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BETTER THAN NEIGHBORS, WITH ROOM TO IMPROVE: UN REPORT RANKS ARMENIA WITH THE
WORLD
By Marianna Grigoryan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Since 1990 the United Nations has published its annual Human Development
Report, ranking countries according to living conditions.
Using analysis based on a country’s statistical bureau (2003 for this report),
World Bank, and other reliable sources, UNO assigns grades according to
certain conditions based on three main components: education, life expectancy
and gross domestic product (GDP).
In the report () released September 7, Armenia is rated 83
out of 177 countries. Caucasus neighbors Georgia and Azerbaijan ranked 100 and
101 respectively. One grade above Armenia is Ecuador, with the Philippines one
grade worse. The highest rated country is Norway at No. 1, while Niger is at
the bottom. The United States comes in at 10, United Kingdom at 15, and France
at 16.
(In the previous report, Armenia in fact ranked higher, at 82. However, the
drop of one position does not reflect a decline, but rather the fact that
other countries improved, too, and more countries were added to the list.)
According to economic expert of the UN Human Development program Aghasi
Lazarian, Armenia’s overall human development index has risen from .754
to .759 over the past year `owing to economic growth as a result of which the
GDP index has grown from 0.57 to 0.60′. (Over the same period, the education
index has not changed; nor has health, although the life expectancy in Armenia
has dropped from 72.3 to 71.5)
According to statistical data main sectors contributing to the growth in 2003
in Armenia were construction at 44%, and industry, 15%.
Despite the constant complaints from people that the social conditions of
people in Armenia does not improve through years, statistical data say other
things.
According to statistics from the UN, the index of poverty in Armenia has also
dropped.
If in 2002 nearly 49.7 % of the Armenian population were poor, of which
the `very poor’ were 13.1 %, in 2003 the index of poverty dropped to 42.7 %,
and the level of extreme poverty has been cut in half, reaching 7.4 %.
Fifth among (12) the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries,
Armenia is behind Russia (62nd), Belarus (67th), the Ukraine (78th) and
Kazakhstan (80th position), but (in addition to Georgia and Azerbaijan) ahead
of former USSR countries of Turkmenistan (97th), Kyrgyzstan (109th),
Uzbekistan (111th), Moldova (115th) and Tajikistan (122nd).
According to Marc Malloch Brown, administrator of the United Nations
Development Program, the Human Development Reports have proved valuable over
the years.
`The reports have had an undeniable role of catalysts in developing and
forming certain responses in the major development policy of our times,’ he
mentions in a brief note of the report.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Vartan Oskanian says although Armenia is not bad
compared to its neighbors, the picture is different in terms of the world.
`Armenia should be able to understand its problems and should take the 2005
Human Development Report as a guide for its future activities,’ he said.
GAZA STRIP MODEL FOR NKR?: STUDY GROUP SAYS KARABAKH SHOULD EVACUATE `OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES’
By Aris Ghazinyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The International Crisis Group on Conflict Prevention released a report on the
Nagorno Karabakh question, with conclusions that aren’t likely to endear the
group to officials in Yerevan, where they arrived on Monday.
On September 10, the mission was in Baku, Azerbaijan where it handed over its
report to Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov. Two days later in the
Armenian capital, mission head Alain Deletroz said: `The Armenian side should
immediately withdraw from the territories of Azerbaijan it controls and
suspend ongoing projects in these regions.’
Deletroz’ comments reflect the content of the report (found in full at
) that calls for a pullout of Karabakh from `occupied’
territories of Azerbaijan.
At a press conference in Baku, Deletroz said that seven regions near Karabakh,
where Armenians (some from Karabakh and some from Armenia) have relocated and
established settlements since the 1994 cease-fire `should be freed, refugees
be returned and only then will it become possible to negotiate the status of
Nagorno Karabakh that can be determined within 10-15 years.’ At the same time,
he noted that Baku must cease its propaganda against Armenia and stop
building `the image of the enemy’ in public consciousness.
The International Crisis Group was formed in 1995 and is engaged in studying
of conflicts in 44 regions of the world. The group includes retired diplomats
as well as ex-foreign ministers and former heads of separate departments of
different countries. The goal of the ICG is to study situations in the zones
of ethnic conflicts and to develop recommendations to the parties to these
conflicts. The group spent nine months, including on-the-ground observations,
studying the Karabakh situation.
