HELPED BY SOME FRIENDS, REBEL ARMENIAN REGION LIVES ON
by Simon Ostrovsky
Agence France Presse — English
December 9, 2006 Saturday 2:15 PM GMT
The trimmed lawns and neat wall surrounding this 13th century Armenian
monastery in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region attest
to the millions of dollars in donations Armenians have sent here
from abroad.
Perched atop a mountain overlooking the village of Vank, the Gandzasar
monastery will meet the 16th year of de-facto self rule in Karabakh
on Sunday in better shape than it has been for the last 70 years.
It is thanks to funds from wealthy diaspora Armenians that the site,
where locals say the head of John the Baptist is buried, is in such
good shape.
Donations from some of the millions of Armenians living around the
world have been crucial in keeping this self-declared state afloat
since it broke from Azerbaijan in 1991.
Not all of Karabakh looks as well-tended as Gandzasar, but the donated
funds have helped make it possible for this mountainous region to
stay separate from Azerbaijan for the past decade-and-a-half.
Karabakh’s population was three quarters Armenian at the break-up of
the Soviet Union when Armenians and Azerbaijanis launched a war for
control of this patch of land in the Caucasus Mountains.
Ethnic Armenians won the war, which ended with a shaky ceasefire in
1994, but the region’s status has remained unsettled, making it a
political anomaly that few apart from diaspora Armenians have been
willing to support.
Today, the population of Karabakh is almost totally Armenian and the
territories that separatist authorities control were expanded during
the war to include seven ethnic-Azeri regions that have now largely
been depopulated.
On Sunday, Karabakh will mark its 15th anniversary with a referendum
on a separatist constitution that follows similar polls in two other
unrecognised mini-states of the former Soviet Union earlier this year.
"A lot of businesses want to invest here but can’t because Azerbaijan
complains" said Andranik Sarkisian, who heads a humanitarian project
jointly funded by the US Congress and the US diaspora’s Fund for
Armenian Relief.
"Only the diaspora invests here," Sarkisian said.
Baku still claims the region, which is internationally recognized to
be part of Azerbaijan and fell within its Soviet-era borders.
Azerbaijan has sought to block attempts by outsiders to set up
shop here.
But the diaspora plays a key role in places such as Vank, a village
that has been transformed by a rich Armenian living in Moscow who is
originally from the settlement.
Levon Arapetyan paid a handsome sum to renovate the monastery and
build a 10-kilometer road leading up to the site, as well as setting
up a flooring factory in the town.
"He owns everything here," beamed Norik Shahgeldian, a local who works
for Arapetyan’s firm, which produces everything from decorations for
a new Soviet-themed cafe to menus for a nearby restaurant also built
by the emigre.
But crucial in providing assistance to Karabakh has been the Hayastan
fund, a diaspora group pooling the resources of Armenians in Europe
and the United States for pro-Armenian causes since an earthquake in
1988 leveled the Armenian city of Gumri.
The Hayastan All-Armenian fund — Hayastan means Armenia in Armenian —
has for the past few years raised funds for construction projects in
Karabakh through phone-a-thons in Europe and the US, its local branch
head said.
"We’ve got a database of 60,000 phone numbers of Armenians in France
alone," said Michel Tancrez. The organization was able to raise 13
million dollars for Karabakh in 2006 by cold-calling Armenian families,
Tancrez said.
Karabakh’s total projected budget for 2006 is only 93 million dollars,
with a large part of its income made up from taxpayers like the Base
Metals gold mine, which is financed by an Armenian from Russia.
The Hayastan fund has paid for the construction of a major highway
linking Karabakh to Armenia for 10 million dollars and many individual
donors have built schools and hospitals.
Karabakh’s expenditures are also financed through loans from its
neighbor Armenia, which also does not recognize the region as a state
but is so integrated with the rebel province that visitors could be
forgiven for thinking that it was part of the same country.
"Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia can take loans from the World
Bank and other international organizations," said Masis Mailyan,
the separatist foreign minister.
"But because we’re not recognized our only option is to borrow from
Armenia."