Category: News

seattletimes.com
Nation & World
Saturday, April 10, 2004, 12:33 A.M.
World Digest
Armenia protesters seek confidence vote on leader
YEREVAN, Armenia – About 20,000 demonstrators massed in the capital of
ex-Soviet Armenia yesterday to demand the resignation of President Robert
Kocharyan.
Demonstrators answering the call of two opposition parties poured into
Freedom Square.
Participants said they wanted to hold a nationwide confidence vote on
Kocharyan’s administration, which remains beset by a failure to resolve a
protracted dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory populated by ethnic
Armenians but assigned to mainly Muslim Azerbaijan in Soviet times.
Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

Santa Cruz Sentinel
Style
April 10, 2004
Shoghaken Ensemble
The nine-person group showcases traditional Armenian song and dance, taking
the listener to another time and another place. Since its creation in 1991,
the band has aimed to revive traditional Armenian folk music and preserve it
from foreign influences. The group includes two of Armenia’s most renowned
folk dancers – the brother and sister duo Hasmik and Aleksan Harutyunyan,
who mesmerize audiences with love songs, lullabies and folk dancing.
WHEN: 8 p.m.
WHERE: Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz.
TICKETS: $40 gold circle, $25 adults, $20 students and seniors with ID, $12
UCSC students with ID.
DETAILS: 459-2159 or

ArmeniaNow.com
April 09, 2004
Inside view: A local looks at life
By Julia Hakobyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
After this weekend when the Christian world will celebrate Easter, the
greatest Christian holiday, our friends and my family will mark the end of
Lent by indulging in a feast.
Though gluttony is considered a sin in the Christian religion, this is what
we promised ourselves if we manage to survive the 48 days of fasting.
We arranged the menu of our feast on February 23, when the fasting started.
The menu included barbeque and vodka for men, chocolate cake and wine for
women, and a lot of white salty cheese-the loved and divine ingredient of a
traditional Armenian meal.
The initiators of the meal adventure were of course the females, the wives
of our friends and me.
As Christians we knew that following the rules of Lent not only had
regulations about food, but meant giving up smoking, sex, hard drinks,
gambling — in other words, anything that can distract from fasting . Also
while fasting, people should be tolerant, merciful, in memory of Jesus
Christ who resisted 40 days of Satan’s temptation.
Spirituality aside, what was more important is that we also knew that the
vegetarian food might help us to lose weight. As Armenian women we
apparently have had some problems with weight.
Our arguments such as slender waist and refined souls however did not
inspire our husbands who told us that we were slim enough and there was no
need to fast. I don’t know if they believed so, but the thing was that
Armenian men are badly meat addicted. And they were scared to death of the
idea to survive more than 40 days without meat. Besides, as men they do not
care as much about their weight, though they are not slim at all. And those
few who care are not ready to sacrifice themselves for giving up their
paunch.
After weeks of negotiations the women’s insistence prevailed over men’s
dissatisfaction. Though none of us were gamblers or drunkard, but are,
though, chain smokers, we agreed to concentrate our fasting mainly on
keeping to a diet.
So, the four married couples, novices to any kind of diet, surrendered to
the revived Christian tradition. My husband ate twice more all the week
before Lent and, just in case, drank and smoked more than usual.
My sister, the veteran of fasting, shared with us the recipes of the fasting
cuisine, and then the culinary abstinence started.
The first week was the most dramatic. Our husbands were blue and depressed
and were complaining that they could not fall asleep because of being
underfed.
We have been calling each other 10 times a day to update news and to see if
our husbands are alive. Our friend Suren became the first violator on the
first week, (but only once) when he got sick and asked for chicken broth as
a cure.
The most controversial meal was the breakfast. Usually for breakfast we have
sandwich with cheese and ham, or eggs, or pancake with sour cream. We
survived our mornings eating the apricot and peach jam and praising the
Ararat valley and our mums who made the canned fruits in summer.
