Releasing the Potential - December 1995 by Armenian International Magazine

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DECEMBER 1995

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vol-.

6, NO.2

DECEMBER 1995

EDITOR'S NOTE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BYTES ON FILE

FOCUS

6 g

ARMENIAN SURVEY

FonrcnouNo Covrn Sronv INTBnNar,

l6 lg

Polrrrcs

US Supreme Court Justice and American Jurists in Yerevan

Two new Catholicoses Tackling Unity

A Dlv

IN{

rHE LrFE oF YEREvAN's Mayon

INTERI'IAIItlNAI-

BsrNc THrnr IN Srlncn oF NEw Valups

24 26 1

Former Russian Parliament member speaks on

democracy, diplomacy and hope.

n []

Is the election of 12 women to Armenia's new National Assembly really a way to release the unrapped potential of half the population?

ECONOMY

Frour

rnr

GnouNo Up

The Armenian Technology Group's role in the chang-

ing world of Armenia's Agriculture.

BaNrrNc ON AnrlrnNrn

Midland Bank establishes a subsidiary in Armenia.

Grvu Us Tsrs Day Oun Darly Bneno

Photo essay documents the joumey of bread. THn

IMF Sr,rNos By

/t REI-IGION

h rsn

BocrNNrNG WAS THE WoRD

The Gantsasar Theological Center

Hardship in the Free Republic of xuraistan as seen through the eyes of Photojoumalist Christoph Lingg, who accompanied an Austrian medical team

'Tis the

Season to

40 Gifts with

Give Sensible, Lasting

an Armenian

Touch-No mat-

ter whether you live in Beirut or Bangkok.

to northern Iraq.

is a high-tech

version of the monastaries of old.

WHo

SH,q.LL

Snvr Turrn Souls?

Is Armenia a one-church state? AHTS

BOOKS

CHBISTMAS GIFI MISCETTANY

SPOHTS

PEOPI.E

UNDTREXPOSEO

()THER PEOPI-E'S MAII.

GtOBAt AGTNDA

ESSAY

00 l/

Sixreen hours with Yerevan Mayor

uunr*n Khachatrian

as he practices

macro-management-from planning meetings to public gatherings. CoveR Desror.r By RAFF|

TARPINTAN

It Itj

Armenia joined lhe European Union Football Association and Team Hayasran is going places.

/ Coven PHoro sy Zaveru KHacHrxreu

AIM (ISSN 1 050-3471), DECEMBER 1 995, VOL6, No. 2. is published monthly, $45 per year. by The Foudh Millennium Society, 207 Soulh Brand Boulevard, Suile 107. Glendale, CA 91204: Phone: (818) 246-7979. Fax: (818) 246-0088. Se@nd Class Postage paid al Glendale. CA and additional mailinq otfices. Canada Post Publicalions Mail Producl Sales Agreemenl No. 05 I 6457. O Copyright 1 995 by The Fo-unh Milennium Society. All rights rese.ved. All, may not be reproduced in any manner. eilher in whole or in pail, withoul wrinen permisson hom the publisher The edilors are nol reiponsible lor unsoliciteil manuscripfs or ait unless a stmaped, selladdressed envelope is enclosed. Opinons expressed in signed articles do not necessarili represent the views of TheFourthMillenniumSociety. Foradvedisinqqueriescall:1-8l82467979.SubscriOtionratestoroney6ar,US:$45,Canada$55,Fiance:350FF($55): Europe. Far Easl, S. America, Alrica, Commonwealth ol lndâ&#x201A;Źpendent Stales: $55i Middle Easl. Ausralia. Aimenia: $50. Postmasters: Send address chdnqel to: AlN4, PO. Box 3296, Manhatlan Beach, CA 90266, U.S.A.

AIM Dscnl,rsen 1995 | 5

rffilg Dear Readers,

AIM

F is back.

During these long silent months, here at the Fourth Millennium Society, we assumed all along that we would find a way to survive, grow and continue. We knew there had to be a way to find the financial wherewithal to deliver the kind of magazine everyone agrees is unique and many say is indispensable. Finding the money to back up those sentiments was the tough part. Yet, it's always been tough. From the first days of AIM, there have been financial troubles and rumors of AIM's demise. It hasn't happened. We are confident it will not happen. Still, there have been no miracles. The responses of the major organizations and donors has not been hopeful, and that in itself is cause for reflection. Those who have made financial contributions have been the kind of thoughtful, committed, understanding individuals who, like the founders of AIM, believe that independent, honest, objective publications are at least as important, today, to the advancement of Armenia and Armenians as any of our churches, schools or political parties. Indeed, the press is an essential component in the workings of society and govemment. Why else does the world tout the value of independent joumalism and a free press, if not because they are aware of the value of an informed public. The identity of our donors and the levels of giving are no secret. In this issue, and in future issues, you will see the names of those who have made it possible for AIM to continue. We invite you to consider adding your names to these lists and assure not simply AIM's survival, but expansion. The donations of our supporters came with no strings attached. AIM's purpose and mission remain the same-trying to shed light on who and what, and to explain how and why. The Fourth Millennium Sociery is committed to AIM's independence, and with the support of its readers, AIM will strive to provide responsible, comprehensive coverage of issues throughout the Armenian world. We know you've heard this before-but it all bears repetition, simply because such ideals continue to be the exception, rather than the rule, in Armenian Diasporan reality. Several editorial changes have been and will still be made to coincide with AIM's new look. Indeed, the clean, new design should compensate for the temporary lack of color pages. In

time, color will retum to AIM. Our dedicated and exceptional writers and photographers from around the world are still with us and we are grateful for their willingness to continue to do (often on a volunteer basis) what they do best: write, document, explain, comment. There is no lack of stories and subjects which need coverage. The over 500 stories which have appeared in AIM since 1990 are nothing compared to the list still waiting to be done. AIM's Glendale staff has shrunk, although the work load hasn't. A good part of the editorial and design work is now being done in Yerevan to enable more comprehensive and efficient coverage of the events that somehow manage to affect all our lives-whether it's new elections (as in this issue) or the efficient (or ineffrcient) use of Diaspora funds for Armenia-

r0ljnrll uruEiltuuiil $0crilY A Not-forProfit, Public Benefit Corporation

DIRECTORS

MICHAEL NAHABET VARTAN OSKANIAN RAFFI ZINZALIAN ASSOCIATE TRUSTEES

KHACHIG BABAYAN FLORA, GEORGE DUNAIANS CALIFORNIA

RAZMIG HAKIMIAN CANADA

JACK MAXIAN HONG KONC FOUI{DING TRUSTEES

GARENAVEDIKIAN CALIFORNIA

VAROUJAN ISKENDERIAN AUSTRALIA

MEGO GODJAMANIAN CALIFORNIA

HAROUT KAHVEDJIAN VENEZUELA MARDO KAPRIELIAN

CALIFORNIA

HAGOP KOUSHAKJIAN FLORIDA

ZAROUHI MARDIKIAN PENNSYLVANIA

EDWARD MISSERLIAN CALIFORNIA

BOB MOVEL CALIFORNIA

VAROUJAN NAHABET CALIFORNIA

based projects.

There are changes on the masthead, as well. Founding Publisher Michael Nahabet remains involved with the workings of the magazine he helped found, but now as a Director of the Fourth Millennium Society. He is joined by AIM's Founding Editor Vartan Oskanian and FMS Founding Trustee Raffi Zinzalian. Although publishing only two issues in 1995 is no way to celebrate a fifth anniversary. rebirth is a wonderful thing, and AIM is glad to be alive. As we wait to hear from you regarding these changes. we are counting on your new and renewed subscriptions. You can be confident in the knowledge that your subscription will be completely honored, your terrn extended, and you will receive as many issues as you paid for. Thank you for your commitment to AIM and all that it stands for.

NORAIR OSKANIAN CALIFORNIA

EMMY PAPAZIAN CALIFORNIA

ZAREH SARKISSIAN CALIFORNIA

RAFFI ZINZALIAN CALIFORNIA

207 SOUTH BRAND BLVD.

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/aru

DsceNasen 1995

IO7

GLENDALE, CA 91204, USA Telephone: 818 - 246 - 7979 Fu: 818 - 246 - 0088

/\INI Editor - Publisher

THANKS FOR BEING THERE

SALPI HARoUTINIAN GHAZARIAN

Assistant Editors MARK GRIGoRIAN, YEREVAN Svr-ve DeressrrN, Los ANGELES

I was elated when I heard that AIM is

Art Director

still functioning. I'm looking forward to reading the new issue. I wish you good luck and hope you will be able to continue your endeavors.

RAFFI TApTNTAN

Design and Production AREC ASATRIAN, ZAVEN KHACHIKjAN RoUBEN MANGASARIAN

Editorial Assistants ARA PIRANIAN, LoS ANGELES CoHAR SAHAKIAN. YEREVAN

Geno MaNsounraN

Translators

Iozcvoz@,ror-.corra

ARAM OHANIAN, ARIS SEVAC

Assistant

Congratulations on the completion of five years of publication of your excellent rnagazine. lt is a credit to Armenians to

RoUBEN ADAMIAN

Director of Operations Sgm KHoolNtlN

Advertising Director ALrNE KlssABlAN Y-ETERIAN

have such a first-rate beautifully written

Contributing Editors SARKTS

SHMAvoNTAN. RONALD GRrcoR SuNy. JrvrN TABIRIAN. TALINE VoSKERITCHIAN

Writers

periodical. Your sacrifices on behalf of the

community are most appreciated. Geonce MesoN

ARMEN BAGHDASARIAN. HRAIR ZoRIAN, YEREVANI ToNY HALPIN. LoNDoN

Los ANcpl-es. Calrronrula

Contributors ARAM ABRAHAMIAN. AVET DEMURIAN. GEoRCI HLCHtrrAN, YEREVAN: HRscH Tcglr.lNc;rttat, S!sel PAnIE, LoNDoN; JANET SAMUELIAN, LoS ANCELES; MARK MALKASTAN. RHODE lSLAND. GEoR(iE BouRNourrAN. LOLA KoUNDAKJTAN, NEw YoRK; MooRAD MOoRADIAN, WASHINcroN, DC

Photographers MKHITAR KHACH{R]AN, ZAVEN KHACHIKIAN, RoUBEN MANCASARIAN, YEREVAN: ALINE MANoUKIAN, ARMINEH JoHANNES, PARIS; EDMoN TERAKOPIAN, LONU)N; KARINE ARMEN, KEVORK DJANSEZIAN, LoS ANGELES; ARDEM ASLANIAN, NEw JERSEI HARRY KoUNDAKJIAN, NEw YORK; BERGE ARA ZoBIAN, RHoDE ISLAND

or combined issue. The only absolute that your readers will demand is that the quality and veracity ofAIM be beyond reproach. This goal

being met,

all

other concerns are

sec-

financial constraints make it necessary to convert AIM to a bimonthly or even quarterly publication, I think your ondary.

readership would understand this so long as quality is not compromised. It is my sincerest hope that AIM will

remain a viable publication far into the future despite the constraints under which you operate. Your persistence and com-

mitment to this publication are greatly appreciated by me and many others throughout the country and the world. Javss S. TouLourre.l

I very much appreciated your letter to the readers at the beginning of your Nov/Dec '94 issue explaining the "current situation" at AIM. I would like to assure you that I, and I

AIM subscribers, have been very satisfied with what you have been able to do despite your operating under suspect most

serious financial constraints. We certainly

Editor Dmeritus

do not begrudge you the occasional missed

BLooMINGToN. INDTANA

Your work is valuable and patriotic indeed.

AIM is a

valuable asset

the

Diaspora and to Armenians in the motherland. It is truly a good source of information about Armenians in the Diaspora and Armenia itself.

CHARLES NAZARIAN

Editorial Consultant MINAS KOJAIAN FOUNDED IN I99O FoUNDIN(; EDITOR FOUNDING PUBLISHER VARTAN

OSKANIAN MICHAEL NffiABET

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WRITE AIM! We welcome all communicarion. Although we read all letters and submissioos, we are unable to acknoweldge everynhing we receive due to Iimited staffing and resources. Write to us! We can be reached at AIM4M@AOL.COM

or the traditional way at AIM PO. Box 10295 Clendale, Califbrnia 9 1209 -3793, or by fax, 818.246.0088, or phone, 818.246.7979.

ktters to the Editor

may be edited fbr publication

AIM DscrN,rsrn 1995 l7

Despite the difficulties and the stormy years, you have been persistent in this great task of publishing the monthly AIM.

As an Armenian living in Netherlands,

The

AIM is truly cherished.

don't worry if

So there are months of delay. ALEXANDER KHOSSROVIAN

AMERSFOORT, THE NLTHERLANDS

A PRICELESS EDUCATION Salpi Haroutinian Ghazarian's pane-

EXCHANGE

A letter to the dltor i* tttq,res er's opportunity to respond to the magazine's content. No response from the editors does not mean

by any means. Neverthsless, sorre letters:do fuerit agreement,

atr anslver and arcasionally, we witrl use tliis :sFaee to dis&gree 0r

gyric to her grandmother and condemnation of Ashot Bleyan is commendable but

explain.

hardly enough. (Essay, Jan/Feb 1995). Did I read somewhere that Bleyan was bom in Baku? Did I read somewhere that he visited Baku and announced that Karabakh rightly belonged to Azerbaijan? If the above is true, only the most naive will believe that Ashot Bleyan is a

child psychologist who is promoting

the

welfare of Armenia's children by prohibir ing mention of the Genocide in the school room. A more interesting hypothesis would be to probe the possibility that Bleyan has property in Baku that he hopes to reclaim some day.

The one mitigating factor is that Bleyan cannot do what he is doing by himself. He obviously is the point man willing to take the heat for the policy of his higher-ups. PruRRri

HArci

Da.Na. Porx r'. C,lLtronNte

IT'S ALL IN THE QUESTIONS I want to thank AIM's staff for asking very direct questions regarding ARF involvement in the political crisis in Armenia. They must come to terms and realize that no one party can claim political legitimacy over Armenians in the Diaspora. The political parties claim to be protecting the Armenian people, but they are protecting their own political future and interests, and not the Armenian people. Over the years, their actions have alienated Armenians in the Diaspora and now the same resentment and alienation is felt in Armenia.

