Author: Vardanian Garo

DEMOCRACY ON THE LEVEL OF YEREVAN
Lilit Poghosyan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
11 Dec 2008
Armenia

Paruyr Hayrikyan Proposes

Parliamentary hearings were held in the National Assembly yesterday,
prior to the second reading of the bill on "The Local Self-Governance
and Territorial Administration".

Why should the Major of Yerevan be elected by the internal
representative body, in the person of the council of the aldermen,
and not by the citizens of Yerevan? Why should we pin our hopes upon
indirect elections, if we can do it directly, that is to say by way of
direct elections? Why should they restrict the entry of the political
forces to the parliament?

Is it right to define 100% proportional election system for the
formation of the council of aldermen and to deprive the individual
citizens from nominating their candidacy? Are we not humiliating the
institute of the aldermen by defining that the Major is competent to
dissolve this representative instance, any time?

In response to our questions leader of "National Self-Determination
Union", participant of the inter-party discussions Paruyr Hayrikyan
expresses his viewpoint.

"In general the legislative body, in this case the Parliament of
Yerevan, is established as a representative body, not to be interested
in the contents of law, but to be guided by principles.

It is evident that the main forces involved in th e elaboration
of this bill are interested in this law, that is to say they wrote
the bill for themselves, but it must have been for Yerevan and the
citizens of Yerevan. This is the main issue.

According to the new Constitution Yerevan has become a Community
and we already have a tradition of forming communities, even if
not perfect, still a tradition, according to which the head of the
community is elected by direct elections. Whereas alderman is not a
separate organizational unit.

Its activity is guided by the leaders of the communities. Consequently
that representative body can’t be counterbalance and supervise it. That
is to say the mechanism of the counterbalance doesn’t work perfectly.

Yerevan is becoming a community. And we are annihilating the existing
mechanism of counterbalance instead of making it perfect. The
representative body, the council of the aldermen, elects the
Major. This doesn’t contribute to the development of democracy.

It is quite unacceptable to artificially give 20% more to the electoral
unit. It is also very strange that they create lots of obstacles. If
it is a representative body so why do they create obstacles for them.

For instance 9 parties can obtain 20% votes, but because this is
not enough to overcome the minimum barrier they will not have a
representative in the parliament of Yerevan. And on the contrary,
one party gets 20% and the votes of all the other parties, which
failed will pass to them. This is not a healthy approach."

"What do you propose instead?"

"Our stance is clear. The Major of Yerevan is elected by direct
elections, in parallel with the elections of the council of the
aldermen.

The electoral units must participate in the elections of the aldermen,
which are: the parties, the unions, and the citizens.

Those who got maximum votes gain seats in the parliament and they
elect their Speaker. The latter heads the activity of the aldermen
with his/her staff.

Each member of the parliament votes according to the votes he/she
has obtained. If someone participates in the elections and obtains 40
thousand votes, the other electoral unit – party, obtains 60 thousand
votes and three people gain seats in the parliament, each of them will
have 20 thousand votes. This is what we call ideal democracy. Each
voting turns into a referendum, with the involvement of Yerevan –
and the decisions are made by the ratio of not 33 for, 32 against,
but 400 thousand for, 350 thousand against. Thus the parliament of
Yerevan becomes a perfect representative body."

"Life shows that in countries like ours each election turns into a
trouble for our society. Why should we hold elections every year and
create tension in the political circles?"

"If you subordinate the idea of democracy to your own considerations,20
this means you are not honest. Democracy is an absolute value. And
if you don’t see progress this doesn’t mean that you must give up,
on the contrary you must try more and more.

And if you are elected for 2 years, you feel less tension. And
in case you are not elected you will not protest, you will think,
"Ok I will try next time".

THREE ARMENIANS IN A CITY
Joanna Lobo

Daily News & Analysis
=1213498
Dec 13 2008
India

They have made Mumbai their home, but these three feisty Armenian
women still have a strong connection with their roots.

A Biblical legend goes that Noah’s Ark came to rest on the mountains
called Ararat. The country Armenia lies in the highlands surrounding
these mountains. The origins and the culture of the Armenians suggest
a strong link to the Catholic faith.

Armenians started migrating to India not just from the land of
their origin but also from the Middle East during the 16th and 17th
centuries. Today, most Indian Armenians are settled in Kolkatta. Mumbai
is home to a few of them, three to be precise.