I was cooking all the day long, making several kinds of salads and vegetable
soup. My husband circled Easter, April 11, with a red marker on the wall
calendar and said that during childhood he never was so inpatient for Santa
Claus as now waiting for Easter.
Then someone advised us to watch the Lenten cuisine show by Shokhakat TV run
by the Diaspora Armenians. We liked the program a lot and learned to make
pancake without eggs and milk, to make dolma without meat and khachapuri
without cheese.
On the third week of fasting my husband confessed that he enjoyed the
spinach soup and stewed vegetables. The next week he said the preserved
foods compensate for cheese and the following week he discovered that if you
have a strong enough imagination, mushroom can taste like meat.
Those of our friends who were not fasting were looking at us like on heroes.
Many of them confess that they wanted to fast too, but they broke the fast
after one day.
Now as only two days remain till Easter, I can say we learned to enjoy our
fasting and now we preparing to celebrate Easter. We have bought dye-stuff
to color eggs and will have on that day the traditional Armenian Easter
dishes: pilaf with raisins, cooked fish and stewed green.
Our friends are happy and alive. We are going to have the Easter course in
the morning on Sunday and then we will go out for a picnic to fulfill our
food promise.
So, if you see that day people uncontrollable and irrepressible eating and
drinking, don’t think they are gluttons. They might be simply fasting
survivors, who, like us are proud we marked the oldest Armenian tradition.
By the way: None of my friends, nor I, lost a single ounce.

ArmeniaNow.com
April 09, 2004
Conducting a Challenge for Change: Rejected maestro returns to rally
opposition
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow arts reporter
After leaving Armenia and vowing to never return, veteran conductor Ohan
Duryan has returned to lend his name to the movement of political opposition
afoot in Yerevan.
Two years ago Duryan left in anger, when Ministry of Culture officials
revoked his “life time” contract as chief conductor and musical director of
the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet.
The 80-year old conductor who has performed world wide has since signed a
five year contract with the Moscow Symphonic Orchestra. Rosiyskaya Gazeta
newspaper in Moscow called him “one of the world’s greatest conductors”.
The conductor’s bitter departure from Armenia was punctuated by him refusing
his Mesrop Mashtots and Movses Khorenatsi awards – the highest honors the
State bestows on a civilian in Armenia.
He has since spoken out harshly against the regime that he believes betrayed
him. And he has written letters to the president that have gone unanswered.
But Duryan says his return to join the opposition is not an act of
vengeance.
“I am above it,” he says. “Even though I was greatly hurt by the
authorities, I am not out for revenge. They will get their punishment from
above.”
Duryan says his return is an act of patriotism. He recently attended a
meeting of intellectuals where he challenged compatriots to lobby for a
change of power.
“I am an artist and I don’t do politics, however the arrogant activity of
today’s government and the miserable state of the people cannot leave me
indifferent,” he told Armenianow. “I cannot stay silent, that’s the reason
why I joined the opposition and I want to help them. That’s why I appealed
to the president himself asking him to address his conscience and to see
whether it is possible to rule a country with weapons, tanks, guns,
barb-wire — with beating innocent people who wanted to reveal (ballot)
falsifications, with terrorist acts. The president, the head of the state in
general, has to count with his conscience and do what his conscience tells
him.”
Following his own conscience, Duryan is in the mix of a movement that puts
him at odds with the government. He says it also has landed his name on “a
list of dangerous people”.
According to Duryan the situation is not pleasant for other artists as well,
but not all of them keep to their principles.
“There are devoted people among the opposition, however there are also many
of those who are obsessed with power mania,” says Duryan. “I respect those
intellectuals who remained at their positions, like Silva Kaputikyan
(poetess), Gohar Gasparyan (singer), Tigran Levonyan (singer), Vladimir
Abajyan (actor), Khoren Palyan (musicologist). These are people who did not
abase themselves to please the president and get some benefits.”
The press secretary for the Justice Bloc, the parliamentary representation
leading the opposition, says Duryan’s stand is significant.
