Category: 2019

The Aleppo mission: Armenian experts’ first week

Ophelia Vardapetian
MediaMax, Armenia
Feb 21 2019
The Aleppo mission: Armenian experts’ first week

A group of deminers, doctors and the personnel ensuring their safety has traveled from Armenia to Syria to provide humanitarian relief in Aleppo. The group of 83 has worked there since February 8.

 

How have the Armenian experts settled in Aleppo and what have they managed to do until now? Mediamax has talked about it with Director of Armenian Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise Ruben Arakelyan, who paid a four-day visit to Syria and met with representatives of the UN Mine Action Gateway as well as Syrian and Armenian political and public figures.

 

The general tasks

 

The expert group has several areas of focus: demining, defusing of explosives, raising awareness of mines in schools and the community, and medical services.

 Humanitarian demining means total clearance of the area even of the smallest pieces of metal. It is conducted in the Armenian-populated areas and the territory adjacent to the group’s base.

 In general, there are no land mines in Aleppo, but there is ammunition that did not explode at the strike and is now left in the ground and the buildings. It is extremely dangerous, and people (especially children) can easily become victims of an explosion if they approach the ammunition out of curiosity.

Photo: REUTERS

Our main task is to collect the unexploded ammo and submit it for elimination, which is done by the Syrian army’s sappers. We will not blow up the ammo in any case.

 The doctors work at the hospitals of Aleppo. It is a multi-field group with a gynecologist, dermatologist, physician, surgeon, etc. The doctors work with local population and provide free-of-charge medical services.

 

Areas of priority

 The priority is the areas of public use and lands adjacent to water sources, etc. Therefore, the Armenian experts will also clear the surrounding territories.

 Contrary to the areas of demining in Armenia, for instance, the experts have to deal with self-made explosives in Aleppo. They are more dangerous because the explosive device is activated remotely.

In Aleppo

Photo: REUTERS

Usually, it is the local residents who identify the mined areas because they move there a lot and they notice the ammunition. We cannot plan which areas to clear, so for several days our group examined the place, asked the local people for tips, and singled out concrete spots. It is all done now. The deminers outline tracks, clear them and use them to get to the dangerous zones. In the end they put signs telling the residents of Aleppo that the given zone is clear from mines and unexploded ammo.

 

The expert group’s base

 The Armenian humanitarian mission stays at the base near Aleppo. The building is furnished and renovated, so the group has normal living conditions.

 They are paid by different bodies, including our Center and the Armenian Ministry of Defense.

 The doctors don’t have concrete working hours, and they provide medical services whenever necessary.

 The deminers do have a schedule: their work begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. At that time the Syrian army starts blowing up the mines that the deminers have found.

 I believe the group will have to stay in Aleppo for six or seven months.

 

The security of Armenian mission

 The group is not armed. Their security is ensured by Armenia’s military police officers. Although the military police is a part of the Armenian army, it is not a combat unit and it functions as police force.

 
Armenian deminers (archive photo)

Photo: Armenian Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise

They patrol the area to protect the humanitarian mission from possible attacks and provocations and to ensure its security.

 

Contacts with Syrian army and Russian troops

 Contacts and cooperation with the Syrian army and Russian troops is related strictly to security purposes. They will defend the humanitarian mission in case of possible attack along with the Armenian military police.

 The only contacts the mission has with the Syrian side are related to the elimination of the explosives they discover.

In Aleppo

Photo: REUTERS

Cooperation with Russian troops is connected with logistics. As you know, Russia helped transport Armenian mission to Aleppo. We have certain exchange of experience with Russian sappers, because they have been in the area longer, so they know the issues better and are more skillful when it comes to defusing the mines there.

 

Relationship with the community

 In a few days the primacy will hold the ceremony of blessing of Armenian national flag and flag of our organization. The relationship with the Armenian community of Aleppo is very good.

 Our experts were asked to limit movement in the evening for security purposes, which is why there are no active contacts yet with the Armenian population.

In Aleppo

Photo: Mediamax

I met with Armenian Ambassador to Syria Tigran Gevorgyan in Damascus, who said that our humanitarian mission received very positive feedback. Some people in Armenia claim that this mission jeopardizes Syria’s Armenian community, but that is not true. Local Armenians have a positive view on the mission. As for the claims that the Armenian community is against it, they are simply false. Why should these people view our work negatively? They receive medical services, their roads are cleared from mines, their children are taught how to move safely in a dangerous zone.

 I also met with a former government official, public and political figure, Dr. Eng. Yahia Awaidah, who manages a non-governmental organization and makes huge contribution to the relief efforts. He expressed appreciation for our mission and said that the Syrian people thank us, as they know we are helping them even though we [Armenia] have security issues ourselves.