One of the older residents in the city is the feisty and quick-witted
Fort resident, 93-year-old Rosie Eknayan. India has been her home
from the time she was two. Born into a family of five brothers and six
sisters, Rosie was married to Artias Eknayan when she was in primary
school. "Ours was an arranged marriage but it lasted for 45 years,"
she says. Today, this mother of two lives alone, with the help of
what she calls her ‘Rolls Royce’: her wheelchair. Another important
gadget in her life is her television set that keeps her updated on
the latest news around the city and the world.

The Armenians are a generous people, says Eknayan, and they do not
hesitate to donate generously for any cause, particularly a religious
one. However, religion has no place in her life. "Ever since my son
died, I no longer go to church and pray," she says.

Another nonagenarian Armenian resident in the city is Nuvart
Mehta. Originally from Istanbul, she came to Mumbai on work. "I was
working at the American Consulate and they transferred me here,"
she recalls. "I came here, met a Parsi man, married him and have not
looked back since." Her love story is unique. A friend had called
her over for drinks. However, being very shy around women, he called
another friend for moral support. This was Nari, the man she fell in
love with and married.

A resident of Colaba, Mehta lives alone but her goddaughter and
neighbour takes care of her. Age does not deter Mehta from enjoying
life. She gets her driver to take her around the city every day. She
even travels to Armenia and recently went to the US for her godchild’s
graduation. "I am a member of the Willington Club and go over everyday
to read the day’s papers." She tells you that the number of Armenians
in the city has dwindled because many have migrated to Australia
where they have many active churches.

The third Armenian in the city is Ezabella Joshi who lives in Juhu. A
resident of Mumbai since 1973, Ezabella came into the city after she
married Kishore Joshi. A trustee of the St. Peter’s Armenian Church,
she regularly travels all over the world. Her daughter, actress Tulip
Joshi, has been baptised an Armenian. Says Tulip: "The Archbishop of
Australia came down specially to baptise me. It was also the first time
I was in news because it was a big event." Tulip has visited Armenia
many times and loves it because it is "rugged, full of mountains;
a very quiet and a beautiful place." Although baptised, she does not
follow any particular religion.

Mumbai holds a very special place in the hearts of all three. "This
is a very international city and I love the fact that I have so many
friends of so many nationalities," says Mehta. The city has changed
a lot over the years, and now suffers a sense of insecurity, she
adds. Eknayan recalls the time when one could walk down the streets
of Mumbai at any time of the day. "The city has become so dirty
now. Earlier, every morning, the sweepers would come and clean the
roads before people began their day."

For Rosie Eknayan, Nuvart Mehta and Ezabella Joshi, Mumbai has always
been home. As Rosie puts it: "Yeh Mumbai humari hai".

Photo: Fiesty at 93: Mumbai has been Rose Eknayan’s home since she
was a small child.

Critics’ Forum
Visual Arts
The House on Wheels: Alina Mnatsakanian’s Search for "Home"
By Ramela Grigorian Abbamontian

How do most Armenians, having crossed a number of borders and
encountered many homes, construct a diasporic identity? Can the
diasporic Armenian live in one place and still be part of another – a
historic homeland, a site of origin, a prior home? Post-colonial
theorists Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, in
defining "exile" with regard to diasporic peoples, wonder if "home"
is "[i]n the place of birth (nateo), in the displaced cultural
community into which the person is born, or in the nation-state in
which this diasporic community is located" (Key Concepts in Post-
colonial Studies (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), 93). These
are questions that burden many Armenian artists as well, including
Alina Mnatsakanian.

Mnatsakanian’s installations have been exhibited and her performance
pieces have had a run in Los Angeles over the last several years.
Mnatsakanian’s work continues to live online, asking questions we
have yet to answer. Her work engages the issues of "home"
and "homeland" as well as the incessant movement across borders and
the encountering of many cultures. Mnatsakanian’s personal history
inspired many of her pieces: she was born and raised in Iran (to
Russian-Armenian and Iranian-Armenian parents) but left for Paris at
the onset of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. After pursuing an art
education in Paris for several years, she settled in Los Angeles in
1983. After twenty-two years and several sporadic trips to Armenia,
she relocated once more, in September 2005, to Switzerland.