ICG has its South Caucasus region office in Tbilisi, Georgia.
`The cruel war over Nagorno Karabakh has brought to ruin about 18,000 human
lives and the displacement of more than a million people before a fragile
truce was established in 1994,’ Sabina Fraser, director of the Tbilisi office
said in Yerevan. `For the past 11 years life in Nagorno Karabakh has more or
less returned to normal: the economy is developing and elective institutions
are functioning. However, nothing has been done to reinstate those who
suffered from the war in their rights. It is necessary to return refugees to
the places of their former residence.’
She also noted that the group `had prepared a recommendation addressed to the
leadership of Nagorno Karabakh with a proposal to stop the process of settling
Armenians in the occupied Azeri territories.’
`This process, though it is not intensive, still should be suspended and all
conditions should be created for the return of Azeri refugees,’ Sabina Fraser
said.
Yerevan political analyst Alexander Manasyan says the ICG report reflects `a
scandalous discrepancy between the character of the conflict and the
definitions given to it by the ICG.
`In particular, the term `war over Nagorno Karabakh’ fully reflects the
official position of Azerbaijan, according to which Nagorno Karabakh is an
object of the Armenian-Azeri confrontation. Meanwhile, it is obvious that it
is the subject of the conflict, for the people of the NKR has made their
choice in full conformity with current legal points. The group does not take
into account the fact that war was started by Azerbaijan, and the armistice
was established by the Armenian sides.’
During his Yerevan press conference Deletroz did not deny lacking information
about the history of the conflict but resisted going into detail about his
understanding of its background.
`Each side has its own `historical version’ and our group investigates
exclusively the current stage of the development of the problem,’ he said.
ICG has its South Caucasus region office in Tbilisi, Georgia.
`The cruel war over Nagorno Karabakh has brought to ruin about 18,000 human
lives and the displacement of more than a million people before a fragile
truce was established in 1994,’ Sabrina Fraser, director of the Tbilisi office
said in Yerevan. `For the past 11 years life in Nagorno Karabakh has more or
less returned to normal: the economy is developing and elective institutions
are functioning. However, nothing has been done to reinstate those who
suffered from the war in their rights. It is necessary to return refugees to
the places of their former residence.’
The Group’s reports will have political consequences, many Armenian newspapers
write, pointing out that `similar non-governmental organizations do not do
anything without reason.
`The claims that this public initiative hardly deserves a serious attitude in
view of its own incompetence to assert any political decisions are erroneous,
as it first of all is focused on the formation of international public opinion
on this issue,’ writes `Golos Armenii’ newspaper. `In this case we deal with a
report that will by all means become a subject for discussions within
international structures and cannot but impact the sentiments of the world
community.’
`Azg’ daily remembers in this connection the statement of American Cabinet
Member Strobe Talbott, who said: `As U.S. Undersecretary of State I used the
publications of the ICG. The reports prepared by this group and its analytical
researches as a rule comprised information that could not be received from
other sources. Therefore, it is no wonder that its recommendations frequently
were reflected in our ultimate political decision-making.’
`The group works in 44 disputed zones of the world, and in separate cases we
ourselves recommend to the parties of the conflict to initiate military
operations, as we don’t simply see any other solution,’ Deletroz
said. `However, it does not concern the Armenian-Azeri confrontation in which
the diplomatic resource has not been exhausted yet. Therefore, we completely
support `the Prague Process’ of negotiations between the personal
representatives of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.’
In the ICG’s opinion, following its recommended withdraw of Armenians from
Azeri territory `control over them may be yielded to international peace-
keeping forces.’
Deletroz did not mention what the Armenian parties can expect in that case,
only adding the thought that he had expressed earlier about the possibility of
determining the status of Nagorno Karabakh within 10-15 years.
`It is a rather delicate question, but I must say that in the opinion of the
group the referendum of 1991 in Nagorno Karabakh can barely have valid force,
for it was conducted in a completely different political situation. Meanwhile,
we should adapt the present confrontation to the modern political conditions,’
Deletroz said.
