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APRIL 1994
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B
!3
COVERSTORY
i
SELECTIVE
BEMEIIBRANCE
16
f
a L
Almost overnight, Armenia's independence changed the politics of demanding Genocide
I
I
recognition from Turkey. As Armenia negotiates its way through a relentless economic crisis, and as the Diaspora's partisan focus has veered toward power-juggling in thehomeland, the Genocide issuehas been all but dropped
from
the national agenda.
ANALYSIS
212
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the bad boy of Russia' s ultra-nationalist platform, may represent more than a passing fad. We take a closer look at his rhetoric and its historical context.
SPEGIALREPOBT
26
Winter Fuel '94 was supposed to bring light to energy-strapped Armenia. But the project was only partly successful. An investigation into the intricate logistics of getting fuel from here to there.
Publbhc/s Notc
6
Lcttcrs
7
Fllc Forrground
9
Bytce On
lO
Ournew sectionchronicles significantinternational events affecting Armenia and is foreign relations.
Dorsicr
12
The Iranian plane incident... Metsamor: bad memories andaglimmerofhope... A US StateDepartment human righs assessment of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Gartoonr
2l
Focur
24
Yerevan's pawnshops.
lntcwicw Two Karabakh leaders speak out.
Ficld Bcport Azeri prisoners ofwar and the culture
of
hostage exchange.
Photo E33ay Unusual ways to make a living in Yerevan
ilurlc Vintage Khachaturian.
Organlzatlon
]lotcr
4
A grass-roots, US-based effort called Hyrenik.
Economy
.15 An unorthodox approach to stabilizing the dram. COVER DESIGN BY DICRAN Y. KASSOUNY; PHOTOGRAPHY:LEVON TER PETROSSIAN BY EDMONDTERAKOPIAN; GENOCIDE MEMOBIAL MONUMENT IN BIKFAYA, LEBANON BY ABNO JIHANIAN; SULEIMAN DEMIREL, AIM STOCK
Atit fSSN
ii*iezg.
tOSO-3471 ). APRIL 1994. Vol.5. No.4. ls oublishod monlhly, $45 parvear, by Fourlh Millennium,20TSoulh Brand Boul6vard,
Suie 107, Glendale, CA912O4; Phono: (818) fax: tatetlaeoogS. Seiond Ctass pbsiaoe oaid at Glenoaie, dlahd additional mailinE otficos.Csnada Posl Publicalions Mail Prcducl Sal€s Agreemenl No.0548461.
the viaws of the oubtisher. For rdv.rilrlnq oucrbr call: 1 -800-736.3246. Sub.crlDtlon relcr loi onr yctr, US: $45; Canada: $55; France: 350 FF ($55); Europe, Far East, S. America, ltrica:'$Ss; Middle East, Augtralia': $50i Commonwealth ol lnd€pendoni Sleies: $35; Armeriia: $30. Postmasters: Sond address changes to: Alll' P.O. Box 3296, llenhrttln B..ch, CA 90266, U.S.A.
DENIALOFTHEDAY eady 80 years later, almost three years after the establishment of an independent Armenia, Armenians in the Diaspora-their communities, their outl-oolq their self image, their_ sense .of place iir the world---continue to be defined by their expe-riences. as descendants 9f. the
first genocide.
-century's My own prsonal genocide survivor died just last ytiar. It is -safe to say that most aspects of my life have been affectediirecily or indirectly--by the expeiiences and
character of a man who lived his whole life rembmberine and wandns to revisit that rock -one but member-of his familv. fire Turkish government's insistence that these events did not take place in no way triirOereO his individual quest nor Armenians' collective efforts to fix the piast, to correct tf,e wrongs, to retrieve l9-st $gnrty. Ilonigqlly, an independent homeland's-creation has slown thinls down<f all places, in the Diaspora. If, tt ir issg6, we look at how, and why-in the face of continuing Turkish denial-ttris has happened. And perhaps we should talk about another kind of denial, as well. The photo on our February cover---caskets and corpses of Armenian soldiers from Karabakh---+aused quite a stir. Many it demoralizing, unnecessarily negative, and finally, defeatist (see Letters in this".ul.d. issue). That the Rouben Mangasarian photo was quite smong is stating the obvious. That it appeared in a month when the number of banquets and-dances in Glendale, California, alone, exceeded 40 simply begins o point to a picture that is equally obvious: for the majority ln maJonty in me the Diaspora, Dlaspora, the reatrty reality oI of the war m in Karabakh Karabakh hhas still not sunk in. The war in Karabakh can not replace ilre reality ofour daily lives, but has become an inextricable part of our collective exiltence and 6nue.
in Eruerum where he witnessed the murder of all
but
it
If the oicture
didn't do
it
liere are some numbers: This five-year-old war has
consumed the lives of more than 1500 soldiers out of a total Karabakh
army of some 12,000.
DIRECTORS
VATOUJAN NAHA]lr
NOnNtOlr NraN I/ltfl zrNzlu N ASSOCIATE TRUSTEE JACK tfi6'IIAJXTAN korc
FOUNDING TRUSTEES OAIIN VEDITNN MA
IIEOC' GODJAIIANIAN MA
VATOUJAN ISKENDITIAN
NSlu
HATOUI K/THVIDJIAN
MU
m/fnl|o f/fPilEU/fN @
HACOP KOUSHArJ|AN
m
ZATOUHI IIATDIXIAN
ElwVM
EDWAND TESTTUAN
m folffi movll
VAROUJAN NAHAIET
m
Over 5fi) soldiers died during the Azeri offensive of mid-December alone. More than 1000 were wounded, to say nothing of the hundreds
NOIAII, OSKAN1IN
of Armenian orisoners of war being hi:ld under the most brutal condi-
202 sor.nH ERAND BwD.
tions
in
Azerbaijani
arcNq
ZAIIH TAIXISSIAN c{ioNA NAF'I ZINZAUAN 4@
surlE t07 GtfNDArf, cA 91204,
USA
Tdcpfiorc
prisons. (In this issue,
at8-2,1$-7919
Baghdasarian
Fq 0t8.2/16 - OO88
Armen
and Zaven Khachikian
I
FOURIH MIIIENNIUM SOCIETY A tloFftr-hofit, P'Jblic Bmfit Coponrion
tell the story of Azeri
prisoners. War, after all, is an equal opportunity recruiter.) Todav, one cdn walk the
Srees of Karabakh's capital c-itv ol'stepanakert-pre-war p6pulation 50.00G-
without seeing one male^benveeri the agei of 15 and 50. To-gether with the year's stunning victories and successes, this, too, is part of the complete story you count on us to deliver.
AIII BACK ISSUES.
I ! II
n four_years of publishing hlstory, Armenian Intemational Magazine has seen fire, riots, flood, earthquake-and now burglary. In the early moming hours of April 7, the main door ro 207 S. Brand Blvd. in Glendale was broken !y a lock heaved through glass, and the door leading to the adminisEative office of the Fourth Millennium Society was forced open by someone intent on.stealing just one thing-the computer containingj our data basd of subscriptions and
mailing lists.
Cutters worked quickly and within minutes the burglar fled only to be spotted by a nearby fireman who alerted the police. Their investigafion continuei. aq our operations, with only one difference. WE have become even more cognizant -So of- how important our readers are--and not just to us. All this to say that in a community lacking the tradition of a free press, the Fourth Millennium SociE:ty simply reasserts its commiiment to promoting the frte fl6w of information, open dialogue and healthy critique. In this endeavor, we are pleased to have the most valuable subscriber base in the Diaspora. Should you experience problems wittr your subscription to what we think is ttre
mosf valuable pulilicatioir in the Diaspora, pleaie let us kno'w.
Tn;:1kAIM, APRIL 1994
Complete your collection by ordering back issues at $8 an issue. Price includes shipping andhandling.
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PUBUSHER MichaelNahabet EDITOB vanan Oskanlen
Thc Ord* ol the Day: Rcform The article entitled "The Perils of
lUNI
Zvartnots" (Field
EXECUTIVE EDITOF Salpi Haroutinlan Ghazarian MANAGING EDITOR lshkhan Jinbashian EDITOBIAL CONSULTANT Mlnas Koiaian ED]TOF EilERmJS Charles Nazadan ED]TOR AT LARGETony Halpln ABT DIRECTOF Dlcran Y. Kassouny
charter flight operatom to Armenia to the alleged conflict created by my position as a government advisor on civil aviation and president of [rvon Travel. The fact is, however, that my work for the Armenian govemment has one goal and that is to assist in the implementation of reforms within the civil aviation domain, with the purpose of making it a more efficient operation, at par with accepted international air
COI{TRlBUnilO EO|TOnS Vbkon Babikian, Kevork lmlzlan, Haig K6ropian, Mark Malkasian, Talino Satamlan, Arls Sevag, Ronald Grigor Suny, Jivan Tabibian, Taline
Voskedlchlan ASSOCIATE EDITOR Garirc Zeitlian
CONTFIBUTOFS Marine Arakelians, Armen Aroyan, Michasl Arshagounl, Artashos Emin, Yvetts Harpootlan, llovhannes Harutiunlan, Anl Klchian, Lola Koundakjhn, Gllda Kupelian, Mlchaol Mastarclyan, Llllle Merigian, Moorad Mooradian, Nancy Najarlan, Ara Oshagan, Susan Patti6, Simon Payaslian, Janel Samuelian, Balfl Shoubooklan CORRESPONDENIS Ammrn: Ara Vosklan; Am.t rd.m:
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Jihanian; Boaion: Lsne Sanonts, Ari Stamatiou; Lo! An' gcla3: lGdn6Amen,Sossi Madzounlan, KevorkDiansezian; Ml.ml: Tony Savino; l{aw Yotk Harry KoundakJlan; Norih Barg.n: Ardsm Aslanhn; Ptrb: Armln€h Johannes, Alino Manbuklan: Proyldanca: Borge Ara zobian; Srn Ft!n' claco: Armen Petrosslan; Yatavan: Mkhilar Khachatrian, Zavan Khachikan, Roub€n Mangasadan ASSISTAiITTO THE EDITOBS Aylin Baharian PHOTO ABCHIVISTS Varanl Gouriian, Padk Nazadan CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Thomas Yotedan PBOIIIOTIONS DIBECTOR Beth Broussalian ADtIINISTFATIVE ASSISTANT tudghig Mazmanian ADVERnSING DIRECTOF Aline S. Kassabian ADVERTISING BEPRESENTATIVES Ani Azar, StEven Movsesian, Mollno Ounlian, Hratci Yerknabotian INTERN Tina Jizmeiian, Elda Aghaian, Elsa Aghaian COLOR SEPAFAnON A & A Graphics, Canada
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February) enone-
Shockcrs The cover of the February issue is sad yet very powerful. I strongly recommend that we make posters of it and put it up on ev-
ery Diasporan church and organization's bulletin board. We definitely need "shock therapy" for those ofus who are still not sure of what is really going on in and around Armenia and Karabakh, and asking the timewasting questions of "who, what, how, why," as was very well described by Mr. Gary Kasparov in his interview with AIM (Janu-
ary)' TheDiasporan leadershiphas to mobilize the masses and provide unequivocal support
to those who, in their valiant stmggle
forna-
tion-building, have understoodthenobility of defending their land, and in the process are sacrificing their own lives. M i girdic H. M i girdicyan Ontaio, Canada penistently deteriorated over the two-three years that I have subscribed to it.
AIM
has
The cover of the February issue hits rockbottom of it all. It is tasteless, revolting and defeatist. It seems to me that as Armenians, world-wide and certainly in the US, we have more positive features to parade than the oftr€peated story that we area suffering, down-
trodden and persecuted people or a losing
ofdying or dead individuals. Of course we have suffered. Of course what's happening in Karabakh is ragic. Of course we should keep it in the news. But is that all we have to show? What about the fact that despite millennia of persecution and suffering we are still out there fighting and survivingatatimethatall ourpastpersecutors are long gone and forgotten? What about our accomplishments? I really see no reason to renewmy subscriptiontoAIMonceitexpires. In my opinion, it is a loser on the way to a downhill course. GarabedElotoyan
bunch
Houston,Texas
AIM, APRIL 1994
As for the many travel agencies or charter operations involved in the competitive marketof Armenia, my advice to them is to take advantage ofthe new business opportunities createdforthemas aresultofmoreopenpolicies adoptedby theRepublic'sCivilAviation Department and spend less time crying over lost privileges handed to them by the old system, which often compensated personal interests and friendships instead of merit.
Although it is difficult to expect people to abide by newly created rules and regulations when they have beBn used for many years to
oprateinajungleofanarchy, Ihopethistime the Armenian ravel indusbry in the Diaspora will rise to the occasion. GarbisTitizian Yerevan, Armenia
A
Littlc Sympathy lot Babiz Reading Ishkhan Jinbashian' s article titled
"Torch Songs of the Alternative" (Music, February), one wonders whether the author himself is nottheone who is avoidingreality. The hostile discursive tone that weaves throughout the text suggests that the aticle carries
a
far subtler agenda than meets the eye.
A closer reading, then, might shed light on what Mr. Jinbashian's problem really is.
EarlyoninthearticleMr. Jinbashianseeks to establish his authority in matters concerning Armenian music by dropping Komitas' name. This is terribly reminiscent of the me-
dieval Armenian historian who, also writing with an agendamany cenhuies ago, knew very well thatas long as hequoted Psalms andthe Book ofJob he was in business. It is important to view even the venerable Komitas in perspective. To say thatArmenian music reached its apotheosis in Komitas'
music and thereby to assert that it went downhill from there is not only a misinter-
pretation of Komitas, but is also indicative of a faulty method of criticism that pis apples against oranges. This is exactly what
Mr. Jinbashian does
inhis article. Only afterhehasbashed several forms of Armenian music does hefeel hecan inform the reader of what he finds worthwhile. Frankly, this is an insult to Arthur Meschian, and particularly to Rouben Hakhverdian who, as apoetandmusicianis inaleagueofhisown, even separate from Meschian, and whose
music deserves its own individual treatment, not merely to be spoken of in comparison to a whole other genre. Besides, why is the author so down on rabiz? Just as Indian movie music is wellloved by Indians everywhere, rabizis at',ch and highly popular genre of Armenian music, though it may be less palatable to "serious" audiences. The most important raDrz artist is, of course, Harout Pamboukj ian. Even though the author tells us that this music is "Devoid of the sexuality [whatever that may mean] , wit, sense of irony and textual relevance to modern life," much of rabizis highly sensual, humorous and sublime in a non-Western way, and must have some relevancetothednily life ofthe many Armenians who listen to it far more often than they listen to Komitas, forexample. As forthe songs that center on nationalistic themes, does Mr. Jinbashian understand what effective social and political mobilizers they have been and are capable ofbeing among so many groups of Armenians? The littlest children in Armenia sing these songs with raised fists.
My most serious criticism of
Mr.