 Both sides remember how Syria helped the survivors of the Armenian Genocide. We saw war too, and we understand the consequences and challenges that follow a disaster of that kind. Once, we were waiting for help too.

 

UN reaction

 

I also introduced Ahmad Javed, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) Syria Program Manager, to the purpose of our mission. The UN welcomed the mission’s goals and the program for raising awareness of mines among school students and asked us to cooperate with them and distribute their mine awareness brochures in the communities and schools.

 Humanitarian demining has five components: notification of mine risk, assistance to mine victims, mapping, demining itself, and the propaganda of mine elimination. The standards are in development and our UN colleagues asked to involve our experts in the process and hear out their suggestions.

In Aleppo

Photo: REUTERS

We also offered to host 15 Syrian children and their 5 guardians at a summer camp in Armenia, which we organize annually for children who were impacted by mines. There are some financial issues with transportation, so we are trying to settle them with the help of Dr. Yahia Awaidah.

 The fact that UNMAS is ready to cooperate with Armenia’s humanitarian mission speaks volumes about the response it met from the international organization.

 

Marie Tarian

Armenian, Georgian defense ministers sign 2019 military cooperation program

Emil Lazarian
Panorama, Armenia
Feb 21 2019
Politics 15:08 21/02/2019 Armenia

Armenian and Georgian Defense Ministers Davit Tonoyan and Levan Izoria signed the 2019 military cooperation program signed since 2010, the Armenian official said at today’s joint press conference with his Georgian counterpart in Yerevan.

Tonoyan stressed Armenia and Georgia mutually perceive and respect each other’s preferences and national security solutions, believing in the idea of a peaceful and safe South Caucasus.

“Armenia and Georgia are crucial for each other in security, political, economic, cultural and many other spheres and should constantly expand cooperation in these areas,” he said. 

Arms producer given green light for $6.7 mln investment in Armenia

Emil Lazarian
PanArmenian, Armenia
Feb 21 2019
– 15:02 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Weapons manufacturer Arsenal LTD will invest AMD3.26 billion ($6.7 million) in Armenia and create 200 new jobs.

The government on Thursday, February 21 decided to provide customs privileges to the company for the import of technological equipment, their components and raw materials.

The annual output will amount to AMD 44.4 billion (more than $91 million).

Thirty Years On, Armenian Earthquake Survivors Still Waiting to Be Rehoused

Jalatian Sonya
IndraStra Global
Feb 21 2019

Thirty Years On, Armenian Earthquake Survivors Still Waiting to Be Rehoused

IndraStra Global Thursday,  
  

Cover Image Attribute: Eighty-seven-year-old Karmen and eighty-one-year-old Gayane / © Klaus Richter
Thirty Years On, the Victims of the Most Devastating Earthquake Ever to Strike in the Former-Soviet Union are Still Waiting to Be Rehoused
Story and images by Stephen M. Bland and Klaus Richter

On December 7th, 1988, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck near the Armenian town of Spitak, destroying every building in the municipality. With the effects of the quake felt across the north of the country, much of Gyumri, the ancient second city of Armenia some thirty miles away was leveled. As this occurred during Soviet times, the death toll was never confirmed, estimates ranging between 25,000 and 55,000, whilst over half a million were made homeless. With temperatures plummeting to -12°C, many sought refuge in shipping containers. As of 2018, according to Vahan Toumasyan, President of the Shirak Centre NGO, there were still 1,800 inhabited containers in Gyumri alone, with no access to power or running water.
Following the Velvet Revolution of May 2018 which swept to power a popular ‘people’s government,’ today in Gyumri reconstruction work is finally gathering pace. Though it remains the capital of the poorest region in the country, the city is awash with new monuments, tree-lined boulevards, and trendy cafés. One doesn’t have to go far from the center, however, to arrive in a wasteland of overgrown nettles, car chassis and rubble amidst which the forgotten people of Gyumri reside.
Having watched the disaster unfold from aboard a plane, former soldier Rafik suffers from PTSD.
Image Attribute: Rafik’s shack / ©Klaus Richter
“It’s the best container in town,” he said of his home, expanded piecemeal over the years from rusted sheets of corrugated iron and asbestos. “I’ve worked hard to get here. I was just twenty-two when the earthquake struck. My best friend caught the flight before me, so he was on the ground and died. You still see traces of it everywhere in the city, so you’re constantly reminded. At first, the containers were everywhere, but then they moved us out of sight to the edge of town. If the city had been rebuilt, we could have moved on better. I had a good life here until the disaster, and now, thirty years later there are still containers and no jobs; there’s sixty percent unemployment in Gyumri.”
A few hundred meters across the shanty town, Susannah’s family has occupied the same fetid two-room metal box since shortly after the earthquake.
Image Attribute: Susannah / © Klaus Richter
“Six of us live here,” she explained. “In the summer it’s too hot to sleep as the windows don’t open and in the winter we never know if we’ll be warm enough. There’s no connection to gas or running water. When it rains, it drips down from the ceiling. It used to be worse, but we saved hard to renovate. We have a bit more than others around here,” she added, clutching at a gold crucifix. “Even if we got a government apartment, it would only be two rooms, so I’d let my children have it. I’d stay here.”