“People were really waiting for the words of their favorite artists. It is
of great importance for society and it of course has great impact,” says
Ruzanna Khachatryan.
Duryan says that his wounds have healed somewhat by his return, and that his
main concern is from seeing his countrymen in difficult conditions.
“Those who cannot put up with the situation leave. Did we proclaim
independent Armenia in order to empty it from Armenians? About a century ago
there was a genocide, but now the emptying of Armenia is no less a
genocide,” he says.
On March 25 the Chairman of the National Assembly Artur Baghdasaryan met
with Duryan and during the meeting he said that it was everyone’s mistake to
treat the world known conductor that way.
“I shall do everything to correct that mistake. We’ll see what we can do,”
said Baghdasaryan, during a televised interview.
Minister of Culture Tamar Poghosyan has so far been silent.
“I don’t know that woman. If she wants to meet me she’s welcome to invite
me,” Duryan says. “Anyway, I don’t have a position anymore that can be taken
away. I have nothing to loose. Today, I only have a hope that the opposition
will be firm in their position, and the scum who are in power will leave
without bloodshed.”

ArmeniaNow.com
April 09, 2004
Adjusting: Teacher becomes the student of rural ways in city life
By Vahan Ishkhanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
In all of her 54 years, Russian language teacher Silva Martirosyan has
never known rural living. She lives in the town of Tchambarak and for most
of her life “farming” was a matter of going to the market.
But a lot of lives continue to change as Armenia moves from what it was to
whatever it will be.
Silva ties Yeghnik’s “fly swatter” then starts the process.
Sometimes city girls learn country living. Sometimes teachers become
milkmaids.
Silva and her husband live on the second floor of a four-storied apartment
building in Tchambarak, about 80 kilometers northeast of Yerevan. And their
cow, Yeghnik, lives in the garage out back.
“I was always afraid of cows,” Silva says. “But it is not possible to live
only on a salary anymore, so we had to start keeping a cow. Butter, milk,
sour cream, matsun. All is ours and we get that thanks to that cow.”
Every morning at 7 o’clock, before going to teach, Silva goes into Yeghnik’s
garage-turned stable, changes into to her “cow” clothes – the ones she
leaves in the stable because she doesn’t want the smell of cow tending to
follow her to the classroom.
Before starting to milk she ties the cow’s tail in a bow to keep Yeghnik
from swatting dirt into the milk. Then she puts a special board under the
cow so that white milk pail doesn’t touch the dirty floor. Then she covers
the bucket with gauze to protect the milk from dust and hair in the dirty
stable. Finally she starts pulling on Yeghnik for the payoff that makes it
all worthwhile.
The stable is reached below the garage.
“Before I used to milk this way,” Silva demonstrates her first steps of
becoming milkmaid very awkwardly pinching the cow’s udder. “Later I became
more experienced. Nobody taught me I learned to milk by myself, slowly. But
anyway I don’t get skilled. If a professional milkmaid had been here she
would have already finished milking. I milk slowly as my hand gets tired.”
She pauses to rest her hand, then, with a deep sigh she finishes the ritual
task, explaining that if she doesn’t get every drop of milk, the cow will
not feel well.
If Silva is sick, her husband takes over the milking. He is a teacher, too.
And not as good a milker as Silva.
When she is in the house she empties milk into another bucket once again
filtering it through gauze. And at 9 o’clock she is already in school. “I am
never late,” she says.
In the evening at 7 o’clock she repeats the entire process once. Every day
she gets 10 liters of milk. In summer when Yeghnik goes grazing with a herd
Silva will get 15 liters of milk from her.
The chore of cow-tending also includes cleaning the stable. Silva’s husband
installed a water pipe and a sewage drain. Cow dung is removed and laid I
the yard to dry. When the couple run out of firewood, they burn the manure
for fuel.
Out of “cow clothes” and up the stairs with the payoff.