Jinbashian in this article is that he goes on to tell us in no uncertain terms that the Diaspora is the "turf' of rabiz, taking a stealthy jab at Diasporan Armenians. Anyway, what
does he mean by "the Diaspora?" Does he mean the American-Armenian cofilmu-
nity? Does he mean all Armenians living outside of Armenia proper, including Armenians in Karabakh and in Southern Georgia? The appearance ofsuch an article in
AIM
signifies that although so many positive changes are happening in the Armenian cul-
fiillrti ll.t:firnil FAi'n OFETAIJNGI/ID'SnI
tural sphere, many Armenians are still stuck struggling with antiquated image problems thatwill not allow them to comfortably integrate all parts oftheir culture as equally valuable and enriching. P at ric ia C ons tant inian
Palisades Park, New lersey
Oppression by thc Book Steven Yakoubian's letter (January) demonstrates the Christian Right's curent Iove affair with Israel. I read with a chuckle where he claims that Israel's borders are "divinely set."Sorry,itwastheUS, nottheBible, that mandated Israel as an aggressive settlerstate, its proxy in the Middle East. According to Yakoubian, it's supposed to be big news to us that Arab regimes have continually betrayed the Palestinian cause. Ask Armenians from the Middle East what they think about Israeli state terror and the
dog catcher, etc.) Readit! Lrt's hopethat"divine" inspiration teaches Armenians not to make the same mistakes. Vaughn Hovanessian
Prerov, CzechRepublic
lnformation Plcasc Your February edition states that the video Karabakh's Wounds will be released in VHS format. Does this include PAL, which is the VHS format used in several countries, including New Zealand?
In addition, is the television documentary on the Armenian Genocide produced by the British television company Channel Four (shown in France last December on the cable station Planbte and entitled La Gdnocide Renie) avulable on video? If the answer to either or both questions is yes,
can you publish the distributors' names and contact details?
Geoff Connor and Sevana Minassian Wellington, New
kaland
According to the Armenian National Committee, sponsor of the radio program w hic h has p ro duc e d Kar ab akJl,' s Wounds, the video is available only inNTSCformat. F o r furthe r info rmation, call 8 I 8 500 I 9 I 8.
Dear Bill, P.S. As someone who has personally written the Armenian blockade by Azerbaijan,I was wondering if thejournalist for New Republic, Richard Blow, may have inconectly deciphered the letters received "pro-Azerbaijan economic blockade by the
against
US" (Dossier, January). Perhaps the letters received by the White House were in favor of maintaining the US ban on direct aid to Azerbaijan, and not proAzerbaijan's blockade of Armenia.
WhynotErytoreconfirmtheaboveas there letter-writing campaigns and maybe the received are' pro-Armenia"butmisconstnred as pro-Azeri? HarryAnderson North Field, Ohio were
We
called The White House, Harper's
and New Republic. They all seemed convinced that the letters supported the
maintenance of Azerbaijan's blockade against Armenia. In any case, even if the letters are being misconstrued, the result is the same. Perception is everything.
documented assistance Israel gives to
Letters to the editors should be brief and include verifiablo name, signature, address and daytime phone number. Mail letters to
Azerbaijan in its war against Mountainous Karabakh. Maybe many Armenians can
P.O. Bor 10793,
sympathize with thePalestinians because they
Glendale, Calltornla gl 20$'3793
too have struggled "against all odds." The current Israeli-Palestinian "peace" accord relegates the Palestinians to running no more
than municipal governments (trafhc police,
AIM, APRIL
1994
AIM
orfaxto (818) 246-0088 Letters may be edited and/or condensed.
MONHE Ratio of the number of casualties in the 1988 Armenian eartlrquake to the number in Ios Angeles in January, t994:.492:L Ratio of the force of the Armenian earthquake to that of the [.os Angeles earttrquake: I : 1 Prison sentences for those convicted of attempting to assassinateAzerbaijan's President GaidarAliev in October, 1993: 10 and 12 yearc
Georgia'srankamong 15 republics offormerSovietUnioninpelcapitaincome Georgia's rank in per capita savings in 1991 : 6 Armenia's rank in per capita savings in 1991 : 4
nl99l: 12
Number of births in Armenia in 1993 : 58,400 Numberof deaths: 26,m Rank ofArmenia in life expectancy rates among 15 republics of former Soviet Union: 2,
afterGeorgia Portion of all nuclear reactors cunently under consffuction worldwide that are of Soviet design: 1/3 Number of Russian experts to be placed at the Metsamor nuclear power plant inArmenia:560
RankoftheMkhitaristMonastery'sArmenianpocketcalendaramongallthecontinuouslypublished calendms in the world: I (since 1757) Portion of the world's land mass ttratrighfrrlly belongs to Russia, according to Vladimir Ztirinwsky: 1/5
Portion ofArmenians in Lebanon's Parliament: 8/108 Armenian population of I-ebanon: 200,000 Rank ofArmenian among the world's frequenfly spoken languages: 38 Number of languages utilized to celebrate playwright Gabriel Suntukian's 100th anniversary in Lg26,inTbilisi: 3 (Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian)
-
Aid sent fromArmenians inAktralkalak, Georgia to Karabaktr in March: 70 tons of potatoes, 2 tons of flour,500pain of socks, aOOkg of cheese, 1.5 tonsofwheat. Aqi tukin ttavffini
Hatraperrrvun; worrd Bank,
oB"r$tltf*flIr,:['rfiflrffi:il,rr?ffi:fl,?llgfmH9tnsineedns
AIM,APRIL 1994
Resead rnstitte; HaQalq
Dennis Papazian;
Conrpiled by GARINE ZEIIUAN The lack of a comprehensive law
Latvian government
reform path.
about the country's oil and gas industry makes it unlikely that Kazakhstan will
Russia's First Deputy Foreign Minis-
become a major source of oil for the US, according to the US Department of Energy. Although the US General Ac-
ter Anatoly Adamishin visited Baku in mid-March and met with President Gaidar Aliev, announcing that Russia
counting Office
emphasizes Kazakhstan' s potential as a customer of US oil equipmentand services, its potential status as an important oil supplier "is weakened by the fact that any pipeline bringing its oil to export markets would have to pass through politically unstable areas," such as Southern Russia.
The International Monetary Fund agreed on March 29 to extend a longawaited $1.5 billion economic credit to Russia. The decision comes at a time when Russia has taken steps toward a more nationalist, anti-Western fbreign policy and as Western governments
have become wary
of
Russia's
backs the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Azeri officials
say
Moscow
has'offered to deploy Russian peacekeep-
ing troops in Mountainous Karabakh in return for a deal to use a radar station in northem Azerbaijan.
Russia's Federal Counter-Intelli-
be state property. Under this new agreement, oil deliveries will resume and negotiations are under way to create ajoint
venture company, where Russia owns 66 percent of the shares and Latvia the remainder.
Iranistosupply natural gas
gence Service has confirmed that at least
to Georgia. The
150 Russian mercenaries were recruited by Azerbaijan with the assis-
reached
tance of Russian military registration and
enlistment offices
in Tula, Kaluga,
Ivanovo, Tambov and Vladimir. According to the same agency, each recruit was promised a sum of 500,000 rubles, half of which was to be paid in dollars. .ttt
f.i?ii.i;l::i::,:i.,,,it ilrii i'tne,.it;',;!1iigri.:liruta
tir;ru
officials
worked out an agreement with Russia to resume oil deliveries which Russia had stopped inlate 1992, when Latvia had declared the Ventspils transit pipeline to
accord
was
Georgian
after For-
eign Minister Alexander Chikvaidze held talks with President Hashemi Rafsanj ani, which also re-
sulted in an agreement to cooperate in transportation and agriculture. Under the terms of
a
new agreement,
Georgia is to pay $50 million to
Turkmenistan in goods for part of its
1993 debt, with the rest payable in 1994. In exchange, delivery of fuel and natural gas from Turkmenistan to Georgia will resume. Armenia, which also receives some of the Turkmeni fuel, had been severely affected by the gap in de-
livery. On March 23, Rasul Guliyev, the Chairman of Azerbaijan's Parliament met with Stein Albregs, the representative of the European Bank for Re-
construction and Development in
Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan
and
Turkmenistan. They discussed possibilities of establishing small and medium-sized enterprises in the private sector, focusing on banks and agriculture, in addition to cooperation in shipbuilding on the Caspian Sea and the reconstruction of hydroelectric and heating energy centers. On March 7,the Azeri Ambassador to Moscow, Ramiz Rzayev, expressed
AIM, APRIL
1994
hope that the current cease-fire agreement will hold in Karabakh. Analyzing the February 18 protocol signed be-
tween representatives of Armenia, Karabakh, and Azerbaijan, under Russian auspices, RzaYev said that Azerbaijan had achieved the inclusion of "the armed troops of Mountainous Karabakh" in place of the "liberation army of Mountainous Karabakh;" he also saw the inclusion ofthe provision on the liberation ofall captured territories as a significant victory for his country. Rzayev said Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan considered the Russian peace plan more operational than the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) one. On March 3, a delegation of the CSCE Minsk
group, headed by Jan Eliasson, had visited Armenia, Karabakh and Azerbaijan to discuss the CSCE Peace Plan.
China and Azerbaijan signed a joint agreement to develop relations between the two countries. The docu-
ment was signed between Chinese
Prime Minister Jiang Zemin and
Azerbaijani President Gaidar Aliev.
unanimously. In Turkey' s March 27 municipal elections, the pro-Islamic Welfare Party won over one third of the countrY's provincial centers, including Istanbul. Most importantly,
the party captured
the victorY in contextofaris-
ing Turkish Muslim identity, further reinforced by
rampant inflation andmountingeco-
nomic crises propelled by a secular,
Western-oriented government. The elections also reinforced Prime Minister Tansu Qiller's conservative True Path Party, making it possible for her coalition government to continue in power until the next parliamentary elections in 1996. According to the Russian newspaper N e zav is imaya Gazeta,Moscow may es-
tablish relations with Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party. The
The accord also involves the establishment of air traffic lines between Beijing andBaku, in addition to scientific, technical and cultural cooPeration.
paper says such a movb bY Moscow ihould be seen in light ofrecent Turkish
Fighting between regular Turkish army troops and Kurdish guerillas of the KurdistanWorkers' Party has intensified in the region of Erzerum, Turkey and Mt. Ararat. Over three days of intensive clashes in March, 44 guerrillas, and at least fourTurkish regulars, were
The government of TurkeY has funded a $100,000 chair forProfessorship in Modern Turkish Studies at
killed. The UN Security Council aPProved the participation of
2,7fi) Turkish sol'
dieis in the UN peace-keePing mis' sion in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Greece and Bulgaria oppose the re-creation
of
attempts
to
establish contact with
Chechen leader Jevher DudaYev.
Georgetown University in Washington,
DC. This follows the recent establishment of the Ataturk Chair in Ottoman and
Modern Turkish Studies established at Princeton University in New Jersey. Georgetown educates a number of for-
eign
diplomats
through the US Foreign Service.
Turkey's Health and Planning
Turkish-Russian competition over
Family
Balkan territories. Turkey had the support of Muslim countries in justifying its intervention in the area. The Security
Foundation and
Council adopted the resolution
ness
ofpopulation problems and efforts
to solve them. The Turkis h D aily N ew s interviewed
Alaaddin Brujerdi, who addressed the recent bloodshed in southeastern Turkey
Ankara. Observers see
their contributions to increasing aware-
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister
the mayor's seatin
the
will share the 1994 UN PoPulation Award, which is presented annually to recognize individuals and institutions for
President Hosni MubarakofEgypt AIM, APRIL
1994
against Turkish citizens who are of Kurdishorigin and the Kurdish problem in general. Brujerdi told the newsPaPer that "there is no room for an independent Kurdish state in the region" and added that present borders help preserve Kurdish culture-to which Iran is committed. He also insistedthatdespite continued reports in Turkish newspapers, Iran has never helped the Kurdistan
Workers' Party. Finally, he said that there was no competition between Tur-
key and Iran over trade with Central Asia. "We can be partners but never rivals on this issue," he concluded.
In the midst of fierce Kurdish denouncements, Iraq cutoff fuel supplies
to Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq on March 20, using as pretext the UN's
renewal of the embargo against Iraq.
Fuel prices immediately skyrocketed in northern Iraq.
Armenia's Foreign Minister Vahan Papazian met with NATO
Chairman Manfred Woerner on March 21 to discuss, among other issues, the
peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict. First Deputy Foreign Minister Jirair Libaridian also met with a high-ranking NATO delegation to discuis the organization's "Cooperation for Peace" project targeting the former Soviet republics and the formerly communist countries of Eastern Europe. 11
ITWASFLYTNG WHERE? A majordiplomatic incident was barely avertedover Karabalfi as a military Eanspoftairplanebelonging to the Islamic Republc bf kan;rastrei in Ure morintins just north of Stepanakert aftera mid-airexplosion, killing all 34onboard. Theplanecarriedfamiliesofkanian diplomats whowererenmingtoTehran fromMoscow for the Islamic new year. According o kanian sources close to the investigation into the accident, the plane had experienced technical difficulties which had led it to derail from its rajectory at ttre time of the incident. knmediately aftâ&#x201A;Źr the accident, Azerbaijan accused Karabakh defense forces of having shot down the plane. However, Russian sources, judging from radio naffrc between tte aircraft's crew and air taffrc conEollers, maintain that the crash was caused by sudden cockpit depressurization. Regardless, the one incontestable fact is thattheC-l30craftwas flying atan altitude of 3,500 feet and was offcourse over a war zone. Jirair Libaridian, Armenia's First Deputy Foreign Minister, toldreporters thattheplanehadbeenonits wiy back to Tehran from Moscow and that after crossing Georgian air space, ithad moved away from its course by about 100 kn. According to Libaridian, the Geor-
Precldent Levon Ter Pgtrosslan met
Georglan Ieadersamldst an avalanche
of
antl-Armenlan aglt prop.
t2
AIM, APRIL 1994
gian air service had notified Armenian air panol that
thehanianplanewasenteringArmenianairspace, but thattheplanehad nevermade it to Armenia. Libaridian stressed that Armenia had nothing to do with the incident sinceitdidnot occurinits air space and saidthat theArmenian government will work closely wittr Iran andits diplomaticcorps inArmeniathrcuglioutttreinvestigation of the accident. M1rch 20, a delegation of high-ranking hanian -_On officials from the county's civil aviation and foreign ministry anived in Yerevan on theirway to Stepanakert to conduct the investigation--as to which, if any, warring faction fued a rocket-and to return the r;mains
ofthe passengers. GarlneZelillan
BADOIL, BADBLOOD With the involvement of a Georgian-Armenian miliary unitin Georgia's civilwar, Yerevan is finding itself in an awkward position. While some blame ttre tension between the countries for the ongoing Georgia-
Armenia fuel pipeline crisis, others see the fuel situation in the context ofdiversionary sabotage intended
to worsen Annenia's energY crunch.
During his February visit to Georgia, President Levon Ter Petrossian had addressed the issue ofthe Georgian-Armenian military unit with President Eduqd
Shevirdnadze. TerPetrossian said he did not view with favor the Armenian community's involvement in the Georgian civil war. However, according !o sources in Georgia, anti-Armenian propaganda-focusing onan ArmJnian commando unit named Baghramian, fighting Georgian govemment forces i n Abkhazia-was on the increase even during the official visit of ttte ArmenianPresident. While shuttle diplomacy between Armenia's Foreign Minister Vatran Papazian and Otar Patsatsia, his Georgian counterpart, was intended to guarantee gas and fuel fansport to Armenia over Georgian territory'
Armenia's Chargd d'Affaires
in Tbilisi,
Levon
Khachafrian, saidthatthe situation shouldnotbeblown out ofproportion. "Turkey and Azerbaijan are trying their best-to create hostility between Armenia and Georgia," he said. He explained thatboth Turkic states have put pressure on Georgia to block ttre passage of energy reiources and supplies deemed to be of strateeic importance to Armenia. Concerning theBaghramian init, (tractrarian said, "if you, Georgians are insisting that the conflict in your country is a civil war, that Abltrazia is an integral part of Georgia, then it should be seen as natural that citizens ofyour country [in this case, Armenian citizens of Georgial take positions on
eitherside." Thisethnic tension, Georgia's regional political interests and the debate over the real nature of the Georgian conflict notwithstanding, Geo_rgia' s own fuel. and ianral gas supply-part of which flows to Armeniahas been cut off by Turkmenistan, due to Georgia's inability to pay its debts.
