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ARMENIAN DIASPORA PROMISES TO HELP LOCAL ACTIVISTS IN SAVING TEGHUT FOREST
epress.am
02.03.2012
The group fighting to save Teghut forest in Armenia's north has
launched an awareness campaign outside of the country, said group
members Yeghia Nersisyan and Gor Hakobyan at a press conference in the
capital today. Group members were in Moscow recently, where they met
with members of the local Armenian community. According to Nersisyan,
Moscow Armenians were extremely concerned about the issue and expressed
willingness to help: they promised to organize protests outside VTB
Bank (which is funding mining operations in Teghut) and write letters
to Greenpeace.
Present at the Moscow meeting, continued Nersisyan, was a
representative from Vallex Group (of which Teghout CJSC, the mining
company, is a subsidiary) who tried to make a speech. According to
the activist, though the environmentalists allowed him to speak,
the youth at the meeting refused to speak to him.
"For the first time, the solution to an environmental problem goes
outside the country's borders. We plan to leave and meet with members
of Armenian communities in Canada and the US. Recently, one of our
activists, Arpine Galfayan, met with members of the Armenian community
in Germany and raised the issue of the Qajaran mine," she said.
Their movement, Nersisyan continued, has received offers of financial
assistance from various organizations, but the environmentalists have
refused such offers, because they believe the issue "doesn't recognize
political parties or programs and has a pan-Armenian urgency."
"Teghut means Armenia. They tell us we're fighting to save a couple of
trees. This isn't a fight over a few trees, but for Armenia. Kajaran
[where residents are being displaced from mining operations] is a
testament to the consequences of the mining industry," she said.
Gor Hakobyan also addressed the oft-expressed idea of the need to
politicize the movement. "The group defending Teghut is a civic
initiative - we have no political motives. However, any civic
initiative is associated with politics, as well as with social and
legal platforms."
Recall, publicist Ara Nedolyan, in an interview with filmmaker Davit
Stepanyan published by Epress.am on Thursday, addressed this matter
of politicizing environmental issues, saying that by choosing not
to politicize these problems, environmentalists are treating the
symptoms but not the disease itself, which can be treated only by
changing the system.
From: Baghdasarian
epress.am
02.03.2012
The group fighting to save Teghut forest in Armenia's north has
launched an awareness campaign outside of the country, said group
members Yeghia Nersisyan and Gor Hakobyan at a press conference in the
capital today. Group members were in Moscow recently, where they met
with members of the local Armenian community. According to Nersisyan,
Moscow Armenians were extremely concerned about the issue and expressed
willingness to help: they promised to organize protests outside VTB
Bank (which is funding mining operations in Teghut) and write letters
to Greenpeace.
Present at the Moscow meeting, continued Nersisyan, was a
representative from Vallex Group (of which Teghout CJSC, the mining
company, is a subsidiary) who tried to make a speech. According to
the activist, though the environmentalists allowed him to speak,
the youth at the meeting refused to speak to him.
"For the first time, the solution to an environmental problem goes
outside the country's borders. We plan to leave and meet with members
of Armenian communities in Canada and the US. Recently, one of our
activists, Arpine Galfayan, met with members of the Armenian community
in Germany and raised the issue of the Qajaran mine," she said.
Their movement, Nersisyan continued, has received offers of financial
assistance from various organizations, but the environmentalists have
refused such offers, because they believe the issue "doesn't recognize
political parties or programs and has a pan-Armenian urgency."
"Teghut means Armenia. They tell us we're fighting to save a couple of
trees. This isn't a fight over a few trees, but for Armenia. Kajaran
[where residents are being displaced from mining operations] is a
testament to the consequences of the mining industry," she said.
Gor Hakobyan also addressed the oft-expressed idea of the need to
politicize the movement. "The group defending Teghut is a civic
initiative - we have no political motives. However, any civic
initiative is associated with politics, as well as with social and
legal platforms."
Recall, publicist Ara Nedolyan, in an interview with filmmaker Davit
Stepanyan published by Epress.am on Thursday, addressed this matter
of politicizing environmental issues, saying that by choosing not
to politicize these problems, environmentalists are treating the
symptoms but not the disease itself, which can be treated only by
changing the system.
From: Baghdasarian