Petrossian and his clique, under the guise of an independent magazine. .,,, Ttle. re or,ting and interviewing the taâ&#x201A;Źtie= :edoptod by AIM Ndvemb+r-Deedrnber edition leave much to be desired. On the one hand (Interi*r Minislel) Vano Siradeghian

(lnlerview, Nov-Dec 94) is given an ride with his silly answers. In

easy

Boghigian (Special Report, NovDec 94) is given a hard timo,with supplementary questions by three AIM interviewers, bearing in mind the fact he had jusl returned from Armenia after beirg deported'fiom his homeland.

port democralic principies

anO

human rights in Armenia?

If yes, let's hear about it

loud

and clear.

::,::: : '

MrRANKeHryrnN M*nolesex, GneAT BttrntN

Th+ +omfortable tone of the dialo$ue with Mr Boghigian is an assursts, refloction of the very honest, open discussion that was held at

AIIvI twc weeks following his departure ftom Armenia (which he himself oaid rhould not be called doportation.) We suggest you re-read the

interview.

As for ths interview

Siradeghian,

was

t,e,-ith'Mf.

conduq................{ed

CORRECTION The photos from the Bemard Lewis

responses given during an inteniew.

DECEMBER 1995

of the Fourth Millennium Society to the well-being, growth and of Armenians and Armenia through of open discussion and the free information among individuals and organiza

Their financial contributions ($ support the work of the Four Society and ensure lhe of AlM.

MTHRAN AND

ErrzneerH

LARRY AND

AcBABTAN

Seoe BaRrues

VARTKES AND JEAN BABSAM

Heanv nruo Alvant BnnsecHtnru BERI AND HERA BOYAJIAN ARDASH AND MARY ANN DERDER]AN

Stevr lruo LuctLLe

and tru$t that.they will

,nI

e.,their

EstEpgaNtnr.t

MANoUSHAG FeRunrutnru

Gncrx eno KUR Gnrsrtnru PrrnRe aruo ALrcE HArc ARAxTE

own judgments about a person's idgas and, +-gtiens banedrroa rihe

/,qlN4

$(lGIEIY

Anl,leru DeRoeRtat

I have fhe following qnesiion to AIM and its trustees. Do you sup-

Neue WrrssslD BY REeUEST Tnacv. CellponNle

regrets the omission of his name.

THE T(IUBIH MIII.ENNIUM

contrast (ARF Bureau member; Apo

Nouvelles d'Armtnie Mqgaz:iw; with which v/e haYe a c$operaliorl agreemsnt. ryb rc$pecl ou5-r,edrr*

trial in Paris (AIM, Jan/Feb 95, p. 17 and cover) are the work of Paris-based photographer Jean Fitidjian. AIM

S**li;+W fr* became the subtle mouthpiece of President Ter-

PAIR(IN$ (lF

KRTKoR AND

M. HABoUTNTAN HnRour lsrnNsurtaNr

ARPIAR AND HERI\,IINE JANOYAN

KEVoBK AND

SerErrc KnRaleartnn

Josru aruo RosE KETCHoYAN

Knrron Karxonrat ALEX MANooGTAN STEPAN AND

ERorarutr MARKABTAN

HARoUT AND RITA MESBOBIAN JASI\4tNE MGRDtcHIAN

Rarr OuRrnrtaru

Mtcueer eruo HeRutttE

Ptanrutnru

ALex SeRxtssteru DoRA SERVTARTAN-KUHN RoBEBT AND

Herer SHnvunru

PETRoS AND GARINE TAGTYAN RALPH AND SAVEY TUFENKIAN

Gnrozec aruo Dzovrc ZEtttnN

FOURTH MILLENNIUM SOCIETY

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Fax: 81 8.246.0088

Tlrcrkn Fnp Wcitimfl

;$ffitr Being independent isn't easy. That's why AIM's financial future has been uncertain. But the commitment and contributions of nearly 3 dozen individuals around the world have made it possible for AIM to continue. We hope you join their ranks.

-g {{l-u{W.

SUBSGRIBE [f you're a borrower-reader, subscribe now. If you're a subscriber, introduce a friend to the unique magazine you were afraid was gone forever.

REilEW YOUR SUBSGRIPflOIU All subscriptions have been extended so you receive all the issues you have paid for. You can renew with confidence, knowing you will not miss out on a single new issue.

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H$tn$ untfflle ARMEilIAN

!NTERNATIONAL

MAGAZINE

o Number of

women ambassadors or ministers in Armenian government

I Number

of women out of 68 city

and regional council heads in Armenia

3-32 Average number of hours a woman spends on housework, in Armenia, each weekday (on Sundays, it's 1.24)

-35 Average number of hours a man spends on housework, in Armenia, each weekday (on Sundays, it's 5.57)

t8-5 Percentage

124 judges who are women

3(, Percentage of all engineers and economists who are women

Percentage of a man's salary eamed by a female engineer or economist

a6-6 Percentage of Yerevan women who did not know about the repubic's laws on women's rights

t13 Number of women imprisoned in Armenia in 1994

45,46 Number of

women graduates of institutions of higher learning (and 6200 men)

1980

1994

5(,5(, Number of women graduates of institutions of higher leaming (and 4976 men)

22.tOO Number of children living in single mother households

Armenian Delegation Reporl to the UN Conlerence on Women, 1995

FOO[, hIRR]'lTl{

R[I[ EIUIRIIO}I

\Mill not be available to these triplets and many children in Arrnenia this winter unless we help... In the past you have answered their pleas with generous hearts. Your donations have helped the AMAA provide children in Arrnenia with nutritional foods, vitamins, clothing, school supplies and toys. This Thanksgiving and Christrnas season is yet another opportunit;r to do so. Please be as generous as you can when you fill out this coupon and mail it along with your check.

A donation of $240 (o. $20 a rnonth) \{.ill support one child for a whole year ARMENIAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIAIION OF AMERICA 140 Forest Avenue Paramus, NJ 07652

l-l -

Yes, I'd like to help support a child in Armenia. Enclosed is my eift in support of AMAA's Orphan Child'CZre Progfam in Armenia.

Name Address Make your tax-deductible checks payable to AMAA- Orphan/Child Care

ffiffiffiffii vr

s 6+ $ $ Es

I: ::

l,t #e;, $$) 1if;ilt #tr: ::::: ffi ig s

I il#tr:: $# et #; i;i;i ffi

,*$I

##{S ffi{

re,ffiffi ffil

Karabakh celebrated the third

., r'" t\

"vr:\,

anniversary of its declaration of inde-

drB i{s ):t l:i

h*.*.u^d

pendence, even as it entered the eighth year of the struggle for self-determination. The ceasefire with Azerbaijan has been holding for more than one and a half years, and Karabakh has embarked on an economic development plan.

The World Bank's International Agency for Development approved a

WH,a

\Y*,-

:::

,1fi"{t,,.$ g;::' .;:

k. uwd

roadways. The World Bank also loaned US$ 485,000 targeted for the efforts to

Armenia, David Miller, presented his credentials to President Levon Ter

preserve Lake Sevan. Another US$3 million (part of a $14.1 million Energy

Petrossian and joined his European col-

Assistance allocation) went towards the damaged Gumush heating plant.

Greece. He was followed in September by Peter Tomsen, the new ambassador

Vi+-\ri::..-::::::::r.:::.

ffiffi Si

ffim* ;,i:r::r.:rrnv

14 /AIM

DeceNaspn 1995

svaw/4,ffi

Bureau request to hold its World Congress in Yerevan this fall. The letter, which was first addressed to President

request on grounds that it would be logistically impossible to grant such permission to a party whose activities have been banned. The party reacted by say-

'R\ @Jrl

leagues from Germany, France and

of the US to Armenia. Tomsen The Ministry of Justice turned down an Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutiun (ARF)

by three bureau members, was referred to the Ministry which rejected the

\;s::

The foreign diplomatic corps in Armenia

welcomed new members. Great Britain's first ambassador to

Levon Ter Petrossian, was retumed by the president's office because it lacked a signature. A second document, signed

allowed to meet in Armenia, the government would have strengthened its hand, and dealt a blow to the extremist ARF faction which has set itself up in direct opposition to the govemment over the last several years.

lion for the reconstruction of Armenia's

35-year interest-free loan of US$ l6 mil-

*A\Iffi

ing the president had missed a "golden opportunity" to mend fences. Moderates in the party had hoped that by being

already the second American ambassador, replacing Harry Hillmore, who retumed to the US in July.

Prime ministers of Armenia and Georgia, Hrand Bagratian and Otar Patsatsia, met in August. Next, the military commanders of the border troops, Levon Stepanian and Vitali Chkheidze

also met, near the problem-ridden Bagratashen-Sadakhlu frontier near Armenia's northern tip and discussed some problems relating to border demar-

cation. The prime ministers examined such diverse problems as the delivery

ing for the bill which would put pressure

on Turkey to ease its blockade of Armenia. Also still in place is an $85 million earmark forArmenia, as well as a $15 million fund to start up a Transcaucasus Enterprise Fund. Key to the suppon effort

have been senators Robert Dole, Paul Simon, Mitch Mcconnell.

A plan to develop two pipelines for the

delivery

Caspian Sea oil-one

through Southern Russia and a new one

through Georgia

to Turkey-seems

have received the necessary support from all parties, with a special push from US

President

Bill

Clinton, who

urged

Azerbaijani President Gaidar Aliev to support the dual pipeline approach. The support of the Turkish and Russian oil companies was problematic however, with the Turkish side complaining that their interests are not best served with this agreement, and the Russians objecting to American intrusion into the region.

natural gas and Georgia's debt

Armenia of US$ 17.1 million. An Iranian delegation, headed by Hasan

Rohani, vice-speaker of lran's parliament, visited Catholicos Karekin I during an official visit in September. Relations between the neighbors continued to improve despite the murder of an Iranian truck driver on the Goris-Kapan highway

in August. The lnterior Ministry

appre-

hended a suspect within weeks of the incident. The Iranian ambassador demanded thatArmenia do more to protect foreign citizens. Two months later, Iranian authorities announced the apprehension of two Iranian women suspected of murdering Armenian evangelical priests in Iran in I 994.

The congress discussed the political situation in Armenia and the goals of the party.A new goveming body was elected. It included ADL of Armenia head Rouben Mirzakhanian, although there were earlier efforts to oust him from his post.

Despite acute differences between Republicans and Democrats on foreign

aid

and American foreign policy, the House and the Senate have thus far managed to keep intact the Humanitarian Corridor Act, which would deny US aid

to any country which prevents the delivery of humanitarian aid to any other country. Armenian lobbyists have been push-

The National Assembly adopted a bill on citizenship. The bill which rules out dual citizenship, includes an oath'1o the Republic

of Armenia, to

observe the

Constitution and the laws of the republic, to defend the independence and the terri-

torial integrity of the Republic, and to respect

the official language of

the

Republic, its national culture and traditions." The bill specifies that anyone 18

forArmenian citizenship, after three years residency, with proficiency in the Armenian language, and with a knowledge of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. years old or over may apply

Felons and members of outlawed organizations need not apply.

*di :; rs

but frequent shellings of Armenia's northern and northeastern border tovrns continued throughout the

Sporadic

summer and early fall. Armenian forces responded and pushed back the Azeri attackers each time.

One hundred twenty members of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party

(ADL) met in Yerevan in

mid-

September. This fifth Special Congress was held in the wake of the surprisingly large loss by the ADL of Armenia during this summer's Parliamentary elections.

AIM DrcpMssn 1995

Coven Sronv

Relea$ir[mPtleltllal The Untapped Resources of Armenia's Women

lâ&#x201A;Ź , ,rro, of75o

graduates

ofveteri-

nary medicine, 600 were women. In 1995,52.6

of all scientists

Armenia

are women. The Armenian state engi-

neering school produces as many women engineers as men. Three times as

many women graduate in the field of agriculture as men.

All

these statistics

mean that Armenian society must certainly be progressive. After all. women had the vote in the first independent Republic of Armenia (1918-1920) at a time when American women were still disenfranchised. Armenian Law, today, on "The Removal of

All

Discrimination Against Women" is a document which is impressive by UN stan-

dards even, and,

at the recent

Conference on Women in Beiiing, left many delegations envious. But the numbers and the facts are deceiving. So are words. With all this apparently modem thinking, no one wants to be called a feminist in Armenia. The stereotypical understanding of feminism makes it easy to understand why. "If feminists hate men, don't want children and are generally obnoxious and unpleasant, who needs feminism?" said Lara, an educated young woman, a writer, who translates for

intemational agencies. "We saw Soviet feminism," her mother added. "We were so equal with men, we had the right to dig ditches, work on railways and do all sorts of hard labor."

This is a

widespread worry.

"Women's active inclusion in the industrial process has resulted in a series of undesirable phenomena, including a declining birth rate, a rise in infant mortality rates and weakened family ties," reads a 1993 statement by the Women's Republican Council. "This kind of equality we don't want," asserts the organization's president,

Nora Hakobian.

And 16

/eIu

the powers-that-be are happy

DeceNlsen 1995

not to give them that kind of equality. The results don't make the women any happier. "The present authorities, in attempt-

ing to

overcome

the simPle, formula

approach of the past, where at least one out of every three top positions had to be occupied by a woman, effectively pushed women out of the social, economic and

political decision-making processes. In 1985, l2l of 219 members of parliament were women. In 1991, of 260 delegates, only 8 were women. There were initially no women deputy ministers in this new govemment. Today, there are only 2. There was, for a while, one minister. Therefore, it has become harder to hear women's perspectives at the important decision-making levels," explains Hakobian. She and many others who remember the social protections provided by the Soviet system, yeam for a government that will "care for our needs as women, as wives and mothers."

Alice Adamian, head of the organizaArmenian Intellectual Woman, offers this analysis:

tion which calls itself

"The difference between the

women's movement in Armenia and in the rest of the world is that, elsewhere, women want equality with men; in Armenia. women are busy defending the family, and the role of woman in the family." Towards that end, 22 women's orga-

nizations are caught up in holding fundraisers, sponsoring needy families, providing scholarships, supporting artists. This modus operandi is typical of women in Armenian society today. While their proven abilities as doers is being widely utilized, their intellectual potential has yet to be released. They complain that no one asks them for input, or facilitates

their participation in circles of power. Yet,

they acknowledge that they

themselves

don't do very much to push their way in either.

Even in those instances where women do rise to the top, they are caught in a nowin situation: The generation that is more

senior-not

necessarily

by age, but

experience-the generation of visible, active women is considered a Soviet holdover. Not that there are many of them-several iudges, a few members of parliament and a couple of deputy minis-

liament. She was one of those whose fammade her suspect as a candidate. Yet, she ran a vocal campaign and rejects the common accusations, including the one

ily links

about kitchens.