HakobAsatlan
ONTHEWAY TONUKEDOM orrMarch
17,
ArmeniaandRussiasignedalandmark
agreâ&#x201A;Źment that promises to relieve Armenia of its en-
ergy crisis and dependency on third countries for its eneigy supplies. The agreement will lead to the reopning and reictivation, within one year, of Armenia's nuclear power plant at Metsamor. According to the agreement, the two govemments will study the equipment and installation of the plant, repair faiilty maihinery and returntwo powerunits-of thiplantto operational levels thatexistâ&#x201A;Źdbeforeits 1989 closure due io pressure by environmental groups. The plan also entails the raining of specialized personnel.
TheMetsamor
nucloar plant: Bad momorleg
andagllmmer othope. Russia will supply Armenia with engineering and technical assistance, with the nuclear fuel to run the plant and will supervise the production of nuclear power. Financing of ttre project will fall on the Armenian sovemment. Afcording to Energy MinisterSebuh Tashjian, the governmenthas so farallocated $5 million, eventlryqSh iome $70 million will be needed' Tastrjian added that the most the Armenian govemment can allocate to the
projectis $20million. - Theprotocolhasbeen signeddespiteUS andE_uropean Community concerns that Metsamor might help make Armenia a nuclearPower. David Siefkin, First Secretary of the US Embassy in Yerevan, has declared ttrat Metsamor is "inherently unsafe, with insuffrcient containment facilities in the
eventof anaccident."Thelocationof theplant-<n an earttrquake fault-is anotherconcern voicedby the US adminisration. According to Prime Minister Hrand Bagratian, reopening the Metsamor planl ig an emergency measure aimed at resolving Armenia' s ingly complicated energy crisis. Following alks with nigratian, the European Bankfor Reconstmction and Developmenthas agreedto financeplans toensurethe safetyof Metsamor. T'ashjian added that alttrough the plantcould withstand an earthquake, non-nuclear power projects, including solar energy and recently discovered oiland natural-gas reserves, will evennrally enable Armenia to close down the powerPlant.
ilt*?l-
G.Z. AIM, APRIL 1994
t3
COXON REGORD Despitecriticism of what is perceived as unilateral assistance to Armenian refugees of the Karabakh conflicq L^ady CarolineCox, Deputy SpeakeroftheHouse of tords of the British Parliament, visited Armenia and Karabakh in February, bringing with her 42 tons of medical supplies and equipment and two emergency care units. She visited Gantsasar and Stepanikeri, Kichan, Jltran, Drmbon, MartakertandMets tsen. Accompanying Cox were administrators of various international organizations and journalists. Beforeher arrival in Armenia, Cox had addressed the issue of the British government supplying arms and merceriaries to
. Ii i I !
$
f
the Azerbaijanis. In addition, she had hime Minister John Major about the disbursement of questioned the cabinet of
British government aid to Azerbaijan, allocated under trade agreements signed between the trro govemments.
Regarding the impact of Armenian President l,evon Ter Petrossian's visit to Great Britain in early February, Cox said,
"Iunderstand that the British gove[lment
will henceforth view withfavorArmenia's application for membership in international organizations; and if, until this time,
Britain has held to the position that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, the new
time. The report says freedom of assembly was respected by the Armenian govemment during 1993, whe; pub-
lic demonstrations and meetings occurred frequently throughout thecountry. The State Departrnent found that the government of Armenia did not in any way hinder emigration. Throughout 1993, it was observed, members ofArmenia's Jewish and Greekcommunities emigrated at a rapid pace. Travel passports, however, were still withheld from Armenians lacking invitations from the counrry they wished to visil In respect to Armenia' s former Azeri population of 200,000, the report concludes thatitis becoming highlyunlikely ttraithey will be ableto return to theirformerhomes, as is thecase for
sympathy toward Armenia is reflected in a new attitude toward the Karabakh con-
the nearly 400,000 Armenian refugees who fled
flictwhich shouldproceedintwo sragescease-fi re and political negotiations."
of religion, Armenia was rated poorly as a result of a move in December which attempted to further strengthen the role of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Azerbaijan's civil liberties record was pooroverall,
She expressed hope that Britain will benefitfrom Azerbaijani PresidentGeidar Aliev's visitas well, and askAzerbaijan to bringhostilities against Karabattr to a nat.
Lady Cox: Dolng her blt.
in Georgia are the sources of Armenia's political, economic andsocialwoes. However, thesateDepartnent finds that human rights in Armenia were not idversely affected by ttrese problems in 1993. Moresothan inArmeni4humanrights inAzerbaijan depended on ttre Karabakh war. The State Departnent attributes the escalation and frequency of human riehts abuses to the internal struggle foipower beffi;En Abulfez Elcibey and Gaydar Aliev in the summer of 1993, a directresultofthe Karabakh conflict. Oneofthe largestsections inthereportwas devoted to civil liberties-freedoms of speech and press, assembly, worship, movementandmigration. Thereport concluded that the press is generally free in Armenia. Broadcasting, despite being entirely controlled by the government, was also rated as being fair to the opposition by providing opposition political parties speiiat air
Coxhas participatedinworkwithother international humanitarian and medical associations
which help Azeri
refugees.
ARMENIAAND AZERBATJAN:THE
H. A.
HUMANRTGHTS RECORD According to the US Department of State, Armenia's humanrightsrecordwasontherighttrackin 1993 while Azerbaijan faredmuch worsein comparison. In areport published in January, the State Department concluhed that the ongoing conflict in Karabakh, the attendant Azerbaijani andTurkishembargoes, aswell ascivilwar
AIM, APRIL 1994
Azerbaijan afterthepogromsbegan in 1988. In thearea
according to the report The respective Elcibey and Aliev regimes introduced restrictions on freedom of speech and press, which were intensified during a state of emergency benveen April and September. During that time, the new Aliev regime reportedly went as far as confiscating an entire press run by an opposition newspaper in September and the government still held full control ofradio and televisionandleftlittleroomforthe opposition parties to voice their views. Further, the report says that breaking up ofdemonstrations, harassment and intimidation by the authorities were commonplace under Aliev. In respect to religion, all faiths except Armenians worshipped without restrictions in Azerbaijan. Armenian churches, many vandalizedinprevious years, rcmainedclosed. Freedom
of movement within the country and emigration were also restricted for political opponents and
Armenians'
Ayrn Baharran
The report, disributed by the DOE, covers oil, gas, coal, geothermal and hydro and thermal.power resources. It also discloses that two prospective regions are ready for drilling. Purchase and delivery of appro-
DAYSOF RECKONING
Survival has taken on a whole new meaning for University of Southern California (USC) Professor Donald E. Miller and his wife Lorna Touryan-Miller. Together with their research on genocide survivors (see Altvt, Aprilflr,tay, 1993), they embarked on a documentation project to chronicle survival as a way of life in post-earthquake, blockaded Armenia. Arrneiia: Portraits of Survival is a photographic survey of Armenia since theearthquake. Fundedbyan anonymous donor and produced by the Millers'_with 39 photographs by Boston-based
Bemdt, ttte book is
a
raining of personnel would reInaddition, theminisny would million. luireab6ut$20 priate equipment and
need computer systems
for updating geological and
seismic data anddrillingequipment. Thereare alsoplans
tobuild over 25 minihydro powerplants and a 20 mw windfarm. According to the DOE, a US geological team had recently "verified" the existence ofpotential leserves
photdoumalit{9ly
photographic record of the
Mill-
ers' crossing lastyearthrough"earthquakecountry" in Armenia. The photogfaphs document survival as a
processbeginningwithshoclc and goingthroughpain' Lewilderment, hope, disillusion, fearful and fragile
happiness, hope again, love, faith, patiencg and, finally, renewal. Each photograph is accompaniedby aquote from the numerous interviews the Millers conducted
with the survivors. These dramatic images-all black and whitechronicle four groups of Armenians: the survivors of the 1988 earttrquake, refugees from the Sumgait and Baku pogroms, refugees from Karabakh, and Yerevan families eking outaliving withoutheatandelecfiicity. Thephotographs form a traveling exhibit whic-h-will
betakentotherotundaoftheUS SenateRussellOffice Building on Capitol Hill, May 9-13, after opening at the Los Angeles Public Library and making a stop at the St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in New Rochelle, New York, in early April. G.Z.
SELF.SUFFTGIENT
BYNEXTYEAR?
More than 40 US companies will participate in an energy investrnent round table to be held in Yerevan' Slateti for April 29-May 4, the conference is sponsored by the US Deparfinent of Energy @OE) and will be hilsted by Armenia's Ministry of Energy and Fuel. Despite the energy and economic crises in Armenia, "there are near-termunique opportunities"
forUS
andprod-uction companies, said peroleum -neputy exploration Assistant Energy Secretary Richard E. Wiitahson. The unexpectedly high number of participants in theconferenceisbeing atnibutedto an updated status repon by Armenia's Ministry of Energy andFuel.
of 300 million banels of oil and 1,000 billion cubic feet of natural gas. That's not alargenumber,butitcoulddo quite a bitln "relieving the stress" that Armenia is going tluough in importing fuels, according to Williamson. Energy Secratary HazelO'l*ary saidtheDOE "has been working closely with Arrnenian counterparts to outline the major areas of need in orderto develop their energy sectorto its full capacity." She said the DOE view&theenergyconference in Yerevan as "an excellent oppornrnity for the US to nurfire an even stronger
Lossons lntonaclty: Gettlng by ln earthquake
country.
ftiendship with Armenia and to afford US businesses in this importantpartof the world." oppornrnities - -With the $57 million loan from ttre European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the completion of a 300 mw thermal power plant in Hrazdan and ttre World Bank's recent $20 milton low-interestloan for earthquake reconstnrction, Armenia seems on the way to recover slowly but surely from its energ,
"Hr).
AIM, APRIL 1994
15
SELEGTIVE
REMEMBM THE CHANGING POLITICS OF GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
By SALPI HAROUTINIAN GHAZARTAN
PHO"OA
IY
HANBY L. KOUiID KJT II
or nearly 30 years,
Ap{l
has been
the busiest month for active Ar-
menians living in the Diaspora. From Beirut to Brussels and Boston, youth groups take out the markers and posters, party leaders argue late into the night over commemoration programs and speakers, and churches hold additional, even
mid-week memorial services-all to mark
a{'
"'\.:'
o;.$,,
, ..'.?
r.,- ..r:lt.-
the anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide of l9l5: the Turkish government's systematically planned and carried out murder of 1.5 million Armenians living on their historic lands. To non-Armenians, the annual ritual sometimes seem absurd. Why bother with the past, especially so far away from Armenia? Historian Richard G. Hovannisian,
often on the lecture circuit, has explained the obsession as "the Armenian
burden"-
600 years of oppression and victimization thrust upon the shoulders of a Diasporan, stateless people. But this people is stateless no more. Independence came in 1991. And with it came the war over Mountainous Karabakh.
"No nation can struggle against two
opponents at the same time, without allies.
It is understandable that the priority for Armenians should be to seek a respite from the hoodlums and psychopaths who rain
ANM and
the leadership have renounced
Republic's
the Armenian Case
and
Armenian
claims.
"For the ANM
IGE
and the present govemment of Armenia,
the Armenian Case consists of the realization of Armenian
statehood, the de-
velopment
and
srengthening of Armenia, and the presthe ervation
of Mountainous
Armenianness of
down GRAD missiles on the houses of Stepanakert [the capital of Karabakh] with the-blessings of the men in suits in Western capitals, rather than to demand that the
outh be acknowledged about 1915," notes British Historian Christopher Walker, author of several volumes on the Armenian Genocide. "A decade ago, recognition
of the Ar-
menian Genocide was the top priority'
Armenians wanted an acknowledgement of the fate of Armenians of Turkey in 1915,
which was well known during World War I, but was covered up thereafter, and has more recently been systematically denied.
Does the issue still matter? It would seem
to have slipped in the table of priorities. With the immense problems besetting fumenia today, and with the threat of a possibl.e genocide hanging over Mountainous Karabakh, it is in a way not surprising that sections of the Armenian community, more than just the government in Yerevan, are seeking primarily to move towards a solution ofrecent issues. There seems to be some realization that while the genocide is a most important and wide-
ianging issue, which impinges on the present, it is still of the past." -
The Diaspora has, in fact, slowed down in its campaign to achieve genocide recognition by the international community, even while a landlocked Armenia, dependent on relations with its neighbor Turkey, looks to the Diaspora to continue the good fight. Indeed, the leadership of the Diaspora political parties, especially
the Armenian Revo-
lutionary Federation (ARF), blames the Armenian govemment for not taking an active role in what is perceived to be a national, historical suuggle for tnrth and justice.
-
President Levon Ter Pefiossian, speaking at the Fifttr Congress of the Armenian National Movement (ANM) in the summer of 1993, responded !o charges that the
Karabakfi." Said in that con-
text, the president's implicit fears appear
understated. They were more clearly articulated
don in
in Lon-
February
during a state visit to ttreUnited Kingdom.
During
with
a
meeting representatives
of the major British press, Ter Petrossian
clearly stated that were it not for the self-defense efforts
of the Armenians of Karabakh, they would surely have been
essential goods ttrough Turkey is being
go-
Karabah. Indee4 he continued for the first
Turkish, then, to that extent, we are ProTiukish. Except here we should not forget
time publicly, Armenia will step in mititar.ily and actively defend Ifurabaktr if there is the threat of genocide.
the independent Armenian Republic's
victims
of Azeri
efforts
to
Until then, however, Ter
depopulate
Petrossian
defends his policy ofpursuing neighborly relations with Turkey, Azebaijan's staunch ally . The president and toP administration officials atte4ded the funeral of Turkish President Turgut Ozal last April, top Foreign Minisury officials including Foreign Minister Vahan Papazian and Fint Deputy Foreign Minister Jirair Libuidian maintain regular contacts with their Turkish counterparts, and trade and other negotiations are ongoing, despite Turkey's two-yearJong
blockade of Armenia. On the difference of approach benreen Diaspora parties and the realpolitik his adminisration is pursuing, Ter Petrossian has drawn a clear distinction between the
"two directions of political thinking-
adventurism, based on historic rights; and
rationalism, based on reality. "If aiming at the normalization of relations with Turkey as a neighbor and building mutually beneficial relations is considered being pro-Turkish, then yes, we are pro-Turkish. If tansporting wheat and other AIM, APRIL 1994
that in 1918, when there were many starving people in Armenia, one of [ARF leader and
first
Prime Ministerl Aram Manukian's first acts was to arrange with Khalil Pasha, himself one of the perperaors of the 1915 aroci-
ties, to transfer wheat to Armenia," Ter Petrossian continued at the
ANM
Congress.