COUNCIL TO PROTECT: HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS COLLABORATE IN DEFENSE OF IMPRISONED
SOLDIERS
By Zhanna Alexanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A collection of human rights protection agencies, including representatives of
the Helsinki Committee of Armenia, have formed a council for the defense of
Razmik Sargsyan, Araik Zalyan and Musa Serobyan, soldiers sentenced to 15
years each for the murder of two other soldiers last year in Karabakh.
(The soldiers were convicted of killing Hovsep Mktrumyan and Roman
Yeghiazaryan, whose bodies were found in early January, 2004 in a reservoir
near where the soldiers were stationed. Zalyan and Serobyan have maintained
their innocence. Sargsyan confessed to having a role in the murders, but later
said he was tortured into making the confession, which also implicated the
other two. Sargsyan has been on a hunger strike since August 12, in protest of
all their convictions. See links below for related stories).
The human rights’ groups claim that the young soldiers are recent examples in
a long line of conscripts who suffer mistreatment, violence and, in this case,
outright lawlessness that is widespread in the Armenian army.
A statement by the council charges the Military Prosecutor’s Office with
wrongly influencing the investigation, conviction and all related legal issues
concerning the soldiers. It has done so, the group alleges, in an effort to
protect company commander Ivan Grigoryan, who defenders of the convicted say
is responsible for the murders.
The council also claims that the court has done nothing to suppress threats
made against the defendants’ families and attorneys by supporters of the
prosecution.
`The fact that the court takes no measures against such activities proves the
court dependence on the Military Prosecutor’s Office,’ the council’s statement
says.
The council (as well as lawyers for the defendants) also criticized the court
for not calling Grigoryan to testify. Seyran Ohanyan, Defense Minister of
Nagorno-Karabagh Republic sent a petition not to cause an action against
Grigoryan, saying that the Karabakh war veteran is “a national hero and has
regrets”.
`What Ivan Grigoryan regrets has remained unanswered both during the
preliminary and court investigations,’ the council statement says.
Supporters of Zalyan, Sargsyan and Serobyan have organized many press
conferences and public appearances, including protest demonstrations in front
of the Presidential Residence and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
`We will declare war against the actions of the Military Prosecutor’s Office,’
says human rights activist Artur Sakunts. `The only way is the formation of
the council and the public actions that will be targeted not only at
protecting the young people, but will also engage all those citizens who have
suffered from the Military Prosecutor’s Office.’
Meanwhile, an appeal’s court has suspended hearing Sargsyan’s case due to his
bad health brought on by the hunger strike.
Lawyers defending Sargsyan – Zaruhi Postanjyan, Stepan Voskanyan and Ashot
Atoyan – have not seen their client since August 25. Prison officials will not
allow them to meet in Sargsyan’s cell, and prison officals say he is too weak
to walk to the attorney-client meeting room.
`Our right as defenders has been violated. We are deprived of an opportunity
to meet our defendant for 22 days. If his condition is that bad why they do
not move him to hospital?’ complains Postanjyan, who believes his client
isolation is meant to apply psychological pressure.
The prison head says Sargsyan’s health is not so bad and that he will be moved
to hospital should his health be endangered.
On Monday, attorneys received a note from prison authorities saying in
part: `medical documents regarding health of imprisoned people are not given;
the medical cards are secret documents.’
Lawyers for Sargsyan say the 19-year-old is suffering kidney failure, cannot
walk, and can barely speak.
BLOOD RELATIVE: NEW (ARMENIAN) INVENTION EXPECTED TO MAKE DIABETES EASIER TO
CONTROL
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A revolutionary glucose level measuring and monitoring device for diabetics
will become available next year, and its Armenian inventor hopes it will find
broad application in Armenia, where diabetes is a wide-spread health risk.
The Glucoband is the latest development of U.S.-based Calisto Medical, Inc.
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The company’s CEO and founder Vahram Mouradian, who is the main inventor of
the Glucoband (and who owned Yerevan’s Leda Systems until selling it off to
Synopsis last year), says the device is the first non-invasive blood glucose
monitor. If proven effective, the Glucoband would enable users to measure
certain substances in the bloodstream, without breaking the skin.