Mnatsakanian’s installation, House on Wheels (2000), confronts the
issue of constant movement and hybrid identity. The installation
incorporates a wooden structure, audio recordings, and projected
images on the wall, all of which together create a multi-media and
multi-sensory space of engagement. Hanging inside the house-shaped
wooden frame are four large transparencies representing homes and
cultures the artist has encountered: Iran, France, the United States,
and Armenia. Each home is referenced with very specific iconography,
which includes such things as identification cards, passport photos,
metro maps, visas, and citizenship papers – all of them signifiers of
movement, belonging/not belonging, and the creation of "home."

Mnatsakanian considers her "homeland" Iran as well as Armenia,
explaining, "It’s like a kid who has divorced parents," referring to
the sense of attachment one feels to more than one place (home) and
implying an involuntary separation from an initial source of
origin. Even though Mnatsakanian cites her strongest connections to
her birthplace of Iran and to Armenia (noticeably the most colorful
transparencies), she had created the home structure for Armenia
without ever having visited the country – emphasizing my earlier
suggestion that "homeland" is an imagined place for many Armenians.
When the imagined place was transformed into a real one during her
first visit, in 2001, Mnatsakanian recalled: "I kind of felt like I
had been there before, like I belonged there."

Mnatsakanian’s structure is merely the frame of a house – no walls,
no roof, no foundation, no other reinforcements. The skeletal
structure, transparent houses, and the fact that it is on wheels once
more point to the impermanent and mobile nature of the Diasporan, who
has changed homes a number of times and whose identity, even in the
present, is still not fixed. Interestingly, R. B. Kitaj, an
American-born artist of Jewish descent living in England, suggests a
similar experience of immigrant life as displacement, quite apart
from actual physical or geographic movement. In First Diasporist
Manifesto (1989), he explains that his identity was "born from the
amalgamation of dislocation, rupture, and a hybrid self which exists –
and paints – in two or more societies at once." Clearly, the sense
of a displaced identity is not exclusive to the Armenian diaspora –
it reflects the larger immigrant experience.

Mnatsakanian’s installation layers this sense of displacement into
her installation. A ten-minute video loop, evoking the notion of
home and movement that are central to the installation, is projected
onto the back wall, casting the structural form of the house itself
on the wall. The video is a layered collage of various scenes with a
superimposed audio component – giving the viewer a multi-sensory
experience similar to the disorientation engendered by displacement.
Mnatsakanian’s own voice plays in the background, her words often
muddled, disrupting any sense of clarity and denoting, as the artist
herself writes, "confusion related to the multi-cultural existence."

In the audio portion of the installation, the artist briefly recounts
the specific experience related to each respective country: a
childhood in Iran; art school in France; adulthood in America; and an
imagined home in Armenia. These narratives are delivered in the
languages of the specific country and include a corresponding song in
the background. Mnatsakanian also recites the following quote by the
Iranian-born Armenian-American author Hagop Karapents in all four
languages – Armenian, Farsi, French, and English – identifying her
many homes: "Everyone goes from one place to another to get home.
Some people who go from one place to another never get home. Some
others get home, but always stay in exile."

The key images projected on the back wall reinforce the notion of
constant movement and the attempt to create a home. The
identification card is the identifying marker of newcomers to the
United States. Its rather paradoxical moniker – "Resident Alien" –
denotes someone who lives in the States but does not quite yet enjoy
the full benefits of citizenship, in other words, one who does not
quite yet belong. The next segment shows the repeated movement of a
pair of hands putting up a miniature house, its collapse, and its
rebuilding- the narrative loop representing visually the many homes
built and rebuilt by Diasporans. In the following segment, people at
Union Station, in downtown Los Angeles, are hurriedly walking from
one place to another. The final projection is of a set of hands
protectively and reverentially cupping soil. Could this be
Mnatsakanian’s – or any Diasporan’s – attempt to capture a piece of
the land, to render it a "homeland"? Or does it express the desire
to claim a certain land as one’s own, in a paradoxical attempt to
halt the movement inherent in the diasporic experience?

In the statement describing the installation, Mnatsakanian elaborates
on this temporality, uprootedness and the endless search for
a "home":
. . . Sense of belonging to a place, a home or a homeland, is a
natural feeling. When one abandons the homeland, the sense of
belonging becomes abstract and sometimes unattainable. Duality or
plurality is a feeling created in such circumstances as a result of
various cultural influences. It can be enriching, yet differences
and contrasts may also create confusion. A person with a multi-
cultural upbringing might feel alienated in a society that is
prominently from a single cultural background. One way of facing
this issue is to completely conform to the new culture. Another way
is to find a possible coexistence.