Where Armenia has no altemative but to be concemed with normal relations with
its belligerent and potentially dangercus neighbor, Armenians in the Diaspora have other choices. "We can still take to the streets, circulate petitions, apply pressure on our governments and demand that Turkey recogthe nize the Genocide. Armenians Diaspora have nothing to fear from the turks. On the contrary, we have to remain vocal so that they don't think they can get away with it again. The genocide recogg'
in
tion-stuggle isn't just about the past, it's also about today's threats," says an fumenian school teacher in Los Angeles. Yet, suddenly, just when the struggle has become much more immediate andreal,
the battlefield seems to be desertpd. '"The Armenian Assembly of America's
entire organization was rearranged. The obvious catalysts for this redirection were the three recent historical events that have affected our entire community: the Karabakh movement and earthquake of 1988, and independence in 1991," explains Maile Melkonian, spokesperson foi the Washington, DC-based group involved in lobbying and education efforts in the US and securing US aid to Armenia. "Of course we respond to what we seâ&#x201A;Ź as being issues of interest to the Armenian community, and genocide recognition definitely remains such an issue. Documentation of the genocide is an ongoing effort. Genocide education is also a long-term objective. The Armenian Assembly works
strive for the international community's recognition of that horrible crime against humanity and to eliminate its effects." While the Armenian Republic is being called upon to commit its non-existent political capital to the Armenian Case, the Diaspora political parties' decades of accumulated experience and contacts have suddenly been shelved. April 24 demonstrations in the United States where many thousands of people would assemble on each coast have dwindled to official ceremonies. The requisite annual battle in the US Congress for a Genocide recognition bill has died down. A half-hearted 1994 commemoration in the
counter falsehoods can go to somebody else. *But right now, because she is in a deep crisis, Armenia can barely think of anything else other than the need to survive. Neither the government nor the academi-
cians have the stamina or the facilities to pursue the study of genocide in complete freedom," acknowledges Dadrian.
So, the burden remains with the Diaspora-its people and its scholars.
"Turkey, which in the eyes of the West, represents continuity, reliability and democracy, enjoys the favors of the West in a way that not even its abysmal human rights record and various military [akeovers seem to expunge," observes Walker.
with the US Holocaust Museum, too."
continues Melkonian. Throughout the discourse on genocide recognition and the roles reserved for Armenia and Diaspora, there are dualities that come into play. First is the still evolving Armenia-Diaspora relationship. Should issues be decided in Armenia or in tandem? Can't Armenia and Diaspora in fact adopt different, but mutually undentood positions regarding some issues, such as genocide recognition? It appears, the options have
not yet been discussed. the dual image of the Turk as enemy and neighbor. Early observers of Armenia's indepen-
dence movement commented
on
the
ANM's efforts to distance itself from Russia's continued manipulation of Ar-
menians' Turkophobia, thus promoting Russia's own image as Armenia's only reliable patron. The West, too, is a beneficiary of this perception. In developing some early independence legislation, Ter Petrossian campaigned to delete a heated denunciation of Turkey's role in Armenia's recent history. He lost that legislative effort but no visible public support since he had consistently rebuffed overt Turkish efforts to secure the Armenian government's official retreat from any genocide-related claims. But the opposition is taking no chances. In the version of the Constitution being proposed by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Armenian Democratic Liberals and other political groups, Article III defines the Armenian Republic's commitment to the pursuit of genocide recognition and more: 'The right of the Armenian people to free self-determination and national sovereignty implies the complete tenitorial in-
tegrity of its lands. "The Armenian Republic shall pursue the just resolution of the Armenian Case at
international tribunals
and
through
intergovernmental relations.
"While condemning the
Armenian
Genocide, the Armenian Republic shall 18
US Congress, sponsored by the ARF's Armenian National Committee appears to be more form than substance.
The commemoration and lobbying efforts may have slowed down, but the denial campaign hasn't. Historian Bernard
lrwis,
considered the dean of Islamicists,
sparked
a major
debate and lawsuit in in an article in the daily lz Monde, he essentially called the Armenian Genocide, "Armenia's version of history." Lewis is in direct contradiction !o many scholars-among them the early Bernard Lewis himself-who refer clearly to the systematic annihilation of the Armenian population ofTurkey in l9l5 and the resultant 1.5 million victims and countless refugees and deportees. France recently, when
Embroiled
in the effort to rebut
the
deniers, Professor Vahakn Dadrian [see interviewl is aware of the changing context of genocide study that came with the independence
of
Armenia.
"Of course, with a network of Armenian embassies in Western Europe and the
United States, as well as the United Nations, we will now begin to have some leverage and we can rebut the efforts of the Turkish govemment and Turkish apologists. I can do my work and the responsibility to AIM, APRIL
1994
'fNow, although Turkey's strategic and intelligence role has changed, it is perceived as no less important. It is still seen as a possible model for the Central Asian states, whose less than enthusiastic reception of
Turkey does not seem to affect
the
policymakers. The roles which Turkey is given by the West again isolate it from intemal change, and hinder it from accepting the truth about its own past. But these things do not last forever, and some small beams of light have appeared, notably in the form of a book on the Armenian Case by Taner Akcam, published in Istanbul. "Maybe the Armenian government in its desire for normalization, understands that
bad relations with Turkey are not an eternal fact of life, and that'some acceptance of the ruth about 1915 might occui as a
result
result
of normalization, rather than as a of denunciation," says a hopeful
Walker.
'Anyway, recognition for the young Turk atrocities will come when sufficient
Armenian (or non-Armenian) academics write relevant and convincing books, or
articles in international journals. "In the world of politics and defense, ending the state terror ranged against the people of Karabakh is the issue for now."I
only to Armenians but also to non-Arme-
VAHAKNDADRIAN
nians and even to some Turks who wish to remain detached and as objective as possible.
What is t/our apProach to the irsue ol denial?
A Legacy of Scholarship to Enshrine The Victims' MemorY By SALPI HAROUTINIAN GHAZARIAN ociologist turned
historian, Vahakn Dadrian is known as the reclusive scholar. Having served as professor of SociologY at the State University of New York from 1970 to - 1991, during which time he developed a
reputation as a specialist in victimology and gehocide studies, he has since become iompletely immersed in full-time research on the Armenian Genocide. Educated in Europe and the US, he lectures in any one ofhalf a dozen languages. Single-minded and highly prolific, Dadrian appears regularly in such publications as
ttreyate Journal of International Law, Ho-
impending, stiff peace terms. As soon as *re eUies started to bicker among themselves
for petty colonial
reasons, such as
'Who is going to possess Smyrna--Creeks or Italians,' Turkish willingness to make amends gradually gave way to Turkish anogance, to defiance of the Allies, and a chalienge to Armenian claims of genocide. When such a crime is denied emphati-
cally and at times, truculently, then the
deniers-successive Turkish
govern-
ments-are not limited to the exercise of denial, but by necessity are forced to engage
in collateral
acts
of distortion
and
deception in order to covel up their denial.
Studies,
This is where our difficulties begin. I, as a scholar of the Ar-
and Military Sociol-
menian Genocide, am
locaust and Genocide and theJoumal of Political
ogy. In their intensitY and detail, his articles
are
simultaneouslY
evidence and verdict.
The man and his work can not be dis-
sociated. Questions
about his life result in an extemporaneous,
detailed, structured, historical lecture based on his research, con-
cluding with "the urgent need for a legacY
of solid
scholarshiP,
wittr the potential to impact the civilized
world." oeuvre
Dadrian's
is a
corner-
stone of that legacY.
pitted against dozens of Turkish and nonTurkish academicians
particularly
support from agencies,
directly or indirectly
afhliated with
VAHAKN DADRIAN: The connection
between politics and academia has its origins in what I would call the Turkish Denial Syndrome. There is a mass of evidence of Tuikish remorse, compunction, willingness to make amends with the Armenians rieht after the end of the First World War.
Tfris is when the Turks were totally defeated, exhausted and despondent over
the
Turkish government, and who are making inroads into the academic world by such devices as generous
grants and research fellowships, often under the guise of pro-
moting Turkish language, literature, cul-
ture. Implicitly,
the
central aim is to co-oPt
as many
AIM: Whcrc ir the intersection betwcen academia and Politics?
in
the United States, who are receiving massive
American
academicians as possible and to create a powerful front against Armenian efforts to expose the crime of genocide. These are the conditions of the connection between oolitics and academia. ' In addition to denying the crime' the Turks are believed to be engaged in the expdient act of purging offrcial documents,
omitting some things, emphasizing certain others out of context and then of course, denying access to critical documents not AIM, APRIL 1994
I am trying to combat this perversio! of scholarship through two vehicles. One channel is Turkish documentation. In spite of all the efforts of the Turks to purge critical documents, a corpus of residual records is indeed available for exploration. One such major source is the archives of the Turkish Military Tribunal which conducted courts martial of the Ittihadist leadership between 1918 and 1920, in Istanbul. [The Young Turks of the Committee of Union and Progress, Ittihad ve Terakki, overthrew
tr and restored the Ottoman Constitution in 1908.1 These trials were instituted partly under pressure by the Allies, and partly with the expectation that if the Turks inflict some Sultan Abdul Hamid
retributive justice upon the Ittihadists themselves, then the Allies' impending peace terms with Turkey would be more lenient. The central objective of all these trials
was to depict one political party,
the
Ittihadists, as the culprit and expunge guilt from the rest of the nation. This was a very clever device and I think that if Turkey ever comes to acknowledge the crimg of-genocide, the most logical and plactical way out of 80 years of denial and deception may be to say, "Yes, it happened but, as was ihe case in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany, it was the work of a political party that is extinct and discredited." - Particularly interesting among the proceedings of the court martial, which includes a series of indictments, final verdicts and judgments, is the key indictment in which ministers of ttre Turkish Cabinet and top Ittihadist leaders were accused of specifrc crimes. What is most significant is that lodged with that indictment was a set of authenticated documents substantiating the charges related to these crimes. Dr. Behaeddin Shakir, for example, one of the key perpetrators of the genocide is quoted as having asked, "Are the Arme-
nians from Harput (Kharpert) Province being merely deported or are they being
liquidated?" And he actually uses the word elimination through destruction, imha.. Another source of documentation is the
limited number of publications that ap-
peared during the courts martial. Chief -among them is the book by a very promi-
nent Turkish historian, Ahmed Refik Altinay, who was afFrliated with the department of intelligence and counter-espio'
nage at Ottoman General Headquarters
during the war. This is the department
which had a major role in the organizatiort of the massacres. In his book, he explicitly 19
states that the decision to exterminate the Armenians was reached in the headquarters of the Ittihad Party, and the most critical role in the implementation of annihilation was played by the killer squads of the Special Organization, Teshkilat-i Mahsusa. He also makes a rcmark which I think is extremely important because he was there. He says that prior to the initiation of the rnalisacnes, in the headquarters of the War Ministry, plans were made to fabricate specific charges such as accusing Armenians of certain acts of sabotage such as that Armenians would aid the Allies and enable them to enter the Staits and occupy Consantinople and that, accordingly, ttiey would be accused of rebellion. He also called the massacrcs, "this enormous crime,
bu muazzam cinayet." Here, on the one hand, they are getting rcady to annihilate the Armenians and, at the same time, they are preparing false accusations against the Armenians. Here, premeditation, cover-up and deflection configure in the most sinister way.
What lc thc signlllcancc of thc Gcrman and Aurtrlan archlves? The Germans and ttre Austrians werc
not only political but military allies of Ottoman Turkey and they were there throughout the war; they were witnesses of the mass murders and day in, day out, they
conveyed reports to Isanbul, Berlin and Vienna about the unfolding massacres.
The significance
of this cannoj- be
overestimated for two reasons. First, these
were contemporary accounts-not recollections, not memoirs, but eyewitness testimony. Secondly, they were not intended for extemal use. Rather, they were for inhouse consideration, for policy design. Therefore, they could not have been intended for purposes of propaganda. Thirdly, the Germans and Austrians wrote these reports reluctantly. In many of them, they say that they are having a hard time accusing their allies of a crime. Their function was to protect the reputation of the Turks and for a while, they did. Between April and June, 1915, all reports to Berlin, Istanbul and Vienna supported the Turkish view that these were preemptive strikes to prevent Armenian r-ebellion and as such, they were strictly defensive.
Wcrc thc Gcrmans and Austllans convlnccd ol this, ot war thla mcrcly rationalization? No. The German and Austrian advisors
in the Ottoman capital, and even the consuls in the provinces, believed the Turks they had no other evidence. The one Armenian uprising in Van enabled the Turks to persuade German and Austrian officials that this was the prelude to a large rebellion. But then, beginning in the middle because
20
of June, 1915, Ausfian and German consuls learned that there was no war-time emâ&#x201A;Źrgency in areas where massive deportations were taking place. That had been the original argument-that in ttre eastern border areas, the theaters of war, ttre Armenians werc at risk, so ttrey had to be rpmoved. But ttre Germans observed that
people from Ankara, Sivaz, Adana, Adapazar-where there was no war-were also being removed and, to their great surprise, they ttren were being destroyed. As a result of cumulative reports indicating that the terms "deportation" and "relocation" were misnomers, and that the overwhelming majority of deportees were perishing, the tenor of reporting dramatically changed. Later reports almost always
repeated the all too common message: "Your excellency, I am very sorry to repbrt to you that our ally, Turkey, is bent on exterminating the Armenian nation." Then there were miliary officers who fought alongside the Turks, especially German Commander Stange, who was the head Special Organization units. His report, marked "secrEt" and sent to the German Military Mission to Tirkey said that he was appalled by the lies and deception of the Turkish government about the Armenian deportations. In that report, he made three observa-
of th9 regiment conraining
tions. First, the Turks used wartime conditions as an opportunity. Secondly, they used insignificant incidents of Armenian sabotage and espionage as a pretext, describing them as part of a large-scale re-
implementation of the mass murders including techniques of atrocities; cover-up; deflection and conspiracy.
How arr you u3lng the word dc. llcctlon a3 dldinct ftom covclr up?
Deflection refers to the pre-Genocide activities. In other words, they intended to destoy, but they used the word "deportation." They wanted the Armenians 0o perish,
but they called the operation relocation. Cover-up is when they subsequently disputâ&#x201A;Ź what actually happened.
!r lt herd lindlng publlrhcrr? Har thc procccs bccomo aa3lcl oycl thc ycarr? No, it's still very difficult. There is massive resistance against publishing not genocide
only Armenian material, but
material. Moreover, many publishers are leery about controversy. There is of course another problem and here, I think, we Armenians are to blame. I hear from publishers time and again, that
Armenians are not book buyers, and
if
published, there is no marketability for an Armenian-oriented book. I am sorry to say that we have been very, very guilty on this issue. My Jewish colleagues and other Jews, non-academics, don'thesitate for a moment
to invest in a book affecting Jewish interests, especially the Holocaust, even though
they may not read the book. The resulting volume of sales makes the world's difference.
bellion; and finally, Stange emphasized that
these exterminatory measures "were
planned long beforehand." He thus directed attention to the perpetration of a premeditated crime, citing specific people who were responsible. To me, this document is not only au-
thentic, but it is most eloquent testiinony because Commander Stange was not only German, he was not only a military mair who was allied with the Turks, but he was also in charge of a special regiment, contingents of which actually carried out the killing operations. German archives are the crux of Armenian Genocide documentation. They are powerful, they are explicit and they come
from a very credible source. The Turks will be very hard put to even ty to dispute their authenticity and legitimacy.
ln thlr acad.mlc.polltical con. flict, you hayc undcrtakcn to
cxplaln and Intcrprct thc lmporr tanec of thc Turtlsh, ar wcll as thc Gcrman end Austrlan docu. mcnt3. What b your rg.nde?
I
have identified certain categories of
issues and my research is organized around
these categories: premeditation; decisionmaking; organization, supervision and AIM. APRIL 1994
What If a eynlc wenr to ask you why spcnd 30 much cffort rc. butting thc dcnlal? Aftcr all, thc Turts can ltad thcir archlvcs thc srmc way you can, !o thcy know what you know. Why cxpcnd thc cncrgy and rcsourccr?
