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365 Days
http://asbarez.com/117926/365-days/
Tuesday, December 31st, 2013
BY MARIA TITIZIAN
In the absence of faith and hope and belief living can often be
dwindled away, becoming mundane, a chore, destroying the core of what
we were meant to do or be to others as human beings.
These past few weeks we have been in a deep winter freeze in Yerevan.
Temperatures have plummeted causing icy roads, freezing homes and
treacherous sidewalks. Every morning as I walk down our street to get
to work, I think my bones are going to crack from the cold. Even the
trees seemed to have petrified and transformed into peculiar ice
sculptures. Complaining about the weather a few days ago, an
aquaintance reassured me it's good for the farmers. A mild winter is
never promising for the summer bounty, or so I was told. Who am I to
argue?
So, with all things that cause discomfort, or cold bones, or falling
on you knees on slippery tiles just before you go to cover the visit
of Turkey's Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmed Davutoglu, there's always a
silver lining. At least that is what we tell ourselves.
At an annual wrap-up-the-past-year dinner, the topics around the table
varied from the weather to pension reforms to natural gas to the
country's precarious steps towards loss of sovereignty and national
dignity. It was all matter-of-fact. We recalled that at last year's
dinner, emotions were on edge and we were deeply grateful that 2012
was over, because it hadn't been a good year.
2013 comparatively was a worse year but for some reason we were
uncharacteristically calm. There were no arms flailing or loss of
decorum or any other sort of anarchy around the dinner table. Trying
to fall asleep later that night I realized that faith and hope and
belief, the core elements of our humanity, the attributes that had
brought together our group of eternally optimistic friends had eroded
sometime over the course of the past year. The problems we once
thought unacceptable had become common place; the deceptions and
missed opportunities were to be expected; we were no longer surprised
at the disrespect and arrogance the ruling regime projected toward its
own people. Taking things in stride, understanding and accepting your
reality may sometimes be good for your health but rarely does it do
any good for your soul.
>From presidential to municipal elections, to deceptions and lies, to
an elevated collective social consciousness, to secret deals, from
progress to regression, from unreliability to treachery, our lives in
2013 were not only a mosaic of emotions but of chaos.
The images and impressions of the past year are more important than
the specific details of events.
Here is what 2013 felt like...
It was a presidential election campaign that appeared uninspired and
lackluster and then the results turned our lives upside down and we
began to hope that something would change, that we could believe that
democracy was working, finally. Hope turned to exhiliration, then
deflation and then outright disappointment.
In the meantime we had a presidential candidate who staged a hunger
strike instead of campaigning; we had another accused, charged and
convicted of trying to assassinate another presidential candidate; we
had an incumbent president seeking a second and thankfully final term
who told people many interesting things including that he could secure
any result that suited his fancy; and the rest, I don't even remember.
Two simultaneous presidential inaugurations took place, an official
one where Serzh Sarkisian promised to lead the country and one in the
square that promised to uphold the constitution and then disintegrated
into nothing.
There was the murder of a most beloved friend and mayor of Proshyan,
Hrach Muradyan whose murderer is yet to be found.
The residents of Yerevan went to the polls to elect a new mayor and a
new city council. Republican Taron Margaryan became mayor and got
himself embroiled in a bus fare hike that saw thousands of protestors
in the streets, forcing him to retract his decision, at least for the
time being.
Suren Khachatryan, the infamous and controversial former governor of
Syunik marz was once again in the headlines for a murder that took
place outside his front door. His son and bodyguard were charged with
the murder but later released. Khachatryan claims he was sleeping and
didn't hear anything at all. The chief military prosecutor at the time
Gevorg Kostanyan said that the two men accused in the murder had acted
in self-defense and effectively set them free. He was later appointed
Armenia's Prosecutor General.
We were promised by our president that we could expect 7 percent
economic growth and an increase in wages that would surpass the rate
of inflation and if these things were not realized by the government,
they would be asked to resign.
We learned that the country's prime minister held offshore accounts
where funds from bank loans were funneled in collusion with a
controversial archbishop.
After 3.5 years of intense negotiations with the European Union,
Armenia was set to initial the Association Agreement but then on
September 3, while on a visit to Russia, our country's president
`affirmed the Armenian people's wish' and unexpectedly announced that
we would instead join the Customs Union with Russia, Kazakhstan and
Belarus, three exemplary nations of democracy, human rights and social
justice.