`The device is aimed at enabling patients, healthcare professionals, and
generally anyone to monitor glucose level changes and the measure of the
glucose level in the body or blood,’ says Mouradian.
The Glucoband is a wristwatch-like portable electronic device, with a touch
screen, a built-in computer, embedded microprocessor, flash memory, and watch.
According to Mouradian, if there is a demand, the company is also ready to
provide designer Glucobands (with diamonds, etc.).
`It is an exciting thing that gives you (options such as a regular watch) and
glucose level as well,’ says Mouradian, adding that designers also took into
account making the Glucoband as discrete as possible.
`No one will ever suspect that you are a diabetic because of wearing it,’ says
Mouradian.
The inventor hopes that the product, which still needs to be certified by
Armenia’s Health Ministry and obtain a license for sale, will become available
in Armenia next year, when it enters the international market (pending certain
clinical tests).
The new device is also intended to be cost effective. Mouradian does not yet
want to speculate on the price of the product, but says that it should be a
few hundred dollars. (According to Mouradian, on an annual basis an average
diabetic in America spends up to $2,500 on means of monitoring glucose.)
`It will be saving probably 75 percent on an annual basis,’ Mouradian
estimates.
To measure their glucose (`blood sugar’) level today, people have to prick
their finger, extract blood, put the blood on a test strip and then put the
strip into a monitor performing certain chemical analyses. The currently used
monitor costs $100 and given that such tests might be performed by a patient
four to 18 times a day (with the use of various disposable accessories, such
as strips costing up to a dollar each) it adds up to quite an expensive
procedure.
In contrast, the Glucoband needs no drop of blood (and is painless) as it
accesses the body with just two electrodes producing data within a few
minutes.
Mouradian says that the Glucoband is also unique because it is designed for
continuous monitoring, which detects trends in the change of glucose, which
could be useful data for a diabetic’s physician.
Mouradian says that the Glucoband can be used by anyone, without exception.
Diabetes, third behind cancer and cardio-vascular diseases as world-wide cause
of death, has been steadily increasing in Armenia over the past decade,
according to the World Health Organization. According to official statistics,
there are about 16,000 diabetes patients in Armenia, but the actual number is
believed to be multiple times higher.
Mouradian says the company’s interests in Armenia are mostly personal, as the
potential here would hardly represent a commercial windfall. But four of the
five-member team (including himself) working on the Glucoband are ethnic
Armenians, with special interests in seeing the Armenian-produced device
succeed. (Mouradian himself divides his time between his home in Texas, and
Armenia.)
`As a sales market, Armenia is just a small fraction of what can be sold, for
example in China. The whole of Armenia is like one part of Shanghai. But there
is a certain potential for Armenia to have sufficient resources to be used as
part of research and development, enhancement of the product line and
support,’ says Mouradian, adding that there is also a remote possibility of
doing assembly and testing in Armenia.
`This product is not going to become Armenian per se, but certainly Armenia is
considered number one outside of the U.S. for research development and, why
not, marketing in the region,’ Mouradian says. He adds that, ideally, every
family should have the Glucoband, like they have thermometers or blood
pressure monitors.
In June, Mouradian’s company introduced the Glucoband at a health exposition
in San Diego, California. He says they already have a wide response to their
planned offer and receive a couple of hundred emails every day, which,
according to him, only confirms the need of a convenient and effective glucose
level meter.
Mouradian is a 1984 graduate of the Polytechnic Institute in Yerevan from
which he received his Ph. D. in electronic engineering and computer science.
Although he has no formal medical education, he worked extensively with
medical groups, including in Armenia, and still has contacts with healthcare
professionals. He has been `self-educating’ in endocrinology towards diabetes
for two and a half years.
Mouradian set up Calisto Medical in 2003 and the company became operational in
early 2004.
`This is one good example when different fields of activities are combined,’
says Mouradian.
`The whole idea here was putting together the medical advances and the
knowledge and experience of advanced engineering and electronics.’
PLANTING SEEDS AND PEDALING FOR PROGRESS: ATG SEES GREAT YIELDS FOR ARMENIAN
FARMERS
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
Andranik Hovakimyan, 42, from the village of Aygepar in Armenia’s Tavush
region talks about his wheat fields and of the burden they have tolerated
along with the rest of the country.