I
When you say '.lhey" suppose you mean the authorities involved and possibly even some academics who derisively are called resmi tarihci, official historians, by the more liberal Turkish hisorians. However, the audiences that I and other colleagues are uying to reach represent all categories of people, not just these two. Nor am I convinced that even these people will forever remain impervious to that thing called Truttr. There ari already some signi on the horizon heralding inroads into the Turkish legacy of obfuscation and denial of the Armenian Genocide. In this sense, I am presently more sanguine. I must confess that all these considerations aside, there is another dimension to the problem, which for all practical purposes, has confirmed my resolve to pursue the study of the Armenian Genocide. Ttrat is my deep sense of obligation to the multitudes of victims of that Genocide whose memory I wish to cherish and honor.
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CANADA CABTOONISTS & WR]TERS SYI{DICATE
AIM,APRIL 19%
THELOST DASHSOUTH By SARKIS
SHilAvONtAN
senseof long-terminterest. His deepfears are engaged-Armenia will be snarched away by
some force beyond his control. Hence thL
ngaugingpublicopinioninRussiatoday, an unspoken assumption is that if the Soviet Union continued for 70-odd years in the face of famine, collectivization and world war, then the remnant can continue for at least 70 more, until a new generation arises to address its troubles.
MeanwhileRussianpolitical lifehas fallen into chaos after the December l2 elections.
Meanwhile Vladimir Zhirinovsky gets into food fights with other deputies in theRussian Parliament cafeteria. In Russia as elsewhere, political lifethrives on loyalties and network. As the defection in
flattery of the Armenians, their ancient history,.tleirrichculture, all theclapfap. Every bit of this talk is to keep the Armenians close.
The old mafia saying "Keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer" applies here. Zhirinovsky feels nothing for Arme-
nians and Armenian culture beyond their
utility in quieting his geopolitical demons.
Zhirinovsky believes Armenians to be his
enemy just
as
much
as he does the
Turks and
Muslims. To Armenians and the Armenian press, Zhirinovsky speaks likeanypoliticiantailoring his comments to please an audience.
yet
three key members of
unlike otherpoliticians Zririnovsky is ready to contradict himself baldly if another audi-
rifice anyone and anything to keep his terrors at bay. And everything must be kept close,
ence can thereby be impressed. To embrace the Armenians as "Christian" allies indicates no more than his readiness to throw them up before a different audience for being "black mahosi," and "degenerate foreigners," who with their fellow Caucasians are despoiling the wealth of Russia and reducing ls Citizens to beggary. These contrary notions are not at
February
of
Zhirinovsky's "party" indicates, he commands neither. He runs exclusively off his fears and never offhis loyalties. He will sacwhether through flattery or threats. Distance-whether emotional or cultural---engages his fears before the
unknown. In these ways Zhirinovsky's personal terrors match those found in Russian public opinion, ofa sector large enough to elect him and several deputies to a new parliament. While Russia waits for the new generation to assert itself, letthe screamers take the floor. In this interview, Zhirinovsky finds Armeniatobein the samegeopolitical sphereas Russia. That conclusion is correct, but it comes from a man with no loyalties nor any
all differentiated in Zhirinovsky's makeup. Only the setting is differentiated. Russian public opinion is, to Zhirinovsky, a series of such audiences. He runs his mirid like a tabloid newspaper-sensation tips over sensation like the outrageous and fickle claims
of cheap journalism, always with an eye cockedtocaptureandkeepanaudience. Keep the public close; and if the public is Russian, give voice to its present confusion and fear-
PASSAGES FROM
The will-of.the.majority must be decisive. The majority of the
human population is interested in the dissection of the Muslim world. The Muslim tbreat should be done away with. The rest of the religions
areincapableofprovokingreligious wars. TheTurkic speakingiorld mustledislectâ&#x201A;Źg, sincethey alonehave an agenda offorming iTirkic statefrom Istanbul to AIta. "...Russia's advancement into the South is fust of alla defensive, rctaliatory measure, sincethereis a angiblethreat forRussia onthe part of Ankara, where plans for the qeation of a great Turkic state F*-bTn drafted long ago. As a minimum Tur[ey dreams to get rhe Caucasus, and Georgia- to become
country of fJur seas - the Black, Mediterranean, Caspian, Marmara and 6ven the
22
rn earnest.
In this self-contradictory and paralyzing way Zririnovsky does touch his Russian audiences. Mutual estrangement and helplessnessarerampantinRussiansocietytoday. But the outside world-Armenians among them---casily fail to grasp the particular Rus-sian stamp that such helplessness bears. Russianculturehas dealtwith social helplessness for a thousand years. Among Rusiians the feeling thatthey aretheirown worstenemyis perhaps nearer the surface than it is among other nations with the same insecurity, and thereare acccptable and unacceptable ways for this quality to show itself.
Some of the unacceptable notions Zririnovsky advocates with zeal look weird to anyone not familiar with Russian history. In his autobiography,The l,ast Dash Souih, Zririnovsky outlines a grandiose scheme to push through Afghanistan and India to the Indian Ocean, to its warm waters. While the plan sounds fantastic, such a project was actually attempted by Tsar Paul (1796-1801). Paul, who was himself uncouth and unpredictable much like Zhirinovsky, sent the Don Cossacks to invade India and force apassage to thelndian Ocean. The army, togetherwith some influential princes, went to paul's son and told him of their painful duty to assassinate the tsar on account ofthe foolhardiness ofthis project. The son agreed, the deed was done, the Cossacks wererecalledjust shortof theAfghanborder, andRussiahadanew tsar,
Alexander. Paul lived in constant fear ofassassination during his brief tenure. But the point of this tale is thatPaul could neverhavepredicted his
rfi;?dr;
OFZHIRINOVSKY
Aze6aijal
a frue demagogue, one who might settle for demonizing Armenians to provoke a popular 19actio1 against them and gain notoriety for himself. ButZhirinovsky isnotquite a dimagogue. He cannot quite pull that sort ofconsistency off, nor quite form an organization dedicated to attacking his imagined enemies
AegeanSeaInthiscaseRussiawillloseeverything. The..greatand talented Tirkish nation" is uordr living riglit in i6e mid&e of the
THE BOOK .
fulness before the unknown. Thatposhre suits
a
world, in a prosperous region, on ttri rt- seas, and that weak and powetless Russians must perish. Would the history of humanity tolerate this? No, thatis imiossible. _ Who will pay for the mutilation of the Byzantine Culmre, the Slavic nations? Thorehas notbeen a Nurembirg Trial of the Turks, which have commifted a massacre of the Armeiian nation. Is there a difference betqreen the Turts and the Germansi ftre fascist ."gime took 50 million human lives. The of i lion Armenians by the 17 million Turks"*t".-irutio, was quite the same. The proportions are similar. The TUrks have caused-as much evil to humanityastheGermans. ButtheGermans weretried... andtheTurks were nevelpunished. Itturns out that itis acceptable to exter[rinate the Annenians since they werc a small natibn. And the French, Russians, Englishmen cannot be exterminated, because in this case
j ;i-
arialwillfollow. Thiskindofpolitical "anogance"can'twork. All the nati,sfls are equal. No one should be allowed to engage in
genocide."
AIM, APRIL 1994
-- f
WHATPRIGE, NATIONALISM? Lar ]louveller d'Arm6nlcrAl[ lntcrvlcw With Vtadimlr Zhlrinovsky
ln Erclurivc
By LUSIKGUI(ASIAII LllA/Al]rft You wcrt oflcrod to lead the Gcopo' litieal Gommlttcc of thc Statc Duma. Whcrtr do you think, Ru*rla'l geopolltlcal lnterpttr llc to' day? al-lnlilOVSKY: Russia is in limbo now, without a definite
placeunderthe sun. What are Russia's realborders-espmially in the south and west? The geopolitical question is, in fact, a specifically Russian, or Slavii, qirestion: thequestion of borders and principles of develoPment.
lc the Gaucaaus included ln the geopolittca! in' terosts of Bussia? Yes.
lf ro, what rolo would hc rercwcd for Amcn&a?
Wiwouldliketo seeArmeniaasoursmtegic ally. We&ink Armenia is of great importance: it is the forefront of the Christian wortd in thatregion. Of course, therehave arisen sorne moral complications in relation with Armenia-say, the unfriendly attitude towards our military there; we are aware of these facts. But, in general, I ttrink the Armenian nation will be able to recover idhistoric borders. Annenian gains will be Russian gainsWeboth willbenefit if we proceed from within acommon geo-
political context.
Uthat do you havo ln mind when you speak of
Armenia'e hi*toric botderc?
own assassination over this particular incident. He could not tell when he had actually overstepped intolerable bounds. Zhirinovsky position. He has no independent military force to support him, nor is he seeking to build one. He does not have the backing of powerfu I industial ormilitary elemems who may wish to use a demagogue to further their own ends, nor is he accommodating
is in a similar
them. Hehasnomeansofdiscoveringwhence the telling blow to his career will come' If Zririnovsky ever does acquire a large measure of formal political power, the army, togetherwith the modern equivalentofinfluential court princes, will do him in before he can openhis mouth. Hewill have gonetoo far. For Russians know, too, from their own cul-
ture that the "acceptable" Zhirinovsky is a populistmadman in the old folk sense. Hehas more than a touch of the "God's Fool" about him-the traditional Russian lunatic who is a conduit for divine accusations against the powers that rule. In tsarist times, such fools were protected from official retribution because of their insanity ; but were one of them to form a movement to challenge authority' he would be despatched as a rebel. Helplessness was a requisite condition for the expression of such fury. The appeal to popular sentiment is in the
Armenia shoutd have at least two seas; she' s got to have the territories shetching from ttre Black Sea to the Caspian. And if we turn to the deep past for reference, Armenia-should alfio boder the Mediterranean. Armenia can have access to the tne rcnm.n-lulfa region, and up north to Baku. Amrenia has the right oMJ*t Ararat, Kars and Ardih*, qr{git_qo the Black Sea shore in the-region of
d&fi-i6h ;ili-
Su**n-frrUirora.Andibrfteoeaf;'oiafrrrOistrstatewithacgpitalinDiarbefu,Ar-
menia could descend in a narmw strip down to thc Mediterranean in the region of Mersin. *ould re-esablish Arnrenia's historic borders, when it stretched across Asia
ilis;h**.
Minor with its coasts washedby the waters of tlrgthreâ&#x201A;Ź warm seas.
Tha protpGct ol your comlng to pos.r lr concldorcd dangcrout ln tiow lo yiu iccountiortfrtr enxicty enrng the-r$9? ru*Ly. -ileftraveneaO
A**fn" U*
Dash South,mwhiah Ihave siatâ&#x201A;Źd*ratTiskey has no
^y nation andtheKurds wantbhavetheirstates;they have futuretispeakof. TlieArmenian historical,'ethnic,culurali&ological,politicalandlegalrightstot]ris.Andtheyshouldnever be reproached for being aggressive and occlpying new territories now. Ttrey are only defending and liberating lands that are rightfully theirs. lntalrfF,w transtated ltom ttlF Ru*lan by Anl lfltahlen-
railing manner, the "divine" anger, that Zhirinovsky expounds before his audience. And the popular press outside Russia has a fieldday withhis torrents ofpronouncements without taking into account the Russian cultural setting which neutralizes any effect his utterances may have. The Armenianpress too must keep this aspect in mind when interviewing this Eansient figure. Zririnovsky will not rate even a footnote in the history oftttis period done 70 years from now, when Rus-
AIM, APRIL 1994
sianspresumethatanew generationwillhave rescued Russia at last. Just as the Soviet Union itself will rate barely a page in the history of Russia done a thousand years hence-"Russia is a state which is two thousand years old. For 74 ofthose years it had a bizarre form of
govornment called socialism." Sarkls Shmavonlan, Ph.D., r*fued hls degrees ln hlstory wlth speclal'
advaned
tzatlon ln Armenlan natlonallsm under the Busslan Emplre.
23
KOUROYAN
I inArmenia. such exportofgoldis draining personal I savings to finance fransitory import-led and I consumption-oriented growttr in which I nahid Yeramian, a widow in her I pawnbrokers have becorie instumental in a late 60s, had no other choice this I processofwealttrredistributionfromtheolder winterbutto sell herjewelry to generation to ayounger generation of petit I buy fuel. She is among the hun- i peaaten. Fl - Suircasemerchants usuallybonow about dreds ofthousands ofYerevan-residentswho | depend on kerosene and diesel fuel for light| $5 ,0oo per month from a circlL of family and ing-up and-warming their homes, and for rriends at an informal market lending rate I cooking.- Like Yeramian, thousands of penranging from l5 to 30 percent, ore a pSrtion | sioners,living on monthly incomes of less I oftheir-moneyopurchisethegold,wliichhas than a dollar, tre been- melted and beingforcedtosell formed into bars their valuable: weighing up to 250 Jg one of the 180 grariseicn.femate BY RAFFI
px6ros ay nxxnrn
xxrcxrrarer
flly"'*:H*H ffiHffir#ff
of years. Pawnbrokerr do. not . usually the last couple
r:ffi"tHu:: ffi,r;,,ffi:m:T; jil
Back in Yerevan, experienced suitcase merchants distribute some of tleir wares through privately owned shops, while they sell the rest at one of many open-air markets and bazaars.
A Sunday sroll in the parking lot of Yerevan's Hrazdan soccer stadium reveals row upon row oflow-quality goods such as lelevision sets and VCRs from Dubai, porcelain vases from China and cheap lea-ther fashions from Istanbul. Mariam, who is in her early 30s, has naveledto Dubai fourtimes in the past year alone, and claims that shrewd suircasemerchants'tanearn up to $2,500per
Eip."
However, the downtum in retail trade in Armenia since January has significantly hurt business for these traveling entrepreneurs. Vicken Khalatian, who is a partner in one of Yerevan's largest pawnshops, claims that,
Hasmig,
rn'tro
workei
d6;ii;ai;rainl
ffi"filtg;1? prices
activities undertaken against fairly liquid assets such as jewely and real estate. More recently. thev have begun cently,_they beeun to buy buv 14 karat gold sold l4-karat Yer1nla1's generation at 30 perient frgm below world prices (or for about $5 a gram), and to sell sell it for $6 a gram to "suitcase mer-
prices in broken Arabic, Hindi or Turkish, depending on the local language.
theycanmoreeasily bodies.Accordingto
"Sultcase merchantl" at Yerevan'r Hrazdan \"th.q, :P:j!:1':Il:fl"ll!:l1-Y_T11{:!lT9:n ,r,"yr*ir,""irJiri 111g.um'toa;gecltvtia*iti-trdil'';'d*;'' are rnown ag 'llombards.''
UponanivalinaMiddleEastemorAsiancity, the suitcase merchantsells the gold andgo6s on a frantic buying spree, haggling for low
concealthemontheir
makeoutrightpur-
chases..
tax-free port of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
on the yerevan-cairorine, sold
on the
in-
| formal gold market in Egy-pt has hurt her but, with this yii;s rise in world |I business, sold prices, nrices Armenian Amcniqn 'oald is pymatarr expected tn to lold i< I gold ferch the equivalent of per gram. $7 I e,ccording to travel agintslsuitcase merI chants choose from a variety varletv of exotic desti| chants" who smuggle the gold to foreign I nations ranging from slovakia to vietnam, countries and import products for retail sale I buttheirmostpopulardestinationremainsthe AIM,APRIL 1994
lately, suitcase merchants have been unable to repay their debts. The resulting increase in loan defaults and property seizures are increasing the available supply of gold, driving down its price in Armenia and creating a more fertile ground forits illicit export.
Ralll Kouroyan ls an *onomlc rc*argh- ?n?lyEt at McGlll l,tnlverslty tn Montr6al, Canada. He spent the wlnier ln Armenla.
WINTERFUEL'$1 !So,Uuhat WdntWrong? have left many people wondering what went wrcng.
