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HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE: CONVICTED SOLDIER SAYS HE HAS `NO OTHER WAY' BUT HUNGER
STRIKE
By Zhanna Alexanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
In a basement cell with a barred and screened window where heavy air
smothers breathing, 19-year old prisoner Razmik Sargsyan is in his
28th day of a hunger strike to protest the sentence for a crime he now
says he had no part in.
In April of last year, following five days of interrogation during
which the teenager says he was tortured, Sargsyan, a conscript in the
Armenian army confessed to the murder of two fellow soldiers in
Karabakh in December of 2003. Two other soldiers were also convicted
based on Sargsyan's confession. Razmik Sargsyan Each was sentenced to
15 years.
Attorneys and family members of all the convicted soldiers have
maintained that Sargsyan and the others were scapegoats in a double
murder that, they say, leads to unit commander Ivan
Grigoryan. Grigoryan was not called to testify in the case, due, in
part, to his status as a Karabakh war hero. (Also read previous
ArmeniaNow reports: With Prejudice?, Army on Trial and Death Over
Dishonor?.)
The case is one of several examples of unsatisfactory conditions
within the Armenian Army, where soldiers are routinely beaten (the
murder victims are believed to have been tortured, then murdered),
often with the approval or out right command of superior officers.
It is also a case that has drawn attention from human rights agencies
and Non Governmental Organizations who say that Sargsyan is just
another victim of bottom-to-top corruption that prevails in the
military.
Sargsyan's case is under appeal, but a prison doctor has determined
that his health is too bad for him to attend the hearings.
According to his attorney, Zaruhi Postanjyan, Sargsyan cannot walk,
and suffers severe kidney problems that, the attorney says, are the
result of numerous beatings. The apparent kidney damage makes a hunger
strike particularly dangerous for the boy. And in fact his conditioned
dramatically deteriorated within two weeks of the strike.
Members of an NGO observation group making a public supervision in
prisons, consider his health condition as hard. The group was denied a
request to view Sargsyan's medical records by head of the Nubarashen
prison, Ara Sargsyan.
Although press secretary of the Ministry of Justice Ara Saghatelyan
insists they would get the information in case a proper request was
presented the lawyers insist the two written mediations in that regard
have been rejected.
On the fifth day of his strike, Sargsyan announced it to the Court of
Appeals. Judge Mher Arghmanyan replied: `Only guilty people do things
like hunger strikes . . .' On a visit to the Nubarashen prison,
ArmeniaNow's reporter found the boy pale, gaunt and barely capable of
speaking. He is demanding that those who he says tortured him be
charged with their crimes, and that the Military Prosecutor be
dismissed from the case, and a civilian prosecutor from the Prosecutor
General's Office be assigned.
`I have been innocently sentenced for 15 years, and evidence has been
extorted by beatings,' he told ArmeniaNow `How can I go out of the
hunger strike? I have no other way.'
`Razmik Sargsyan made this ultimate step for he does not know what
steps to take to prove his innocence and to bring the real criminals
to responsibility,' Postanjyan says. `Besides the fact the real
criminals are free they have involved also innocent people into the
case.'
Neither Musa Serobyan nor Araik Zalyan, the other soldiers, confessed
to the same charges raised against Sargsyan.
Postanjayan says the Military Prosecutor's Office made its case solely
on Sargsyan's allegedly-extorted testimony. She describes her client
as a sensitive boy, liable to yield to pressure.
`They purposefully chose Razmik, for he is more vulnerable, writes
poems and loves music, so he would not stand the beatings. And indeed
he did not. The investigator had hanged him up and threatened to rape
him with a stick... Razmik has testified to all these in the court of
the first instance,' says the lawyer.
During the year and a half of their imprisonment all the three
prisoners have declared hunger strikes at different times. The longest
was Zalyan's, lasting 90 days.
Due to his already poor health, Sargsyan's hold out appears more
dramatic.
Following a recent visit to the prison, Torgom Sargsyan said his son
could not walk and `his face was totally swollen, his hands were
shaking, he could hardly move his lips. He has had acute kidney
attacks again; he urinates blood.
`They took my child to the army for two years, and it turned into 15
. . .'
Read next week's ArmeniaNow for an update on the appeals court
hearings.
HYESANTA UPDATE: SEASONAL PROJECT TURNS INTO YEAR-ROUND ACTIVITY
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Editor's Note: In keeping with our commitment to show readers how
their contributions to our charitable foundation is being managed, we
present the following report. ArmeniaNow - and especially the
recipients of your generosity - thank its readers and looks forward to
future campaigns.
As it prepares for its next charity campaign to be launched in late
autumn, ArmeniaNow's Hye Santa project is pleased to inform its
patrons that, in the past eight months, 15 families have received
assistance ranging from medicines to blankets and mattresses, to
livestock, computers and TV-sets, and worth a total of $12,365 (not
including the value of rehabilitative care for Karabakh war survivor
Mary Mezhlumyan.)
Many also received continuous assistance from ArmeniaNow office staff
and benefactors who responded generously and wholeheartedly from
abroad and, most importantly, from within Armenia.
HyeSanta Charitable Foundation Director Armine Petrosyan says the
charity has goals that are not limited to satisfying people's
essential needs only (such as food, clothes, fuel).
`It is important that the charity's activities be aimed at creating an
atmosphere of confidence and rehabilitation for the families, showing
a proper attitude towards them and establishing continuous friendship
with them,' says Petrosyan.
When ArmeniaNow announced its second HyeSanta campaign last December,
the first to contribute was Donna Evans, wife of the United States
Ambassador to Armenia.
Among the most recent, in what has become a year-round program, was
assistance from Armenia's First Lady, Bella Kocharyan.
Thanks to Ms. Kocharyan's involvement, Mary Mezhlumyan of Kapan, a
victim of bombing during the Karabakh war, and a subject of the first
HyeSanta campaign (see Smiling Through Tragedy), is now getting a new
leg and arms.
The Medical and Technical Commission of the RA Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs is providing Mary with prosthetic appliances free of
charge.
An artificial foot was prepared for Mary under Doctor Mkrtich
Ginosyan's supervision, and artificial arms will be prepared for her
in October. Further, there are also plans to present to the National
Assembly a proposal by photojournalist German Avagyan through
cooperation with Red Cross Armenia Chairman Mkhitar Mnatsakanyan to
regard war-crippled children (there are about 50 of them living in
Armenia and Karabakh today) as war disabled and give them pensions
accordingly.
Petrosyan also regards as important HyeSanta's cooperation with the
Armenian Apostolic Church, in particular with the St. Hovhannes Church
priest Ter Daniel (see ArmeniaNow's HyeSanta update of June 10, 2005).
Four children of the Papazyans, subjects of last winter's HyeSanta
project, were baptized in summer.
`I need to consult Ter Daniel,' with these words widow Knarik
Gasparyan, 39, who has three children in her care and no job (see A
Poet's Life?), often goes to St. Hovhannes Church with her children
before making important decisions.
Petrosyan says one of HyeSanta's strongest allies has been the Armenia
Interchurch Charitable Round Table Foundation of the World Council of
Churches.
Responding to ArmeniaNow's story depicting a gruesome picture in the
border village of Barekamavan and with a view to create new interests
for the local youths, at HyeSanta's request the Foundation provided
two computers each to Barekamavan and neighboring Berkaber.
Petrosyan says the results exceeded expectations. In particular in
Berkaber, due to computer instructor Vladimir Ghazinyan's effective
work, pupils are now using the Word, Excel and Photoshop programs.
Vladimir intends to learn other computer programs to teach them to the
pupils. For that purpose, HyeSanta bought five copies of the AutoCAD
manual from the Department of Industrial Engineering of the American
University of Armenia and for his impressive work Vladimir received a
present from the manual's author Sargis Zeytunyan - a CD with a demo
version of the program.
The Tufenkian Foundation helped HyeSanta purchase sheep for some
families
`Vladimir's dedicated work within just four months shows that properly
made investments can produce amazing results that even exceed
expectations,' says Petrosyan. `Besides, the reassuring example of
Berkaber has become a reliable guarantee of further cooperation
between HyeSanta and Round Table.'
Petrosyan says many of HyeSanta's initiatives would have been
impossible without the active assistance and support of other
institutional structures.
