– Thanks to Mayor Sahagyan’s initiative and support, on June 1, the
only kindergarten in Baghanis for ages 5-6 was reopened. The
kindergarten building had been damaged during the Armenian-Azeri war,
rendering it unusable.

– Mayor Saripegyan subscribed to periodicals for the whole village to read.

– Recognizing the importance of patriotism, Mayor Sahagyan erected a
15-meter flagpole flying the Armenian tricolor in the yard of the
public school. The village celebrated Army Day on January 28 and
Artsakh Victory Day on May 9. The mayor erected a Khatchkar in memory
of the martyrs of the war. Lastly, at the top of the hill in Baghanis,
a large cross is erected, which is visible to nearby Azeri villages.
Mayor Sahagyan installed wiring to and lights on the cross so the
cross is visible at night.

You can follow mayor Sahagyan’s activities and developments in
Baghanis through his Facebook page, as he continues to serve his home
village.

Despite all these achievements, the villages still face many
challenges. They need agricultural equipment, tractors, combine
harvesters, refrigerators, milk storage and processing facilities, and
more. They need to further improve the quality of their roads and
water supply, especially during the hot months of June, July, and
August. Mayor Saripegyan explained that at this stage, one of the
Tidavan’s priorities is to clear the ditches along its main street.
This must be done before heavy rains start, to prevent rainwater from
overflowing the road and ruining it.

The mayoral elections of Baghanis and Tidavan show that when the
villagers and voters in general see that a politically active person
is genuinely trying to help the people and improve their lives, there
is a high probability that such a person can earn the population’s
vote. Of course this doesn’t imply that direct or indirect bribes,
nepotism, and other patronage controlled by the ruling party won’t
impact elections. However, the election of Sahagyan in Baghanis,
Saripegyan in Tidavanm, and the mayor in Ijevan, (where a coalition of
Prosperous Armenia, ARF, and others were able to oust the
13-year-incumbent Republican mayor and implement significant
improvements in the city) shows it is wrong to write off all elections
in Armenia as pre-determined by the bribes and leverage of the ruling
party.

This gives us hope. It indicates that the best path to improve the
economic circumstances of the populace is democracy. It demonstrates
that the best way to struggle against the ruling party and its control
of state resources is to work directly with the people at the local,
neighborhood, level and gain the trust and confidence of voters. To
build this kind of popular support, it is necessary to work with the
people and fight to protect their interests, consistently, and over
the long term. Voters do not appreciate a political party which
becomes very active just a few months before elections, then vanishes
from the streets, neighborhoods, and people’s courtyards. On the
contrary, in order to build popular support and acquire votes, a
political party must become active immediately after elections and
stay on the streets continuously, until the next election.

Whoever wishes to improve the economic and political conditions of the
people in Armenia should support mayors such as Sahagyan of Baghanis
and Saripegyan of Tidavan or the mayoral coalition of Ijevan. I am
sure that in Armenia, there are other mayors who are genuinely serving
their people. When we visit Armenia, we should go to villages such as
Baghanis and Tidavan and cities such as Ijevan and support them.
Ijevan is about half an hour from Dilijan, while Tidavan is about 15
minutes from Ijevan and Baghanis another 15-20 minutes. These are
beautiful areas with forested mountains, running rivers, green
prairies, and more. One can buy goods and services and spend her/his
money in the villages, thereby helping their economies. If someone has
the financial capability, s/he could even invest in the villages and
cities that have fair and honest mayors and executives. Let’s help
them. Let’s show that their good work is appreciated. Hopefully, this
will give incentive to other villages and cities to elect fair and
honest mayors.

In addition to discussing the horrible actions of oligarchs in
Armenia, let’s also talk about mayors who really serve their people,
such as Sahagyan and Saripegyan. It will undoubtedly take a long time
and lots of effort to get rid of the oligarchs. On the other hand, it
is not difficult to help and support Baghanis and Tidavan or other
villages and cities with honest and good mayors. Supporting them is
within our financial means. In these villages, a few hundred dollars
can make a difference. Hopefully, the number of such mayors and
political activists, ones who are genuinely trying to improve people’s
living conditions, increases and the overall economic and political
conditions in Armenia improve.