By BETH BBOUSSALIAN PHOTOS BY TIKHITAB KHACHATRIAN
_
tcanonlybe described as an effort against all odds. The Winter Fuel '
94 project has been an exercise
in
Althoughsomemightbeinclinedtopoint
fingers at the project's organizers, another explanation for what might be called a halfsuccess may lie somewhere between Batumi and Yerevan.
smart maneuver-
Let's begin by clarifying one of the most confusing points of all: ttre $21 million Winter Fuel project is not the same as the US
governmentaid
of $15 million in kerosene supplies for Armenia. The Winter Fuel project has been sending fuel to Armenia, not
ing and tremendous patience. However, the trials and tribu-
kerosene.
lations, crossed wires and
Winter Fuel '94, jointly
confusion around the project
sponsored by the United Armenian Fund (UAF) and rhe Hayastan All-Armenia Fund, was initially formed to secure Armenia with enough heating for 100 days of winter, ac-
cording
to State Minister
Gagik Martirosian, one of the authors of this project. Starting in October, I 993, the organizers of the project, among whom are Armenia's Vice-President Gagik Harutiunian, Hayastan Fund Director Manushak Petrossian and Harut Sassounian, Executive Directorof the
UAF, wentonaworldwidetourandraised$7 a few weeks. An additional $14 million was added to this amount in a douhle-matching pledge by the Lincy
million in a matter of
Foundation,
a
member of the Glendale-based
UAF. This donationbroughtthesumoffunds available for Winter Fuel '94 to $21 million. The goal was thepurchase of85,000 tons of fuel oil and 60,000 tons of diesel fuel. As of April, only 21,000 metric tons of fuel oil and 10,000 tons of diesel have reached Armenia. However, other energy sources have also been purchased, such as 50 million cubic meters of natural gas and 1,000 tons of benzene. Roughly $ I I millionhasbeen spent on procuring ttreseenergy supplies. An additional28,000 metric tons of fuel oilhad to be bonowed from Armenia's strategic reserves yith,tlp agreement that it would be replenished. By April, 60 percent of Armenia-'s 20
cities had received fuel for heating. In Yerevan, only 15 percent of residential buildings received fuel. One of the major stumbling blocks in the capital remains the city's antiquatedcenfal heating system, with only a portion ofthe pipes in operation. The natural gas and benzene were purchased to AIM. APRIL
1994
help operate water pumping stations, emergency vehicles and bakeries, as well as providetransportation forthedistribution of flour.
Now that
hior
November, extensive discussions hadtaken placewith theRussian govemment to Eansport fuel from Russia,tt[ough Geo.rto
giaandintoArmenia. Thedialoguecameto an abrupt halt in November, however,
it's
springinArmeni4one wonders why only a
littlemorethanhalf of the Winter Fuel '94
r tnited
"Affif;8*
whenRussianspecial
envoy
funds have been expended.
Thebasicsourceof theproblems encountered in bringing fuel oil and other energy suppliestoArmeniais the blockade of Armenia by Turkey and Azerbaijan. This, the
organizers-and ev-
eryone else- knew. With the most accessible routes closed
&h.n &rrort.n bd.B
rtdtrh, ,h!r&nt:
^dtiu.n
,/
1,
//J7*__,)
off
alternative routes for
transporting oil into
found.
tud .d h.nl.
d.Mtlon ol 16r,000.00 t. u. t. bd Y@ slll h rl..d rl,. rtd th,t tnt! qtrt ry 6. !@ trlpltE it. Poudltlon, .llGtlv.ry .ud .. $td * .!. !b1. t. Dtuld. n .! t. rrth c6rrrs'tiont fr. s.t.r .d sehd.l. ln rh.rt. s.t hil.. ho..turt, rrlr r1.. b k.pt 1r otsr.tton. pu4rrg .url.d rd br.rt.. rj.rotu tud, . mnto th. !'ttd rhrcuoh thi. 6nt.rbutt.n oE.nt:rtI.n brolla ch!!rt$r. i..r rh. ""-th .r rour.oDu
to Armenian raffic, Armenia had to
k@.
be
Given
Armenia's location on the map, the altemative routes had to go through Georgia or Russia.
Vladimir
Kazimirovwasshotat by Armenian border roopswhileshunling from Baku to Yerevan, via a route unannounced to Armenia. Although Kazimirov was not
injured,
Russian emotions flared high and the episode seri-
ously hindered fuel discussions. Regardless,theRussiaoption
mightbeamootissue
since the war in Abkhazia can ob-
sftuctany transportation into or out ofthe area. TheGeorgian optionhas provenunreliable since it depends on a government whose
AIM, APRIL 1994
leader Edvard Shevardnadze is not in full control of a country plagued by internal srife. Nevertheless, bringing fuel in by ship to the Georgian port of Batumi, storing the oil
intankersuntil an availableraincanbefoun4
ransfening the oil to train cars, transporting the oil by rail through war-ravaged Georgia andeventually southtoArmeniahasbeenthe
only otherroute. It is easy to imagine the obstacles, but it is the unimaginable thathas causedeven grâ&#x201A;Źater delays. Since December 1, the Georgian rail line has been blown up eight times, twice while the train was on the track. Important bridges have also been blown ulHne recently desroyed bridge was actually a temporary bypass forabridgewhich is expected iotakemonths to repair. Perhaps notsurprisingly, these bridges stand on the TbilisiYerevan portion of the line. In addition, elecricity is hard to come by in Georgia. Without electricity, the Eains do notoperate and theoilcannotbepumpedfrom the sforagetanks into the railcars atthedocks.
Thirdly, there is only one rail line from Batumi to Tbilisi providing a link not just to Armenia, but also to Azerbaijan. Consequently, there is much congestion. According to Sassounian, the Winter Fuel organizers havehadto "make allowances forthepassage
ARII,EX\II,AN
TE.EIIXSION
PRODUCMONS,INC.
of other necessary incoming goods, including US aid and diesel oil from the European Community." Fortunately, the representatives of Winter Fuel seem to be better connected with the local people in Armenia and Georgia than are ttreir American and European counterparts. The group has hired rep resentatives to be on hand in Batumi to help expedite the arrival and transport of fuel, but they must still "remain sensitive to theneeds
ofothers." "This is not a question ofpersonal inter-
and efforts
est," explains Sassounian. "We must allow through whatArmenianeeds mosturgently."
Georgian mafias, warlords and militias have also sabotaged the progress of the project. "The Georgians know thatArmenians have no port, that the country is landlocked. . .
they have Armenians by the neck,"
Sassounian says. "Every group is on the take and wants money for the Eansport ofgoods. They all know Armenia is at their mercy."
13645 Vcorowen Steet, Vcrr Nuys, Cc 91405
CHANI{EL
Fromone weektothenext, transitfeescan
gofromtheridiculoustothesublime. Despite repeated attempts to resolve this problem between Armenian and Georgian leaders, the
matterremains oneof thebanesofthe Winter
Fuelproject.
iKSC'-fv [:t
PHONE:
(8t8>7824fln FAX: (818) 782 5360
Loa
^neataa
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"The Georgians are jealous ofgoods being sent to Armenia when they, too, are in need," comments Sassounian. When the
$l
public relations nightmare.
kerosene was being sentto Armenia by Japan, they insisted that the Japanese allocate another
Some believe this problem could have been better handled if the Winter Fuel organizers had better informed the public at the onset. "When funds were being raised, people gave generously," explains Hermine Janoyan, a community activist frequently
$l million in kerosene to Georgia. An agreement was reached stipulating that thefirst $1 million in kerosene would go to Armenia and
I}lC fU}I
This year's severe winterintheCaucasus
was no help. Aside
from snow piling up on
therail lines, freez-
ing
temperatures oil to gel, making tough to pump fromthetankers to the train cars. The European oil consultants hired from the onset were aware of the problem and rec-
- lots of colorful pictures
caused fuel
it
- a fun way for children to learn the Armenian alphabet, animal name (Enqlish and Armenian and more... - Eastern and Western Armenian
ommended the purchase
- easy to use (runs in MS \Mndows)
ofhigh-quality
fuel which effectively resists freezing temperatures.
$55.00 Canadian Add $5 in Ganada and $10 for outside Canada, for shipping and handling.
r$f.rj,,*?:1li(s5)
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8s+uz
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inter Fuel '94 has become a
million in
Georgians discovered that
theGeorgians wouldreceive the second load. However, the firstload wentdirectly toTbilisi. Infact, kerosenefrom Japan never made it to Armenia.
- computerized educational program to leam the Armenian alphabet
is guaranteed with letters of credit, is not made.
Toconfirmthatthe gradeoffuelorderedis the same grade thatis delivered, theorganizers make sure each shipment is tested on arrival in Batumi and again on arrival in Arme-
nia. If the specifications of the fuel do not matchwiththeoriginalorder,payment, which
AIM, APRIL 1994
involved
in
fundraising efforts, including this one. "We raised $200,000
in
one night,"
she
continues. "However,
there was no 'thank you' or other followupactiviry. Sopeople started questioning things." Indeed,itwas
not until February, some four months af-
ter the fundraising
tour, that a detailed progress report was madepublic. Anotherpublic relations problem arose when gossip began
gainingmomentumin Armenia. Armenians
living in
Yerevan,
where over one-third ofthe Republic's population resides, understood the WinterFuelprojecttobeapromise ofheat to everyone, whereas it was theregions
outside of Yerevan, such as Goris, Jermuk, Sevan, Ararat and Abovian, which were tar-
months, dissatisfaction flies high. When Diaspora Armenians speak to their relatives in Yerevan and hear that no fuel has arrived, rumors of impropriety or mismanagement are bandied about. Because of the lack of official information, the truly arduous process of gening fuel to Armenia has been oversimplified, casting doubt on the entire project. WinterFuel'94wasplannedas aone-time effort. The organizers were told by Armenia's Ministry of Energy that present oil and gas
exploration
will enable Armenia to begin as next winter, Metsamornuclearpowerplantis
supplying its own fuol as soon and that the
expected
tobefunctioningbywinterof 1995.
Although Sassounian, who has been administering this effort for the UAF and the Hayastan Fund, continues to open new contracts with potential suppliers and to sign letters of credit, the winter season is over. With
a significant portion of the $21 million
unspen! Sassounianbelieves theboards of the UAF and the Hayastan Fund will have to reconvene to review the progress of the Winter Fuel project and decide how to channel the remaining funds to best serve Armenia. When asked why more of the funds were geted to receive the initial supplies of fuel.
According to Sassounian, the Armenian government decided to supply fuel to the regions which were closest to the Georgian border, as well as those with central heating
systems-thus making fuel pumping and processing more efftcient. While this project has pumped more than $l 1 millioninfueloil, diesel andotherenergy sources into Armenia over the past five
I
Qu0stion: How can we in the Diaspora . ',' '., '' ,. 'hâ&#x201A;Źlp repair g*ogid$ B Environment 6 Quatiwott'ite
Armeniats
"
ffiffiOt'illant'hees. Thousands of fiein$ecause ftees produce: g
6 rbod.&"meaicme 6 cleanair U rermb.tar-mtna M wood & PaPer
ru"i M i;b;
not spent, Sassounian states, "Spending money takes no intelligence; it takes more intelligence to spend it wisely."
Wlth rcPofilng by Hakob Aaatilan ln Yerevan
AGINIANI
:s
CdCorUparry
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT
:
ne.are frp[Oyool plegt tb,ley so we car stgrt diggtng' We narre no time to lose. Armdnia, once lush with woodlands, is b.errirg deforested. We must turn this around, and it can be done if we plant
@r:'At
$10 per tree, please select:
nOrsfr,, !Gro.vp ilArlior trWoortland !Other l0 teea 60 1}ees 100 Tlees I Sish to Plrnt-Itees 6 ttes
iup
lr00 1600 $1,000
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i
-
l{rne
We'llGet Thc Balance
REht PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING, BOOKKEEPING AND AUDITING
AramAginian, C PA COMPUTERIZEO ACCOUNTING SERVICES ALL YEAR ROUND FINANCIAL PLANNING AND CONSULTING SERVICE
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more informotion: 61? / 776'2003 '.' ' For
AIM, APRIL 1994
2131627-8050 650 SOUTH HILL STREET, SUITE 1017 LOS ANGELES, CA 90014
29
INSilRGH(
EQUIMBLE By FELIX CORLEY Alll: Undcr which plan do you see grcatcr hopc lor thc peacelul resolution of the conflict, the CSCE plan or the Bussian initia.
tivc?
ROBERT KOCHABTAN (HEAD OF
KARABAKH'S STATE DEFENSE COUNCIL): At
present, under no plan.
predecessors did not do it properly and that they can do it better. And I believe that right now the current leadership of Azerbaijan is fiying !o resolve the conflictby force.
What dircct contacts have there besn with thc Aovernment of Azelbaiian? There was a period
when direct
contacts were fairly common but
of
because of the position
the Azerbaijani side these contacts
have
ceased and there are no contacts at present.
Under what cir.
cumstanceswould thc government of
llountainous
Karabakhbe]â&#x201A;Źady to hand back terri.
torics
to
Azclbaijan? Under conditions
which would provide a
sufficiently reliable mechanism to prevent the rekindling of the war in the future. Any peace plan must stipulate
a
mechanism for the confl ictnotto bereactivated.
Should such a plan be
signed into an agreement, these lands would of course be retumed.
All of them? Do you bclievc Azerbaijan is not yct readylora peacefu! tesolution
ol the conflict? After each change of leadership in Azerbaijan, thenew leadership
as a
rulelries
to make use of its chance to resolve the problem by force. The new leaders think that their
Weproposethatthere withdrawal from these territories and that it serve to increase trust between the two sides. We must be completely sure that the returned tenitories will not be used as launching poins formilitary actions. Thus we are talking about an approach that would produce an irrevocable process towards peace. be a phased
AIM, APRIL 1994
As for all or not all of the territories, the thelachin corridor, orthe Lachin region, shouldbe the subjectof special negotiation at the talks. Since Lachin is the only question of
link connecting us with the outside world,'I believe there mustbe separate negotiations on the status ofthis territory and its future status.
And thc Kclbaiar region? Kelbajaralsohas specialimplications and
we cannot consider its return on the same terms as those of Agdam and Fizuli. Kelbajar could take the form of a demilitarized status or a zone where Azerbaijani weapons are limited by number or type.And there are a number ofother issues too.
How important is the quection of the rucognition by other statcs of the independencc ol the Karabakh Republic? Ibelievettratttris wouldbetheshortestway totheachievementofanendtotheconflictand the establishment of peace in the region. Although we know well enough that unfortunately this is along process and weareon the sidethatis trying to push something forward, change something, and thus there is opposition to these afiempts. We understand we hust be fairly persistent in the face of opposition and move step by step towards this goal. Our referendum gave an indisputable mandate in favor of the independence.
It is now sixycars sinccthe move. ment began herc in Karabakh. lf the Armenianc havc known thcn what would haye happcned ln these six years, would they rtill have done the same? Ibelievethatifwehadnotdonesosixyears oursituationtodaywouldhavebeeneven more pitiful. Not one similar situation in the former Soviet Union has escaped armed conflict and the factthathere theproblem started ago,
earlier, in 1988, enabled us to get organized.
When the Soviet empire collapsed we had some structure, somepreparation. Godknows
)FAN
CONVERSATIONS
WITH I(ARABAKH LEADERS
tilGErgffi*' how the situation would have developed if we had not been prepared for it.