{ai107901.jpg|left}`After the collapse of the Soviet Union and after the
Karabakh war our region became isolated from advances in agriculture observed
in other parts of the country. After land privatization we were left alone
facing the problems of land.’
But now, too, Hovakimyan looks at his high-yielding crops and has a better
report:
`All this was left behind when we met the Armenian Technology Group (ATG)
NGO.’
Hovakimyan says that they didn’t have seeds, fertilizers or other items needed
for land cultivation. Local seeds had lost their quality. Random merchants
would bring and sell whaterver seeds they could find, and as a result, the
crops were no better than the means of producing them.
`Before the emergence of ATG () we didn’t know who to trust, but
now we get amazing results,’ he says.
ATG was established in 1989 through the efforts of American-Armenian
veterinary Andranik Hazarapetian. During those years with several specialists
(agronomists, veterinarians) they visited Armenia.
`Earthquake, blockade, war, unemployment, ruined rural economy. After seeing
all this we decided to contribute to Armenia’s economic development by
creating necessary conditions to address all that, emphasizing the
agricultural sector,’ says ATG Executive Director Varuzhan Ter-Simonian. `We
began to import wheat seeds, at that time 80 percent of Armenia’s wheat seeds
had already been coming from abroad,’
With U.S. Government assistance the organization began to import seeds. Before
the distribution of seeds they organized lectures to keep farmers aware of how
to treat it before planting.
`We organized lectures also after planting, and generally three times a year.
We selected farmers according to their abilities and according to demand. Five
of our specialists came from the United States and went to different regions
of Armenia – Syunik, Gegharkunik, Tavush, Armavir and Shirak. The goal was to
live with a farmer side by side and help him. During those years more than
100,000 farmers were retrained,’ says Ter-Simonian.
Beginning in 1995 ATG decided to organize seed production locally. They began
to cooperate with international organizations, such as the International Maze
and Wheat Improvement Organization (CIMMYT).
Ter-Simonian says that they have tested more than 250 varieties of wheat in
Armenia. Due to ATG’s activities, the country’s wheat seed production
increased by 30 percent. Armenia’s Selection Achievement Experimental
Protection and Seed Quality Control Center licensed seven varieties of ATG
wheat in Armenia.
In 1998, ATG Foundation established the Seed Producers’ Support Association
(SPSA) NGO for the local farmers to continue this work with their own efforts.
About 100 farms representing the republic’s nine regions are members of the
union today. These farms are mainly engaged in producing wheat, fodder crop
and potato seedings.
Hovhakimyan says farmers got unlimited assistance from ATG. `ATG’s
professional advice, new high-quality wheat seeds and new technologies have
made us competitive on the local market today,’ he says.
In addition to its seed-producing initiative, ATG also organizes bike-a-thons
(marathon races on bicycles) and all proceeds received from them are used for
implementing their agricultural projects.
Ter-Simonian says that for Diaspora Armenians, Armenia should not be limited
to Yerevan only. And a bike-a-thon brings people to Yerevan, and then takes
them to the country’s different regions. `We contribute to the development of
our adventure tourism, investing the revenues from this into the rural
economy,’ he says.
With the funds of the first bike-a-thon held in 1999 a grape nursery was
established in Karabakh. The nursery established in a territory of 1.5
hectares in the borderline village of Khramort today already reaches 8
hectares. Here local grape varieties are vaccinated against phylloxera, a
disease eats the grapes’ roots.
{ai107902.jpg|right}Four milk cooling tanks were bought from proceeds of the
second bike-a-thon held on August 21-27, 2004 and placed in four regions.
The proceeds from this year’s bike-a-thon, held on August 21-27, 2005 will be
invested into the establishment of a diagnostic laboratory for use in cattle
breeding.
`Armenia has no such laboratory. The one preserved from the past diagnoses two
diseases, and the new one will make it possible to diagnose six at a time,’
says Ter-Simonian. `If animals are healthy, then a farmer’s business does not
suffer, people’s health is not endangered, and finally Armenia can freely
export its agricultural produce to the international market.’
The republic’s veterinaries today take a special examination at the Ministry
of Agriculture to work in the future diagnostic laboratory center.