"Isn't the

Assembly the kitchen

National

of the state? Isn't

that indeed where laws are worked on and "cooked" until they are done? If more men had experience with all that goes on in a kitchen, they'd be better parliamentarians," she laughs.

Unfortunately, many women under-

real women," is air oftheard dismissal of

estimate the value of their six percent representation in the new National Assembly. Alvart Bedrossian is one of Armenia's most recognized and recognizable women.

them.

ters. Often less sophisticated and harsher

in behavior and

appearance,

"they're not

The "newer" women on the

scene,

most of them members of Shamiram, the political party that was the biggest surprise of the recent parliamentary elections, first came to the forefront through full-color election posters which proclaimed "love and unity." Shamiram, whose name was

well-known literary name herself, she

lost to fellow writer Vano

Siradeghian.

Most recently, she was serving as editor of

Aragast, a women's monthly newspaper

which covered literature, politics

and

social issues as well, with funding by the Boston, Massachusetts-based Armenian Relief Society (ARS), affiliated with the

of speculation as the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation-

group's origin and mission, and which barely made the registration deadline,

on all party activities was implemented,

as great a subject

pulled in more votes than the Communists or any of the other opposition groups, and came in second. Mostly younger, more sophisticated and conforming to westem perceptions of women, these new leaders, on the other hand, are referred to (both by men and women) in terms not easily repeated in polite society. Surprising, when one considers that each one of them is a proven leader in business or the profes-

sions-principal of a school, head of a printing-publishing house, director of a travel agency. The women of Shamiram have excelled in non{raditionally female fields. Yet, the fact that they made it into govemment is explained away, by male patronage. "Look at their husbands and

fathers," everyone said during the elections, referring to the famous men in their families. And when eight of them were elected, together with four other women, to bring the total number of women in parliament to 12, there was no stopping the

"The parliament has been tumed into a kitchen," complained one young wags.

man, a former university instructor. The intellectual and leadership potential of these women is frequently discountby a population which nevertheless happily elected butchers and other businessmen to the country's highest legislative body. Shogher Matevosian, who the

daughter of a famous writer, and the wife of the president's acting press secretary, is a member of the Shamiram faction in par-

Dasnaktsutiun. When the presidential ban the paper was not allowed to continue publication. Bedrossian now chairs the ARS's

Armenia affiliate, the Armenian Relief Cross (ARC).But all women don't agree on all issues any more than do all men. ARC members and Bedrossian herself are not excited by what 12 women delegates may be able to deliver on women's problems or other social issues. "If that's the quality of delegates, it's better there not be more women," she says.

Ludmilla Harutunian, who

stands

closer to the Communists on the political spectrum, agrees with Bedrossian and disagrees with those in office. A sociologist, and one of Armenia's representatives to the Soviet parliament during the last days of that body's existence, Harutunian says, "I believe this will be the last women's party, because women's image fell in the public eye [during these elections]." "When the democratic movement

began, the men utilized women in the demonstrations, in negotiations. everywhere. Then, in 1991, when they seized power, women were left out. So, women became leaders of their own organizations. defending not just women's rights, but advocating social and economic changes. The men in govemment scoffed, saying 'what women's rights, when the country is women went along with them, began presenting themselves in the traditionalist roles of wife, mother, family, etc., and not in the context of women's issues," insists Harutunian.

in this condition' and the

AIM Decrrranpn 1995 I 17

What are the women's

issues?

Harutunian identifies some of them: "There is high unemployment among women; the burden of small business and trade is usually on women's shoulders. As health conditions worsen, it is women and children who are affected. With the privatization of agriculture, increasingly, it is women who have been handed the responsibility of tilling the soil. My studies have shown that, in 1993, 50 percent of women had never had the opportunity to use contraceptives, that 75 percent had

had one to five abortions in a lifetime. And, ofcourse, there is the general socioeconomic burden of caring for a family during these dreadful times."

Harutunian and others explain Shamiram as the government's creation to

deflect women's energies away from these

difficult

problems and control the

women's vote-rather than allow the older and more established Women of the Armenian World party to rein in that

voter base, as they may have done, had the Electoral Commission actually registered them as a qualified party for the ballot, they say.

Shamiram's Matevosian,

the

other hand, sees Shamiram as the majority Hanrapetutiun (Republic) bloc's conscience, helping it stay centrist, and preventing the National Assembly from acting in a highly partisan manner. Matevosian also speaks about specific programs which Shamiram plans to implement, regardless of where the government and National Assembly stand on these issues.

"We have individually succeeded in business or in our professions; we also have achievements as women, as mothers. Now, we want to achieve rights and successes for other women, as well. Developing a legal assistance center, pro-

viding aid to the poor and the needy, establishing a women's employment information and referral center, working on providing health reform, particularly in the arena of posrnatal care. This is part of our platform, independent of our par-

ticipation

in the

legislative process,"

insists Matevosian.

Matevosian, who is in her early 30s and is head of her own printing and publishing company, rejects the possibility

l8 / AIM DECEMBER

1995

that the differences of opinion are generational. "Why should the state be obliged to help me? If I have good ideas, I must be smart enough to convince others to join in and create something real. Why does the government owe it to me?" she

rather an organization that defends the

asks.

tions.

This attitude is a tough-sell for those

retired, professional women

whose worlds have collapsed. One former librarian literally broke down as she spoke of

the immense changes in her life, "The

rights of women.

ARC, with 600 members, half of whom are between 30 and 35 years old, is, arguably, among the best organized and best funded of the women's organiza-

runs a wide array

projects to orphans, educational support, and schol-

including health care, assistance

arships.

In a country where there are only two seasons, Winter and Winter is

Soviet Union is gone, and now there is no

Coming, women cannot be blamed for not nurturing a movement which would undertake the more involved, long-term

unprotected country. We're so small. Who will help us when they trample over us? Who will help me? The government does-

programs which

one to protect me. I am alone in the world. Here in my home, in my small,

n't

provide for me, no one does. I'm alone and have to depend completely on myself." It was hard to tell whether she was talking about international geopolitics, or her own immediate micro-economic plight.

Not a Movement Yet Of 400 registered public organizations in Armenia, 22 are women's organizations. Unlike their Russian counter-

parts, Armenia's women's

groups

espouse broad, general emotional goals.

There are no organizations intent on changing the media's coverage of women, none that deal with women's unemployment, or retraining. Not unlike

their Armenian counterparts in

the

Diaspora, most associations define the role of women in nationalist terms: "The Armenian woman is the bastion of society" could be inscribed on the letterhead of any one of these groups.

Most

have charitable-philanthropic agendas. Soldier's Mother, with over 3000 members, provides humanitarian assistance, not just to the children of soldiers who have died, but also to their parents, in a society where more and more seniors are dependent on the wages of the young. The 300-plus members of the Women's Peace Congress work with single mothers, minority mothers, women who have been imprisoned or abused, or those with incurable illnesses. President Lilya Azizova. herself Assyrian, insists they are not a charitable organization.

will affect fundamental social, economic and psychological reforms in Armenia. After all, neither do the public organizations run by the male half of society.

Hranush Hakobian heads

the

Commission on Social, Health and Environmental Issues, one of the National Assembly's six permanent

commissions. She is considered the most senior among the parliament's women. Hakobian headed the Armenian delegation to the Beijing Conference.

"Ours is not a movement yet," she acknowledges, referring to women's

"lt is many of the

involvement in Armenian society.

still in formation

and

women's organizations consider the defense of the rights of women to be their ultimate goa1," Hakobian explains. No wonder, since polls commissioned by the UN show that less than 70 percent of women are aware of the republic's laws on the rights of women. Further, the law which stipulates that there be no discrimination against women, is not much good, if as another UN poll shows, "only 477o of women believe women should occupy

high level positions."

The non-discrimination law it's also true that

notwithstanding,

administrative positions are low paying, and occupied largely by women. Then, there is the high women's unemployment rate (61 percent for women vs. an official national average of 55 percent) because the public assumption is that a man needs to make a living before a woman, despite the high number of single mother households.

When will

attitudes

change?

!Bedrossian says they already have begun to change: "Just to keep the family alive, women have been going to Turkey to conduct all sorts of trade, and the man of the house goes along with this. This shows there is already a change underway."

Hakobian is a "professional parliamentarian"-she holds no other jobs. She ran against a university dean and several

deputy ministers and

won. Being a

The Rule of Law

and Judges American Jurists on Armenia's Courts

woman naturally makes the job of parlia-

ment member and commission chair more difficult. She receives no more electricity than the rest of the population, and she too must go home to cook, clean and care for children. And her husband? "He does the shopping, albeit unwillingly, and I do the rest. To tell you the truth, I don't

like it when men do

housework,"

Hakobian says near the end work day.

of a long

easy for him to find ways to communicate with the 100 plus judges of the Armenian judiciary who came to hear Scalia and Federal Court Judges Eric

Bruggink, Paul Michel and Dikran Tevrizian, California State Supreme Court Justices Armand Arabian and

The Guts of the Problem Certainly unwittingly, Hakobian puts her finger on the guts of the problem. The double standard-where one set of values and behaviors are considered acceptable for men and another for women-is generally taken for granted by women themselves. All women don't

have

ntonin Scalia, Associate of the US Supreme Court, is Italian. That made it very Justice

to want the same thing. But

all

women should have the right to a choice. And therein lies perhaps the most intricate and problematic knot that must

for the Republic of Armenia, the conference offered Armenia's jurists the

to learn from and exchange perspectives with American

opportunity

colleagues-a rare occasion, accord-

ing to Judge Barseghian,

who

explained that unlike members of the legislative and executive branches, those in the judicial system have little opportunity to come into contact with and become exposed to western sys-

Marvin Baxter, several attorneys, including human rights activist,

tems.

Herman Schwartz, during a first-time ever Judicial Conference in Yerevan

sored by the Rule of Law consortium.

this summer. In attendance were judges, prose-

The conference was co-sponthe Armenian Bar Association

and

Advocates International, whose president Attorney Sam Ericsson has been

cutors, attorneys and of course, President of Armenia's Supreme Court, Justice Dariel Barseghian.

an active participant in helping reform judicial systems in Albania,

Sponsored

Bulgaria and former Soviet bloc

Technical Assistance

be loosened before the potential of Armenia's women can truly be released. ln a society where, as Matevosian notes laughingly, "the Armenian man respects

all

women----except his wife," how can

the Armenian woman find the inner strength-and resources-to systemati-

cally move into the decision-making halls of men. and find a seat at the table? The intellectual potential that

remains untapped

will be released-

somehow. Next to the economic and political upheaval which has overtaken Armenia in these seven years, the economic, social and now political changes which have engulfed the Armenian woman during the last half century are probably the changes which have and

will

continue

to impact society

most.

Whether women's energies and abilities are channeled productively or allowed to swell and burst depends on the clarity of vision and the strength of determination

of the women-and the

far-sightedness

of the others. BY SALPI HARoUTINIAN GHAZARIAN REPoRTTNG By GoHAR Sluexlet

WITH

AIM DecrMsen

1995

takes time," Ericsson noted,

judges everywhere-and especially in

response to colleagues' concerns about the massive reform work needed to overhaul a judiciary left over

a newly developing democracy. The

states.

"It

from Soviet days, in a country with no solid institutions of legal educa-

tion-and with a new Constitution. Armenian-American attorneys Peter Kezirian and Mark Movsesian participated in discussion groups where topics ranged from ensuring judicial independence to court reform, to the development of a judicial infrastructure, to training of new jurists.

Barseghian's concerns

and

Ericsson's observations were proven true again and again, as it became obvious that a long education campaign was sorely needed to nurture the kind of .ludiciary which would be able to handle the complex, theoretical, legal and ethical issues facing

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obviously carefully read the new document, and Justice Scalia ably cited article and chapter in discussing the Constitution's provisions for presidential powers, the role of the legislature and the separation of powers"Unlike the American system with a divided, therefore weaker, legislature, the Armenian Constitution defines a strong executive and a strong legislative branch." Scalia observed that, although different from the US Constitution,

appropriateness of jury trials, the essential importance of a clean system of search and seizure, the funda-

mental nature of defendants' rights-

these and other problems which must

be thoroughly examined and ruled upon by the judiciary require "conscientious, independent, courageous"

judges, noted Scalia, during his keynote address on "The Role of the

Iudiciary

Constitutional in Interpretation." Funded by the US Agency for International Development and orga-

nized by TARA directors

"is a good

Armenia's Constitution

document," but that the text itself must be buttressed by carefullY-

Najarian and Daniel Maljanian, the

developed legislation, able judges and constitutional amendments when nec-

conference was perfectly timed, as

essary.

Nancy

convened just weeks after the passage

Armenia's new Constitutionwhich was the topic on everyone's mind. The American specialists had

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Cdla[tnalim Finsl Unity LaIe l} Two New Catholicoses in One Year

The Catholicossal election

that was held in Ejmiatsin, April 3-5 of this year, was an event of many historical

firsts. The National Ecclesiastical

Assembly (NEA), the highest legislative body of the Armenian Church, convened for the first time in 40 years. The election took place for the first time in a free and independent Armenian Republic. For the first time in history the Catholicos of the

{'.

l']

:j"

of Cilicia was elected Catholicos of All Armenians. Four hundred Armenians from five continents, speaking different languages

Great House

with various cultural idiosyncracies, deliberated for almost 10 hours, and on the third ballot, Catholicos Karekin II of Cilicia was elected the 13 1 st Catholicos of All Armenians. However, the entire process of his nomination and eventual election was eclipsed by the issue of church unity. Many had thought that with the election

one See.

[n the wake of the

over the ordination and consecration of the new Catholicos, in the presence ofthe respective patriarchs of Constantinople

be resolved.

and Jerusalem.