AIH: What do you sce a3 lloun. tainouc Karabakh's maln lorclgn pollcy oblectivc? ARKADY GUKASIAI{ (FOBEIGN
dence of the Mountainous Karabakh Republic. This is the basic position from which we
status,
Our referendum voted for the indepen-
llt NISTERI:
proceed. Our position today is that Mountainous Karabakh must have its indepâ&#x201A;Źndent
how much does Armcnia hclP and
Themostimportanttaskisto stop the war and sit down at the negotiating table. In the course of these talks, Mountain-
Ycrevan and Stepanakert?
ous Karabakh must have the same rights as
What contacts have there becn
How much docs Karabakh dePend
on thc govcrnment of Almeniat
how arc ;clations betwcen
Of course, Armenia does help Karabakh and no government of Armenia could refuse assistance. Help is basically of an economic and humanitarian nature. Of course, help on a political level does not make us an appendage of Armenia, because Karabakh is of importance to all the Armenians and there can benoquestionofthe subjugationofKarabakh to the government of Armenia.
But b havlng two Armcnian rtatcs rldc by sldc' llkc thc two GcrmanYs or Koroar, a temporalY rolutlon? I am more a supporter of the concept of one
unified Armenian state. Our movement back in 1988 began precisely under the banner of the reunification of Mountainous Karabakh andttre Armenian Republic. There were factors which made, and make, it impossible to realize this goal. There are many examples of this in the international arena, butexperience shows that sooneror later such states unite into a single entity.
But thc Karabakh peoPlc ano YelY
indcpcndcnt-minded. Would thcy accept rubotdlnation to Yelevan? Idon'tknowhowreunification wouldtake place in the near future, but even if it does happenlamconvincedKarabakhwouldhave itiown special status and have fairly wide autonomy in all areas. Maybe there will be a confederation with Armenia. The people of Karabakh have always had their own way of life, their own mentality. I believe they will preserve this. Fellx Coiley,
a
London-based wrlter on
polltlcc and rellglon ln the ClS, was ln Karabakh ln February.
Azerbaijan. We must firstreceive status. Theleadershipofttre Mountainous Karabakh
Republic is ready for compromise, and a lot will depend on how ready Azerbaijan is. I believe the solution of theKarabakhproblemis only possible through talks.
What
Gompro-
mirc do you havc ln mind?
It is still too early to
talk about
concrete
forms of compromises. We realize that both sides are currently pre-
senting optimal demands. It is difficult to say at present which is-
sues
Mountainous
Karabakh is ready to
discuss, but I believe there will be a compromisepackagewhichwill be acceptable to both
sides. Direct contacts between us have been
broken
off and it's
Azerbaijan's fault. Wecannotatpresenteven see how Azerbaijan envisions the future of Mountainous Karabakh.
But docr thrt comprcmlsc Pack. agc includc a rtadlncs to romain part otAzerbaifan? AIM, APRIL 1994
betwecn your rcpublic
end
Azcrtalian?
Therehavebeencontacts ata seniorlevel. havemetthe deputy chairman of the Parliament of Azerbaijan, Afiyaddin Jalilov, in Moscow and we adopted a joint communiqu6. Apartfromthis, therehavebeen
I, forexample,
regular meetings in the framework of the Minsk Conference of ttre CSCE, in
which I took part on behalf
of the
Mountainous
Karabakh Republic. At one
time there were frequent telephone contacts with the
leadership of Azerbaijan, but these have ceased in view of the massive attacks by Azerbaijani forces on Karabakh. believe we
I
must return to these talks. If there is no mutual urrst between the two leaderships there can be no mutual trust between the two peoples. The sooner we find these points of contact, the more frequent will be the contacts between the two leaderships and the earlier the leadership of Azerbaijan will break through the psychological barrierandbe compelled to realize that without direct contacts with the government of Mountainous Karabakh itis impossible to resolve the confl ict. This couldhappen within the framework of the CSCE oratthe initiative ofa third country.
You think that Armenla cannot ncgotiatc on behalf of the peoplc
of Karabakh? We have not granted such powers to the gov-
emment of Armenia. It would not be logical for thegovemmentof Armenia to represent Mountainous Karabakh. We must represent ourselves.
And if there is discussion of compromise, only we can take decisions on
what
to accept.
Har there been any changc in
Azerbaiiani policy towards Karabakh after the change of leadership-the de.
parture ot Elcibey and the arival olAliev? Yes, at first there were some changes. Contacts with the Azerbaijani leadership increased markedly and that was when thejoint
communiqu6 was issued. This was the period before the Azerbaijani presidential elections when Aliev was exercising the functions of head of state, but after he became president, the situation changed sharply. Unfortunately he is counting on a military solution to the Karabakh conflict.
AIM, APRIL 1994
It is obvious that
Aliev
is
trying to interna-
tionalize the war, and the fact that there are now thousands of mercenaries from Afghanistan, military observers and trainers from Turkey, Russia and Ukaine as well as reports of instructors from America and Britain fighting on the Azerbaijani side, attests that is trying to resolve the questionby force.
Aliev
No state has recognized the inde. pendence of the Mountainous Karabakh Republic. Docs this up.
set you?
realize that the path to recognition is -. --We diffrcult. The factis thatno onehas recognized us de jure,but de facto we are independent, and the fact that we have become the subject of internationallaw is a de fa c t orecognition by the intemational community.
After the war is over, how do you view Mountainous Karabakhrs re. lationc with Bussia, Turkey, and lran? We believe Karabakh's foreign policy must be based on good neighborly relations and we will try to have such relations with all. Unfortunately, Turkey worries us a lot because of its openly pro-Azerbaijani position. Webelieve that *re resolution of the Karabakh problem willenable us toestablish good relations with all our neighbors.
I
DG] irrii.rl:i' ,rir Lt.il
k
AIM, APRIL 1994
AzenPrisoners
ofWar andthePolitics ofExchange By ARMEN BAGHDASARIAN PHOTOS BY ZAVEN KHACHIKIAN
In the last few years, Azen prisoners of war (POWs) have become something of a fixture in Stepanakert. Clad in shabby military fatigues, they can be seen lazily sweeping the streets or cleaning up bomb-scarred buildings, exuding a sobering mixture of resignation and humility. People pass them by without paying any attention. Only the children gather around them and
practice the few Azeri words they have picked up. An elderly woman approaches one ofthe POWs and gives him some bread and cheese, under the reproachful gaze of anArmenian guard. The value of apiece of bread in blockaded Karabakh is not lost on a soldier whose friends, fighting in the ffenches, are going hungry for days at a time. "What can I do, dear, my son is theirhostage," says the woman, as she walks away wiping her tears. Seyed, a43 -y ew-old POW recounts how he, his wife and four children were taken hostage. "I'm AIM, APzuL
1994
from Imishli," he says. "We had gone to Horadiz for a visit and to buy gas. There the Armenians captured us. I thinkmy life is over. My family-wife, three daughters and a son-is here in Stepanakert.They are given a room in the children's hospital. I have heard they are being treated well." Seyed, together with other POWs, is kept in Shushi. On this particular day, they were brought to Stepanakert to clean the sft eets.
"Regardless of how well they freatus, prisonis prison," Seyed says. "Armenians and Azeris used to live well together. Who startedthis war?" Large crowds of Armenian
women
in black, as well
as
unshaven older men, regularly gather in front of Stepanakert 's Interior Ministry building. They
have missing relatives in Azerbaijani prisons or concenftation camps, and come here hoping to get scraps of information about theirlovedones.A woman of about 40, already graying, has come to inquire about her husband,captured about six months ago near Fizuli. Her friend has come for her son, who was lost without a trace, she says; there have been some indications lately that he may be a hostage. A man in his 70s, in military uniform and brandishing a walking stick, curses the war. He has lost his two sons, he says. One of them may
Ithough there is that at some future date ttrenvosidesinthe Karabakhwarwill exchange POWs, asofnowsuchexsome hope
changes are mre.
According
very
to Albert Voskanian,
the
have been wounded and captured in Martakert, but he fears for both
deputy in charge of the hostage exchange
theirlives.
Karabakh, Azerbaijan is nottoo eagerto em-
committee, which was set up by the Interior
Ministry of the Republic of Mountainous
AIM, APRIL
1994
barkonahostageexchangeprogrambecause that would reveal the true extent of Azeri war losses. Still, a counterpartexchange committee has been established in Azerbaijan under the direction of General Namik Abasov, and there is constant contact between the two sides.
'"The Azeris send us names of thousands of people who, they claim, are in Karabakh now," says Voskanian. "In reality, most of
"Armeniansandl
pass,
,,,,iini,r r:il",, .ii:
:,,r
i
I
il
iJ::ta
starving, frostbiren andhalfdead. They
surrendered with no resistance. Forty-year-old Hussain Gojan, along with
five friends, was captured in the north of Kelbajar on February 14. "I am from Baku, have two sons, five and six years old,"he explains. "I did not want to serve; I was drafted.
iiili::irirrihi
Welostourwayandweresurroundedaround the village of Hanshagh. We did not resist because, frrst, we were freezing and, second, I personally had neverused a machine gun in my life." He lifu thecornerofhis covers and shows his feet, which were operated on recenfly. "My feet were frost bitten," he says.
"NowI'mfeelingbetter.They aretakingcare occupiedbyfi ve friends captured in Kelbajar. Two of them have also had foot surgery by Armenian docof us." The adjacentbeds are
tors. Gojan is hopeful that sooner or later he
will be exchanged and will return home. "[Otherwise] whywouldtheyteatus andfeed us three times a day?" he wonders. Voskanian says last year his committee was able to successfully negotiate for the
of 226 Armenian POWs from Azerbaijan. As a gesture of goodwill,
freedom
Karabakh authorities unilaterally released 69 Azeri POWs. Twenty-four were handed over to the International Red Cross, five to the CSCE's then-presidentMario Raffaelli, 39 o Azerbaijani authorities, and 20 to the Russian Embassy (14 of these were exchanged for Russian military personnel who had been sentenced to death by Aze6aijan). In addition, trro Daghestani mercenaries were returned to a Daghestani official who had traveled to Stepanakert to plead for their release.
How are Armenian POWs treated in Azerbaijani prisons and concentration camps? A young Karabakh POW who was recently released fromcaptivity in Aze6aijan not only refuses to talk about it, he is noteven willing to give his name. He was taken to a
prison in Baku, then transferred to Sumgait. He was exchanged for a few Azeris captured near Kelbajar. His relatives talk about the inhuman treatnent he has received. "In Baku it was not that bad," is the only sentence he utters.
themhavebeenkilledandthey arewell aware of it. They arejusttrying to hide that fact from theii own population. As for the people of Karabak}, our sorrces indicate that there may Armenians in Azeri prisons and
be about 500
theGobustan concentration camp. In any case,
that's how many are unaccounted for. Of these, how many are alive, we do notknow. Onlyrecently has the RedCross been able to visit Gobustan and exchange letters between
the prisoners and their families." The second floor of the children's hospital in Stepanakert is assigned to Azeri hostages and POWs undermedical Eeannent. One of
the rooms is occupied by Seyed's family. There arenoguards atthe doors. The mother can walkfreely inthehospital corridors. The nextroomhouses thePOWs; inlateFebruary, these were found by Karabakh defense forces in the northern part of Kelbajar, nearthe Omar
In Azerbaijan, governmental bodies are not the only ones engaged in prisoner exchange activity. Individual profi teers are also increasingly involved, having tumed the FOW business into a veritable wartime indusury.Ifthe POW is "sellable," they simply ury to sell him to his relatives. Yet to date no one in Karabakh has managed to "buy" his relative. A typical exchange scenario goes something like this: a relative of a wealthy Azeri is taken hostageby the Armenians;the rich man pays exorbitant prices to the "sellers" for an Armenian hostage in theirpossession, with the hope of exchanging him for his relative. Often, after discovering that his
ris used to live well together. Who started this war?" AIM, APRIL 1994
37
Time is running out for the children of Armenia... but you can make a difference!
relative is not a hostage, but has been killed, therichmaninh"rmsells his hostagetoanother wealthy Azeri. True, some in Karabakh also have their own hostages, but these are not for sale, they are keptto beevenly exchangedby their relatives. "I have been keeping an Azeri hostage in my house for over a year and half," says a Karabakh man in his 70s. "I look after him better than I would after myself. What ca, I
"Iamfrom BalG,havetwo sons, five and six years old," Already faced with hardships resulting from the devastating earthquake of December 1988 and the economic collapse of the former Soviet Union, Armenia has been cut off from much needed fuel, food and medical supplies by a blockade brought on by warring neighbors. The most helpless victims are the children... but help is getting through. The Armenian Children's Milk Fund (ACMF) sponsored by the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA), has been airlifting vitally needed milk and baby formula to the children of Armenia. You can help make sure that this lifeline continues to operate. Reach out in love and help us help the children in Armenia.. Fill out the form below and mail it to: The Armenian Childrenrs Milk Fund c/o the Armenian Missionary Association of America 140 Forest Avenue Paramus, NJ 07652 Yes, I'd like to help the children in Armenia. I've enclosed my contribution of $---
(
want to sere; I was drafted. do, my son is in their hands. I have contacted myhostage's family and given my son's name to them. But apparently my son is no longer alive because they have no concrete leads for me." The elderly man standing next to him chuckles. "Afewdaysagolwenttohishouse and saw he had set a nice table," he says "Found out that it was the Azeri' s birthdayhe was drinking a toast. He speaks fluent Ar-
Address---
Telephone
"Ididnot
)----
meniannow."
Make your tax deductible checks payable to
AMAA/Armenian Children's Milk Fund
38
AIM, APRIL 1994
Ttanslated from the Armenlan by Arslne Arakellane
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Wanted: Gustomers With a Keen Eye And a Senseof Humor
TEXTANO PHOTOS
ByARIIINEH JOHANNES
EDWARD GURGHINIAN Edward Gurghinian has single-handedly created a sculptural wonderland in Yerevan.
On a stretch of forest next to the capital's Botanical Gardens, he has spent the last decade making clay stames, pots, vases, tables andchainttratadomhis sanctuaryoraregiven as presents to schools and kindergartens.
Gurghinian, who lives in the forest with Daron, his dog, and a nameless cow, sports a hunting rifle at all times to protect his wares fromthieves. His friends thinkheis crazy for having devoted himself to his sanctuary, but they don't seem to mind the little feasts he offers whenever they come to see him. Gurghinian, a formerconstruction worker, encourages children to visit the garden and, through his statues of Armenian arts figures and characters from children's stories, appreciate culture in a natural setting.
SARKIS ARAKELIAN Though mass production has longpenneated every aspect of manufacturing in Arme-
nia, old-world craftsmanship is still alive in
a reading
many parts of the country. Meet Sarkis Aralielian, musical instrument-maker and repairman exffaordinaire. For decades,
machine.
of relative force on Mikaelian's
A former shoe
rePairman, Mikaelian
started his second career after an eye opera-
Arakelian, now 67, has made customized tars, kamanchas, dudugs, dhols and zirrnas,
among other traditional Armenian instruments, and has earned a reputation for his exDert reDair work.
'
Al6ng with son Hrachik, Arakelian also repairs umbrellas at their shoPs on Movses Khorenatsi Street and MesropMashtotz Street.
KARAPET
ilIKAELIAN Karapet Mikaelian' s claim to fame is an electric device
for
measuring muscle force which he says is the onlY one of its kind in the world. Mikaelian, 64, stands atthe
corner of Yerevan's Tigran Metz Street, opposite the Parliament Building, and offers his services to passers-bY.
Customers, mostlY Young
Armenian men, use both hands to clasp a hand device as hard as they can and get
AIM, APRIL 1994
tion forced him to seek a less stressful profession. His tools of the trade also include height- and weight-measuring
instruments.
I
By
tlGtlAEL
H.