Construction will begin by the end of this year. One million dollars of the
required five will be invested by the Armenian Government, the rest will be
provided by the U.S. Government, ATG Foundation.
According to the executive director, 14 people have already applied for
participation in next year’s bike-a-thon.
`The help of participants in the Bike-a-Thon effort is invaluable to our
projects. It is also a wonderful occasion to visit Armenia’s rural areas and
contribute a little to the economic development of villages,’ says Ter-
Simonian.
SWEET VAN: GENOCIDE SURVIVOR HAS MOTHER’S MEMORIES TO SUSTAIN A LONG LIFE
By Mariam Badalyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Aharon Manukyan’s eyes widen when memories of his childhood take him back to
his home in Van, then to an orphanage in Alexandrapol and the big, round
chocolates of a Mr. Yaro, a patron of that orphanage.
Yerevantsi, but, always, Vanetsi
The orphanage became the boy’s home when he became exiled like so many
thousands who were chased from their homes during the 1915 Genocide. Not so
many survivors remain these 90 years later. Aharon was only 1 year old when
his family was run out of their home. His account of deportation relies on
stories told by his mother.
His 91 year old face shows all its age, when he retells his mother’s
account . . .
The Vanetsis put up a fight against Turkish invaders, aided by Russian forces.
But when the Russians pulled out, the 200,000-strong Armenian population left
for Eastern Armenia. Aharon’s father died during the battle to save Van.
`My mother passed the deportation path with me on her arms and (brothers)
Meliqset and Vahram pulling on her skirt,’ Aharon says. `When we were crossing
the river Euphrates it was very red, and the water carried corpses.’
Aharon’s mother, Mariam, hid their family valuables in her father’s grave in
Van, then set out on foot with the three children for Echmiadsin (about ???
kilometers). There, she had to beg for food to keep the children alive. Soon,
she took the children to the orphanage in Alexandrapol (now Gyumri), then
returned to Echmiadzin to look for a job.
`The orphanage belonged to an American couple. The husband’s name was Mr. Yaro
and the wife’s name Miss Limin,’ Aharon says, pronouncing names of orphanage
trustees like a five-year old child, distorting the pronunciation. `They were
very kind people. They lost their only child and devoted all their love to the
orphanage children.’
He lists the orphanage food as if so many decades had not passed since he ate
them: milk, soup, gata, halva, dried fruit. The orphanage seemed a paradise
for a child who passed through starvation.
`It was only once that I did not go to school. I had a sore throat and I did
not feel like going to school. There was an American whose name was Miche.
When children did not want to go to school the mother-superior, Sandukht, the
orphanage headmistress, called Miche. Miche came, took out my trousers and,
thrashing, drove me barefooted through snow to the school entrance,’ Aharon
smiles. `This was the last time I was absent from school.’
The American couple adopted Aharon and his brothers and intended to take them
to the United States. Aharon’s mother learned about it and rushed to the
orphanage. She had found a job in Yerevan and could take the children with
her.
`My mother was in charge of technical services at a laundry in Yerevan. In a
short while, Mrs. Limin came. She offered 40 pieces of gold for my mother to
let me go with her to America. She told my mother that I reminded her of her
dead son. But my mother refused,’ Aharon laughs naughtily. `I would be a
wealthy man now. They say Mr. Yaro had 200 offices in America.’
Aharon has bright memories of his mother. During her whole life Mariam told
endlessly about the town of Van – the Armenian districts of Aygestan and
Qaghaqamech, churches, the town fortress, Armenian habits and culture.
`My mother told us,’ Aharon remembers, `that during windy days water in the
lake rose and fish, which were thrown ashore, moved to the town through
rivulets. People caught them very easily. Tarekh (herring) was a very tasty
fish. And in the nearby village of Artamet, a type of very sweet apple called
bagyurmas, grew. One of such apples weighed more than a kilo.’
`My father never misses a chance to speak of Van,’ says Aharon’s daughter
Ruzan, 47. `For example whenever we eat fish he says: `you should have eaten
tarekh (herring) from Lake Van’. We all know he also has never had it, but we
understand that it is very important for him to speak of Van. It is kind of
paying tribute to his homeland and to my grandmother.’
Aharon looks at nowhere and smiles. He is not in the room, but moved to his
past now and like a film come episodes from his life and his mother’s
image . . .