Yeghnik is their second cow. They slaughtered the first one when it got old
and couldn’t give milk anymore.
This year Armenia is reducing the number of teachers nation-wide. Silva
fears becoming one of those effected by “optimization”.
“What can I do in that case?,” she asks. “I would like to keep one more cow
but we have no possibilities to buy. The cow maintains a family.”
Silva has two sons who live in Russia. And her daughter, a student in
Yerevan, is fed from Silva’s skills as a milkmaid.
The town-woman teacher has learned to make sour cream using a separator and
a friend’s father taught her how to make cheese, using a special device her
husband made. She also churns butter from a mixer also made by her husband.
During Soviet times two plants were functioning in Tchambarak: a cheese
plant and a plant making parts for radio. After privatization, the parts
plant is closed and the cheese factory works at reduced production.
A final strain makes the milk ready for use
Residents of Silva’s building are former workers of the plant, state
employees and teachers. For being able to exist many of them keep different
animals in their garages such as hens, sheep and cows. When it becomes warm
about 90 cows will be taken to pastures from the district where Silva lives.
“Before moving to Tchambarak I was living in Dilijan,” says Silva, who has
been a teacher for 35 years. “We have always been intellectuals. We used to
travel through the entire Soviet Union. But now we cannot even go to
Yerevan. And if we had no cow then we wouldn’t be able to live and exist at
all.”

ArmeniaNow
April 09, 2004
Cold Reality: Nature (again) turns a brutal breath to village farmers
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
A cold snap last week has created havoc for some farmers and disaster for
others in the Ararat Valley and beyond, whose fruit trees blossomed too soon
for their own good.
The Ministry of Agriculture plans to release a damage report next week, but
already it is expected that this will be another poor year especially for
Armenian apricots. Apricot crops were below average the past three years due
to a harsh winter and floods.
Grapes, nuts, tomatoes and most fruits are expected to suffer from the April
frostbite that came after a late-March tease of unusually warm temperatures.
The head of Plants Cultivation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture
Garnik Petrosyan, says that in addition to damage in the fertile Ararat
valley, trees have also suffered in Vayots Dzor, Kotayk, Aragatsotn and Lori
regions.
Vardan Aghajanyan has a 170-square meter greenhouse, where nothing is green
now. He took a $3,500 bank loan to finance his tomato crop.
“I would have had tomatoes in the beginning of May and I could have sold
them for 250-500 drams (about 45-90 cents per kilogram) and that was to be
my income,” Aghajanyan says. “Each plant would have provided me with a
one-dollar profit, but nothing is left.”
Petrosyan says the government should find a way to compensate.
“Taking into account the fact that apricot crops have been damaged for three
years and the fact that people who grow apricots could be using lands for
other purposes, we think the government must free them from paying land
tax,” says Petrosyan.
But farmers such as Hayk Barseghyan of the Dasht village of Armavir region
are not thinking about tax, so much as lost crops.
“We ran out of firewood. We burnt everything we had,” he says, referring to
efforts to warm the trees with smoke. “We covered our greenhouses with
cellophane two times. We used all clothes and rags we had: blankets, carpets
. We covered greenhouses with everything we could find but everything was in
vain as we couldn’t save them.”
Hayk’s mother, 65 year old Nunufar Barseghyan sits, crying, under a flowered
apricot tree, which has been frostbitten.
“I’ve been living in this village for 46 years but I never saw something
like this. How could temperature fall from +27, +30 to – 11 in April? This
was God’s punishment,” she says.
With difficulty she opens the door of a greenhouse, where she planted
seedlings of cucumber and gord. Plants are dead with their tops hung down
onto gray ground. One candle is placed next to every cultured plant.
“During the whole night we were lighting candles,” Nunufur says. “Can you
imagine how many boxes of candles we lit? We wanted to keep warmth in such a
way but everything was in vain.”
They lost about $350. Hayk says they took money from the bank and left gold
as a deposit. The land is their only source of income.