Image Attribute: Askya / © Klaus Richter
Inside eighty-two-year-old Askya’s container, the ceiling was black and the walls thick with damp as she shuffled around in a snow leopard print dress. A bed, a gas burner, a table and chair, a doll and a broken black-and-white TV were the sum total of her possessions.
“I have so many memories of that day,” she said. “We were in an apartment block when it struck. We saw the building opposite crumble and collapse, so we ran out of our flat. That night, although it was December, we slept on the streets. The next day tents were handed out to people, so we slept in a tent. Then I came here. There’s no hope to receive anything more now. My husband died in 2008, and I’ve been alone out here ever since.”
Image Attribute: Askya’s Container / © Klaus Richter
Less than a mile from the center of the city, a half-collapsed four-storey block stands next to a luxury hotel replete with a red carpet. Its top two floors burnt-out, at the rear of the building, refrigerators, furniture, and clothing spill from the gutted center, the eerie silence of the unlit stairwell broken only by the howling of dogs.

Image Attribute: Karmen and Gayane’s apartment next to a luxury hotel / © Stephen M. Bland
In a one-room apartment on the second floor live eighty-seven-year-old Karmen and eighty-one-year-old Gayane. With filler holding up the crumbling ceiling and the walls decorated with pictures cut from cardboard boxes, a single flickering light bulb leaves the room dark at the height of the day.
“We both grew up in orphanages,” the diminutive, white-haired Karmen explained. “I started working in a textile factory at the age of twelve, as did Gayane. For forty-seven years we worked together in the same factory.”
“We sacrificed our lives to the textile factory,” said Gayane. “Now we’re old ladies, I get 42,000 drams ($86) a month pension, and Karmen a little more, but it’s nothing for so many years of work.”


Image Attribute: Eighty-seven-year-old Karmen and eighty-one-year-old Gayane / © Klaus Richter

“I’ve been living here since 1972,” Karmen continued. “The building crumbled during the earthquake, but it didn’t fall to pieces like it is today. The people who moved in after took the beams from the roof to sell as firewood until it finally collapsed in 2000. Then the center of the building gave way in the middle of the night in 2016.”
“In 2004, a Russian hotelier bought the building. Now he wants to expand the hotel and says we have to get out, but where would we go?” Gayane blurted disdainfully. “Over the past thirty years, a lot of foreigners have come to see the conditions here, but no one has ever come from the government. There are so many abandoned buildings in the city; you could do something with them but they’re just left sealed.”
“Now, with the new government, though, we finally have a good guy in charge,”  Karmen chipped in, her weathered face lighting up. “He’s from the common people, like us.” 
“We’ve been fighting a legal battle for almost ten years,” Gayane concluded. “A decision will be reached soon. A new building is being constructed by the government and we want a flat there, but the people who still live in the containers will get a place first. Whatever happens though, we go together or we don’t go at all.”


Image Attribute: The Iron Fountain used to be the heart of the University of Gyumri campus / © Stephen M. Bland
About the Authors:
Stephen M. Bland is a freelance journalist and award-winning author specializing in Central Asia, the Caucasus and South-East Asia. His articles have appeared in numerous publications including The Diplomat, Vice, EurasiaNet, and Motherboard. You can view a selection at www.stephenmbland.com Twitter: @stephenmbland

Klaus Richter is a freelance photographer currently living in and working from Lithuania. For more photographs visit www.klausrichter.at 
Cite this Article:
Bland, S.M., Richter, K., “Thirty Years On, Armenian Earthquake Survivors Still Waiting to Be Rehoused” IndraStra Global Vol. 05, Issue No: 02 (2019) 0050,  | ISSN 2381-3652

Only Armenia School in the Central Valley is expanding

Emil Lazarian
KFSN-TV, California
Feb 20 2019


Only Armenia School in the Central Valley is expanding

By Reuben Contreras
Wednesday, 06:38PM
A small school in Clovis is making big plans for the future.