In December we learned that since April 2011, the price of natural gas
imports from Russia had steadily increased. However, this was quietly
subsidized and kept a secret from the Armenian people until the
Republican Party ensured victories at the parliamentary, presidential
and Yerevan municipality elections racking up a debt of $300 million
in the meantime.
On December 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a visit to our
country and signed several bilateral agreements, which included
selling off the remaining 20 percent of the Republic of Armenia's
shares in ArmRosGazprom to the Russian giant Gazprom to offset the
$300 million debt. According to the deal, for the next thirty years,
Armenia is not allowed to purchase natural gas from a third party, it
cannot serve as a transit zone and it is obliged to ensure gas prices
are set at a rate which will ensure that our new Russian gas partner
recoups its investments in the system.
On December 23, the National Assembly of Armenia had to vote to ratify
the natural gas deal between Armenia and Russia. Engaged citizens,
opposition parties and activists from different spheres tried to
mobilize against the vote, sometimes using unacceptable tactics,
including boycotting and walking out of the National Assembly, to
removing voting cards to obstruct the vote. But even those tactics
were of no use as the ruling coalition went ahead and voted, although
the manner in which they voted is now being brought into question. We
will have to wait for the verdict of the Constitutional Court. No one
in Armenia is holding their breath.
It is a theater of the absurd, it feels as though the clinically
insane have taken over the asylum...
In the melee, passions ran amuck, lines were blurred, reporters became
activists, activists became reporters, no one knows or understands
their role anymore.
And then there are those young people out there in the subzero
temperatures, braving the bitter dry cold and doggedly fighting a
system that refuses to acknowledge them. I believe that many more will
join them. I believe in their willpower and tenacity. They are often
criticized by different people and different forces, myself included.
But one thing is so painfully clear - if it wasn't for them, many of
us would continue to live like the trees that have transformed into
peculiar ice statues, patiently waiting for a spring that will never
come.
This is how our life was in 2013. I hope yours was less interesting.
http://asbarez.com/117926/365-days/
Tuesday, December 31st, 2013
BY MARIA TITIZIAN
In the absence of faith and hope and belief living can often be
dwindled away, becoming mundane, a chore, destroying the core of what
we were meant to do or be to others as human beings.
These past few weeks we have been in a deep winter freeze in Yerevan.
Temperatures have plummeted causing icy roads, freezing homes and
treacherous sidewalks. Every morning as I walk down our street to get
to work, I think my bones are going to crack from the cold. Even the
trees seemed to have petrified and transformed into peculiar ice
sculptures. Complaining about the weather a few days ago, an
aquaintance reassured me it's good for the farmers. A mild winter is
never promising for the summer bounty, or so I was told. Who am I to
argue?
So, with all things that cause discomfort, or cold bones, or falling
on you knees on slippery tiles just before you go to cover the visit
of Turkey's Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmed Davutoglu, there's always a
silver lining. At least that is what we tell ourselves.
At an annual wrap-up-the-past-year dinner, the topics around the table
varied from the weather to pension reforms to natural gas to the
country's precarious steps towards loss of sovereignty and national
dignity. It was all matter-of-fact. We recalled that at last year's
dinner, emotions were on edge and we were deeply grateful that 2012
was over, because it hadn't been a good year.
2013 comparatively was a worse year but for some reason we were
uncharacteristically calm. There were no arms flailing or loss of
decorum or any other sort of anarchy around the dinner table. Trying
to fall asleep later that night I realized that faith and hope and
belief, the core elements of our humanity, the attributes that had
brought together our group of eternally optimistic friends had eroded
sometime over the course of the past year. The problems we once
thought unacceptable had become common place; the deceptions and
missed opportunities were to be expected; we were no longer surprised
at the disrespect and arrogance the ruling regime projected toward its
own people. Taking things in stride, understanding and accepting your
reality may sometimes be good for your health but rarely does it do
any good for your soul.
>From presidential to municipal elections, to deceptions and lies, to
an elevated collective social consciousness, to secret deals, from
progress to regression, from unreliability to treachery, our lives in
2013 were not only a mosaic of emotions but of chaos.