First Six Months

Archbishop Aram Keshishian, 48, of Lebanon, as Catholicos of Cilicia, was

Catholicos Karekin, there would come a de facto unity in the Armenian Church. But that did not happen. Contrary to popular perception. church unity does not mean the merger of the two Sees (Ejmiatsin and Cilicia) into election,

Khachig Babikian, Chairman of theWorld National Church Assembly of the Cilician See, told this writer in an interview in Beirut, that "there was a lot of inesponsible and uneducated discussion on this issue. For example, some people were saying now that Catholicos Karekin has come to Ejmiatsin, why do you need to have an election for a second Catholicos in Antelias. Unfortunately, this is a very

superhcial and irresponsible approach. This See-with its institutions and related

bodies, with its Brotherhood, with its Theological Seminary-has become an essential entity in Armenian life." In practical terms, at best, church unity will mean the resolution of the diocesan divisions in North America, Iran and Greece-the first being the most con-

troversial. High ranking officials both in

the first time in the history of the church, the Catholicos of All Armenians presided

Ejmiatsin and Antelias believe that, with the election of Karekin I as Catholicos of All Armenians, the modus operandi of the Armenian Church will change and in time, the issue of diocesan divisions will

The newly-elected Catholicos has a

full

agenda for the immediate future. To carry out his work, however, his first task must be to recruit a team of able staff and modernize the dilapidated administrative machinery of the Catholicosate. His second, and one for which he is most suited, is to re-connect with the people. His hrst trip outside Ejmiatsin was to the earthquake-stricken region of northem Armenia, where he brought a message of hope and caring to a still homeless and jobless population. This was followed by an official visit to Karabakh, the first by

Armenian Catholicos in decades. Karekin I's first official trip outside Armenia was to Moscow, where together an

with the religious head of

the

Azerbaijanis, he participated in talks on the spiritual welfare of the people in the war-tom region.

However, the most watched trip of all was the retum of Karekin I to Antelias, on the inevitable occasion of the election of his successor to the throne of the Cilician See. This election, too, which took place on June 28, had some historical firsts. For

expected,

the election

carefully orchestrated by the Armenian Revolutionary FederationDashnaktsutiun (ARF,) which has had a Cilician See since the mid 1950s. Aram I of Cilicia, is like Karekin I, active in ecumenical circles and is currently Moderator of the World Council of Churches-his term expires in 1998. While the personal differences and sometimes open feud between Karekin

and then Archbishop Aram are a matter

public knowledge, church unity was

prevalent theme in all of Catholicos Aram

I's public comments. "He stressed the to promote the unity of the church, through collaboration with the Holy See of Ejmiatsin," affirmed Catholicos Karekin I. It remains to be seen whether such discussion will trickle down to the rank and file clergy and members. For now, the prospects are not very bright. It is expected that the status quo of the Armenian need

Church will continue in the next few years, with only some cosmetic changes. sv

HRATcH

Tcau-nvcnm

AIM DecBMsrn 1995

/ 2l

A Day ln The lile ol YEREVAN MAYOR Uahault lfiauhatrian ffi

8 a.m., vahagn Khachatrian

enters theYerevan City Council building.

It is Monday and seven deputy

mayors

and 60 heads of departments are waiting

for the start of the weekly administrative

meeting. These meetings have not changed much in the course of three dif-

ferent mayoral administrations, except perhaps in the way the mayor speaks. Instead of shouting at his subordinates, or

cursing, Khachatrian speaks in

a low

voice, and the room is nearly silent. He talks about everyday problems-water, electricity, collecting rubbish, organizing roof repairs. But today's meeting is different. Khachatrian also announces the need to plan for Yerevan 2000, where the City Council as a whole will participate in the long-term social and economic planning necessary to

retum the level of city services at least to those of the

mid

1980s.

The 60-plus attendees are mostly in their 40s, some new to their posts, others veteran bureaucrats. Khachatrian, 36, is an economist who became city manager at a time when Yerevan and Armenia suffered the worst winters in memory. Elected to the post in December, 1992, after the resignation of Hambartsum Galstian, Khachatrian was not a member

of the ruling Armenian National Movement. His task, however, required

coordinating the nearly 200 members of the City Council (a body which is the last to have been elected by the city residents new large--according

to the

Constitution, the new City Council will be appointed.) Khachatrian had to find an effective path between the political ambitions of the different political parties represented in the Council and and the public's daily needs. Perhaps this is why the administrators closest to him, including the deputy mayors, are representatives of

different political parties the Republican party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARFDashnaktsutiun)-- or, like the mayor himself, aren't members of any party.

Its the Water During his first year in office, when the Mayor was asked which of the city's many problems was his top priority. Khachatrian quickly responded, "Water." Although not as acute, it's a problem still. In the good old Soviet days ofplentiful electrical pumps which delivered water from any mountain stream to any

part of the city, Khachatrian's predeces-

22 t xtvt

DECEMBER 1995

sors did not need to worry about water distribution. Since 1993, Khachatrian and his staff have developed complex, sometimes convoluted ways to utilize natural flow without depending on pumps in an electricity-starved environment. Clearly accustomed to regular technical reports

about everything from water

emer-

gency services, those at the meeting hear

about experts from the US and France who have participated in new systems design.

The agenda moves along smoothly.

It has to. Khachatrian has another weekly meeting. As Mayor of Yerevan, home to half the republic's nearly 4 million population, Khachatrian is an official member of the Armenian Govemment Presidium-

-the executive body

of the President's

Cabinet.

When he leaves, the telephones don't stop. Members of the public come in and out asking to meet the Mayor. A polite secretary instructs them to register on the first floor and retum at 3:00 p.m. the same day for the Mayor's official weekly public session. Khachatrian's staff knows when to catch him. Immediately upon his retum at 1l a.m. two deputies appear, together

with the Chief Architect of the City of Yerevan, the secretary of the City Council, the head of the flnance depafiment and the head of the social economic development department. Already, the Yerevan 2000 planning is beginning.

Worldl War." A woman is near tears. "My

Yerevan 2000

"I want us to talk about the

prob-

lems. Some of them are obvious but we have to hgure out how to solve them: restoring distribution of natural gas to homes, the improvement of the water supply system, regular rubbish pickup. I need real figures. Also, twice a month we'll discuss the direction of our urban planning, and get experts and residents to participate," stresses Khachatrian. A topic that keeps coming up is the

environment. Yerevan is a dusty city under the best of circumstances. With the severe tree cutting of the last two cold winters, the dust problem is worse. More planting is the answer. Residents from the eastem part of the city come to ask to lease unused land, plant it and reap the harvest. This is a project that is close to the mayor's heart, because it also offers

environmental solutions.

Coordinating Council

When

the

Armenian

Women approaches him for help in a public information campaign to raise awareenvironmental issues, Khachatrian jumps right in. Khachatrian is a diagnostician. He identifies the problems and his staff must

ness on

find ways to solve them. When a staff member fails, his frequent admonition is, "Fine, I'll do it. I'll do your job, too." The staff member, of course, goes to work on the problem some more.

Fighting the Good War There is little time to pause in Khachatrian's day. After a few more meetings--one with a reporter and another with his press secretary, he begins to tackle the dozens of pages of documents which cross his desk daily. Everything from a confidential document from the Ministry of State Security ro rhe daily price report on common commodities.

Reports Armenian, English and Russian must be read and acted upon. And then comes the emotional highpoint of the day--meetings with members of the public. The mayor is accompanied

by the deputy mayor responsible for

son sold our home to cover his debts, took

his wife and went to Russia. I have no place to live. Help me!" Another old woman comes in. "I was wounded twice in the Great Patriotic War. I was harrassed

as a traitor to the Motherland. Please, allow me to open a shop near my home." Khachatrian is very careful. He tries not to say no. Yet, his standard line is, "Your problem will be resolved within the extent of the law." People are still waiting to share their problems, when Khachatrian has to hurry offto a meeting of the full Cabinet, where there is a discussion on changes mandated by the new Constitution. And water again. Immediately upon

his return at 7:30 p.m., he meets Yugoslav businessman, who installing a new device

placed on his big desk, near the Holy

Bible, a stack of newspapers,

Then, it's back to planning Yerevan 2000. Now, the participants delve into every detail, including the principles guiding the formation of a water tax, and what the municipality should do with the rubbish chutes.

invites the head of the finance department join them. "How much money can you give to Winter 9596? You were supposed to have that figure days ago!" to

law, they can't stand each other. Give me a small flat. I am a veteran of the [Second

Meanwhile, the night appears

secretary

for the third shift. He is followed

by the secretary of the Executive Committee, holding three thick files of documents. Some Khachatrian signs, a few he sends back for revision, and others he puts on his desk "to work on later." Now, he deals with the intemational connections: letters from the mayors of Ottawa and Vancouver, and articles in foreign joumals.

It's 1l:30 p.m. but you

wouldn't

know it by looking at Khachatrian. Once again, he calls the hrst vice mayoq Yuri Bachshian. "Before we start the serious discussion, make a note--there's something wrong with the bear at the zoo. Tomorrow, I want more information." AII three clocks on the mayor's desk show midnight. He remembers he hasn't eaten anything all day and takes out two peaches.

"Is this how you eat all the time?"

"Normally, yes, outside of official receptions and luncheons." After a 16hour work day, the mayor decrees: "OK, let's go home." Walking down the stairs, I ask his assistants, "Do you work this late

"Only if there are no emergencies. there are, then we work longer." PHoros

**l;#t,ff

HffX,TX

'About 200 million drams." Khachatrian is pleased with the

answer.

The

winters

most serious chal-

hoping for a "fair solution." elderly. "We eat separately," says a man in his 70s. "My wife and my daughter-in-

1994, centralized heating was restored to

some parts of the city, and authorities tried to secure round-the-clock heating for hospitals. The smooth operation of bread bakeries, as well as fuel distribution to at-risk groups and schools were also priorities.

every day?"

Winter Again It is 9:20 p.m. when Khachatrian

others. each Most are

several

economics texts, a notebook computer, a couple of daily logs and three clocks. On a small table nearby, there are seven telephones and an indicator that displays the frequency in the electricity network.

are perhaps

He meets about 30 residents. each

manage the water supply and the sewage system. As a result, another package of documents is

housing problems, the chief counsel and

with his or her own problems and

a suggests

make the following winters bearable. In

lenge for

the the

municipal authorities. After the terrible winter of 199293, Khachatrian

and his

staff

worked hard

AIM

DECEMBER 1995

BEING TrlERE Austrian Photoiournalist Christoph Lingg Joined 14 Austrian doctors and nurses on a trip to Kurdistan.

Ithough

Free Republic of

Kurdistan was proclaimed with Arbil as its capital soon after the end of the Gulf War, its lands are largely comprised of those parts of lraq from which Saddam Hussein was driven by the

Allied Forces. Kurdistan also claims territory from Armenia, Syria, Turkey and lraq. These countries all seem to think that most of Kurdistan's territories belong to it only in its imagination. But what is real enough in Kurdistan is starvation. war and misery.

"We want to show them that the knows or at least Austria about their problems, and that we support the Kurdish nation in these difTicult times," said one member of the team of medical personnel who had given up three weeks ol their holidays to make the trip. They brought with world

them hundreds of thousands of dotlars of medical equipment and medicine. They all know how risky the situation is fbr fbreigners. Since the beginning oi March. Hussein has announced a bounty of $10.000 for the capture of fbreigners in the region. Kurdistan has arrested two of three presumed murder-

ol the German journalist Lissy Schmidt, who along with a bodyguard was killed near Sulaimaniya in north-

ers

eastern Iraq.

The visit to the hospital

the

northern city of Dohuk clearly demonstrated the problems awaiting the doctors. Compared to Western standards, the hygienic conditions are catastrophic. No normal operation has been performed here in seven months. Only the worst of emergencies are treated. There is a lot ol Western medical equipment,

but most

of it is inoperable

because

there are no spare parts.

The problem is no different in the capital. There is no lack of staff but a definite lack of equipment and medicine.

four hospitals of Arbil, the

They say the only Kurds who eat regularly are those whose relatives send them food or money from abroad. The bombing of Kurdish towns and cities by Turkey and Iran goes on regularly.

24 IAIMI DECEMBER

Igq5

Abdulla is five years old. He lost both eyes and his right forearm because of exploding mines.

'His father remembers. "l was working outside the house as he came running through thc field, laughing. 'Look, papa, look what a funny-looking toy I have found.'It was too late. I wanted to yell at him to throw it away, but it was already too late." Exact numbers are hard to come by, but it is estimated that there are 15

to 20 million land mines, mostly of Czech or Italian manufacture. scattered

throughout Kurdistan by the former Iraqi police and military. Most mines are still to be found along the borders,

bul lhey are also in lhe mountainous regions, having floated down through the melting snows and rainfall. Rarely a day goes by that Dr. Salah

Rasha, director

of the hospital

Sulaimaniya, doesn't see a mutilated child, farmer or shepherd. One day last spring, he saw 30 such cases.

By walking through the

hospital

ward, one quickly realizes that the war continues in Kurdistan an insidious war without visible opponents, a war against which there is no way to defend oneself, yet a war that continues day after day claiming victims and a war whose end is nowhere in sight. Ali Abdul Hassen, 27, is considered a great hero by the Kurds. He doesn't get paid for what he does, but he is celebrated as one of the few who

Iraq, with an international embargo against it, has also imposed its own embargo on Kurdistan. As a result, there is a shortage of almost everything. Inflation is high, with the price

of gasoline, for

example, increasing five to seven times in just a few days. A pound of meat costs nearly half an average monthly salary. Of the 4500 villages which were destroyed by the Iraqis, only a handful have been rebuilt. There are only a few existing factories, but they aren't operating because of the West's embargo. The greatest economic progress has been in agriculture; if all goes accord-

ing to plan, in five years that should produce results and perhaps close to a million jobs. The refugees are still there, and still miserable, living in camps, with no income except that which comes by selling the kerosene which international relief organizations have given them.

risks his life to deactivate mines. A short while ago, he sacrificed his second leg; and as soon as he can get artificial limbs he vows he will continue ferreting out land mines. The chairman of the Patriotic Union Kurdistan arranged a marriage for him to show his nation's gratitude.

Sorrowfully, Hassen recalls his last visit from his three-year-old daughter who said, "You are not my father, because you don't even have legs."

Kurdish leaders say that for centuries their nation has been dreaming of having its own state, and now that they have one, of sorts, the world neither recognizes nor helps them.

Said Kurdish leader

Mustafa

Barzan| who has become a legend of sorts,"We are the orphans of the universe."

But he expects that to change one day.

Trxr lNo Pnoros sy

AIM

CHnrsropH

Lhrcc

DBcBNrnen 1995

I 25

l"gJe-.

ln Search ol l[Etnl Ualue$ A Russian Parliamentarian Remembers the Beginning of Armenia's Democracy Movement and Looks to the Future.

alina Starovoitova first rose to prominence in the late 1980s as a human rights advocate and close associate of Andrei Sakharov, then emerged as a pacesetter in the campaign for democratic

and in many cases, is still in power in Russia. That is why many people who are looking for new leaders and a new system ofvalues are disappointed. Considering that the

In addition, she eamed special admiration in Armenia for championing

transition has been harder

the self-determination struggle of

on women, how are women

reform.