In particular, the Tufenkian Foundation and its director Margarit
Hovhannisyan, was instrumental in providing transportation to deliver
a considerable part of the aid to the regions. The foundation also
provided expertise through veterinarian Zorik Pambukhchyan who advised
HyeSanta in the matter of purchasing cattle for villagers.
`We assisted ArmeniaNow and HyeSanta with great pleasure,'
Hovhannisyan said. `One thing that could be done better in some cases
is the selection of help for families. In my opinion, some of the
families featured in ArmeniaNow stories needed other kind of help, not
so much material or financial, as psychological, help that perhaps
could be provided through social workers. But I am sure it will come
with experience.'
Consultations for HyeSanta were also provided by the NGO Center for
Civil Society Development.
The experience of NGOs' work in Armenia often became a guideline for
HyeSanta. Director Margarit Piliposyan's professional advice also
contributed to making proper decisions.
One of the best results of the project, according to its director, was
achieved through continuous cooperation with Diaspora Armenians. A
woman in New York became acquainted with the Haroyans from Echmiadzin
(see Edik and Yura) and long ago grew into friendly
relations. Petrosyan thinks the consistent attention of Diaspora
Armenians is especially valuable.
French-Armenian Anahit Sargsyan, visiting the Gasparyans made a
wonderful practical proposal: she ordered hand-made toys from Knarik
for the kids at her kindergarten. This opportunity of dignified
earning will grow by the New Year into gifts from Armenia to
French-Armenian children.
HyeSanta is also developing a similar project with Egyptian-Armenian
Hrair Djeghalian, who responded readily to the charity action at the
request of the `Prkutyun' (`Salvation') charitable union for disabled
children. Hrair's financial contribution made it possible to perform
an eye surgery on a child, for which the NGO tried to find financing.
`This way, HyeSanta has become a bridge between its Diaspora readers
and Armenian NGOs,' says Petrosyan.
Armenia Interchurch Charitable Round Table Foundation of the World
Council of Churches donated to HyeSanta computers for two villages
British-Armenian Rouben Galichian, Chairman of Aid Armenia & Executive
Trustee of Friends of Armenia, has also volunteered help.
`We have a willingness to help HyeSanta. Our attitude in all projects
is as follows: we help people with means to earn their living
themselves. Instead of giving a fish we give them a fishing-rod,' says
Galichian, adding that they are willing to help communities rather
than separate individuals.
However, Petrosyan considers the most important achievement to be the
cooperation of readers and TV viewers in Armenia itself.
The responses of both ArmeniaNow readers and Shoghakat TV viewers are
appreciable especially by their practical nature.
Pensioner Karine continues to visit the families of the Gasparyans,
the Yervandyans and Avetis Khachatryan (Bradyaga), phone and maintains
a constant link with them. Enthused by the experience of cooperation
with HyeSanta, she is now trying to rally her associates around the
charity idea and set up a field for her own activities.
`My friends, who were brilliant professionals in the past and after
retiring had no possibility to apply their professional abilities, now
understand that one can be useful to people through combined
efforts. While working with HyeSanta I learned a lot of things, and I
will use all this in the work of our new organization,' she said.
The consistent attention of businessman Mesrop Saroyan, who sponsors
the Galajyan family (see Stones For Potatoes), is exemplary. Apart
from material assistance, he has given a job to Hamlet at his
enterprise, and helped him improve his ruined home.
The interest of students is also inspiring: at a meeting with students
held upon the initiative of AUA lecturer Karine Muradyan, after
watching the HyeSanta film, a conversation was held around the
effectiveness of the Foundation's work. The suggestions made by the
young people were interesting in keeping with the time.
Besides the 12 families featuring in ArmeniaNow's stories, another
three families received assistance.
HyeSanta has helped three young people to become students this year by
paying for their fees and facilitating needs connected with their
studies. It also helped organize three baptism parties with the
assistance of the Church in the person of priest Ter Daniel.
Now Petrosyan says a documentary is being prepared to cover the
activities of HyeSanta in 2005. Soon it will be shown on Shoghakat, a
TV company that has stood by the project since last December when it
showed televised clips about the needy families featured in
ArmeniaNow's special Christmas issue and is also assisting in the
preparation of this documentary.
An English-language version of the HyeSanta TV program has been
prepared together with Shoghakat. The process of delivering aid was
filmed. A summary report about HyeSanta 2005's work is presently being
prepared jointly with Shoghakat. (ArmeniaNow's 2005 HyeSanta project
is now being planned. Meanwhile, contributions are welcomed. Click
here.)
90 YEARS AFTER MUSA DAGH: `I REMEMBER EVERYTHING . . .'
By Ruzanna Tantushyan
Ninety years ago, when she was seven, Varsenik Lagisyan heard voices
that would follow her till today:
`Haàààlàh, Haààlàh. We have come to take the
priest's daughter.'
Turkish regulars mounted on their horses shouted the words for
villagers of Youghonoluk, in the region of Musa Dagh (Musa Ler, in
Armenian) to hear. It is where Versenik lived with her family in
1915. And these were the words that marked the resettlement of
Armenians from their homes.
Musa Dagh - made famous in Franz Werfel's `90 Days at Musa Dagh' - was
those few Armenian populated villages, subject to exodus, where people
didn't obey the Turkish government decree of July 26, 1915. According
to this order Armenians were given one week to leave their homes and
move to the deserts of Syria.
Varsenik clearly remembers how the men and women, old and young,
gathered and decided to fight the Turks. They thought `We will either
kill, or be killed'. And they decided to climb up Musa Dagh. The
mountain was rocky and hard to climb, but its thick forest made a good
place for Armenians to hide and to defend themselves for 40 days,
until help arrived.
Life on the mountain was difficult. Because of the rush and obstacles
on the road, not much could be brought to the mountain. The villagers
would just leave their doors open and climb the mountain without
hardly taking anything with them. It was 40 days of hardship, but the
alternative was death.
There were times when they had nothing to eat, except berries they
could find in the forest. Fortunately it was fig and cornel (a type of
berry) season.
`Mothers had nothing to fååd their children with. Nor could they
light a fire, since the light would bring the Turks to our shelter and
that will be the end of all our attempts to survive,' Versenik
recalls.
Varsenik recollects her memories of the time spent on the
mountain. She would help her mother and other women on the mountains
to bake bread, do the washing, while the men were busy preventing the
attempts of the Turks to climb the mountain.
Varsenik's brightest memory of her childhood is the trip from Musa
Dagh to Port Said, Egypt. After defending for 40 days Armenian white
linen sheets, with messages signaling that Christians were in danger,
were seen by French battle-ships and the Armenians were taken to Port
Said. This is where Varsenik and her family together with other Musa
Dagh villagers found their home for four years.
`The priest said that those who have small children can not come on
board. They will cry and the Turks will find us' Varsenik remembers
the priest's words.
She can remember very well the sight which they saw when their ship
put ashore.
`Îlive, mandarin and fig trees with their branches bent under the
rich crop. All the children would run to gather the fruits. They
would run from tree to tree, they would greedily gather the fruits
with laughter and joy. I remember. I remember everything.'
Varsenik also remembers that on their way to Egypt a woman gave birth
to a child, symbolizing a new beginning in the history of Musa Dagh
villagers. But Varsenik's family mourned. Their happiness of salvation
was saddened by her uncle's death. He was wounded on the mountain and
died on board the ship. All in all, Varsenik says she was lucky to
have all her immediate family members alive and together.
Varsenik had a big family. She was the eldest of the 8 children. Her
father was a shop keeper and had a lot of goats. Her mother was a
housekeeper.
The family lived in Egypt for four years, during which time Varsenik -
no more than 11 at the time - married a boy from her village, and
would later have five children.
After living in the country that gave them bread to eat and a roof to
have above their head they left for Russian- Armenia that was under
Russian rule at that time. They left for their motherland.
They settled in AlaVerdi, but again found themselves short of money
and food. Varsenik would knit socks and handkerchiefs to earn their
leaving.
If her 40 days on Musa Dagh bring black thoughts, it seems that a lot
of good memories connect Varsenik with her temporary shelter in
Egypt. First the brightest memories of fruits, trees, laughter and
happiness of her relatives, friends and the second, her marriage.