Charlie Keyan Armenian Community School was just approved to increase enrollment to 220 students.
“Our enrollment cap from the city of Clovis was at 120. So we couldn’t go over 120. So we’ve grown to that cap and we needed to grow past that cap,” said Principal Curtis Shamlin.

He added that he is getting request on a daily basis for new student enrollment, so much a waiting list is starting to grow for the next school year.

The increased enrollment allows Keyan School to expand its Pre-K Classes to 60 students.

In December a new Pre-K Potty Training Class opened to 11 students.

Children as young as two years old learn to read, write and sing.

“It is very fun to work with younger kids. Because every day they can do something new and you can learn from them about a lot of things,” said Teacher Haykuhi Hakobyan.

Construction on a new library and tech center is expected to be complete next month.

A new basketball court, courtyard, outdoor stage, and drop-off zone were also added this school year.

But Shamlin is most proud of the new Armenian Language Wing.

Two classrooms students focus on Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian dialects.
“We have non-Armenian students too. You are going to be able to read, write and speak Armenian when you leave. You will be biliterate and bilingual by the time you leave here,” said Shamlin.

The new additions on campus were made possible through a three hundred thousand dollar donation from the Grace Kazarian Family Foundation.

Charlie Keyan Armenian Community School is the only Armenian school between the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

“This school is a diamond that people don’t really know about but they are starting to get to know more about this school,” said Shamlin.

Armenian church being built in Russia’s Ufa

Nahapetian Zhanna
News.am, Armenia
Feb 21 2019
Armenian church being built in Russia’s Ufa Armenian church being built in Russia’s Ufa

12:02, 21.02.2019
                  

The construction of an Armenian church has started in Zatony Vavylovo village of Ufa, the capital city of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, according to Govorit Ufa.

Thirty thousand Armenians live in the Republic of Bashkortostan, and this house of Christian worship is being built for the Bashkiria chapter of the Union of Armenians of Russia.

The church consecration ceremony was held.

This place of Christian worship will be built with tuff rocks that are brought from Armenia. 

The construction of this church is planned to be completed in two years.

Former and present ruling parties to receive financial assistance from Armenian government

Arsine Chaltikian
ARKA, Armenia
Feb 21 2019

YEREVAN, February 21. /ARKA/. The Armenian government decided Thursday at its regular meeting to provide financial assistance to the parties which crossed the 3-percent benchmark in the parliamentary elections conducted in December. 

The government will do it in accordance with the law on parties. In total, the assistance amounts to AMD 103.7 million, which is distributed among five parties and blocks, depending on the number of votes they have scored. 

So, My Step bloc will receive AMD 78 million, Prosperous Armenia AMD 9.1 million and Bright Armenia AMD 7 million. 

The parties which have failed to obtain seats in the National Assembly, but crossed the 3-percent benchmark in the election will receive compensations. In particular, the Republican Party of Armenia, former ruling party, will have AMD 5.2 million and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation/ Dashnaktsutiun AMD 4.3 million. (USD 1 – AMD 487.5). -0—

Armenia’s ore mining companies to be obliged to reveal all their real owners

Bedik Zaminian
ARKA, Armenia
Feb 21 2019

YEREVAN, February 21. /ARKA/. The Armenian government approved today at its regular meeting amendments to the law on earth entrails. The amendments imply to open names of all real shareholders of the country’s ore mines. 

Garegin Baghramyan, acting energy infrastructures and natural resources minister, said that the amendment is aimed at enhancement of transparency of management of the mining industry.
“The amendments will make it possible to reveal the real owners and shareholders of the ore mines up to the companies registered in offshore zones, which will be obliged to name all real shareholders regardless of the size of their share,” he said. 

Real owners of ore mines will be obliged to submit income declarations.  
If they defy the requirement, their companies will become subject to sanctions – their companies’ activities will be ceased or their licenses will be voided.  
An open list of real owners is planned to be composed in Armenia. 

Remarkable is that legal entities were considered as owners before, while after adoption of the amendments, companies will be obliged to reveal all affiliated entities, including those in offshore zones.  

 The amendments also propose new sanctions, such as termination of the license validity, while now the law implies only one sanction – warning or temporary termination. –0— 

Tonoyan: Armenia, Georgia sign strategic cooperation program for 2019

Kajoyan Gevork
ARKA, Armenia
Feb 21 2019

YEREVAN, February 21. /ARKA/. Armenia and Georgia have signed a strategic cooperation program for 2019, Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said Thursday at a joint news conference with his Georgian counterpart Levan Izoria.