And their fate is shared by most of the 800-900 villagers of Dasht. About 60
percent of the 153 hectare area is given to gardening.
“This was God’s punishment.”
Village head Hrant Petrosyan worries. “Nothing is left,” he says. “Windows
of houses were covered with 2-3 millimeters of ice ice. How could flowered
trees survive in such conditions?”
According to specialists, such cold temperatures in Ararat Valley haven’t
been registered within the last 100 years.
Villager Volodia Gevorgyan says his village has even lost potatoes that were
planted 10 centimeters deep.
“We won’t have even mulberries,” he says. “Our hope for the entire year,
everything that must have helped us to live, has disappeared.”

ArmeniaWeek.com
April 18, 2003 – “Word on the Street”
A New Law ?
We asked citizens of Yerevan what they thought of the Constitutional Court’s
suggestion that the National Assembly adopt the necessary legislation to
conduct a referendum one year from now, as a sort of presidential vote of
confidence. Also, if they thought such a vote would be a solution to the
continuing doubts.
Here is what they said:
I doubt that such a law would pass, because no president would allow it,
since it would be something against him. And as for the people’s doubts,
that would be a good thing.
– Varduhi Khachatrian, 29, Designer
Knowing our people, such a law would permit them to change a president once
a year. Because of that I think passing such a law would be an ignorant
thing to do, and would solve nothing.
– Anita Grigorian, 38, Musician
In any case, it would be good to pass such a law because it would show Mr.
Demirchian that the people have chosen their president fairly and honestly.
And as for the doubts people have, this law will not put them to rest.
– Irina Lavanian, 28, Sociologist
I doubt such a law would ever pass. Each presidential candidate would be
going through it, and I don’t think it would be a pleasant thing for any of
them to leave their positions a year later. As for the people, that would be
a great for them to conduct future elections more fairly.
– Karen Barkhudarian, 33, Computer Operator
It would be stupid to pass such a law as it will become a game for them.
That will not relieve any doubts but will create more confusion.
– Mikael Babian, 25, Jeweler
If the people are unhappy with their president or have doubts about their
choice, then they have the right to express that through this law. I think
this can be a good law.
– Laura Tadevosian, 44, Lawyer
If this law passes, it will be great, because that will force the president
to work more honestly and efficiently, and to avoid mistakes. And the people
will finally have a legal venue through which they can express their
complaints to the president.
– Anahit Mkrtchain, 35, Salesperson
I highly doubt that if such a law passes, it will be useful. Just like other
laws, this too will remain on the books, and there alone. And the people
will always find something to be doubtful about their president. I don’t
think this law is any kind of solution.
– Armen Matvosian, 30, Journalist
Such a law will never pass because it will create confusion in the
government. The people will end up losing and they won’t have the means to
show their discontent.
– David Voskanian, 62, Politician

Team Reporting Project for Journalists
Project start date: 1st of May
Project duration: 10 days
Location: Yerevan and various regions of Armenia.
Media Diversity Institute (MDI) accepts applications from journalists for
participation in a ten-day team reporting project for journalists to report
and write joint feature stories under the supervision of outside team
leaders. The resulting stories will be printed or broadcast by all media
organizations involved, in identical versions, as agreed on by the team.
Journalists who currently work for mainstream media in Armenia and write on
or are interested in developing their writing on issues related to diversity
(ethnic minorities, religion, disability, marginalized and socially
disadvantaged groups etc) are eligible to apply. MDI encourages applicants
from the regions to apply for the workshop.
The project will take place on May 1st to May 12th. All the costs related to
participation are covered by organizers of the event.
The participating journalists will also be paid a participation fee to
compensate for the time away from their media outlets.
Application procedures:
Applicants are required to submit:
– Short cover letter explaining your interest in participating in the
project
– Print journalists are also required to submit 2 samples of their stories
on diversity issues.
Please, submit your applications to MDI Country Coordinator in Armenia,
Artur Papyan at [email protected] or call (01) 53-00-67.