Armenians

the

Mountainous Karabakh.

When the Russian Federation was established, Starovoitova served as a key adviser to President Boris Yeltsin on nationalities issues. Forced out of the govemment in mid-1992 by conservative opponents. today, she heads the Federated Party of Democratic Russia and is a prospective candidate for president.

native

of the Ural city of

Chetyabinsk, she grew up in Leningrad and was drawn to politics by events rather than ambition. For most of her career, she

was

at the Institute of of the USSR Academy of

scholar

Ethnography Sciences.

In the mid-1980s,

she conductand

ed field studies in Transcaucasia developed expertise on Karabakh.

AIM: What are the political

prospects

of the democratic forces in

Russia? Starovoitova: The roots of democracy were not implanted immediately after

the apparent victory of democracy in It was a semi-victory, because the Communist nomenklatura retained power,

Russia.

represented in Russian politics? The few women in positions of power are responsible mostly for "soft" branches of the government, not for security-related spheres. They have no access to real decision-making. This is true despite the fact that women played a very important role in the process of democratization and in electoral campaigns. The idea o[ promoting women to higher positions is becoming more attractive, especially since the beginning of the Chechen war. People are disappointed in the behavior of male politicians. At the same time, I would like to underline that women are better prepared for the current transition than men. Even in the days of Soviet stagnation, wo-men were forced to use their wits to find decent food, to place their children in good schools. Women were naturally more resourceful, more entrepreneurial, more able to take initiative. How has the disintegration of the Soviet empire affected Russian selfimage?

It was a real crisis of ethnic identity

for many Russians. Geography plays

very important role in Russian ethnic consciousness. To some extent, it has replaced the idea of history. At the beginning of this

century,

a Russian philosopher

wrote

about the power of space over the Russian soul. When this ethnic space shrank, it was very painful and unexpected. Only now, four years after the break-up of the

Soviet Union. have Russians started to touch, to feel, and to explore this new space as the ethnic territory of Russia.

Will T[anscaucasia remain an area of vital interest for Russia, especially in

26 I AIM DECEMBER

1995

light of the war in Chechnya?

was an advisor to Yeltsin, I and several ofhis advithe significance sors) Transcaucasus area for Russian interesls, and as obedient pupils they listened to me on several occasions for up to an hour. I also personally acquainted Yeltsin with President [Levon] Ter-Petrossian and kept

When

explained

(to him

the

for half a year from Azerbaijani President [Ayaz] Mutalibov. I Yeltsin away

explained that the historical contradictions between Russia and Turkey could not be

forgotten, and that after the break-up of the Soviet Union, if Russia doesn't, then a

third country such as Turkey or Iran will ry to gain dominance over this region as well as Central Asia. Russia, historically, has expended great effort to extend its political and cultural influence over the Transcaucasus. To just leave it and withdraw, is not reasonable. In the end, an empire has some responsibilities toward its former colonies, at least initially. Have Armenia's diplomatic efforts been perceived in Moscow as competent and professional? Until the appointment of Yuri Mkrtumian as ambassador, Armenian policy in Moscow was not sufficiently active.

think the president of Armenia should visit Moscow more often than he visits

Armenian communities abroad.

Moreover, the Armenian embassy has not

responded quickly enough

disinfor-

mation. I have often asked why they did not refute a statement in the mass media. The answer has been, "It does not matter."

Initially,

I think Armenia won the infor-

republics. We also know all too well about

the retum

censorship

the

mass

media. Few steps have been taken to improve the political system. As a result, many members of parliament have lost the respect of their constituents, often because

they are busier with their private affairs

than with their public duties. Many appointments to offrce are made on the of party affiliation, specifically membership in the Armenian National Movement, rather than on professional qualifications.

basis

What about the people of

left of the sense of empowerment generated by the Armenia? What's pared than other activists

govem Armenia. But people feel that there is no sense of morality in current policy.

How does Armenia's political

mation war, but lately it has been losing. Do you foresee a resolution to the

Karabakh conflict?

think we will still see attempts to resolve the problem through the use of force, not through negotiations. I have no illusions, unlike many of my friends in Armenia and Unfortunately,

development compare to other former Soviet republics? Armenia was the frst of the former Soviet republics to fully follow the letter of the law regarding secession from the Soviet Union. Everything went very smoothly. After gaining independence,

Armenia was initially successful in the

bfcnhu

in Russia as elections approach is the same. We all should think together how to overcome the apathy and moral vacuum that affects our peoples' By MARK MALKASTAN PHCTTOS

BY ZAVEN KHACHIKIAN

restoration, these early disc recordings

Komitas have been digitally remastered from the original 1912 French Archive Recordings made before his death in Paris. Fifteen songs beautifully preserved in this deluxe I25th Anniversary CD edition including a booklet with rare photographs and detailed liner notes in Armenian and English about Komitas and his music.

Armenia has lost its intellectual potential. of well-educated, capable young people who left thought they were going only temporarily. But it is difficult to go back, once you have ajob and a new life.The other reason is perhaps even more psychologiimportant than economics cal disillusionment. Some say that even in

CD $15. Cass. $I0.

Total

Tirr Vorcs or Kovrres Vennepsr

some great idea: fighting against fascism.

Name

The difficulties were

Address

Now, they do not have a common goal. They are disappointed in the leadership.

City, State

This is true despite the fact that Irvon Ter

Zip Code

Petrossian still has support within his country and he was probably better pre-

cons. Unfortunately. lhe situation

I(OMIIA$ UARIIAPEI

The majority

understandable.

where to find new values and new bea-

Hear the actual voice of Komitas Vardapet singing his own works and playing the piano. Using state of the art computer audio

did you see? One of my chief concems is that

was easier than now because they were at least inspired by

too

naive and hopeful at that time. Now they are rather disoriented and do not know

IHE UOIGE OF

last

II, it

full of hope. They think they were

qnUhSUU LLUn+U{nbSq

December for the funeral of your friend, Hambartsum Galstian. What

World War

ancient history, a romantic period that was

privatization of land. The parliament was never dissolved, unlike in many other

Karabakh who think that they can keep these occupied territories as a bargaining chip and that Armenians will be forever successful on the battlefield. If we compare the resources of Armenia and Azerbadan, the difference is quite sizeable.

You visited Armenia

demonstrations in 1988? People who I meet remember that

ADITIONAL PO Box 20320 Greeley Square Station New York. NY 1000I-9992 USA AIM Decerrasrn

1995

I 27

Froln lho 0round

l|[

Yankee Know-How and Armenian Sawy Link Forces to Farm the Land

the structure of Armenian agriculture.

ith a can of tuna fish, John Manou. a volunteer technical assistant with the Armenian Technology Group (AIG), achieved a breakthrough of sorts in the wheat fields of Armenia. The tuna was Manou's contribution

specialty crops, especially grapes and tree fruit. Little thought was given to the

to an open-air lunch. Three

development

farmers,

working alongside, supplied freshbaked lavash. Somewhere during their improvised meal, a bond of trust and respect was forged between Manou, a farm machinery specialist from Fresno, Califomia, and his Armenian colleagues. The connection between the ATG

and Armenian wheat

farmers

between American expertise and postSoviet Armenian agriculture is in many respects an odd one. As -a nation,

Armenia is fighting to feed itself

and

survival. ln the economic sphere, the fate of Armenian agriculture is linked to the viability of private land

ensure

its

Under the Soviet system, every region had an assigned role in Moscow's master plan. Many of Armenia's 600 collective farms were geared toward producing

sector.

of a balanced agricultural

The

independent Armenian republic, however, possessed neither a market for its agricultural exports nor the capacity to meet Armenia's needs for grain, milk and other staple items. The second problem hit home even harder. Azerbaijan's transportation and energy blockade, plus Armenia's lack of

export prospects, cut the republic ofT from essential agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, seeds. and fuel for traclors, irrigation pumps and other farm machinery. As Armenia scrambled to adjust to

tized. A new class of 250.000 rural landowners was created almost overnight. To this day, no other former Soviet republic has matched Armenia's progress in land reform. According to conventional econom-

ic wisdom, Armenia's land privatization did not make much sense. Other countries that had divided large land holdings into small plots had generally witnessed a drop in productivity and efficiency in the countryside. A member of ATG's

of directors even advised the Armenian government to create l'arms large enough to .lustify the mechanization and investment of modem agricul-

board

ture.

Armenia's privatization program. however, coincided with a period of economic upheaval that tumed conventional rules upside down. Without fuel to run machinery. large-scale larming operations crumbled. The country was thrown back into the 19th century, with many farmers reduced to a subsistence level.

countryside is a battleground between govemment bureaucrats and individual

statehood, the United Nations World Food Programme classified the country as suffering from "pre-famine" conditions. The years 7992 and 1993 were the worst, but Armenia managed to survive.

farmers. The Fresno-based ATG has positioned itself in the middle of the

was partly responsible.

Those with access to lransporlation trucked their surplus fruits and vegetables into the cities. Others dried or canned their produce to sell during the

European Union.

winter months. To a large extent, hand labor substituted for gasoline and diesel fuel.

ownership and the free-market economic system. Within the political arena, the

struggle.

Evolution of a crisis Like many of Armenia's

of Soviet rule in Armenia in

1920.

Sovietization transformed the local economy. Most of Armenia's food, including 80 percent of its wheat, was brought in from other republics. But as the Soviet empire began to unravel, the disintegration of trade ties among the former Soviet republics contributed to a regional economic crisis.

For the Armenian farmer, the break-up of the Soviet Union presented two immediate problems. The first involved

DeceNrsen 1995

In 1994, nearly 80 percent of Armenia's wheat was donated by the United States and the

current

pressure points, the roots oftoday's agricultural crisis go back to the imposition

28 IAI]M

International humanitarian assistance

The privatization gamble At least as important, however, was Armenia's land privatization program. Shortly after taking the helm of govem-

ment

in August 1990, Levon

Ter

Petrossian pushed through legislation to tum Armenia's farmland over to the peo-

ple who tilled the soil. In the spring of 1991, collective farms throughout the republic were divided into roughly equal parcels. Each parcel was then assigned randomly to a family in the collective.

Within a few months, 80 percent of Armenia's arable land had been priva-

Ishkhan Mardirosian, Armenia's deputy minister of agriculture is convinced that privatization was the difference between life and death in Armenia. "If you do a thorough analysis, you will see that the private farmer, on his tiny plot, has produced a great deal for Armenia, and to a large extent, rescued us from famine," he said. Arthur Hazarabedian, chairman of AIG's board and a frequent visitor to Armenia's countryside, concedes that subsistence farming has worked where agribusiness would have failed. "The small-scale farmer," he observed,

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"somehow finds feed for his animals, kills the weeds himself, and picks off the insects from his plants by hand." Since the end ol the Soviet era, Hazarabedian estimates, vegetable production in Armenia has increased three or four times.

Land privatization has also resulted in larger political and economic benefits. In Russia. Ukraine and most other for-

mer Soviet states, the largely unrelormed agricultural sector remains

sinkhole of govemment subsidies and a stubbom obstacle to free-market economic reform. In contrast, Armenia's new class of small farmers is likely to oppose any political party that seeks to roll back privatization. A spirit of entrepreneurship is gradually seeping into the countryside, spurring the formation of farmer cooperatives and small businesses serving the agricultural sector. "By giving land to the peasants," former Economy Minister Armen Yeghiazarian

recently told the Financial Times, "we

The financial component Armenian agriculture also

demands

urgent attention. Ishkhan Mardirosian believes that the government should step in to help launch a bank geared specifically to the needs of farmers. He also feels that there is a role for the state in priming the functions of the marketplace.

"There are farmers today with apricots ready to sell but they don't know where to sell them," Mardirosian said. "They bring some to market. Middlemen come and buy a share and take it to Russia or somewhere to sell. What's lacking is a clear structure so the farmer can sell his produce." Finally, the legacy of Soviet communism stands in the way of progress. The Soviet Union's isolation from the West caused Armenia to miss out on seven decades of scientific and technological advancements related to agriculture. At the same time, the Soviet com-

created a rural bourgeoisie."

mand economy's hierarchical nature and stranglehold on the flow of information conspired to hold back Armenia's peas-

Thinking long term

antry.

For all of their hard work and ingenuity, Armenia's farmers have done little more than help their counlry survive. Overall farm production has declined since independence. Scant progress has been made in setting up an agricultural service sector to provide equipment repair and the sale of farm supplies. Moreoveq an agribusiness infrastructure linking rural areas to urban consumers, much less to export markets, has yet to be established. ATG Project Coordinator Gagik Mkrtchian estimates that, in some regions, 50-60 percent of the land lies

fallow because farmers lack seed. fuel and other essentials.

Since a moratorium on land sales

was lifted last year, a few among Armenia's 250.000 small farmers have sold their plots. Others have pooled their resources with their neighbors to restore the economies of scale that the Soviet collectives sought to achieve. In the Talin region in western Armenia, Zakar Hakobian has managed to prevent the break-up of a former collective. With the

of the villagers of

"In the past, the Ministry of Agriculture told the farmer when to plant, when to rotate crops, when to harvest, etc. The average worker on a col-

lective farm often didn't know why,"

explained Varoujan

Der

Simonian.

ATG's executive director.

According to Sarkis

Sarabian,

ATG's president and a lruit grower near

Fresno,

the independent Republic of

Armenia inherited a solid foundation of scholarship in the agricultural sciences. The problem, however, was the absence of a mechanism to transfer scientific research to the fields. New findings were often kept within the confines of academia. As a result. Armenian farmers are often woefully lacking in the basics of agronomy.

Jim Bauder, a professor at Montana University and a specialist in highaltitude wheat cultivation, served as an AIG technical adviser in Armenia in State

1994.

