ARDAK AND MIRO
By Berge Minassian MD FRCP(C), Toronto, 25 September 2013
Last week the magnificent Armenian Church of the Holy Transfiguration
was consecrated in Moscow.
The weekend immediately prior, a colleague and I were in Moscow
representing the Armenian Medical International Committee (AMIC) at
the organization of the Armenian-Russian Medical Association (ARMA)
and its joining the AMIC family.
By some estimates there are now more Armenians in Moscow than in
Yerevan. A huge number of these Moscovite Armenians are people fleeing
Armenia to work in Russia’s capital, paperless and healthcare-less,
often in dangerous jobs such as construction. The ARMA obviously wants
to help AMIC develop healthcare in Armenia, but is faced with the big
challenge of finding ways to assist the “new Armenia” established in
Moscow and other Russian cities.
I thought, being a recent and geographically nearby Diaspora, the
Russian Diaspora would be different from our Western Diasporas. I was
quickly disabused of this. The Russian culture and language have been
so dominant in Armenia that most Russian-Armenians prefer to speak in
Russian with each other. This included the servers at the two Armenian
restaurants we went to, among them Lusine, with her classic beautiful
Armenian eyes, which looked at me with bewilderment and confusion
when I spoke in Armenian to her, and at my friend who tried our
Eastern dialect. Among Armenians who prefer to converse in Russian
were physicians at our meetings, who could understand Armenian, and
often speak it, but who would speak to each other in Russian during
the meeting while others translated for us.
I ought not have been surprised. We have been able to maintain
Diasporas in ghettos such as Beirut, Aleppo, and Istanbul, but cannot
do so in the West–nor it is clear in Russia. The Diaspora is where
Armenia goes to die.
We then flew to Yerevan to join the AMIC neurology branch for our
work to develop that field in the country.
Yerevan is bustling with activity. The villages all around the country
are destitute and desolate. The village folk are in Yerevan, transiting
to Moscow and elsewhere. The fabric of society is unraveling. Most
people want to leave. They all blame the government and governance
of the country. They don’t think anything will change.
They believe the current system and regime are entrenched to stay.
Germany is the popular destination for Armenia’s doctors. Germany
is going through a physician shortage, and headhunters are roaming
Yerevan, offering jobs to Armenian doctors to work as physician
assistants in Germany with benefits, healthcare coverage, and a track
toward German and thus European citizenship. German schools abound
everywhere in Yerevan.
Yerevan is full of Aleppo Armenians. Practically no one is planning
to stay.
I do not know how people deny the fact that we are not governing our
country properly. What other reversible factor can underlie this loss
of nationhood, with families seeing no hope other than on their own
in faraway places?
Just to give mere teasers, from the medical field, of how we are
destroying our country. Practically all of Armenia’s hospitals are
private properties of the oligarchy ruling the country, including the
president (correction, his wife). The recently stepped-down minister
of health, alone, is estimated to own, privately, a third of all
healthcare facilities in the country. Armenian hospitals have a huge
surplus of beds that are open, and patients stay in hospital way
longer than they should. Armenia’s government is well-aware of this.
Why can this not be remedied? It should be obvious. Taxpayer, donor,
and international money pours into the ministry of health, goes to
fund these hospitalizations, and thus makes its way into the pockets
of the hospital owners, and trickles up to the top of the oligarchy.
Likewise, Armenia ‘trains’ way too many residents (doctors) than it
needs. Why? Because unlike a normal country where residents are paid,
in Armenia residents pay, and moneys go up the chain of command. There
are now many private medical schools, utterly unneeded and of ludicrous
quality. It would take a simple act of parliament to require licensing
of physicians and medical schools, which does not exist.
Why? Because the schools are again owned by the same band controlling
the country, and are the source of the innumerable and poorly-trained
doctors flooding the country, making nice paying residents, and
competing against the better elements in the field. As such, a
doctor’s salary is $200 a month in Armenia, enough to pay the fees
at the German school.
Our group went on a gorgeous hike from Barz Lidj to Goshavank. I have
hiked many trails across many mountains, but found paradise on the
mountain we crossed in Dilijan. Vast green mountainsides dotted white
with sheep here and there, thick green forests at the edges, sun and
beauty all around. We sang old Armenian songs, whirling around not
knowing which gorgeous spot in the scenery to absorb. A very young
Aleppo Armenian, who had joined our group and who is on his way to
Canada, led the singing, because he knew all the words of the songs,
and we la la la’ed along. His voice broke, when toothless shepherds
came out of the forest and joined us, and he cried, and we all cried.
We made it to Goshavank. The surrounding village, destitute and
desolate, villagers selling their houses for $5000. At the entrance of
the monastery complex there is a new seated statue of Mkhitar Gosh,
the great Armenian jurist, carrying the legal scale in his hand. We
prayed in the church. Might Gosh intervene with God to restore justice
to Armenia.
Our guide on the hike was Ardak. His main job is to collect the
delectable tree mushrooms from the surrounding forests. He is
30-years-old. He does not own a home. He has a wife. He has a horse,
which carried some of us up the mountain. The horse’s name is Miro,
a gentle horse that loves Ardak; always follows him; obeys him;
and cuddles about him. In the back lawn of the church is an immense
tree several centuries old. We were saying our goodbyes to Ardak and
Miro under the great tree, as the sun was setting, giving way to a
gorgeous full moon.
“Ardak, soil of the earth, would you ever, EVER, think of leaving
Armenia?”
Ardak: “Of course! I am preparing to go soon.”
“Ardak, where would you go?”
Ardak: “I am going to Kiev.”
“Ardak, what is in Kiev?”
Ardak: “I will work as a laborer, and I will make money.”
We forgot to ask Ardak what would happen to Miro after he leaves. I
guess it will be alone on that field on the mountainside, with those
sheep, looking about, searching, searching, searching for Ardak.
This story should normally end here, but “Ov Hay joghovourt, ko miyak
prgoutioune ko havakagan ouji mech eh”(Charents). We must remove the
oligarchy and replace it with a proper government.
No election will do this, because they control the election process.
Revolution is too risky, and we don’t know whether a new charismatic
leader will be any better. Let us chose the only remaining way. The
Nakhakhorhrdaran in Armenia is constructing the alternative government,
a government with all the proper institutions, systems, checks, and
balances of a true democracy. Let us join them in the homeland, and
support them from the diaspora. When the new government is constructed,
the oligarchy will flee to their Swiss banks, and may they enjoy all
they stole.
The Nakhakhorhrdaran’s concept and work are not easy, but it is the
only logical solution out of our deadly spiral. “Ov Hay joghovourt”,
do not be afraid of taking the one way out. Learn about the idea,
see its clarity and its logic, join, and let us save our mountains.
They have money. We have the Armenian nation
http://www.keghart.com/Minassian-Ardak-Miro