`There was a hot spring coming from underneath St.Virgin Church,’ Aharon
repeats what his mother had told him. `Every kind of sick person came and took
a bath in the water and was healed. People threw gold pieces into the water as
a payment for their wonder healing.
`My mother, although uneducated, was a very kind and wise woman. All my life I
have been reading and learning things, however the values I have had in my
life come from my mother – good manners, honesty, kindness. These I passed to
my four children.’
In 1945, inspired from his mother’s stories and the family’s fate, Aharon
graduated from Yerevan State University in the faculty of history. And he
never forgot that he is Vanetsi.
He says he is partly satisfied, knowing that this year some European states
formally acknowledged as fact the Armenian Genocide. He dreams of seeing the
day when Turkey will be called to account for those atrocities.
His glance is again far away in the past, and he sometimes smiles indulged in
sweet memories. And sometimes frowns from a history that has given him the
label of `survivor’.
TO YEREVAN WITH LOVE: RUSSIAN TSAR TO BE HONORED WITH DAVID OF SASUN-SIZED
MONUMENT
By Suren Deheryan
ArmeniaNow reporter
By the time Russian Tsar Peter I built a city on the river Neva in 1703 and
turned it into Russia’s new capital naming it Petersburg, he had already been
in close relations with Armenians, giving them privileges in Russia.
Three hundred years later, Yerevan is repaying his kindness.
September 13-14 were designated as days of commemoration for St. Petersburg,
with a number of events, and an official delegation led by Governor of
Leningrad region Valentina Matvienko.
The days of St. Petersburg were part of the program of the `Year of Russia’ in
Armenia. An exhibition was opened here, concerts were staged, official visits
were paid and Russian-Armenian business meetings were held, which reaffirmed
the three-century-old friendly ties between the Russian emperor and Armenians.
Among actions, Governor Matvienko and Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharyan agreed
that a St. Petersburg center be opened in Yerevan and an Armenian center in
St. Petersburg.
Most noted, however, was the confirmation of a proposal to erect a 5.5-meter
(18-feet) statue of the Great Peter in front of the local government building
of the Arabkir community of Yerevan.
Atop a two-to-three meter pedestal, the bronze Peter I will gaze with arms
crossed toward Mt. Ararat. Top to bottom, the statue of the Russian tzar will
equal that of Armenia’s most famous hero, David of Sasun, which stands in
front of the railway station.
`The monument will be about as high as a four-storied building,’ the co-author
of the project, architect Ashot Alexanyan says with excitement. `Peter, who
building Petersburg created a `Window to Europe’ for Russia, will be presented
here on the subject of the `Gate to the South”.
Besides Alexanyan, involved in the implementation of the project are also
sculptor from Russia Vadim Tserkovnikov (designer of the statue) and Yerevan’s
chief architect Samvel Danielyan. According to the agreement, the bronze
statue will be prepared and will be transferred from Russia and the Armenian
side will provide the monument near the statue and see to the works on the
improvement of the park area.
Alexanyan says it will take at least six months to complete the project.
Meanwhile, information about the `coming of Emperor Peter to Yerevan’ recently
appeared on the Internet. In particular, it aroused stormy discussions at one
of the forums on the Hayastan portal (
showtopic=17924&st=0) under the question:
`They want to set up a statue to Peter I in Yerevan. What the hell for?’
It seems a reasonable question, considering that Yerevan doesn’t even host a
comparable statue of Armenia’s own Great, Tigran II.
Alexander Prokhorenko, who chairs St. Petersburg’s external relations
commission and arrived in Yerevan on St. Petersburg’s official delegation,
attempted an answer:
`A statue is a symbol and nothing more,’ Prokhorenko told ArmeniaNow. `But
there is certain logic here, since it was under Peter that for the first time
an Armenian community was created and it actively participated in the
construction of Petersburg. Thus, we can say that Peter I was one of the
Russian tsars who `transplanted’ Armenians in the Russian state.’
In 1701, in Moscow, Armenian national-liberation movement activist Israel Ori
came to meet Peter I outlining to him his so-called `Moscow Project’ of
Armenia’s liberation, which Peter agreed to implement after Russia’s war
against the Swedes. On the basis of this agreement the Russian government
developed a project of establishing a buffer Armenian-Georgian united
Christian state.