Varesenik's children have their own children. And now Varsenik's
family is as big as it was in the times in Musa Dagh, before memories
of Turks on horses, making threats and shaping a horrible history
. . .
Friends in Deed: British charity makes life better for struggling
single women in Armenia By Suren Musayelyan ArmeniaNow reporter
Margarita Baghdasaryan, 52, is a single mother who lives with her
18-year-old son Hakob in a 12-square-meter room in a hostel in the
Kanaker district of Yerevan.
Those bare details alone frame a life of hardship that is not easily
managed in a society so family-oriented and reliant on male
leadership. And it is a life made even worse by a general lack of
organized care for those of Margarita's situation.
But it is a life lately improved by the help of a London-based
charity, Friends of Armenia.
Presently, Friends of Armenia are completing a $90,000 renovation of
the hostel that houses some 90 families (about 180 residents). Most
have situations similar to Margarita; single women whose husbands left
for work in Russia and never returned, and some who were killed in the
war in Karabakh.
Most residents, too, are former employees (or wives of employees) of
the Lamp Factory, the company to which the four-storied building
belonged. (In Soviet times, factories provided hostels for employees
who did not have permanent residences.) Many are refugees from
Azerbaijan.
The factory went out of business shortly after the collapse of the
Soviet Union and the hostel was transferred to the local government as
a housing for those who had fled Azerbaijan when conflict started in
the late 1980s.
For more than a decade the hostel suffered the effects of daily wear
and tear, without the means for making it better.
About two years ago, the situation was brought to the attention of
Friends of Armenia, a non-profit organization started by London
Diaspora in 2000.
At first, the charity ministered to the psychological needs of the
women.
`We first thought of sending a psychologist there to talk to them and
their children so that they can feel themselves worthy citizens again
and not people left alone without jobs and without hope,' says Rouben
Galichian chairman of Aid Armenia and Executive Trustee of Friends of
Armenia, who spends some of his time in Armenia.
A team of three psychologists worked with about 50 single women living
in a nearby building. Most of them had become prostitutes. Galichian
says most of these women have proper jobs now - some are employed as
street-sweepers, others as laundry workers, waitresses, etc.
`Within just two years of work with them our psychologists managed to
convince them that they were worthy citizens of their country who had
found themselves in difficult conditions, which, though, never meant
that they were not worthy people,' says Galichian.
But at 16 Banavani Street, Friends of Armenia went further, as they
decided to improve the living conditions in the hostel.
`When we went in first, we saw that the toilets there were a poor
sight, with ruined walls and big holes in the floor. There was no
water there. We repaired the toilets on almost all floors. I say
almost, since some rooms and toilets had been privatized and it is not
our policy to repair individual property,' says Galichian. `We got a
written letter from the prefecture assuring us that the parts we
repair will not be privatized and will be for general use for the
local residents.'
The first repairs were completed in January, others were finished
recently. They are all clean and improved and according to Galichian,
the women take a good care of them.
`It has changed so much in our lives. We haven't seen such a thing
before even from the authorities,' says pensioner Margarita, adding
that even hammering a nail is a problem for the hostel residents as
most of them are lonely women, some with small children, and some are
disabled.
Three months ago Friends of Armenia also decided to repair and clean
the corridors and the staircases on all floors.
Works were launched, but the roof caught fire in an accident in July,
and repairs were suspended.
`But we will continue the work and will try to get the prefecture to
repair the roof before the start of rains,' says Vahan Patvakanyan, a
physicist by training, who is one of the ten representatives of
Friends of Armenia here.
Patvakanyan is in charge of the hostel reconstruction project.
`It is difficult for these women, most of whom live without husbands,
with small children under their care, to do the repairs
themselves. The majority of them do not have jobs, those who receive
pensions can hardly make both ends meet with the money they get from
the state,' he says.
Susanna Muradyan, 53, a former employee of the Lamp Plant, has lived
in the hostel alone since 1989. `The situation here was terrible. This
project means a lot for us, as it has saved us from anti-sanitary
conditions,' she says.
Marina Minasyan, 43, is glad Friends of Armenia has reached out for
them with this project. She only complains of her life in a small room
that she shares with another single woman.
`I appreciate the work of the psychologist who comes here
regularly. Talking to her is a great relief for me and gives me hope
that one day I will have a better life,' says Marina.
Galichian says that psychological assistance is no less important
thing for most of these women who live in poor conditions. `We
continue to provide our psychological assistance to these lonely
women. Whenever they have a difficult situation in their lives or with
their children they call our psychologists and I am glad they feel the
use for themselves and their children,' he says. In the summer of
2000 a group of British Armenian professionals visited Armenia for the
first time. They were very impressed with the capability and the high
level of education of the local people, as well as their eagerness to
learn and their drive to achieve something real, while living under
difficult conditions, despite the almost total neglect of the
authorities.
The group returned to London and founded the charity organization the
same year.
So far Friends of Armenia have realized projects worth a total of
$400,000 in Armenia, in various fields - from orphanages and old
people's homes, to schools, kindergartens, hospitals, hostels and
whole villages.
FUTURE CHOICES: THINK-TANK EXERCISE GIVES ARMENIANS A CHANCE TO STEER
THE SHIP OF STATE
By Arpi Harutyunyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
On September 3, about 500 Yerevan residents stood before four doors
inside the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Entertainment Complex, faced
with choices that would symbolize their republic's future. The doors
were marked `Russia', `Europe', `Armenia' and `No Future' - the door
of pessimism.
The exercise was part of the Armenia 2020 project, and its intention
was to illustrate four scenarios created by the think-tank,
represented in a booklet it published last year on projected paths for
Armenia to follow in the coming 15 years: `Survival to Prosperity',
`From Russia with Love', `Armenia and the European Union: Coming Home'
and `Armenia - 30 years with Correspondence.'
Founded in 2001, the Armenia 2020 project works to develop models of
development for Armenia and helps transform them into concrete
scenarios. (Such programs have had good rsults in Russia, Portugal
and Belgium.)
The project is funded by business persons of Armenian descent from
Armenia, Russia, the USA and Europe. To date 2020 has spent about $2
million developing patterns that might be instructional for future
policy.
`Our sponsors are those people with no profit expectations who do
investments to find ways to make their homeland well off,' says
Artashes Kazakhetyan, Director of the Armenia 2020 project. `The
program has not received financial support from any government,
international body or organization. This means that we are fully
independent. And the superior aim of the project is to find the most
acceptable models of possible ways for the development of Armenia by
means of public discussions and voting.'
In Yerevan last weekend, nearly half - 210 - of participants in the
2020 exercise cast their votes in favor of the scenario that called
for `Survival to Prosperity'.
The content of the scenario is the following: `growth of productivity
by means of developing strategic plans of development and their
implementation increasing the GDP per capita income by 2020 to
$11,200. To achieve this, correct policies in macro and micro
economic, political, legal and social spheres should be adopted.'
The development scenario is comprised of three stages: during the
first stage (2004-2008) the priorities are productivity growth,
activation of regional trade, as well as measures targeted at the
attraction of foreign investments largely facilitated by the fight
against corruption, decrease of the red tape and integration of
e-governance system. The final stage (2013-2020) is the period of
globalization. The trade borders extend to Europe and the USA.
Participants at the exercise were of various ages, and generational
differences were reflected by which door they chose. The younger ones
primarily picked scenarios that drew Armenia into more global
relations, while the older participants leaned toward the `From Russia
with Love' model.
`I think, the path Armenians have passed shows that our past has been
closely tied up with Russia and we have only gained from that. Why not
to continue strengthening our friendly, state, economic ties with that
country,' asks pedagogue Marietta Sahakyan, 55.
Contrary to the representative of the previous generation, Hayk
Galstyan, an economist of 25, thinks there should be no economic
dependence on Russia.
`Although the age of colonization is over, it is obvious that great
powers continue the colonial policies by means of putting smaller
countries into economic dependence. I want to say that Armenia will
appear in the same condition, if it becomes a Russian satellite
again,' the young professional said.
Besides Yerevan, scenario discussions were organized also in other
towns of Armenia - Gyumri, Vanadzor, Ijevan, Yeghegnadzor. In the
coming days the Syunik marz will also be engaged.