"The

f-armers have an enthusiastic

attitude," Bauder said, "but they do not understand the critical nature of some of

Nerkin

the basic principles of production agri-

Sasnashen, Hakobian oversees farming on nearly 500 acres. Compared to neigh-

culture, such as seed quality, pest control, timeliness, grain handling and stor-

boring villages, Hakobian claims, the

age."

expenses of Nerkin Sasnashen are lower and the income higher.

ly in Mexico and Pakistan, found

approval

/anraDsceNreen 1995

Bauder, who has worked extensive-

Armenian farmers particularly handi-

by the patemalism of Soviet communism. "Because of the past 70 capped

Armenian technicians, supervised by seven American advisors, have been employed by AIG to monitor the pro-

impact. The installation of drip irrigation is viewed as a high priority, especially

after 1993 and 1994 saw the worst

years of having nearly everything provided to them, there is hesitancy to try anything new," he said, "as if they are waiting for the govemment to come and take care of their problems." Meanwhile, Bauder said, Armenia's bureaucracy is

ject. A $l million extension of the USAID grant has funded the project

eager to keep farmers in their place. 'Armenian ofhcials are still operating

University of Califomia at Davis, and Sarabian, ATG drew on the long-standing presence of Armenian-American

has no business growing wheat. It's not economically viable," he said. "But this is a question of survival." Hazarabedian also hopes that the wheat seed project will have a lasting impact by setting new standards for field research and by introducing Armenian farmers to improved planting methods. For example, AIG advisors have helped wheat growers to reduce the amount of seed planted per acre from 312 pounds to 134 pounds with equal or higher yields. Another spin-off of the wheat seed

farmers

project with long-term implications is

and open the door to export possibilities.

California's rich San Joaquin Valley.

AIG's effort to improve Armenia's farm

Like other Armenian-American organizations, AIG was spurred to action by the devastating earthquake that struck

machinery. The Soviet-era combines and land levelers in use in the republic were designed for the flat steppes of Russia and Ukraine, not the rocky, rolling hills of Armenia. As John Manou discovered during his first trip to Armenia in 1993,

Finally, AIG hopes to foster a new relationship between academics and farmers

under a system of control, sometimes for their own benefit."

ATG's contribution WhenAIG was formed in

1989, the

organization's founders had little inkling of the momentous events that lay ahead. The brainchild of Hazarabedian, a pro-

fessor

veterinary medicine at the

in the

northern Armenia

development of

December 1988.

Since then, AIG has tackled both long and short term problems. The group's most substantial endeavor so far a wheat seed project is directed primarily to Armenia's -immediate needs. In 1992, AIG began

planting more than 30 varieties of American winter and spring wheat on trial plots in Armenia. Thanks to a $1.65 million grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the wheat seed project was greatly expanded in 1994. The funding has allowed ATG to procure nearly 5,000 metric tons of wheat seed for Armenia

through 1995. Hazarabedian is the first

to admit

that the cultivation of wheat does not play to Armenia's strengths. 'Armenia

the combines were scooping up too many rocks, along with wheat kemels, during the harvest. The result was a high portion of cracked kernels, thus leading to costly rot. Manou helped modify the height of the cutter blades on the combines to match Armenia's terrain. Then,

in an American-built land leveler, demonstrated its functions to

izer and energy, while helping to revitalize the country's vegetable greenhouses. Similarly, efficiency is the rationale behind ATG's plan to improve Armenia's agricultural packing and stor-

age capabilities. Lightweight wooden crates and boxes made from recycled

cardboard would sharply reduce the amount of fruits and vegetables lost to

rot. Energy resources permitting, development

the

refrigerated storage

facilities would provide more consumers with fresh produce in the winter months

in Armenia. The model would be

the

Cooperative Agriculture Extension System of California, which was established to ensure that the research of the state's university system reached the fields.

0vercoming cultural barriers AIG organizers feel that they have already hurdled many of the cultural and

political barriers that have blocked other non-profit organizations in Armenia.

he brought

Farmers as a group, and especially in the former Soviet Union, do not like change.

farmers and engineers and with funding from USAID, he has helped a factory in Kamo, near Lake Sevan, manufacture 50 similar machines.

Manou recalls from his first visit to

from US and Russian

suppliers. (Another US grant of $l million paid for transportation costs.) More than 6,000 Armenian farmers have participated in the project, planting 60,000 acres of land throughout Armenia---Z7 O of those acres in Nerkin Sasnashen. Sixty-seven

in 35 years. Drip irrigation 4 ns1yys1ft of pipes which - and fertilizers directly to brings water individual plants would greatly boost - the fertile, but arid, the productivity of Ararat Valley. Drip irrigation would also allow Armenia to conserve water, fertildroughts in Armenia

Targeting assistance While continuing to grapple with present demands, ATG's organizers have

also identified the areas of Armenian agriculture in which Westem expertise

and technology

will

have the most

Armenia that many farmers feared that he was a spy. Building trust was a gradual process.

sat with the farmers

fields," Manou explained.

their

sweat with them. I ate and drank with them. Once they see that you're for real, once they believe in you, then they start sharing what's in their heart." At the same time, AIG representa-

AIM Decrunpn

1995

I 3l

tives were forced

develop another

strategy to deal with Armenian officials clinging to the status quo. Several of

AIG's initial

encounters with Soviet-era

bureaucrats were uneasy. Hazarabedian recounts that officials were frequently interested in protecting their turf, even to the point of derailing ATG's projects. In the last couple of years, however, both sides have learned to adjust.

"You can't go in there like gangbusters and change everything. You have to work within their system," said Hazarabedian "You pay yourrespects to the older guys and let them open doors for you and then you work with the younger guys to accomplish something." With six years of experience in Armenia, AIG knows enough about how Armenia

works

appreciate

the

country's

strengths and weaknesses. Armenia's

relatively high level of education has produced significant payoffs in the area of technical assistance. The five ATG advisors in Armenia in 1994, for example, trained 40 local agronomists who, in

turn, reached 6,500 farmers.

Several

advisors reporl that in one or two visits to Armenia they have had as much impact as a decade of work in the United States.

What does the future hold for Armenian agriculture and ATG? Hazarabedian and Sarabian believe that

Armenia has the potential to become agriculturally self-reliant, if not self-sufficient, by producing specialty crops and importing grain with the export eamings. Their hopes are riding on apricots. tomatoes, cognac, perhaps even soybean oil or cheese. As for AIG, the prospects for continued US government support

are dwindling. (The $91,000 in grants AIG recently received from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to expand farming among Armenian refugees in the Lake Sevan region is viewed as an exception to the general trend in funding.) AIG's wheat seed project is USAID's only, and most likely final, agricultural program in the Caucasus. AIG board members recognize that they will need to tum to privale sources (such as the Lincy Foundation, which recently contributed $100,000) to fund the extensive list of projects they have drawn up. As any farmer knows, the land waits for no one. BY MARK MALKASIAN

32 I

AIM. DrcErasEn 1995

Statmant ot OwneEhip,

Hamgemt

altd Carculation

PublicationTitle:AlM (Armenian lnternationalMaguine) 2. Publiâ&#x201A;Źtion No.:'1050-347'1 3. Filing Date:'10/'12l1995 4. lssue Frequency: Monthly 5. No. of lssues Published Annually: 12 6. Annual Sub$ription Price: $45, $50 & $55 7. Complete 1.

MailingAddressof KnwnOtficeof PubliGlion(NotPrinte4:207S.BrandBlvd.#'107,Glendale,CA91204

Contactfurson:

Salpi H. Ghuarian Telephone (818) 246-7979 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of

Publisher(NotPrinter):207S.BrandBlvd.#107,Glendale,CA91204 9.Full NamesandCompleteMailingAddresesof Publisher,Edito(andManagingEditor: PublisherSalpi H.Ghaarian20TS.BrandBlvd.#107,Glendale,CA91204 Editor Salpi H. chuarian 207 S. Brand Blvd. #107, Glendale, CA 91204 Managing Editor N/A 10. Owner: Full Name Fourth Millennium Society/Non-Profit Organization Complete Mailing Addres: 207 S. Brand Blvd. #107, Glendale, CA 9'1204 1 1 . Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, l\4ortgages, or Other Seurities: None 12. For completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at special ratesr N/A l3.PublicationName:AlM 14. lsueDateforCirculationDataBelN:Jan/Feb1995 15.a.Total No.Copies(Net Press Run): Average No. Copies Each issue During Prtreding 12 Months 10,000 Actual No. Copies of Single lssue Published Nearest to Filing Date 1 0,400 b. Paid and/or Bequested Circulation (1 ) Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, and Counter Sales (Not Mailed) N/A (2) Paid or Requested Mail Subscriptions: Average No. copies 6,500 Actual No. Copies 5,920 c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation (sum of 1 5b(1 ) and 1 5b(2)) Average No. Copies 6,500 Actual No. Copies 5,920 d. Free Distribution by Mail: Average No. Copies 2,000 Actual No. Copies: None e. Free Distribution Outside the Mail: Average No. Copies 500 Actual No. Copies 1 ,000 f. Total Free Distribution (Sum of 1 5d and 1 5e) Average No.Copies2,500 ActualNo.Copiesl000 g.TotalDistribution(Sumof15cand15f): AverageNo.Copies9,000 ActualNo. Copies 6,920 h. Copies Not Distributed (1 ) Otfice Use, Leftovere, Spoiled: Average No. Copies 1 ,000 Actual No. Copies 3,480 (2) ReturnfromNewsAgentsN/A i.Total (Sumof 159, 15h(1),and15h(2)): AverageNo.Copies10,000 Actual No. Copies 10,400 Percent paid and/or Requested Circulation (15c,/159x100): Average No. Copies 721" Aclual No. Copies 85.5% '16. This Statement of Otrnership will be printed in the November'95 issue of this publication. 17. I certify that all infur mation furnished on this form is true and complete. Signature and Title of Editor, Publishe( Business Manager, or Owner: Salpi H. Ghaarian Date: 10/'11l'1995.

(ffi m Armenia

BankinU

$rt

one thing if the President of the Republic's Central Bank says that

,'r fif$ *

Armenia can and should become a financial center, notjust for the region, but by intemational standards.

It's another thing when Midland Bank, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Shanghai Holding Company, the world's second largest banking corpo-

ration with assets over $200 billion, establishes a subsidiary of its own in Yerevan. In a public announcement in June, the General Manager of Midland Bank,

Michael Geoghegan, accompanied by

Vatche Manougian, London-based financier, announced plans for the Bank's opening in mid-October. Bagrat Asatrian, president of the Central Bank, commented, "The opening of Midland Armenia is in itself a

positive assessment

of the progress

Armenia has made economically and the potential of its banking system." Indeed, Geoghegan agrees, "Never mind the fact that when I was six years

old, I had an Armenian friend who always had more money in his pocket than I did, and that I leamed early on

you accolades and titles, coming to Armenia as a businessman and financier, is a thankless job. Nevertheless, it is the kind of long-term

commitment that economy needs,

a newly-developing not simply for its

direct financial input, but because such investment speeds up the development of a financial culture. Manougian explains that as a first priority, banking professionals from Armenia will be trained in Yerevan, as

well as Dubai and London. In

for the

already

opening

tem. That is why he, and

Wing Establishment, which he heads, joined Lichtenstein-based

up with Midland Bank to undertake this venture. As Armenia's Ambassador to

the UK, Armen Sarkissian, explained only half in jest, during a press conference, unlike philanthropy which earns

Its regulatory capital is

$10

million. The parent company has over 3000 branches worldwide in 65 countries, including corresponding accounts with Wells Fargo Bank on the west coast of the US.

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betterment of Armenia's banking sys-

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the CIS. Negotiations are

financially strong Diaspora which can, through our bank, confidently find ways to participate in the financial development of Armenia and the

As Vatche Manougian explains,

in Armenia.

The Wells Fargo connection will greatly facilitate the transfer of funds from the Armenian community in the US to individuals and businesses in

about Armenians' financial abilities.

aspects of Armenia's financial life.

set up operations

lranian bank, two Russian institutions and a branch of the Ukrainian Inco

some 40 new hires were taken to Dubai for training this summer. As such, these new bankers will be able to staff the 200-250 branches of Midland-Armenia which are expected to open throughout

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AIM

DECEMBER 1995

ffimp*n$*m:r

34 I

AIM DsceN.rsen

1995

Tle IIIIF $lands By ith the final liberalization of prices lor bread and various communal services, the International Monetary Fund approved a 12-month stand-b,y credit of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of about $69 million for Armenia, together with a second drawing of about $27 million under the systemic transformation facility (STF), to support

14fi9

the govemment's 1995-96 economic stabiliza-

tion and reform program. The STF is a temporary financing facility to provide assistance to member countries facing balance of payments difficulties arising from severe disruptions in their

designed

rylmllNl

{ia} # ;*

traditional trade and payments arrangements. Armenia joined the IMF on May 28, 1992. Since then, it has continued to face formidable challenges, facing economic uncertainties beyond the country's control. Nevertheless, the IMF found that given the government's "daring and difficult reform measures," there was noticeable economic improvement. Already in the early part of 1995, stabilization was taking hold and there were signs of a pickup in economic activity.

This was reassuring after a cumulative fall in real gross domestic production (GDP) of nearly 60 percent during 1992-93. As the decline in output tumed around, real GDP growth registered more than five percent in 1994. As a result of restrictive fiscal and monetary policies in the last quarter of 1994, monthly inflation declined from nearly 50 percent in the first half of 1994 to 27 percent in the last quarter, to two percent in the first quarter of 1995. The IMF, through the STF drawing and the stand-by credit, is supporting the principal objectives of the 1995-96 economic program which is to establish conditions necessary for sustainable economic growth and a recovery in living standards. Another objective is to ensure that the Central Bank's gross extemal reserve position is bolstered to the equivalent of 2.4 months of imports by the end of 1996. At the same time, the legal framework

will

continue to be improved through the adoption of bankruptcy and collateral laws, and with a new land code scheduled to be adopted by the end of September 1995. At the same time. the World Bank is working closely with the govemment to identify the most vulnerable groups, with the aim of providing at least a temporary safety net. BY MARK GnrconmN

AIM DecrNrsen

1995

I 35

ln the Beuiltltinu [Uas

h-Tfl'* he Monastery of

Gantsasar is in

sion. "Not only was our population

Karabakh, about 250 miles from Yerevan. But sitting at the center of 20th

century Yerevan, seemingly eons away,

in a building which houses book

pub-

lishers, press agencies and a company

that bakes bread, is the

course, at the heart of the center's mis-

Gandzasar

Theological Center. The bright, white,

deprived of the contents of our rich theological literature for decades, but the western world, too, remains ignorant of the research and scholarship which has for centuries earned us a unique place

in Christendom," explains Aramian. The center is out to right that wrong. To do that, they have rejected every traditional approach to publish-

irg familiar to

Armenia and the

Diaspora. Light, sophisticated computers are linked to each other, and to a powerful Macintosh that allows for quick, clean desktop publishing. A

in the past are translated into modern Armenian, according to the traditional rules

together

orthography and presented

with

analyses and introduc-

tions.

"We also plan to publish in English and German in order to make the contents of these works known to international scholars,"

continues

Aramian.