Mnatsakanian, it seems, recognizes the challenges of multiple
belonging ultimately by embracing her diasporan identity as multi-
dimensional, what we might call a "transnational" self inhabiting
several identities at once.

House on Wheels has been exhibited at Neuchtel, Switzerland,
California State University, Los Angeles, and the Sam Francis Gallery
(Crossroads School, Santa Monica). You can view Mnatsakanian’s art
on her website at

All Rights Reserved: Critics’ Forum, 2008. Exclusive to the Armenian
Reporter.

Ramela Grigorian Abbamontian is an Assistant Professor of Art History
at Pierce College. She is also a PhD candidate in Art History at
UCLA.

You can reach her or any of the other contributors to Critics’ Forum
at [email protected]. This and all other articles published
in this series are available online at To sign
up for a weekly electronic version of new articles, go to
Critics’ Forum is a group created to
discuss issues relating to Armenian art and culture in the Diaspora.

VREZH PETROSIAN GAINS BRONZE MEDAL IN EUROPEAN STUDENT GAMES

Noyan Tapan

Dec 9, 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The Taekwondo Tournament under the
program of European Student Games finished on December 8 in Moscow. As
NT correspondent was informed by coach Arsen Avetisian, the only
representative of Armenia, a student of Armenian State Institute of
Physical Culture, a member of the Tork club Vrezh Petrosian (62 kg)
was also among the 20 countries’ delegates. At the start he beat
the sportsman of Belarus with the score of 5 to 0, in the second
tour the sportsman of Portugal with the score of 5 to 3 and passed
to the semi-final. The Vrezh Petrosian – Alexei Zherebchevski fight
for passing to the decisive tour was strained. Though the sportsman
from Yerevan surpassed him with his points (5 to 4), he received 5
reprimands during the fight, so 2 out of his points were reduced,
and he only gained a bronze medal.

ADVOCATES ARE LODGING APPEAL

A1+
[07:52 pm] 08 December, 2008

The advocates of Smbat Ayvazyan, member of the political board of
the Hanrapetutyun Party, will lodge an appeal against Court of First
Instance of Kentron and Nork-Marash districts on December 9.

Remind that on November 19 the Court sentenced Smbat Ayvazyan to
two years in prison for carrying illegal weapon and using violence
against a government representative.

The advocates are going to appeal to the European Court of Human
Rights in case the Appellate Court dismisses the action.

ARMENIAN INTELLECTUALS CALL ON THE PRESIDENT OF TURKEY TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

armradio.am
09.12.2008 15:05

Nearly 300 Armenian culture and art workers – academicians, doctors,
heads of public and media organizations – addressed an open letter
to the President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, in which they call on him
to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The letter states, in part:

"Dear Mr. President, The new situation in the South Caucasus
established after the latest events, Armenian President Serzh
sargsyan’s daring step of inviting you to Armenia and the meeting that
took place once again confirm that the establishment of good-neighborly
relations between Armenia and Turkey requires courageous and realistic
solutions. First of all, we face the long-standing issue of recognition
of the Armenian Genocide.

Let’s honestly accept that this problem has been dividing the two
peoples ever since 1915. Mr. President, in this case we deal with a
dreadful crime against humanity. This is not only the demand of the
Armenian people, but also the fair expectation of the international
community.

The current diplomacy of Turkey and the propaganda cannot close the
dark pages of our common history. Your generation should accept the
undeniable truth and recognize the Armenian Genocide. We think this
is first of all necessary to the Turkish people. This way it will
get rid of the burden of history=2 0and will stand next to other
states open-faced. Only this way it is possible to close that page
and confidently step into future.

Your visit to Armenia and Turkey’s initiative targeted at establishing
stability in the Caucasus inspire certain hope that a realistic
political flow is gradually shaping in Turkey, but these efforts may
easily fail if the state does undertake decisive steps by ending its
current policy of Armenian Genocide denial," the letter states.