`Up to this moment preference has been given to the `Survival to
Prosperity' scenario, which is to mainly emphasize the intrinsic
potential of Armenia and try to understand what should be done to
develop in more clear and organized way,' says Kazakhetyan. `From the
results we have received we can derive clearly that people strongly
wish Armenia develops as an independent, powerful state and are ready
to actively participate in the process of constructing the country.'
>From September 19th to 20th the Armenia 2020 project will summarize
its 3 year activities in Yerevan. More than 300 public, political and
cultural activists, and businessmen who wish to have their say in the
creation of the prosperous future of Armenia will participate in the
two-day summit.
`Armenia 2020 will publicize the results of all the discussions during
the summit. Our future steps will be identified. And, most
importantly, we will be able to send clear messages to our authorities
on which way of development for the country the present day society of
Armenia chooses,' says Kazakhetyan.
PRAISE IN PARIS: `MELS' AND DURYAN FIND SUCCESS IN REPEAT PERFORMANCE
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Yerevan native playwright Narek Duryan's play `Thank You, God' is
enjoying a repeat performance in Paris, at the De Jazet Theater.
The actor takes on many personalities
The play was so successful during a month-long run in June, that the
board of directors of the 700-seat theater in Bastille Square invited
Duryan back, where he is again the featured attraction this month.
`Stepping into this theater is a big success, for this theater is
among the ten most important and authoritative theaters in Paris,'
says actor and director Duryan, son of the popular conductor Ohan
Duryan. `If we take into account that 480 performances are played in
Paris every day, 30 percent of which have a life of only a day, than
one can imagine how difficult it is to attract attention.'
The character created and embodied by Duryan carries elements of self-
biography, of a man named Mels who has passed through a socialist
regime and is enjoying a European democracy trying to realize what
freedom is.
The hero's name is comprised from the quartet of socialist stalwarts -
Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.
Fed up with the ways of the Soviet Union, Mels crosses the state
border and finds home in the capital of democratic France. His bright
hopes fade, but he seems to succeed in everything (although his
marriage to a French woman turns out to not be a happy one).
`In this performance I study the question of personal freedom and what
is freedom,' the play's creator says. `It is a relative
phenomenon. When was I more free, when I could not travel, for I was
in a prison called Soviet country, but traveled around the world in my
mind, or now, when I can go wherever I want, but I don't have money?
This is also a kind of imprisonment, a jail.'
Gradually developing the plot Mels tells about the way he has passed;
he was born in Armenia, had his military service in Siberia, opening
Siberia to the audience in a humorous manner: `It's strange but I
remember with nostalgia our Soviet routine life, we had bread and
cheese, we were happy, it was a prison but we rebelled and were drawn
to Siberia. Which one is better? In dictatorship you cannot speak for
everyone listens to what you say, and in democracy speak as much as
you wish, no one listens to you.'
During `independence', Mels ends up selling his valued possessions in
Yerevan's vernisage bazaar; he puts his father's military coat for
sale, medals he has won at the expense of his blood: `Everything is
shown by means of humor and anecdotes, but it hurts, for he sells a
whole history,' says Duryan.
The author purposefully presents his hero in three societies - in
dictatorship, in wild capitalism and democracy. And the alterations of
the human type according to the type of the society become obvious
when Mels says to himself in total freedom: `I saw dictatorship and
freedom and now I understand a simple thing: freedom is measured by
the largeness of one's cage'.
The French press have taken notice of Duryan
The French press and the cultural programs at the TF1 TV Company have
covered the Armenian's performance. Elle a Paris writes: `With a great
portion of sense of humor and deep observation Narek Duryan opened the
closed curtains of the Soviets before us.' And the Paris Capitale says
the performance `created a big revolution in the De Jazet Theater for
French audience'.
The artist, who has lived in Paris for the past 25 years, says he
wonders when Armenia itself will open up the borders of its own
freedom and cage together with Mels.
Audiences in Paris have been about 20 percent Diaspora. (Duryan hopes
to bring the performance to Armenia, but doesn't know when.) The
Armenian audience is acquainted with Duryan's art through several
performances - the musical `Don Quixote' by Servantes-Bulgakov,
`Operation Nemesis' historical-documentary performance staged together
with `Bohem' theatrical group in the Theater of Young Audience.
The `Bohem' that has a rich experience of 15 years is the only
professional, stable, constantly theatrical group acting abroad, who
has never interrupted its activities and has traveled to European
countries, the USA, Canada, Egypt and oriental countries for many
times.
`Although it is 25 years already that I live in Paris, I always
considered myself a man from Yerevan, I haven't changed even my
language; for me the acknowledgement of the audience here (Yerevan) is
very important and I think I will get it soon,' says Duryan.
PARODY WITH PURPOSE: `UPRISING' IS UNUSUAL TREATMENT OF SACRED SUBJECT
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Parodist Vartan Petrosyan's latest performance is filled with irony
and routinely evokes laughter.
It is, of course, what a dramatic parody should do. The subject of his
latest drama `Uprising', is, however, far from typical laughing
matter. The play, that has been running for several weeks in Yerevan's
Stanlislavky Russian Theater is about the Armenian Genocide.
Weaving past tragedy with modern reality and often presenting
divergent ideas on opposite sides of the same stage, Petrosyan's
two-act drama more often brings laughter than the tears that are
synonymous with the Armenians' saddest hour.
At one moment Petrosyan portrays the typically fat-bellied and
apathetic Armenian men or thick-necked oligarchs, then, in a stage
that is changing, shifts to the divine Komitas and his sacred music
that becomes a background for scenes of massacre.
`I have chosen the title `Uprising', despite the fact that usually our
works relating to the topic of genocide carry titles of mourning and
tears and it couldn't be another way: but it is high time we seriously
evaluate what is the genocide to us. Sorrow unites, clarifies, and we
should have an uprising with that very power,' explains Petrosyan.
The performance begins with Petrosyan's French friends Nathalie
Lefevre and Lionel Emery asking in hesitation: `What is the Armenian
Question?'
`Well, now try to explain to a carefree European the Armenian
Question...' says the actor and presents the tragedy of the last
century as synthesized in cinema, theater, stage dance, and songs by
Komitas.
On one side of the dark stage sings Komitas who has witnessed the
massacre, and on the other, accompanied by the stages of the massacres
and their joyous melodies, the Europeans carelessly dance. Their
melodies get stronger, deafening the gentle melodies by Komitas -
symbolizing the indifference of the world and the sounds of a
suppressed nation calling for help of the world given away to
dis-interest.
Through his play, the actor bitterly mocks and satirizes the huge
portion of the Armenian society who enjoys Turkish and Arabic moughams
(a type of Muslim music): `those very songs the Turks danced under
while slaughtering and skinning Armenian babies'.
`Vartan speaks about things that all of us see, but do not confess to
ourselves; he seems to be disturbing our wounds and at the same time
soothing them,' says theater critic Amalia Hovhannisyan.
`I am shocked with the funny scene of the quarrel between a Jew and a
Diaspora Armenian on who has been the first and the most slaughtered,'
says spectator Mkhitar Kirakosyan, 52. `While laughing, you cry deep
in your heart when you think that Jews were at least smothered by
means of gas, their children wouldn't see it, and Armenians were
killed in front of their children and the children who survived would
return to those scenes throughout their lives.'
The many faceted actor appears at times as an ignorant fool, who
repeats time after time: `Well, that genocide has not happened to us,
it has happened to our grandfathers'; at another time he appears as an
oligarch, a Jew, and even a Turkish pasha.
`This performance is not a history handbook, this is a cry to make our
people wake up from the numbness of indifference, and remember about
the Genocide not only on April 24,' says Petrosyan. ` . . . to start
to turn the pages of history, to bring up generations with national
spirit, always remembering the past and continue learning from it.'
Besides the 15 Armenian actors in `Uprising' there are also three
French actors, who represent Europe and who share the sorrow of the
Genocide as people and stand side by side to Armenians.
`Art is a powerful tool to make the world recognize its mistakes,'
says actress Lefevre. `Even without understanding the language I feel
the spirit of the performance. You should be stronger without
forgetting your past, for you know better than anyone the price of
life and freedom.'
Perormances of `Uprising' are expected to continue through October.