But in 1720, not being able to help the Armenian rebels in Artsakh and Syunik,
Emperor Peter sent a delegate to encourage Armenians. A year before his death,
in November 1724, the Russian emperor issued an edict about taking the
Armenian people under his patronage.
According to architect Alexanyan, words of Peter that reflect his thoughts
about Armenia will be placed on the monument which perhaps will explain the
logic of the Russian tsar in the Armenian capital.
`There are such thoughts,’ Alexanyan assures. `One simply has to gather
them . . .’
School of Thought: Turks and Hyes find friendship during summer study
By Arpi Harutyunyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A group of Armenian students have learned that it takes only a week to reshape
views that have been decades in the making. Turks and Armenians can be
friends, they say.
Last month, 12 university students from Armenia spent a week studying with
Turkish students in Antakia, Turkey (Antakia is the historical Antioch that
was the southern seat of the Armenian kingdom in 83-69 B.C. during the reign
of Tigran the Great).
`The aim of the summer school was not to achieve historical truth. We just
wanted the young people of the nations to get in touch, know each other and be
able to build trust between the two countries,’ explains Isabella Sargsyan,
coordinator of youth programs of the Armenian committee of the Helsinki Civil
Assembly ().
It appears that, in at least come cases, the program was a success.
`After becoming acquainted with them for several days I understood that
Armenians and Turks can make the best friends in the world and be honest
neighbors,’ says Magda Markosyan, 20 a student of the Yerevan State University
Department of Economics. `There is just the need to first of all agree on
the `Armenian Question’, and then we, Armenian young people, should realize
the present-day young people are not responsible for the atrocities of the
past. We, more than other nations, have many similarities.’
During the week, students studied issues such as Nationalism, Problems of
Social Individualism in Globalization Era, Peaceful Journalism. Lectures were
led by Turkish and Armenian specialists.
`The topic of my report that referred to the field of Non-Governmental
Organizations in Armenia changed there when I understood that some of the
Turkish students know almost nothing about Armenia,’ Sargsyan said. `Therefore
I first of all told about what Armenia is like, where it is, what statehood it
has, then I turned to the core topic.’
According to the Armenian students the friendly attitude of the young Turkish
people is explained also by a lack of information about Armenia. In contrast
to the Armenian side the young Turkish people have learnt about historic
Armenia only by means of several sentences in the textbooks that can hardly
cause deep hatred.
The idea for the summer studies came from Turkey two or three years ago, and
was realized this year due to funding from the Council of Europe.
`We Armenians have constantly received an anti-Turkish upbringing,’ says
Yerevan State University Department of Political Science student Gayane
Vardanyan. `We left for Turkey carrying that in mind. At the beginning I was
so stressed that I did not want even to smile. But gradually I became
comfortable. I even felt I am making friends and loving my Turkish mates.’
The Armenian students say their hosts actively tried to establish friendly
relations. And the ice broke on the moment when one of the Turkish guys began
singing an Armenian song.
`It is amazing, but there were those among the Turkish students who even said
they are ready to accept that their ancestors have committed genocide,’ says
Lusine Grigoryan, student at the Journalism Department, Yerevan State
University.
(On the other hand, the Armenians weren’t challenged to accept Turkey’s
version of history. The Turks say that, friendly relations aside, the
Armenians’ attitude is unbending and senseless to challenge.)
Yes, I asked. They answered me that Turkish side realized that irrespective of
good relations, Armenians’ attitude is unbending in that problem and it’s
senseless to speak about it.
During the course of study, the Turks and Armenians went to the famed Armenian
territory of Musa Ler (site of the popular historical novel `Forty Days at
Musa Dagh’). There, they participated in the blessing of the grape harvest, an
Armenian tradition.
`I was trembling while watching the young Turkish people entering the round
dance of Armenians and begin dancing with the same spirit,’ says Magda
Markosyan.. `And I was especially touched when one of the students began
weeping during the mass in the Armenian church.’
The organizers of the summer school say the results exceeded their
expectations. The Armenian side aims to organize a similar summer school for
next summer, in Gyumri.
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