AntHAOOUltl
t first glance, most Antenians would consider themselves admirers of the music of Aram Khacharurian (1903- 1978). Many enthusiasts of his art may well enjoy
Fl
more than just the colorful Violin Concirto (19CI) orthedriving "SaberDance" fmm the Mllet Gayane h( I 93942, revised I 957) or 0re athleticearly Toccarc (1932). krthis gottryear of the composer's birth, an annotated liit of recordings for the familiar and unfamiliar listener might help show why Khachahrian was, andis, themostintemationallyknownof all Armenian composers. The music of Khachaturian has been called "socialist propaganda" and
'Ideal proletarian music" his critics, and has been
by ,
said to have an
"irresist-
ibleexhilration" and "haunting melodies" by his supporters. Regardless, the music of Khachaauian cannotbtrtrnovethe listenerone
wayoranother. A work clearly exuding an indomitable spirit and wonderfrrlly melancholy lyricism is
the Violin Concerto. David Oistrakh, for whom the Concerto was written, gave the work its premi&re. No other violinisihas succeededinprojectingnotonlythebravuraofthe outer movements of this show-piece, but also the lushness andpathos ofthe second movement. Oistrakh has rccorded this piece on occasions. The two most satisfying -several have recently been reissued, and havd the benefi tof trecomposcrconducting. While the 1954recording(EMICDCS 55015-2), made under the masterfrrl eye of the greatproducer, Walter Lrgge, has a youthfulvigor and remarns rn every way a supreme interpretation
wittr both Oistrakh and the
superb
Philharmonia Orchestra in top form,
it
suffers from outdated sound. Ifdoes
benefit, however, from its
couplings-suites
from
the
composer's Gaya nch and Masquemde ballets. For an qually mtisfying recording, and one with greaErbloom and finestereosound, listeners canreadily andenthusiastically tum to Oistrakh's 1970 version on the Chant du Monde label (LDC 278883). Hene, the vio-
AiM,APRIL
1994
linist is paired with the USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra almost the equal of the Philharmonia. For a morerecentperformance,
Ly{iq Mordkovitch's engaging-performance with Neemi J?irvi and the Scottish National OrchestaontheChandoslabel (CHAN89l8) has
superiorsoundandispreferabletoltzhak
Perlman's version withZubin Mehta and the Isrel PhilharmonicOrchesta on EMI (CDC/ 47087-2). What David Oisraktr was to the V,olin
Concerto, the brilliant American pianist Mlliam Kapell was tothecomposer' i piarc Concerto (1936); he virnrally owned the work. Kapell championed ttre Concertothrcnglrcattheworl( playing it dozens of times
during his short life tragically died in a planecrash in
(he
1953 at the young age of31 years). Fortunately, RCA recorded his celebrated interprctation in 1946 withtheBosron Symphony Orchesha undor thepeerless batori of SergL
Koussevirly. Thoughffrlexecutives atRCA have now included his performance in their
and
gives a scintillatin! (OCD 236). Her rmodins otrdISff pressed cound than KaPell's. For a
Derformanco, one can readily turn to tionsantin Orbelian with J{rvi andthc Scot-
tishNationalOrctesraonChan&s (CHAN 8542)whkhofrqrsopulentsoundalongwith attractive music rnaking. Alongwith tbo Ytolln Corneno
a:d
,*re Plla[9 Conaerto, thc bdles of I Khadiaturlu.,contah hie most melrcrablo music. fb,r the Aost pafi"Gapneh, an obvious celcb'ration of col-
lectivefamr-
inc. contains manv hummable hmcs Ulfisint
daiices ftom Armeilia, Creorgia' Russia,
"SaberDad'
and
tlie"Lczgilk*"
F{
thebestwaytocnjoyflris musb istlmlta CInny suitts waitnbb. rcractraturian's
S]t,IALLER.'
BETTER
Hyrenik Has Emerged as One of the Most WelhOryanized Humanltarian Groups Helping Armenia and Karabakh ants whohad fled the fighting. The villages
TEXTAND PHOTO 8Y
SU}IDAY SARKISIAil
fter visiting Armenia
tll
and
Karabakh in 1992 and wirress1il3
Hiil':+#,1j'Ii,,ln"ff :1
also needed farming and agricultural machinery and fuel supplies. One of the tsam's main objectives was to assess the success rate of the organization's pastefforts in Yerevan and Stepanakert. ..It was incredibly satisffing to see ttrat the sup-
Development organized and guaranteed delivery of the shipment to pre-alproved charitable organizations, including the Veterans' Association. Hyrenikrepresentatives taveled to Arkansas to personally purchase the rice supplies and guarantee their safe shipment. Thanks to its relatively small size and uncomplicated bylaws, Hyrenik is able to act swiftly. "We see a problem and, within days, we are able to channel all ofourresourceito help," says Aliksanian. Recently, Hyrenik was able to quickly fill three containers provided by the Fund for Democracy and Development. The containerswerestockedwithcannedgoods, soupand school supplies. Yerevan, Karabakh- and Gumri received one container each. -. "Y" have two separate funds; one goes directly to the Armenian government and ttre other is earmarked for the people,,, Gayane
-
Montebello, California, decided to find a direct means of participating in relief efforts. "He wanted to get involved on
a
more active,
physical level," explains Karian's wife, After months of planning, Varujan .G_ayane.
Karian, whopassedawaylastyear, andasmall group of friends established Hyrenik, a grassroots California organization founded with a
simple objective:
to help Armenia
and
Karabakh survive. With dozens of Armenian relief organizationsalready in existence, why would anyone feel theneed to starta new one?..Mereiy
donating money during a fund-raiser and hoping it got to Armenia was not enough," says Hyrenik member Ralph Sarkisian. ..We wanted to build a direct line of communication between ourselves and our brothers and sisters out there. We feel this is the best way
theirneeds." "Ours is a direct effort to bypass all the cultural and political baggage that can somewe can meet
tir-r_!s
hinder relief projects,'r explains Hagop
Aliksanian, a Hyrenik founder. The organization has over 500 members of different cultural, political and religious backgrounds. "Hyrenik is a non-partisan associatibn open
todl whoarcdedicatedtoraisingfunds
tohelp
plies had actually reached the people who really needed them," says fellow team member Ralph Sarkisian.
Armenia and Karabakh," Aliksanian sayi. "We raise money and we send it to those who need it. It's that simple." In November 1993, a three-man Hyrenik team traveled to Armenia and Karabakh to disribute money and relief supplies amounting to roughly $20,000. The team also evaluated local conditions forbetterplanning in the future. "We saw extremely young boys fighting for their homes, families and lives," explains Harry Sarkisian, a member of the fact-finding mission. The war toll grows higher by the day, he says, leaving behind a tragic fail ofdisabled fighters, orphans and widows withoutthe means to survive.
While in Karabakh, the Hyrenik -
adopted three villages:
team
Gusabad, Agabegalench and Mokhraagh, which asked for assistance in rehabilitating many inhabit-
ndeed, Hyrenik takes a hands-on approach to ensure that the aid makes it to the intended destination. The organization delivers all supplies eitherdirectly to those in need or to its established contacts which in turn distribute the goods. These contacts periodically send listings of aid recipients. As an added means of verification, the lists are signed by the recipients themselves. To date, roughly 300 families and orphans have received financial assistance fr om the organization. Hyrenik worked with the US govemment to-leJp tr?nlport an 1l-conrainer shipment, which included l50metric tons ofrice, as well as winter clothing, to Armenia. As a part of OperationWinter Rescue, the State Depart-
ment-affiliated Fund for Democracy-and AIM, APRIL 1994
Karian explains. "Hyrenik members ordonors decide what, exactly, theirmoney is usedfor.,' Members are required to pay dues of $10
amonth. Alongwithothercollectedfunds and supplies, the dues are used for reliefprojects once every three months.
"All members volunteer their time and energy," Aliksanian says. "Absolutely no money is used for anything except Armenia and Karabakh-even scouting trips arepaid -
out-of-pocketbyparticipants."
Since its inception in September, 1992,
Hyrenik has raised and diitributed some $200,000 in food, clothing, machinery, fuel, and financial assistance-
"OuronlypurposeistohelpArmeniaand -Karabakh getback on theirfeet," Aliksanian says. "And we are working towards the day " when
wewon'tneedtoexiit.s'
Sunday Sarklslan ls a lreelance wrlter
llvlng ln Montebelto, Callfornta.
SKIRTING STABILITY
Yerevan ls GraPPling with an Erratic Dram By VARTKES BROUSSALIAN
irst, there was the problem of uncontrollable inflation. Now that Armenia has its own currency, there is theuncertainty of anunstable dram. However, measures that are normally proposed for stabilizing a culrency and the economy are inappropriate in the case of Ar-
menia, where present circumstances are similar to those of a country that has just
hadalreadyfallenbyover 80percent. BymidJanuary,
itfell
another23 percent; byttreend
of February, by another 40 percent. ln other words, in those three and half months, the dram's valuerelativetothedollarfellbyover 90 percent and seems to be falling still. The great fall in the exchange rate reflects, toalargeextent, thehighrateofinflation. The exchange rate of ttre dram cannotbe stabilized if its purchasing power keeps falling. Stabilizing the value ofthe dram cannot therefore be divorced from measures to control inflation.
lization account. This accountwouldbeused to intervene in f,rnancial markets, !o buy and sell drams, to ensure that the value of the dram does not fluctuate greatly. It is probably safe to say that the IMF is reluctant to lend to Armenia, due as much to compelling economic considerations as to the fighting in Moun-
tainous Karabakh. Any amount of gold or hard currency Armenia may borrow from the IMF or obtain
fromtheDiasporaforusetostabilizethedram
will surely disappear in a short time if speculative runs on the dram develop. Speculation against a currency is almost always self-fulfilling. If people suspect that the government is abouttodepreciatethe dram, thatis, reduce its official price, or if they note that the government is incurring budget defi cits which can only be financed by issuing new drams (there being nopossibilityofborrowingdrams from thepublic), peoplewillrushtoselltheirdrams before the dram's value falls. Once such speculation develops, it is very difficult to stem it, even if it turns out that there was no basis for it. Consequently, the government will begin to lose massive quantities of gold and hard currency fromthe stabilization fu nd,
emerged from a desEuctive war. It is entirely unrealistic to expect Arme-
ra
nia to adopt economic
I Ia t
i I
i
policies that are appropriate for peacetime condi-
tions. Shock treatments, such as that adopted by Poland or proposed for
for Armenia, since conver-
Russia, are not suitable
economy is not by any means the only problem facing this struggtng nation.
sion to a market
Therefore, one cannot look to a peacetime solution for a predicament that has arisen fundamentallY because the
fected by
a
country is af-
major military
conflict.This consideration alone should give pause to those who think stabilizing the value of the dram is apurely technical
matter. Itis obvious that the exchange value of the dram and the rate of inflation in Armenia are closely connected. While the value of the dram relative to the dollar has indeed gyrated since its inroduction, its trendhas been a steep decline. Armenia issued its new currency in a hurry in late November, after talks with Russia aboutmembership in theruble zonebroke down. Theproblem of sabilizing the valueof the dram relative to foreign currencies thus
came immediately on top of the ongoing problem of raging inflation. In mid-December, 1993, only three weeks afterits inroduction, the dram's exchange rate with the dollar
I
A
voidinsinflationdoesnotcome
*;#ki"#:HTl*Tfrr*!
tated by the awful reality of its situation. It may appear that the problem is conuollable if only a sufEciently large amountof gold and/or hard currency can be accumulated to back the dram. There have even been efforts
to raise money from the Diaspora for this purpose. Therehavealsobeendiscussions withthe Intemational Monetary Fund (IMF; to borrow hard currency for setting up a cunency stabi-
AIM,APRIL 1994
and this time it will havenoopion butto reduce theprice of the dram. To protectthe value ofthedram, all thatis needed is that its quantity should not be expanded at a fastrate. The ideal rate should not
of productivity of the economy, but somewhat faster rates arc tol' erable. As long as the government does not force the c.entral bank to issue continuously largequantities of new drams, the value of the dram would remain under conEol.
exceed the rate
Indeed, Armeniacanpreservethevalueof
the dram and avoid speculative runs on it if only the cenral bank proves that it is inde45
pendent of the government in fact, and notjust in law, and will not keep lending the government new drams to pay forits deficits.
To maintain the exchange value of the dram, then, it is not necessary for Armenia to acquire gold or hard currency o back it, nor, given its economic condition, can it succeed if itdid acquire them. Instead, Armenia should consider a series of steps toward long-term stabilization. Obviously, the firstttring thatmustbe done tomoderatetherateofinflation. Yearlyrates ofinflation in excess of300 percent are to be avoided at all cost. A moderate rate ofinflation of, say, 50 percent annually can be tolerated for a few years. This is possible ifcertain necessities, such as bread, sugar, butter, eggs, meat, and rice are rationed and their prices are raised slowly. Mostof these items are imported and distributed under govemment supervision, already. Private provision of these items need not beresticted. Second, indexation-an automatic inis
creasc in salaries and wages in stcp with the level of prices-is a recipe for hyperinfl ation andmustbeterminated. Indexationisusually expedient for govemments looking for shortterm political gain. Sooner or later, however, thepublic rcalizes ttratwhatithasbeen offered isthe ilIasiozofhigherincomebecause, inthe end, the reality of continuous impoverishment cannot escape them. Third, a more effi cientdisribution system must be set up. The prcsent system of govemment stores and bakeries providing consumer goods are not up to the task. Under present circumstances, distribution through existing inexperienced private channels will
I
i
t I
i Ir'
probably be unworkable, as well, possibly leading to frustration and comtption. A new disfibution systemmustb setup very care-
World War tr. In some cases, these confrols
fully, alwaysmovedby theurgencytoreduce
lasted for a whole decade.
queues. Four, to protâ&#x201A;Źct the exchange value of the dram, atemporary regimeof foreign exchange controls must be instituted. Many countries resorted to such conEols in the aftermath of t
Under the system of foreign exchange controls, foreign currency for necessary imports is doled out !o importers and transfers of money abroad are restricted, while the government accumulates export earnings. Withoutdelving into themechanics of such a complex system, itis sufEcienttonotethatby controlling the supply and demand of foreign qurency, the value of the dram in terms of foreign money will be effectively controlled bythegovemment. Whiletheexchangeconhol will artificially prcservethepurchasing powerof the dramin the international arena, the other proposed
$l
sleps address the related question ofinflation. Thesemeasures makethedramlessuseful for ordinary people since they cannot use their
drams to pay for foreign goods or transfer them outside the country. But inflation has similar effects on the dram which becomes less capable ofpurchasing all goods and services. Both altematives are manifestations of the weakness of the economy, which comes as no surprise,sinceno mere strokeofthepen
can make Armenia's economy suddenly stronger than it actually is. It is simply a matter of choosing the less painful alternative.
Although the process of privatization and conversion to a market economy need not be slowed down by these steps, trade liberalizationandpricedecontrol arepostponed. These are not trivial impediments to the nation's progress toward a free market economy, but they are theprice !o bepaid for a warthat was neverapart ofthe initial plan. The standard of living in Armenia is probably in for more deterioration, if such a thing can be imagined. But Armenia will eventually pull out of this severe economic contesq too, for it is rich in human resources, and has the will to survive. In the long run, these arc all thatmatter.
^ Vartkes Broussallan, Ph.D. has teught et Calllornla State Unlverslty. He ls currenily Prolescor ol Economlcs at the Amerlcah Unlverslty ol Armenla, as well as prlnclpal advlsor to Armenla's Mlnlstry ol Flnaice. These are hls pereonal vlews.
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