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HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE: CONVICTED SOLDIER SAYS HE HAS `NO OTHER WAY' BUT HUNGER
STRIKE
By Zhanna Alexanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
In a basement cell with a barred and screened window where heavy air
smothers breathing, 19-year old prisoner Razmik Sargsyan is in his
28th day of a hunger strike to protest the sentence for a crime he now
says he had no part in.
In April of last year, following five days of interrogation during
which the teenager says he was tortured, Sargsyan, a conscript in the
Armenian army confessed to the murder of two fellow soldiers in
Karabakh in December of 2003. Two other soldiers were also convicted
based on Sargsyan's confession. Razmik Sargsyan Each was sentenced to
15 years.
Attorneys and family members of all the convicted soldiers have
maintained that Sargsyan and the others were scapegoats in a double
murder that, they say, leads to unit commander Ivan
Grigoryan. Grigoryan was not called to testify in the case, due, in
part, to his status as a Karabakh war hero. (Also read previous
ArmeniaNow reports: With Prejudice?, Army on Trial and Death Over
Dishonor?.)
The case is one of several examples of unsatisfactory conditions
within the Armenian Army, where soldiers are routinely beaten (the
murder victims are believed to have been tortured, then murdered),
often with the approval or out right command of superior officers.
It is also a case that has drawn attention from human rights agencies
and Non Governmental Organizations who say that Sargsyan is just
another victim of bottom-to-top corruption that prevails in the
military.
Sargsyan's case is under appeal, but a prison doctor has determined
that his health is too bad for him to attend the hearings.
According to his attorney, Zaruhi Postanjyan, Sargsyan cannot walk,
and suffers severe kidney problems that, the attorney says, are the
result of numerous beatings. The apparent kidney damage makes a hunger
strike particularly dangerous for the boy. And in fact his conditioned
dramatically deteriorated within two weeks of the strike.
Members of an NGO observation group making a public supervision in
prisons, consider his health condition as hard. The group was denied a
request to view Sargsyan's medical records by head of the Nubarashen
prison, Ara Sargsyan.
Although press secretary of the Ministry of Justice Ara Saghatelyan
insists they would get the information in case a proper request was
presented the lawyers insist the two written mediations in that regard
have been rejected.
On the fifth day of his strike, Sargsyan announced it to the Court of
Appeals. Judge Mher Arghmanyan replied: `Only guilty people do things
like hunger strikes . . .' On a visit to the Nubarashen prison,
ArmeniaNow's reporter found the boy pale, gaunt and barely capable of
speaking. He is demanding that those who he says tortured him be
charged with their crimes, and that the Military Prosecutor be
dismissed from the case, and a civilian prosecutor from the Prosecutor
General's Office be assigned.
`I have been innocently sentenced for 15 years, and evidence has been
extorted by beatings,' he told ArmeniaNow `How can I go out of the
hunger strike? I have no other way.'
`Razmik Sargsyan made this ultimate step for he does not know what
steps to take to prove his innocence and to bring the real criminals
to responsibility,' Postanjyan says. `Besides the fact the real
criminals are free they have involved also innocent people into the
case.'
Neither Musa Serobyan nor Araik Zalyan, the other soldiers, confessed
to the same charges raised against Sargsyan.
Postanjayan says the Military Prosecutor's Office made its case solely
on Sargsyan's allegedly-extorted testimony. She describes her client
as a sensitive boy, liable to yield to pressure.
`They purposefully chose Razmik, for he is more vulnerable, writes
poems and loves music, so he would not stand the beatings. And indeed
he did not. The investigator had hanged him up and threatened to rape
him with a stick... Razmik has testified to all these in the court of
the first instance,' says the lawyer.
During the year and a half of their imprisonment all the three
prisoners have declared hunger strikes at different times. The longest
was Zalyan's, lasting 90 days.
Due to his already poor health, Sargsyan's hold out appears more
dramatic.
Following a recent visit to the prison, Torgom Sargsyan said his son
could not walk and `his face was totally swollen, his hands were
shaking, he could hardly move his lips. He has had acute kidney
attacks again; he urinates blood.
`They took my child to the army for two years, and it turned into 15
. . .'
Read next week's ArmeniaNow for an update on the appeals court
hearings.
HYESANTA UPDATE: SEASONAL PROJECT TURNS INTO YEAR-ROUND ACTIVITY
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Editor's Note: In keeping with our commitment to show readers how
their contributions to our charitable foundation is being managed, we
present the following report. ArmeniaNow - and especially the
recipients of your generosity - thank its readers and looks forward to
future campaigns.
As it prepares for its next charity campaign to be launched in late
autumn, ArmeniaNow's Hye Santa project is pleased to inform its
patrons that, in the past eight months, 15 families have received
assistance ranging from medicines to blankets and mattresses, to
livestock, computers and TV-sets, and worth a total of $12,365 (not
including the value of rehabilitative care for Karabakh war survivor
Mary Mezhlumyan.)
Many also received continuous assistance from ArmeniaNow office staff
and benefactors who responded generously and wholeheartedly from
abroad and, most importantly, from within Armenia.
HyeSanta Charitable Foundation Director Armine Petrosyan says the
charity has goals that are not limited to satisfying people's
essential needs only (such as food, clothes, fuel).
`It is important that the charity's activities be aimed at creating an
atmosphere of confidence and rehabilitation for the families, showing
a proper attitude towards them and establishing continuous friendship
with them,' says Petrosyan.
When ArmeniaNow announced its second HyeSanta campaign last December,
the first to contribute was Donna Evans, wife of the United States
Ambassador to Armenia.
Among the most recent, in what has become a year-round program, was
assistance from Armenia's First Lady, Bella Kocharyan.
Thanks to Ms. Kocharyan's involvement, Mary Mezhlumyan of Kapan, a
victim of bombing during the Karabakh war, and a subject of the first
HyeSanta campaign (see Smiling Through Tragedy), is now getting a new
leg and arms.
The Medical and Technical Commission of the RA Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs is providing Mary with prosthetic appliances free of
charge.
An artificial foot was prepared for Mary under Doctor Mkrtich
Ginosyan's supervision, and artificial arms will be prepared for her
in October. Further, there are also plans to present to the National
Assembly a proposal by photojournalist German Avagyan through
cooperation with Red Cross Armenia Chairman Mkhitar Mnatsakanyan to
regard war-crippled children (there are about 50 of them living in
Armenia and Karabakh today) as war disabled and give them pensions
accordingly.
Petrosyan also regards as important HyeSanta's cooperation with the
Armenian Apostolic Church, in particular with the St. Hovhannes Church
priest Ter Daniel (see ArmeniaNow's HyeSanta update of June 10, 2005).
Four children of the Papazyans, subjects of last winter's HyeSanta
project, were baptized in summer.
`I need to consult Ter Daniel,' with these words widow Knarik
Gasparyan, 39, who has three children in her care and no job (see A
Poet's Life?), often goes to St. Hovhannes Church with her children
before making important decisions.
Petrosyan says one of HyeSanta's strongest allies has been the Armenia
Interchurch Charitable Round Table Foundation of the World Council of
Churches.
Responding to ArmeniaNow's story depicting a gruesome picture in the
border village of Barekamavan and with a view to create new interests
for the local youths, at HyeSanta's request the Foundation provided
two computers each to Barekamavan and neighboring Berkaber.
Petrosyan says the results exceeded expectations. In particular in
Berkaber, due to computer instructor Vladimir Ghazinyan's effective
work, pupils are now using the Word, Excel and Photoshop programs.
Vladimir intends to learn other computer programs to teach them to the
pupils. For that purpose, HyeSanta bought five copies of the AutoCAD
manual from the Department of Industrial Engineering of the American
University of Armenia and for his impressive work Vladimir received a
present from the manual's author Sargis Zeytunyan - a CD with a demo
version of the program.
The Tufenkian Foundation helped HyeSanta purchase sheep for some
families
`Vladimir's dedicated work within just four months shows that properly
made investments can produce amazing results that even exceed
expectations,' says Petrosyan. `Besides, the reassuring example of
Berkaber has become a reliable guarantee of further cooperation
between HyeSanta and Round Table.'
Petrosyan says many of HyeSanta's initiatives would have been
impossible without the active assistance and support of other
institutional structures.