Application deadline: April 23rd.
About copmpany:
The Media Diversity Institute (MDI) is a London-based charitable
organization specializing in media training. It is currently implementing a
three-year project in the South Caucasus, working with the media, journalism
schools and local NGOs. The project aims to create deeper public
understanding of diversity, minority groups and human rights. For additional
information about MDI and available resources, please, refer to

COALITION’S TIME TO EXPIRE MIDDAY, APRIL 12
YEREVAN
April 9. 2004
Noyan Tapan
The representatives of the opposition, MPs Viktor Dallakian and Alexan
Karapetian, were negotiating with the representatives of the coalition
at about 4:00 p.m. Viktor Dallakian said during the rally on Freedom
square at 5:45 p.m that they suggested that the coalition should
include the issue of amendments to the law “On Referendum” in
accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court in the agenda
of the next three-day sitting of the National Assmebly starting from
April 12. Dallakian said that they gave the colition time for the
discussion of this issue till midday, April 12. He stressed that it
isn’t an ultimatum to the coalition, but just the proposal of the
opposition. Viktor Dallakian called on the participants of the rally
(their number had not decreased by then) to stay through, until the
resignation of the president. Then he turned to the law-enforcement
bodies with an appeal not to interfere and not to make provocations
against the people. Aram Sargsian, member of the political board of
Republic Party, also made a speech, he gave assurances that victory
isn’t so far. He reported that he is going to stay at Freedom Suare
overnight. Sargsian said that at the moment the mediators were
negotiating with the presidential residence for the president to
resign as soon as possible. Ruben Tovmasian, First Secretary of the
Communist Party of Armenia, also spoke at the rally. He said that the
Communist Party is joining the actions of the opposition towards power
shift.

Armenians worldwide mount campaign to save Melkonian
By Jean Christou
Cyprus Mail
10 April 2003
AROUND 40 influential members of the Armenian community worldwide have
written an open letter to President Tassos Papadopoulos calling on him
to prevent the closure of the Melkonian Educational Institute (MEI) in
Nicosia.
The letter said the decision by the Central Board of the Armenian
General Benevolent Union (AGBU), in New York that the 78-year old
school should close in June 2005 violated human rights within the
sovereign territory of Cyprus.
`We urgently request your help to correct this injustice,’ the letter
said.
It also said that the decision of the AGBU was illegal and contrary to
the Will of the school’s founders, the Melkonian brothers.
`The Will, which was transferred from an Armenian institution to the
AGBU for international political reasons does not confer to the AGBU
the ownership of the belongings mentioned therein,’ the letter said.
It added that the Will does stipulate for the AGBU the prerogative of
the MEI’ s management and the allocation of subsidies drawn from the
Melkonian Funds to three other Armenian institutions devoted mainly to
education and socio-cultural development of Armenians mainly in the
context of Western realities and aspirations.
`The Melkonian brothers’ Will does not confer to the AGBU the right to
denature or destroy these Armenian structures, therefore the closure
of theMEI is not among the prerogatives of the AGBU,’ it said. `More
precisely the closure of the MEI is a direct violation of the human
rights of Armenian communities.’
The AGBU administers 22 Armenian schools worldwide including the
Melkonian, which was founded in 1926 and is today the only secondary
school in Cyprus for the Armenian community plus the dozens of other
Armenian pupils that board there from neighbouring countries.
The AGBU announced last month that the school would close next year,
following months of speculation that was initially denied. The
loss-making Melkonian is sitting on a £40 million plot in the
capital’s commercial district and reports were rife that it was up for
grabs by developers.
The AGBU said in November that the school was not for sale but then
changed tack and announced the closure. The schools alumni is
convinced the foundation’ s only aim is to `take the money and run’.
`We, and hundreds of Armenians and non-Armenians of different
professionsâ=80¦ have addressed a letter to the AGBU asking for an
explanation for their decision, ‘ the letter to Papadopoulos said.