The images and impressions of the past year are more important than
the specific details of events.
Here is what 2013 felt like...
It was a presidential election campaign that appeared uninspired and
lackluster and then the results turned our lives upside down and we
began to hope that something would change, that we could believe that
democracy was working, finally. Hope turned to exhiliration, then
deflation and then outright disappointment.
In the meantime we had a presidential candidate who staged a hunger
strike instead of campaigning; we had another accused, charged and
convicted of trying to assassinate another presidential candidate; we
had an incumbent president seeking a second and thankfully final term
who told people many interesting things including that he could secure
any result that suited his fancy; and the rest, I don't even remember.
Two simultaneous presidential inaugurations took place, an official
one where Serzh Sarkisian promised to lead the country and one in the
square that promised to uphold the constitution and then disintegrated
into nothing.
There was the murder of a most beloved friend and mayor of Proshyan,
Hrach Muradyan whose murderer is yet to be found.
The residents of Yerevan went to the polls to elect a new mayor and a
new city council. Republican Taron Margaryan became mayor and got
himself embroiled in a bus fare hike that saw thousands of protestors
in the streets, forcing him to retract his decision, at least for the
time being.
Suren Khachatryan, the infamous and controversial former governor of
Syunik marz was once again in the headlines for a murder that took
place outside his front door. His son and bodyguard were charged with
the murder but later released. Khachatryan claims he was sleeping and
didn't hear anything at all. The chief military prosecutor at the time
Gevorg Kostanyan said that the two men accused in the murder had acted
in self-defense and effectively set them free. He was later appointed
Armenia's Prosecutor General.
We were promised by our president that we could expect 7 percent
economic growth and an increase in wages that would surpass the rate
of inflation and if these things were not realized by the government,
they would be asked to resign.
We learned that the country's prime minister held offshore accounts
where funds from bank loans were funneled in collusion with a
controversial archbishop.
After 3.5 years of intense negotiations with the European Union,
Armenia was set to initial the Association Agreement but then on
September 3, while on a visit to Russia, our country's president
`affirmed the Armenian people's wish' and unexpectedly announced that
we would instead join the Customs Union with Russia, Kazakhstan and
Belarus, three exemplary nations of democracy, human rights and social
justice.
In December we learned that since April 2011, the price of natural gas
imports from Russia had steadily increased. However, this was quietly
subsidized and kept a secret from the Armenian people until the
Republican Party ensured victories at the parliamentary, presidential
and Yerevan municipality elections racking up a debt of $300 million
in the meantime.
On December 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a visit to our
country and signed several bilateral agreements, which included
selling off the remaining 20 percent of the Republic of Armenia's
shares in ArmRosGazprom to the Russian giant Gazprom to offset the
$300 million debt. According to the deal, for the next thirty years,
Armenia is not allowed to purchase natural gas from a third party, it
cannot serve as a transit zone and it is obliged to ensure gas prices
are set at a rate which will ensure that our new Russian gas partner
recoups its investments in the system.
On December 23, the National Assembly of Armenia had to vote to ratify
the natural gas deal between Armenia and Russia. Engaged citizens,
opposition parties and activists from different spheres tried to
mobilize against the vote, sometimes using unacceptable tactics,
including boycotting and walking out of the National Assembly, to
removing voting cards to obstruct the vote. But even those tactics
were of no use as the ruling coalition went ahead and voted, although
the manner in which they voted is now being brought into question. We
will have to wait for the verdict of the Constitutional Court. No one
in Armenia is holding their breath.
It is a theater of the absurd, it feels as though the clinically
insane have taken over the asylum...
In the melee, passions ran amuck, lines were blurred, reporters became
activists, activists became reporters, no one knows or understands
their role anymore.
And then there are those young people out there in the subzero
temperatures, braving the bitter dry cold and doggedly fighting a
system that refuses to acknowledge them. I believe that many more will
join them. I believe in their willpower and tenacity. They are often
criticized by different people and different forces, myself included.
But one thing is so painfully clear - if it wasn't for them, many of
us would continue to live like the trees that have transformed into
peculiar ice statues, patiently waiting for a spring that will never
come.
This is how our life was in 2013. I hope yours was less interesting.