In particular, the Tufenkian Foundation and its director Margarit
Hovhannisyan, was instrumental in providing transportation to deliver
a considerable part of the aid to the regions. The foundation also
provided expertise through veterinarian Zorik Pambukhchyan who advised
HyeSanta in the matter of purchasing cattle for villagers.
`We assisted ArmeniaNow and HyeSanta with great pleasure,'
Hovhannisyan said. `One thing that could be done better in some cases
is the selection of help for families. In my opinion, some of the
families featured in ArmeniaNow stories needed other kind of help, not
so much material or financial, as psychological, help that perhaps
could be provided through social workers. But I am sure it will come
with experience.'
Consultations for HyeSanta were also provided by the NGO Center for
Civil Society Development.
The experience of NGOs' work in Armenia often became a guideline for
HyeSanta. Director Margarit Piliposyan's professional advice also
contributed to making proper decisions.
One of the best results of the project, according to its director, was
achieved through continuous cooperation with Diaspora Armenians. A
woman in New York became acquainted with the Haroyans from Echmiadzin
(see Edik and Yura) and long ago grew into friendly
relations. Petrosyan thinks the consistent attention of Diaspora
Armenians is especially valuable.
French-Armenian Anahit Sargsyan, visiting the Gasparyans made a
wonderful practical proposal: she ordered hand-made toys from Knarik
for the kids at her kindergarten. This opportunity of dignified
earning will grow by the New Year into gifts from Armenia to
French-Armenian children.
HyeSanta is also developing a similar project with Egyptian-Armenian
Hrair Djeghalian, who responded readily to the charity action at the
request of the `Prkutyun' (`Salvation') charitable union for disabled
children. Hrair's financial contribution made it possible to perform
an eye surgery on a child, for which the NGO tried to find financing.
`This way, HyeSanta has become a bridge between its Diaspora readers
and Armenian NGOs,' says Petrosyan.
Armenia Interchurch Charitable Round Table Foundation of the World
Council of Churches donated to HyeSanta computers for two villages
British-Armenian Rouben Galichian, Chairman of Aid Armenia & Executive
Trustee of Friends of Armenia, has also volunteered help.
`We have a willingness to help HyeSanta. Our attitude in all projects
is as follows: we help people with means to earn their living
themselves. Instead of giving a fish we give them a fishing-rod,' says
Galichian, adding that they are willing to help communities rather
than separate individuals.
However, Petrosyan considers the most important achievement to be the
cooperation of readers and TV viewers in Armenia itself.
The responses of both ArmeniaNow readers and Shoghakat TV viewers are
appreciable especially by their practical nature.
Pensioner Karine continues to visit the families of the Gasparyans,
the Yervandyans and Avetis Khachatryan (Bradyaga), phone and maintains
a constant link with them. Enthused by the experience of cooperation
with HyeSanta, she is now trying to rally her associates around the
charity idea and set up a field for her own activities.
`My friends, who were brilliant professionals in the past and after
retiring had no possibility to apply their professional abilities, now
understand that one can be useful to people through combined
efforts. While working with HyeSanta I learned a lot of things, and I
will use all this in the work of our new organization,' she said.
The consistent attention of businessman Mesrop Saroyan, who sponsors
the Galajyan family (see Stones For Potatoes), is exemplary. Apart
from material assistance, he has given a job to Hamlet at his
enterprise, and helped him improve his ruined home.
The interest of students is also inspiring: at a meeting with students
held upon the initiative of AUA lecturer Karine Muradyan, after
watching the HyeSanta film, a conversation was held around the
effectiveness of the Foundation's work. The suggestions made by the
young people were interesting in keeping with the time.
Besides the 12 families featuring in ArmeniaNow's stories, another
three families received assistance.
HyeSanta has helped three young people to become students this year by
paying for their fees and facilitating needs connected with their
studies. It also helped organize three baptism parties with the
assistance of the Church in the person of priest Ter Daniel.
Now Petrosyan says a documentary is being prepared to cover the
activities of HyeSanta in 2005. Soon it will be shown on Shoghakat, a
TV company that has stood by the project since last December when it
showed televised clips about the needy families featured in
ArmeniaNow's special Christmas issue and is also assisting in the
preparation of this documentary.
An English-language version of the HyeSanta TV program has been
prepared together with Shoghakat. The process of delivering aid was
filmed. A summary report about HyeSanta 2005's work is presently being
prepared jointly with Shoghakat. (ArmeniaNow's 2005 HyeSanta project
is now being planned. Meanwhile, contributions are welcomed. Click
here.)
90 YEARS AFTER MUSA DAGH: `I REMEMBER EVERYTHING . . .'
By Ruzanna Tantushyan
Ninety years ago, when she was seven, Varsenik Lagisyan heard voices
that would follow her till today:
`Haàààlàh, Haààlàh. We have come to take the
priest's daughter.'
Turkish regulars mounted on their horses shouted the words for
villagers of Youghonoluk, in the region of Musa Dagh (Musa Ler, in
Armenian) to hear. It is where Versenik lived with her family in
1915. And these were the words that marked the resettlement of
Armenians from their homes.
Musa Dagh - made famous in Franz Werfel's `90 Days at Musa Dagh' - was
those few Armenian populated villages, subject to exodus, where people
didn't obey the Turkish government decree of July 26, 1915. According
to this order Armenians were given one week to leave their homes and
move to the deserts of Syria.
Varsenik clearly remembers how the men and women, old and young,
gathered and decided to fight the Turks. They thought `We will either
kill, or be killed'. And they decided to climb up Musa Dagh. The
mountain was rocky and hard to climb, but its thick forest made a good
place for Armenians to hide and to defend themselves for 40 days,
until help arrived.
Life on the mountain was difficult. Because of the rush and obstacles
on the road, not much could be brought to the mountain. The villagers
would just leave their doors open and climb the mountain without
hardly taking anything with them. It was 40 days of hardship, but the
alternative was death.
There were times when they had nothing to eat, except berries they
could find in the forest. Fortunately it was fig and cornel (a type of
berry) season.
`Mothers had nothing to fååd their children with. Nor could they
light a fire, since the light would bring the Turks to our shelter and
that will be the end of all our attempts to survive,' Versenik
recalls.
Varsenik recollects her memories of the time spent on the
mountain. She would help her mother and other women on the mountains
to bake bread, do the washing, while the men were busy preventing the
attempts of the Turks to climb the mountain.
Varsenik's brightest memory of her childhood is the trip from Musa
Dagh to Port Said, Egypt. After defending for 40 days Armenian white
linen sheets, with messages signaling that Christians were in danger,
were seen by French battle-ships and the Armenians were taken to Port
Said. This is where Varsenik and her family together with other Musa
Dagh villagers found their home for four years.
`The priest said that those who have small children can not come on
board. They will cry and the Turks will find us' Varsenik remembers
the priest's words.
She can remember very well the sight which they saw when their ship
put ashore.
`Îlive, mandarin and fig trees with their branches bent under the
rich crop. All the children would run to gather the fruits. They
would run from tree to tree, they would greedily gather the fruits
with laughter and joy. I remember. I remember everything.'
Varsenik also remembers that on their way to Egypt a woman gave birth
to a child, symbolizing a new beginning in the history of Musa Dagh
villagers. But Varsenik's family mourned. Their happiness of salvation
was saddened by her uncle's death. He was wounded on the mountain and
died on board the ship. All in all, Varsenik says she was lucky to
have all her immediate family members alive and together.
Varsenik had a big family. She was the eldest of the 8 children. Her
father was a shop keeper and had a lot of goats. Her mother was a
housekeeper.
The family lived in Egypt for four years, during which time Varsenik -
no more than 11 at the time - married a boy from her village, and
would later have five children.
After living in the country that gave them bread to eat and a roof to
have above their head they left for Russian- Armenia that was under
Russian rule at that time. They left for their motherland.
They settled in AlaVerdi, but again found themselves short of money
and food. Varsenik would knit socks and handkerchiefs to earn their
leaving.
If her 40 days on Musa Dagh bring black thoughts, it seems that a lot
of good memories connect Varsenik with her temporary shelter in
Egypt. First the brightest memories of fruits, trees, laughter and
happiness of her relatives, friends and the second, her marriage.