ARMENIA JOINS THE AGREEMENT ON COMMANDING OF CSTO FORCES

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
December 5, 2008 Friday
Russia

On Wednesday, members of the parliament of Armenia debated ratification
of the agreement "On establishment of a system for commanding of forces
and means of the collective security system of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO)." Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia,
Ara Nazaryan, announced, "The goal of the agreement is creation of an
efficient system for functioning of forces and means of the collective
security system and commanding them in peacetime and wartime, as well
as reliable interaction of the command bodies of the coalition groups
of forces with defense ministries of the CSTO member states." He added,
"Bearing in mind that the system of forces and means of the collective
security system is a necessary and important component, the Defense
Ministry of Armenia requests ratification of this agreement."

BIRTH-RATE INCREASED IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH IN CURRENT JANUARY-DECEMBER

De Facto
Dec 8, 2008

STEPANAKERT, 08.12.08. DE FACTO. 2212 children, which is 212 more
than at the same period of 2007 (the growth – 10, 6%), were born in
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in current January-December.

According to the information DE FACTO received at the NKR National
Statistic Service, 40, 4 % of the new-born were born in capital
Stepanakert. As compared with 2007, for the same period death-rate
increased by 6, 3 %, making 1185 people.

Natural increment of the population for current January-November
made1027 people, which exceeds last year’s analogous index by 16 %.

The Time of Your Life
Finborough, London

Michael Billington
The Guardian,
Tuesday December 2 2008

A Scene from The Time of Your Life. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Who now remembers William Saroyan? Clearly the fashion-denying
Finborough, which marks the centenary of the American-Armenian writer’s
birth with a revival of this 1939 Pulitzer prize-winning comedy. It may
not be one of the great American plays but, written in the same year as
The Iceman Cometh, it emerges as a cheerier version of Eugene O’Neill,
and a refreshing hymn to human goodness.

The Time of Your Life Finborough, London Until Until December 21 Box
office:
0844 847 1652 Venue details Director and critic Harold Clurman, who
rejected the play for the radical Group Theater, defined its style as
one of "lyric anarchism". That’s exactly right, since Saroyan
celebrates life in all its variegated oddity without creating anything
so ordered as a plot. His setting is a San Francisco waterfront dive
populated by habitual boozers, dreamers and drifters. Presiding over
the bar is the philosophical Joe, who freely dispenses the money he
once guiltily earned and who helps his fellow topers realise their
fantasies. Among them are a sad streetwalker, a gauche errand boy and
an ageing Native American. Finally, they achieve fulfilment, proving
Joe’s point that "it takes a lot of rehearsing for a man to get to be
himself".

You could accuse Saroyan of many things: not least a Capra-esque
sentimentality and an unwillingness to acknowledge world crisis. But he
anticipates one of the great themes of postwar 20th-century drama,
which finds its consummation in Beckett: life as an endless process of
waiting. There is also an uncanny Brechtian ring to a character’s cry
of "the more heroes you have, the worse the world becomes". Behind the
play’s whimsy lurks a genuine detestation of power, money and
materialism. And, through the use of a honky-tonk piano, harmonica and
phonograph, Saroyan creates moments of pure theatrical poetry.

Even if Max Lewendel’s fluid production can’t match Howard Davies’s
1983 RSC revival, Christopher Hone’s set achieves minor miracles in a
tiny space, and there are some fine performances from the 26-strong
cast. Alistair Cumming perfectly catches Joe’s weary benevolence and
sozzled charm. There is sterling support from Jack Baldwin as an
idealistic longshoreman, Maeve Malley-Ryan as a sweet-natured
prostitute and Omar Ibrahim as an aspiring comic whose constantly
swivelling eyes remind one of Harpo Marx. O’Neill created a tragedy out
of barflies and their dreams; Saroyan’s play has a genuine love of hobo
eccentricity and convinces you that it really is a wonderful world.

AZG Armenian Daily #227, 06/12/2008

Economy

WORLD FINANCIAL CRISIS IMPACT ON IT SPHERE TO BE DISCUSSED IN DILIJAN

The third informal meeting of the current year in the sphere of
Information Technologies will be held December 6-7 in Dilijan with
participation of IT organizations’ leaders, government
structures and bank representatives.

The main theme of the meeting is the world financial crisis and its
impact on IT sphere. The issue of the Armenian information
technologies’ competitiveness under the conditions of the
financial crisis will be discussed at the meeting. Electronic
government is also one of the issues to be discussed – "Erickson"
company delegation will deliver a speech.

Georgian delegation will also participate in the meeting.

According to preliminary information, 60 people will participate in
the meeting. Union of Information Technology Enterprises is the
organizer of the meeting.

Translated by L.H.