For popular

consumption. a series of volumes including pocket prayer books, the catechism, textbooks and

Gandzasar has published

The Gantsasar Review, the first

Armenian theological periodical ever,

bright. quiet working environment, where visitors are the only ones whose

according to Aramian.

stations,

voices carry, and where breaks are taken on schedule, for 15 minutes, dur-

equipped with sophisticated Macintosh

ing which employees walk up self-supporting stairs to a loft equipped with a sofa, a microwave oven and some recreational reading material. "I know that our greatest resource here is our staff and our associates," explains

the printed word. The Zatik orphanage, under Gandzasar's auspices. was opened in 1993 and has received fund-

sparkling clean offices are designed around

series

of working

computers.

The name is not a mistake. What Gantsasar and other monasteries did for

senlulies-1sach, research and writethe Gantsasar Theological Center is doing with computers. Under the aus-

pices of Karabakh's Prelate, Bishop Parkev Martirosian, Father Mesrop Aramian, the center's president and his staff have, since 1991, prepared and published religious works. Not all of

Aramian. "They are the ones who have the knowledge and the commitment to produce quality publications." And the results?

phv.

the Armenian Theological Library already

stylized reproductions

"Just the first series of

them are by theologians. Some are col-

orful activity books for children; others are pamphlets on the meanings of holy days and popular sennon themes. But the theological works are, of

them are medieval Armenian theological texts never before published. These are in the original Classical Armenian. Those works which had been published

Dece^,,leen 1995

ing and support from the Austrian Caritas organization, among others. The arts, too, are not ignored. Scholars, working with the center's staff, are working on ancient musical themes as they have been documented in manuscripts, as well as recurring themes in religious art and iconogra-

has 30 volumes of patristic literature from the third through the llth centuries ready for publication. Some of

36 /AIM

The Center's work goes beyond

On Gandzasar's walls, one

sees

medieval scribes in Armenian miniatures, and of course, enlargements of the opening line of the first book of Genesis, which clearly serves as the center's guiding dictum: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God, and God was the Word."

UUho

$hall $aue Their Suuls? kT-*=*+*+##1t:i;lr,:#

to battle what they view as the continuing encroachment of various non-Armenian cults. In September, 1994, and again in April, 1995,

reports

serious harassment

of Hare Krishna,

Jehovah's Witnesses and others by uniformed officers spread through the Western press. Human rights activists pressured the Armenian govemment to condemn such actions. The Interior Ministry issued an apology.

Meanwhile, violence against the Armenian Missionary Association and evangelical churches in Yerevan sparked further discussion of freedom of religion and the role of non-Apostolic Armenian churches

in evangelical and missionary work in Armenia. Following a meeting of the Armenian Evangelical World Council in May, a very positively formulated resolution acknowledged the Armenian govemment's expression of regret and thanked Catholicos Karekin I

for his efforts to ameliorate the situation. Nevertheless, evangelicals are concemed about

the apparent intolerance toward those who do

not

belong to the Mother Church. sv

SA.r-pr

Ha.nourruraN GHaze.rr.q.N

The Ma_king

of the Georsian Nation Second Edition Ronald origor Suny ASelection of the History

Bookclub

tour de force research

.. .

...

fascinating reading." 4merican Political Science Review

...

Anrwtatn frllfdf/mHlfi,bty

[W0r&r$ny

the standard account of Georgian history in English."

-American

HistorialReview

4/t8 pages, paper $17.95

'ThtsW.slwtklWU

emrrgetrffie nwdlF #inffirffinavathbb

toffiefi@r,nbffiyof

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Atbooktores orfrom x ru r )9,,qro,& { i\f;V $-,[{SB'B'\' Bloomington, lN

47M

1rders:1-8N-A767% gopher. iu press. indi ana.edu

@ort7M)

HIRONS E CO., INC. IUP 845-ZZ5 Armenian

AIM

DECEMBER 1995

I 37

Winltirg Palln$ he international film world

You Can llleuer

was

startled early last year by the first movie of a Moscow-based graduate student in hippie dress. Ladoni (Palms) was

taken

to the Berlin International

Festival by scouts who saw

Hakob Karapents, Retum & Tiger, Translated by Thtul Sonentz-Papazian, Blue Crane Books,

Film

P.O. Box 291, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

screened at

the Moscow Film Institute (VGIK). No

02238. 142 pages. 1995. ISBN 0-9628715-9-1.

sooner had it won the Wolfgang Staudte grand prize at the Forum than its director, Artur Aristakisyan gave away the $4,000 award to fellow students and struggling artists back home. Two months later, Palms was selected for the 37th Annual Film Festival held in San Francisco. Out of 209 films from 50 countries, it gamered the Satyajit Ray Award-for young, exceptionally promis-

us$20.

he subtitle of Hagop Karabents' Return and Tiger implies that it is made up of "short stories." But what we really have here is a hybrid form which would surprise an American critic unfa-

ing filmmakers whose aesthetic vision follows in the tradition of the great

miliar with Armenian and

Bengali director. When festival director Peter Scarlet handed the award trophy and

of these short pieces do have the compo-

$10,000 check to the 31-year-old Aristakisyan, he gently suggested that he use the money "to finance an even more wonderful film, if such a thing is possible."

Beginning

1986, Aristakisyan

spent six years directing, photographing

and writing the tender but unflinching portrait of a dozen beggars in his home town of Kishinev, the capital of Moldova. He used a hand-held l6-mm camera and shot without sound. Aristakisyan recalls, "for months I hung around with them, and they got used to me like you get used to a stray dog." The blind, legless beggars who lived in shanties in the swampy, decrepit old quarter of Kishinev "told me every-

thing-their dreams, fantasies,

they

showed their wounds to me." Aristakisyan's impoverished lifestyle

resembled that of his subjects-his initial attempt to enroll at the legendary Moscow Film Institute was unsuccessful, because he had no perrnanent address. Once he

was admitted, he sold his clothes, books and possessions to finance his diploma film. Even the homeless beggars gave him money for film stock. To Aristakisyan, outstretched palms both receive and offer charity. From birth to death, his film says,

humanity

is linked by the touching of

hands.

The sweeping choral crescendo from Verdi's "Requiem" meshes perfectly with

an introductory excerpt from the silent film Quo Vadis where Christian men, women and children in 28 A.D. are being thrown to the lions by Roman soldiers, to provide historical background.

Throughout Aristakisyan's

140-

minute, black-and-white epic, his indeli-

ble characters transfix us with their humility and kinship with one another. For Aristakisyan, these are not ordinary "They live this way out of love, as a kind of freedom, and we have a lot to

other features that are virtually absent

from the American short story, namely allegory and meditative monologue. As a result, there is a surreal quality to some ofthe best pieces, while the less success-

ful ones buckle under the

burden of

mixed styles and symbolism.

Karabents experimented with hybrid forms because such experiment gives vigor to artistic practice and also because he wanted to combine traditional features of Armenian writing with the

American short story. These combinations are very ambitious and modestly successful. They involve adaptations of the work of Samuel Beckett, especially Waiting for Godot, the style of whose absurdist dialogues Karapents' tragicomic buffoons Marcos and Kiracos emulate in their own tragicomic dialogues; and of Raymond Carver, whose justly famous

"What we talk about when we talk about

learn from them. You can only be a visionary when you are on the edge like them." ln his poetic voice-over narration, the director speaks to his unbom son on how best to live life: "People fear poverty

titles like "When we say that which we never tell and cannot say" and in several

Tr;tr

DECEMBER 1995

nents of the traditional short story, such as narrators, events, characters and dialogue. But here they are combined with

beggars.

but their salvation lies in it."

38 /AIM

Middle

Eastem literary traditions. The majority

AND PHcrros ev JaNE-r Saur,elraN

love" Karapents echoes both in

some

dialogues.

What is the Armenian tradition in which Karapents can be located? The short answer is, none. He did not aspire

to be the Krikor Zohrab or

Shahan

fio BacI llomg,-Agilln Shahnour ofour time. He took very great

risks because he believed that both his own and Armenian American life and art

needed new, hybrid, synthetic forms. True, the influence of two very dissimilar

artists can be discemed: one is, oddly and unexpectedly, Avetik Isahakian's philosophical poem, Abu Lala Mahari, some of whose melancholy allegory, mixed with moralism, gets into the meditations here. The other presence is that of William Saroyan, who is specifically evoked

HAKOB KARAPENIS

Return

ariger AND OTHER SHORT

STORIES

story. This tiger is both the threatening, shadowy fear lurking in the dark forest of the mind, as in William Blake's famous poem, and an imagined companion (as in the cartoon strip "Calvin and Hobbes"). Incidentally, one of the endearing characteristics of Karapents' prose is his attempt to conjoin and juxtapose not only the Armenian and American but also the high culture of Anglo-American civilization and its quotidian, routine

pleasures, found so often and the media.

by Karapents, and with whom

in urban life

The break I have mentioned is reenacted under many guises: between

Karapents' narrator identifies because both lost a parent when young. But

like Marcos and Kiracos; between lovers: between acquaintances such as the Karapents-like character who reaches out to, but cannot connect with Jimmy Jackson, a Black man whom he aspires to befriend. Karapents' autobiographical narrators are unable to forget the past and their origins.

despite these occasional influences,

friends

Karapents is an original. He has no clear

ancestors. Whether his influence will engender literary descendants is a difficult question. Some authors influence younger authors in their lifetime: Vahe Oshagan's poetry comes to mind. Karapents has not had such influence. His individuality is of a different kind. The stories and meditations collect-

Throughout, Karapents' characters exist in pairs. One is always in the role of

in conveying

the father but also the father-land, the

ed here are most successful

a persistent

sense

of melancholy

soli-

lost homeland, while the other is separated from it by a loving yet painful alienation, condemned to diaspora. The model of all these failures to bridge the gap is the distance of the son from his father. It

tude, though their author lived in close contact with admiring friends. The solitude is due to earlier breaks which later love and friendships cover up but do not heal. The book's first piece, "My father was to tell me something," is wisely placed, because the frank and painful account it gives of repeatedly intemrpted

is a separation which is always painful

but also energizing and empowering, because it drives the artist to renewed attempts to fathom it and to attempt to

and never completed communication between a father and son is at the core of the book, and provides its psychological

model.

explorer

establishes Karapents as an

of the themes which Marc

Nishanian has magisterially identified as the axis of much diasporan writing: the catastrophic break that keeps repeating itself. This break has many forms in the book. It is the break between Armenia and the Diaspora (Karapents mentions

that his father fought to build the first Republic of 1918-1920 and was forced to flee from it). The break between a son

and

father whom pain

silences

(Karapents'father lost not only Armenia but his wife when their son was very young). The break between a father fated

bridge it.

to live under narrower Persian horizons

At the end of the first

story,

while the son leaves for America, a second diaspora. The autobiographical nar-

writes of his father: "I am what he was; I

rator describes father and son "surrendering to alienation before reaching each

stand my father." Tatul Sonentz-Papazian uses the word "only" very well at that

other; before being

juncture. Karapents means that "only now, when it is too late to tell him, do I understand my dead father." But he also means that there is still something positive that has happened, after all the failures: a lot did not change, only (here in the sense "but") now I do understand my

communion;

before getting to know one another."

The son leaves never to retum, for such retum is impossible. "Is he ever

coming back? Who has ever come back?" the narrator asks, and later adds: "It's always that way. They all go some-

where, never to retum to their place. Upon retum, the place is unrecognizable." Memories of rupture and the knowledge that return is impossible haunt Karapents'text. They are embod-

ied in the form of the tiger of the title

am what you all are; only now

under-

father. That is a resonant claim. By Knecnrc ToLoLyAN

Tololyrul

TEACHES coMpARArIvE LITERATTJRE AT

AND IS EDITOR OF a JounNx- oF TRANSNATToNAL

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY,

Dnsponn, Sruoms.

AIM Drcerr.reen 1995 I 39

C-S' More Gifts With Culture

othing has changed. The most enduring gifts are still those of

food, music, words and colors. As

Armenian reader (and eater) in mind, Donigian begins her book with directions on Chinese cooking methods, such chopping techniques, use of bamboo

Christmas approaches, don't get caught

up by the material and glitz.

Instead,

steamers, and meal preparation and ser-

indulge your friends, family (and why

vice. Instructions on how to manipulate on what to drink during the meal, and an extensive

not, even yourself) with bits of Armenian culture-the good stuff.

chop sticks, suggestions

list

ingredients, sauces, and spices

Food first. For the friend who is

used in Chinese cooking are also includ-

make "real"

ed. This comprehensive cookbook covers the three main regional cuisines, with recipes ranging from basic Chinatown chow mein and beef with broccoli to such obscure dishes as pork and lamb

always asking how

tabouleh, find Linda Chirinian's popular

The Secrets of Cooking. Without

giving away any

family secrets, you can help

many friends eat healthily and hap-

pily throughout the year. This extensive collection of Armenian.

Lebanese and Persian recipes actually reflects the cuisine of the

Armenian

Diaspora. Already

in its

second editions, Secrets provides simple and accessible directions even for the complex and time-consuming dishes that you thought only your grandmother could make. With wise recipe selections and a

kidney

soup. Donigian pays special

attention to the aesthetic aspects of Chinese cooking. Great care is taken in explaining the importance of harmony

catalogues, which prove that although times are hard, art in Armenia continues to flourish. Tree of Life, a collection of

reproductions from the Children's Art Gallery, will leave you spellbound. Six to 16-year-old children display a level of technical ability combined with artistic

vision which can only be

considered

remarkable. The wide range of media used include painting, embroidery,

doll and mask making, mixed media of all sorts, threadwork on

handicrafts,

canvas, mosaic, applique, paper mache, carpet weaving, tapestry, batik, ceramics, lace

jewelry making. wood-carving. making, and drawing.

you're looking

for something to rejuvenate your delight and hope (in life) this is it.

among tastes, textures, shapes and col-

Iguitian's second work, Gallery

ors. With eggs cooked in tea, for example, the final product is hard boiled eggs decorated with beautiful jagged brown lines, creating a marblized effect. Color photographs and illustrations accompany the recipes, along with blank pages

Noah's Ark, is a collection of work from

for note taking. A stylish bookmark, complete with Chinese red tassel, is an added bonus. You can be sure no one will say "I already have one."