Varesenik's children have their own children. And now Varsenik's
family is as big as it was in the times in Musa Dagh, before memories
of Turks on horses, making threats and shaping a horrible history
. . .
Friends in Deed: British charity makes life better for struggling
single women in Armenia By Suren Musayelyan ArmeniaNow reporter
Margarita Baghdasaryan, 52, is a single mother who lives with her
18-year-old son Hakob in a 12-square-meter room in a hostel in the
Kanaker district of Yerevan.
Those bare details alone frame a life of hardship that is not easily
managed in a society so family-oriented and reliant on male
leadership. And it is a life made even worse by a general lack of
organized care for those of Margarita's situation.
But it is a life lately improved by the help of a London-based
charity, Friends of Armenia.
Presently, Friends of Armenia are completing a $90,000 renovation of
the hostel that houses some 90 families (about 180 residents). Most
have situations similar to Margarita; single women whose husbands left
for work in Russia and never returned, and some who were killed in the
war in Karabakh.
Most residents, too, are former employees (or wives of employees) of
the Lamp Factory, the company to which the four-storied building
belonged. (In Soviet times, factories provided hostels for employees
who did not have permanent residences.) Many are refugees from
Azerbaijan.
The factory went out of business shortly after the collapse of the
Soviet Union and the hostel was transferred to the local government as
a housing for those who had fled Azerbaijan when conflict started in
the late 1980s.
For more than a decade the hostel suffered the effects of daily wear
and tear, without the means for making it better.
About two years ago, the situation was brought to the attention of
Friends of Armenia, a non-profit organization started by London
Diaspora in 2000.
At first, the charity ministered to the psychological needs of the
women.
`We first thought of sending a psychologist there to talk to them and
their children so that they can feel themselves worthy citizens again
and not people left alone without jobs and without hope,' says Rouben
Galichian chairman of Aid Armenia and Executive Trustee of Friends of
Armenia, who spends some of his time in Armenia.
A team of three psychologists worked with about 50 single women living
in a nearby building. Most of them had become prostitutes. Galichian
says most of these women have proper jobs now - some are employed as
street-sweepers, others as laundry workers, waitresses, etc.
`Within just two years of work with them our psychologists managed to
convince them that they were worthy citizens of their country who had
found themselves in difficult conditions, which, though, never meant
that they were not worthy people,' says Galichian.
But at 16 Banavani Street, Friends of Armenia went further, as they
decided to improve the living conditions in the hostel.
`When we went in first, we saw that the toilets there were a poor
sight, with ruined walls and big holes in the floor. There was no
water there. We repaired the toilets on almost all floors. I say
almost, since some rooms and toilets had been privatized and it is not
our policy to repair individual property,' says Galichian. `We got a
written letter from the prefecture assuring us that the parts we
repair will not be privatized and will be for general use for the
local residents.'
The first repairs were completed in January, others were finished
recently. They are all clean and improved and according to Galichian,
the women take a good care of them.
`It has changed so much in our lives. We haven't seen such a thing
before even from the authorities,' says pensioner Margarita, adding
that even hammering a nail is a problem for the hostel residents as
most of them are lonely women, some with small children, and some are
disabled.
Three months ago Friends of Armenia also decided to repair and clean
the corridors and the staircases on all floors.
Works were launched, but the roof caught fire in an accident in July,
and repairs were suspended.
`But we will continue the work and will try to get the prefecture to
repair the roof before the start of rains,' says Vahan Patvakanyan, a
physicist by training, who is one of the ten representatives of
Friends of Armenia here.
Patvakanyan is in charge of the hostel reconstruction project.
`It is difficult for these women, most of whom live without husbands,
with small children under their care, to do the repairs
themselves. The majority of them do not have jobs, those who receive
pensions can hardly make both ends meet with the money they get from
the state,' he says.
Susanna Muradyan, 53, a former employee of the Lamp Plant, has lived
in the hostel alone since 1989. `The situation here was terrible. This
project means a lot for us, as it has saved us from anti-sanitary
conditions,' she says.
Marina Minasyan, 43, is glad Friends of Armenia has reached out for
them with this project. She only complains of her life in a small room
that she shares with another single woman.
`I appreciate the work of the psychologist who comes here
regularly. Talking to her is a great relief for me and gives me hope
that one day I will have a better life,' says Marina.
Galichian says that psychological assistance is no less important
thing for most of these women who live in poor conditions. `We
continue to provide our psychological assistance to these lonely
women. Whenever they have a difficult situation in their lives or with
their children they call our psychologists and I am glad they feel the
use for themselves and their children,' he says. In the summer of
2000 a group of British Armenian professionals visited Armenia for the
first time. They were very impressed with the capability and the high
level of education of the local people, as well as their eagerness to
learn and their drive to achieve something real, while living under
difficult conditions, despite the almost total neglect of the
authorities.
The group returned to London and founded the charity organization the
same year.
So far Friends of Armenia have realized projects worth a total of
$400,000 in Armenia, in various fields - from orphanages and old
people's homes, to schools, kindergartens, hospitals, hostels and
whole villages.
FUTURE CHOICES: THINK-TANK EXERCISE GIVES ARMENIANS A CHANCE TO STEER
THE SHIP OF STATE
By Arpi Harutyunyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
On September 3, about 500 Yerevan residents stood before four doors
inside the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Entertainment Complex, faced
with choices that would symbolize their republic's future. The doors
were marked `Russia', `Europe', `Armenia' and `No Future' - the door
of pessimism.
The exercise was part of the Armenia 2020 project, and its intention
was to illustrate four scenarios created by the think-tank,
represented in a booklet it published last year on projected paths for
Armenia to follow in the coming 15 years: `Survival to Prosperity',
`From Russia with Love', `Armenia and the European Union: Coming Home'
and `Armenia - 30 years with Correspondence.'
Founded in 2001, the Armenia 2020 project works to develop models of
development for Armenia and helps transform them into concrete
scenarios. (Such programs have had good rsults in Russia, Portugal
and Belgium.)
The project is funded by business persons of Armenian descent from
Armenia, Russia, the USA and Europe. To date 2020 has spent about $2
million developing patterns that might be instructional for future
policy.
`Our sponsors are those people with no profit expectations who do
investments to find ways to make their homeland well off,' says
Artashes Kazakhetyan, Director of the Armenia 2020 project. `The
program has not received financial support from any government,
international body or organization. This means that we are fully
independent. And the superior aim of the project is to find the most
acceptable models of possible ways for the development of Armenia by
means of public discussions and voting.'
In Yerevan last weekend, nearly half - 210 - of participants in the
2020 exercise cast their votes in favor of the scenario that called
for `Survival to Prosperity'.
The content of the scenario is the following: `growth of productivity
by means of developing strategic plans of development and their
implementation increasing the GDP per capita income by 2020 to
$11,200. To achieve this, correct policies in macro and micro
economic, political, legal and social spheres should be adopted.'
The development scenario is comprised of three stages: during the
first stage (2004-2008) the priorities are productivity growth,
activation of regional trade, as well as measures targeted at the
attraction of foreign investments largely facilitated by the fight
against corruption, decrease of the red tape and integration of
e-governance system. The final stage (2013-2020) is the period of
globalization. The trade borders extend to Europe and the USA.
Participants at the exercise were of various ages, and generational
differences were reflected by which door they chose. The younger ones
primarily picked scenarios that drew Armenia into more global
relations, while the older participants leaned toward the `From Russia
with Love' model.
`I think, the path Armenians have passed shows that our past has been
closely tied up with Russia and we have only gained from that. Why not
to continue strengthening our friendly, state, economic ties with that
country,' asks pedagogue Marietta Sahakyan, 55.
Contrary to the representative of the previous generation, Hayk
Galstyan, an economist of 25, thinks there should be no economic
dependence on Russia.
`Although the age of colonization is over, it is obvious that great
powers continue the colonial policies by means of putting smaller
countries into economic dependence. I want to say that Armenia will
appear in the same condition, if it becomes a Russian satellite
again,' the young professional said.
Besides Yerevan, scenario discussions were organized also in other
towns of Armenia - Gyumri, Vanadzor, Ijevan, Yeghegnadzor. In the
coming days the Syunik marz will also be engaged.