In his words, they discussed the issues related to bilateral relations between Armenia and Georgia in defense area and signed a military cooperation program. 
Tonoyan said the program targets education, healthcare, human rights protection and struggle against corruption. 

“Armenia and Georgia respect the priorities of each other and believe in security and prosperity of the South Caucasus,” he said. 

Izoria, in his turn, said that Georgia is ready to share its experience with Armenia. 
“We have held a very productive discussion over deepening cooperation between the two countries’ armed forces,” he said. “The Georgia side is ready to share its experience with Armenia. Georgia is already sharing its experience with a number of NATO member countries, and I highly appreciate the participation of Armenian servicemen in the event Noble Partner-2018.”

Armenia has taken part in NATO’s Noble Partner 2018. More than 3,000 servicemen from 13 countries have taken part in the training maneuvers. The first Noble Partner was held in Georgia in 2015. -0—- 

Tbilisi: Monument Building

Yeghisabet Arthur
Georgia Today, Georgia
Feb 21 2019

Op-Ed

This week we witnessed three consecutive events that are linked with the unexpectedly “discovered” “historic brotherhood” between the two breakaway regions of Georgia. It is planned to erect an Armenian cross, the so-called Khkachkari, in occupied Tskhinvali. Although this is a religious monument by form, its importance goes far beyond that and is a political move, as the monument will remind the Tskhinvalians and visitors about the “historic brotherhood” of the Armenian and Ossetian peoples. Apart from this, the de facto leader of occupied Tskhinvali got some guarantees from his colleagues from Karabakh on the issue of international recognition. The global Armenian diaspora will start working on the issue of recognition together with the Kremlin, they agreed; the hosts were quick to pay this kindness forward and announced the masterpiece of Georgian religious architecture from the 9th century – The Ksani Armazi Church of St. George – would become a cultural monument of Armenia, and further stated that they would welcome pilgrimages from Karabakh.

The development of events shows that the issue of historic monuments is a new ethnic weapon within the politics of the Caucasus. On January 20, a month prior to the opening of the Armenian Cross in occupied Tskhinvali, the bust of Mikheil Avakian, who participated in the War of Karabakh, was erected in Bugasheni village of the Akhalkalaki region; this date is symbolic, as it is the National Mourning Day in Azerbaijan dedicated to the bloody tragedy of Karabakh that took place in the 1990. Just as in case of Tskhinvali, the bust in Akhalkalaki is also presented under the veil of patriotism, but it is quite clearly political, serving, at the very least, the purpose of deteriorating relations between Georgia and Armenia.

The main figure in this monument building series is the separatist Karabakh and a period coinciding with the change of government in Yerevan, as, after Nikol Pashinyan came to power, the hope for regulating the conflict of Karabakh, thus bringing about the long-awaited peace in the South Caucasus, became real. The meeting of Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev during the World Economic Forum in Davos was another move in this direction. The information that spread after this meeting suggested that the world could witnessed an unprecedented breakthrough of this 10-year-old conflict. It was after these events that the issue of monuments became more popular in Caucasian politics: one in Tskhinvali, another in Akhalkalaki, and all this crowned with tenser relations between Yerevan-Tbilisi and Baku. It shouldn’t be hard to guess who is supporting and financing all of this, who would want to see the bust of a soldier in Akhalkalaki and the so-called friendship cross. As it is harder to believe that it is in the interests of official Yerevan, which has a great influence on Akhalkalaki to this day and fully controls the mountainous Karabakh, to have poorer relations with Tbilisi.

From the very moment Nikol Pashinyan came to government, he clearly stated that “The interests of large states should be ruled out from the relations of Armenia and Georgia; hence, the mutual relations between these two countries should be directed in a way that is in the interests and on the agenda of these two states, without any global political contexts”. Normalizing the relations between Georgia and Armenia is a step towards de-isolation of Armenia, and today the strategic partnership with Georgia is as important for Armenia as ever. Obviously, this fact is far from pleasant for Moscow: more confrontations in the Caucasus equals to better chances for Russia to defend and fulfill its political agenda. Thus, all this is another provocation from Moscow in an attempt to destabilize the relationship between Georgia and Armenia.

Time has proven that everything new is actually well-forgotten old. The storm of monuments within the inner politics of the Caucasus isn’t new either- you may remember the incident of 2017, when visitors from Vladikavkaz came to Kobi village to visit the graves of their ancestors. At the time, these Russian citizens were not allowed to the Georgian territory, which was followed by a statement from the Ossetian party in Geneva accusing Georgia of violating the human rights and demanding the recognition of the grave stones in Kobi as the cultural heritage of Ossetia.

By Zaza Jgarkava