`Up to this moment preference has been given to the `Survival to
Prosperity' scenario, which is to mainly emphasize the intrinsic
potential of Armenia and try to understand what should be done to
develop in more clear and organized way,' says Kazakhetyan. `From the
results we have received we can derive clearly that people strongly
wish Armenia develops as an independent, powerful state and are ready
to actively participate in the process of constructing the country.'
>From September 19th to 20th the Armenia 2020 project will summarize
its 3 year activities in Yerevan. More than 300 public, political and
cultural activists, and businessmen who wish to have their say in the
creation of the prosperous future of Armenia will participate in the
two-day summit.
`Armenia 2020 will publicize the results of all the discussions during
the summit. Our future steps will be identified. And, most
importantly, we will be able to send clear messages to our authorities
on which way of development for the country the present day society of
Armenia chooses,' says Kazakhetyan.
PRAISE IN PARIS: `MELS' AND DURYAN FIND SUCCESS IN REPEAT PERFORMANCE
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Yerevan native playwright Narek Duryan's play `Thank You, God' is
enjoying a repeat performance in Paris, at the De Jazet Theater.
The actor takes on many personalities
The play was so successful during a month-long run in June, that the
board of directors of the 700-seat theater in Bastille Square invited
Duryan back, where he is again the featured attraction this month.
`Stepping into this theater is a big success, for this theater is
among the ten most important and authoritative theaters in Paris,'
says actor and director Duryan, son of the popular conductor Ohan
Duryan. `If we take into account that 480 performances are played in
Paris every day, 30 percent of which have a life of only a day, than
one can imagine how difficult it is to attract attention.'
The character created and embodied by Duryan carries elements of self-
biography, of a man named Mels who has passed through a socialist
regime and is enjoying a European democracy trying to realize what
freedom is.
The hero's name is comprised from the quartet of socialist stalwarts -
Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.
Fed up with the ways of the Soviet Union, Mels crosses the state
border and finds home in the capital of democratic France. His bright
hopes fade, but he seems to succeed in everything (although his
marriage to a French woman turns out to not be a happy one).
`In this performance I study the question of personal freedom and what
is freedom,' the play's creator says. `It is a relative
phenomenon. When was I more free, when I could not travel, for I was
in a prison called Soviet country, but traveled around the world in my
mind, or now, when I can go wherever I want, but I don't have money?
This is also a kind of imprisonment, a jail.'
Gradually developing the plot Mels tells about the way he has passed;
he was born in Armenia, had his military service in Siberia, opening
Siberia to the audience in a humorous manner: `It's strange but I
remember with nostalgia our Soviet routine life, we had bread and
cheese, we were happy, it was a prison but we rebelled and were drawn
to Siberia. Which one is better? In dictatorship you cannot speak for
everyone listens to what you say, and in democracy speak as much as
you wish, no one listens to you.'
During `independence', Mels ends up selling his valued possessions in
Yerevan's vernisage bazaar; he puts his father's military coat for
sale, medals he has won at the expense of his blood: `Everything is
shown by means of humor and anecdotes, but it hurts, for he sells a
whole history,' says Duryan.
The author purposefully presents his hero in three societies - in
dictatorship, in wild capitalism and democracy. And the alterations of
the human type according to the type of the society become obvious
when Mels says to himself in total freedom: `I saw dictatorship and
freedom and now I understand a simple thing: freedom is measured by
the largeness of one's cage'.
The French press have taken notice of Duryan
The French press and the cultural programs at the TF1 TV Company have
covered the Armenian's performance. Elle a Paris writes: `With a great
portion of sense of humor and deep observation Narek Duryan opened the
closed curtains of the Soviets before us.' And the Paris Capitale says
the performance `created a big revolution in the De Jazet Theater for
French audience'.
The artist, who has lived in Paris for the past 25 years, says he
wonders when Armenia itself will open up the borders of its own
freedom and cage together with Mels.
Audiences in Paris have been about 20 percent Diaspora. (Duryan hopes
to bring the performance to Armenia, but doesn't know when.) The
Armenian audience is acquainted with Duryan's art through several
performances - the musical `Don Quixote' by Servantes-Bulgakov,
`Operation Nemesis' historical-documentary performance staged together
with `Bohem' theatrical group in the Theater of Young Audience.
The `Bohem' that has a rich experience of 15 years is the only
professional, stable, constantly theatrical group acting abroad, who
has never interrupted its activities and has traveled to European
countries, the USA, Canada, Egypt and oriental countries for many
times.
`Although it is 25 years already that I live in Paris, I always
considered myself a man from Yerevan, I haven't changed even my
language; for me the acknowledgement of the audience here (Yerevan) is
very important and I think I will get it soon,' says Duryan.
PARODY WITH PURPOSE: `UPRISING' IS UNUSUAL TREATMENT OF SACRED SUBJECT
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Parodist Vartan Petrosyan's latest performance is filled with irony
and routinely evokes laughter.
It is, of course, what a dramatic parody should do. The subject of his
latest drama `Uprising', is, however, far from typical laughing
matter. The play, that has been running for several weeks in Yerevan's
Stanlislavky Russian Theater is about the Armenian Genocide.
Weaving past tragedy with modern reality and often presenting
divergent ideas on opposite sides of the same stage, Petrosyan's
two-act drama more often brings laughter than the tears that are
synonymous with the Armenians' saddest hour.
At one moment Petrosyan portrays the typically fat-bellied and
apathetic Armenian men or thick-necked oligarchs, then, in a stage
that is changing, shifts to the divine Komitas and his sacred music
that becomes a background for scenes of massacre.
`I have chosen the title `Uprising', despite the fact that usually our
works relating to the topic of genocide carry titles of mourning and
tears and it couldn't be another way: but it is high time we seriously
evaluate what is the genocide to us. Sorrow unites, clarifies, and we
should have an uprising with that very power,' explains Petrosyan.
The performance begins with Petrosyan's French friends Nathalie
Lefevre and Lionel Emery asking in hesitation: `What is the Armenian
Question?'
`Well, now try to explain to a carefree European the Armenian
Question...' says the actor and presents the tragedy of the last
century as synthesized in cinema, theater, stage dance, and songs by
Komitas.
On one side of the dark stage sings Komitas who has witnessed the
massacre, and on the other, accompanied by the stages of the massacres
and their joyous melodies, the Europeans carelessly dance. Their
melodies get stronger, deafening the gentle melodies by Komitas -
symbolizing the indifference of the world and the sounds of a
suppressed nation calling for help of the world given away to
dis-interest.
Through his play, the actor bitterly mocks and satirizes the huge
portion of the Armenian society who enjoys Turkish and Arabic moughams
(a type of Muslim music): `those very songs the Turks danced under
while slaughtering and skinning Armenian babies'.
`Vartan speaks about things that all of us see, but do not confess to
ourselves; he seems to be disturbing our wounds and at the same time
soothing them,' says theater critic Amalia Hovhannisyan.
`I am shocked with the funny scene of the quarrel between a Jew and a
Diaspora Armenian on who has been the first and the most slaughtered,'
says spectator Mkhitar Kirakosyan, 52. `While laughing, you cry deep
in your heart when you think that Jews were at least smothered by
means of gas, their children wouldn't see it, and Armenians were
killed in front of their children and the children who survived would
return to those scenes throughout their lives.'
The many faceted actor appears at times as an ignorant fool, who
repeats time after time: `Well, that genocide has not happened to us,
it has happened to our grandfathers'; at another time he appears as an
oligarch, a Jew, and even a Turkish pasha.
`This performance is not a history handbook, this is a cry to make our
people wake up from the numbness of indifference, and remember about
the Genocide not only on April 24,' says Petrosyan. ` . . . to start
to turn the pages of history, to bring up generations with national
spirit, always remembering the past and continue learning from it.'
Besides the 15 Armenian actors in `Uprising' there are also three
French actors, who represent Europe and who share the sorrow of the
Genocide as people and stand side by side to Armenians.
`Art is a powerful tool to make the world recognize its mistakes,'
says actress Lefevre. `Even without understanding the language I feel
the spirit of the performance. You should be stronger without
forgetting your past, for you know better than anyone the price of
life and freedom.'
Perormances of `Uprising' are expected to continue through October.