Yerevan's Modern Art Museum. The catalog features works starting with the oldest contemporary artist, who is 71,

and moves through the ranks youngest, who

the

is 17. Except

for a few

pieces

executed

the

late 80's, all of

the

paintings

For those who know Armenian art,

have been creat-

the name Henrik Iguitian (see AIM

ed since 1990. Unlike Tree of

Aug./Sept. 1991) will surely ring some bells. Not only is Iguitian the founder

Life, all

the

sensible index, Chirinian's attractive and practical book covers the whole spectrum ol dishes from appetizers to

and director of the Children's Art Gallery, the Modem Art Museum and the Aesthetic Education Center of

bakhlava and beyond. In between, there

Yerevan, he is also a respected art critic and a true visionary. In the early 70's, when social realism whs still the main force in the Soviet art world, Iguitian and a few others had the gumption to

either oil

from the mainstream. In 1970, they founded the Children's An Gallery. This gallery was the first of its kind, not only in the Soviet Union, but in the world. In

new interpretations and approaches to

are slightly unusual chapters-one focuses on egg dishes; another is wholly

devoted to that most basic staple-bul-

gur. What? No one you know cooks? Just enjoy the beautiful color photographs.

You've already mastered Middle Eastern cooking, you say. How about Chinese? Anahid Donigian's Cheenagan

Khohanotse (Chinese Cuisine) is perhaps the first and only Chinese cookbook written in Armenian. With the

40 /AIM

DeceMern 1995

stray

l972,lguitian went on to help found the first and only Museum of Modern Art in the Soviet Union. A quiet revolutionl Not one to sit idle, Iguitian spearheaded the publication of two beautiful

works featured

in Gallery Noah's Ark, are or mixed media on

canvas.

These

paintings, with

their refreshing aesthetic problems, can easily compete in their category with contemporary intemational art. There is no lack of talent and mastery in their execution, rather

they show the marks of distinction. Beautifully designed, with quality reproductions, each book, printed in Lebanon

1995, runs 128 pages.

Abril

Bookstore,

5448

Santa

Norik Manoogian isn't a shepherd,

Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90029. The Secrets of Cooking, Connecticut,

but he is a master at the woodwind instruments-Shvi and Tav Shvi-that

Lionhart Inc'. Publishers, 1987,$30 (ISBN 0-9617033-0-X); Cheenagan Khohantotze, $40. Plus .slh. Tree rt Ltfe,

have been played on lonely hilltops for centuries. "Aravot Louso," "Krounk," and "Lousniek Gisher" are a few examples of the melancholy and soulful tunes

and Gallery Noah's Ark. $65 each + slh.

on Sftvi, Armenian Flute.

Wrong mood? For something conSomething old, something new and now something to look forward

to-

every month of the year. The World of Armenian Weddings is the focus of Project SAVE's 1996 calendar. Vintage photographs, starting with the late 1800's, depict the wide array of marriage

and surprisingly 1990s look. The largest

a half inches in length. The beauty of these imagessolid and unique renderings of animals (deer, swans, bulls, serpents and birds,) measures three and

humans, gods and goddesses, heavenly bodies including the sun and even the galaxy itselt- lies in their ability to speak in the simplest of terms. This symbolic "pre-language" remains profound in its representation of the forces ofnature, and the essence of life through beautiful jewelry.

i/ir'lrt"7 ,'lntrr,rtrt'Vli,r/rlr;,y;

/991;

Roslin customs practiced

Art Gallery, lll

West

diverse places like Yezd, Iran, Yokohama, Japan, and Havana, Cuba. The photographs, combined with background stories and documentation, make

hands

of young

They've quit going

church

Organ Mass, with passionate performances from the Armenian Liturgy by renowned organist, Berj Zamkochian on

the "Great Organ" in

Methuen,

Massachusetts.

And Chopin lovers will be delighted to leam that pianist Artur Papazian has released a CD devoted solely to Chopin's compositions, Artur Papazian,

Piano. There's

And finally, music. Less words, more spirit. With the growing popularity of "world music" perhaps Armenian folk

music

will

also

find a wider audience. The increas-

includes information about Armenian

videocassette too

of this "monster

pianist's"

March, 1995, at New

concert

York's Carnegie Hall, where he

ing availability of

performs the

well-produced CDs makes this

Preludes and

complete

Etudes

wedding customs and traditions. Unlike the organizational calendars your mother used to bring home, this one is

Interestingly,

designed to be beautiful and practical, with ample space to jot down notes and

recent releases, each developed around a single instrument as the centerpiece, and

reminders.

offering a variety of listening pleasure.

Glen-dale,

there are

likely.

don't have to have roots in

Chopin.

several

The lucky ears who receive these gems Ave., Watertown, MA 02172. ($15 + $2 slh)

Sunday mornings? Give them Armenian

(ranging from $30-$60)

this calendar a fascinating trip around the world and in time. The calendar

Project SAVE,46 Elton

performer, Avo

Chakhlasyan.

California Ave., Glendole, CA 91203. Armenians

throughout historic Armenia-Arabkir, Cesarea and Aintab- and also in

siderably more upbeat, friends can whoop it up. In Dhol, Armenian Drum, the instrument that is usually heard in folkloric trios, accompanied by duduk and zuma, goes solo under the skillful

Eastern

Garni.207 Orange

9t204

St., CA

Armenian Organ

Anatolia, either.

Mass,UPC

The Art oJ the Armenian Tar, features Armenia's preeminent tar performer, Hovannes Darbinian. The con-

$15 + slh; Shvi, Armenian Flute; Dhol, Armenian Drum. $12.99 for each CD + slh. MEG Recordings, P.O. Box 412, Cambridge, MA 02238, Hoyannes Darbinian, Tar, $15 + slh. Papazian Chopin Live (video), Proscenium, Box 909, Highstown, NJ, 08520; Papazian,

785727 1 69420,

For something older (and

newer) still, consider Siroon Yeretzian's broaches, pendants and earrings. Yeretzian's jewelry designs are based on prehistoric

rock carvings found in Armenia dating back to the 5th millennium B.C.-that's seven thousand years old! Exquisitely crafted of l0Oo/o sterling silver, these pieces are proof that being old doesn't mean being dated. On the contrary, these ancient symbols retain a timeless

templative

melodies on this

MEG recording include several

pieces

Komitas such

"Lorik" "Kilikia."

and

Piano (CD), PaPaRt, 100 Winston Towers, # 23 11, Cliffside Park, NJ, 07010.

AIM Dpcrl.resn 1995 I 4L

%e*%,&r Ef easo,te

qfiorVhil&rem

slh.

Blue Crane Books,

P.O.

patible, US$39

Box 291 , Cambridge, MA 02238. $14 + $2 sth. espite the difficulties of finding children's toys and gifts with an Armenian cultural bent, new and worthwhile items do trickle in on a regular basis. If you are familiar with the children's music scene, then you already know Vaco. Anyone who's heard his audio cassettes or his first video also knows that he is addictive. Once the toddler set hears Vaco, they don't want to stop. Lucky for the rest of us, there is new Vaco material on the way. The second edition of The Adventures of Dodi and Vaco 1 2 J, features four new and original songs, interspersed with the antics of Dodi, Vaco's young, shy monster puppet friend-the Armenian version of Sesame Street's Elmo. Vaco also has a new audio cassette, Yerp Yes Metsnam (When I Grow Up), complete with illustrated songbook.

For something quite different from the populaq over-orchestrated music inundating our cars and lives, there is Oror, with the soothing voice of a grandfather lulling his grandchild to sleep. Not only is Vahan Kavafyan's choice of songs cause for nostalgia, his clear enunciation makes the tape the good language reinforcement

tool children's recordings ought to

be.

Kavafyan's deep voice accompanied only by his guitar gives the performance an old world flavor. Most of the lullabies are traditional folk favorites, including work by the biggies-Komitas, Ganachian, Yegmalian and even Khachaturian. In case you feel like singing along, the lyrics to all the songs are included.

Garni, 207 S. Orange St., Glendale, CA 91204. Dodi and Vaco, v. 2, video, $15; audio cassette, $10 + slh. SoJo Images, P. O. Box 371392, Denver, CO,80237, Oror, $10 + $3 sth. Before you tuck the kids in with Oror,

don't forget the bedtime

stories. Hamazkayin of Lebanon has published the Nayiri series. Bzdig Nabeegeen Dsnunte

(The Birth of the Little Bunny), Grgese (The Circus), Takavore (The King) and Havgeete (The Egg) with simple story lines and bold illustrations captivate even the youngest children. ln Takavore, the child-king gives up his crown so he can play with Vartoog, who is not of royal stock. Politically correct parents of the 90's may be disturbed by the sexist roles

42 I

AIM DeceMeen 1995

What's in a

name?

Identity, pride, belonging, to name a few things. Every child's name is spe-

cial to that child. and now there's a way to celebrate that. Familiarize toddlers and their older siblings

assigned

to mother and father rabbit

with the beauty of the Armenian alphabet and in

Bzdig Nabeegeen Dsnunte, but this endearing story is worth working around that. S anane e n Anab ade, witten and illus-

trated by twentysomething Alik Mgrdichian, and also published in Lebanon, tells the story of a girl who creates her own special desert in her imagination. The illustrations, which include Sanan's own drawings of the desert, are

simultaneously child-like and worldly. Perhaps their strongest selling point is the quality of proper yet accessible (Westem) Armenian utilized here. Sardarabad Bookstore

llll

S. Glendale

Ave., #106, Glendale, CA 91205. $4 each + slh.

More quality and

accessible

Armenian can be found in Jeannette Kassouny's new book of children's plays, Mankakan Bem. Even if you don't run an elementary school, get this book and watch the kids enjoy acting out characters and scenes in Armenian. The Panossians, who brought us four

Robert Munsch favorites last year, now have the first book-based Armenian multimedia IBM compatible software.

Translating English books into Armenian appears to have caught on. In Eastern-Armenian (with a Western Armenian insert and a parallel English text,) the first children's title from Blue Crane Books, Vay Gamo Vay by Clarissa Lewis, is a full-color story about a boy who learns the responsibilities of having and spending money, the hard way.

Jeannette Kassouny, 210 N. Central

Ave. #225, Glendale, CA 91203, Mankakan Bem, $15 + $4 slh. Hyekir Press, 29 Hollybrook Cres. Willowdale, Ontario M2J2H5, Canada, IBM-PC com-

the specialness of their own name, while providing them with something cozy to cuddle up to. Personalized pillows in Armenian let you choose the color scheme of appliqued letters (primary, pastel or decorator) as well as type of border for each pillow. The white broadcloth pillow itself measures 13"x18". Machine washable and dryer friendly, these pillows make a unique gift for the child (or adult) who has every-

thing else.

Ani's Handt'rafts, 37 Pheasant

Road, Willowdale, Ontario, M2M 3G8, Canada. U S$3 1 includes shipping. So, there you have it. For other sug-

gestions, there

always "Gifts With

Culture"(AIM, Nov/Dec 1994). And remember, giving is better than receiving, they say. Try it. Texr

-a.No

PHoros By Svr-ve D,crpssraN

A trtlltlle lllew

Ball 0ame I*l$ , n"o

been a long time since so many people had crowded into the Hrazdan Sports Stadium in Yerevan. The occasion was one of the European Championship Qualifying matches- this one against Spain. Flags waved. Children danced. The

national anthem played and the band saluted the president and his cabinet. Spectators drank cold beer and ate salted sunflower seeds purchased from the hundreds of vendors lined up along the entry. They cheered, cursed, offered advice and now and then, forgot the name of the new

national team-Hayastan-and instead repeated the old, familiar Ararat. Since 12 of the national team's22 players are from the regional team Ararat (and another five

from Shirak) the mistake went unnoticed. In the end, Armenia's loss (0-2) was seen as a victory of sorts by devoted

RoUBEN MANGASARIAN

observers who were worried that the loss would be greater. The national team had several chances to score victories. The two games against Macedonia were thought to be sure wins. Instead, the first one ended in a 2-2 tie, even after a half-time score of 2-0,

{}

# 6mS

S#'ffitrt NP

Association and this makes possible the advancement of football in Armenia. As in other social spheres, the collapse of the Soviet system left a gap that is just being filled. The European connection will begin to make possible the redevelopment of youth training schools and camps, something that disappeared with the empire. The European presence will also force the upgrading of football facilities, such as the Hrazdan Stadium.

:"-

.i,

,=eS}- {4H

GAZIAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

ARMENIAN WIFE

WANTED

^FtffiV

FOR LIFE

SINGLE, STABLE,

summer, say the devotees. Armenia has

joined the European Union Football

due to sloppy playing by the Armenian side. The second game with Macedonia, in September, saw Armenia's only win, having already been defeated again by Spain, by Denmark and Belgium, too. Never mind that Armenia is knocked out of the European Championships next

r- E Y -.

/ PAIKER

1955 -1995

PROFESSIONAL,

HAIGAZIAN

AMERICAN.BORN ARMENIAN, 42, MBA, FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL, CULTURALLY MINDED, POSITIVE OUTLOOK, VIBRANT BALL.OF.FIRE, NO VICES, BURSTING WITH PASSION, CREATIVITY AN EXCELLENT SENSE OF HUMOR DrD r MENTION POSITIVE OUTLOOK?) IN SEARCH OF: LIFE.LONG ROMANTIC PARTNERSHIP WITH WARMHEARTED, DOWN.2-EARTH, FUN.LOVING, EDUCATED ARMENIAN WOMAN, TO START OUR OWN ARMENIAN FAMILY. IF YOU HAVE MORE EMOTIONAL FIRE THAN SMOKE, MORE BRAINS THAN BEAUTY, AND LONG FOR A LOVING HYE MATE FOR LIFE, THEN SEND AN E.MAIL LETTER TO ME AT: PBXS22A@PRODtcY.COM (ALL LETTERS WILL BE ANSWERED)

celebrates 40" ANNIVERSARY

AND (

For news about your alma mater and more information about participating in the celebrations, clip and send the attached address coupon to:

ALUMNI OFFICE HAIGAZIAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE clo 5322 Saturn Street Los Angeles, California 90019 or phone the Alumni Message Centel toll-free 800-934-4043 or in Los Angeles 213-934-4774

YES!

I WANT TO BE oN THE ALUMNI MAILING LIsT, Class of 19

Name

Address

Ciw lstate

lzio

Phone

AIM

DECEMBER 1995

I 43

L*;I.X ffi ed d

SearchinU

lor a Cul'e

"J :l"J

_',, '"

f".

Lifii"i:l

i./

tive cell, and test enzymes to help in

". 7 Bd&l

the metabolism of the cholesterol.

"The way one research scientist

put

it to me, normally it would have

taken ten years to map the five percent

left of chromosome 18. We'll have three or four scientists working on it fulltime by June.

"It's possible that tomorrow one of the scientists will find the defect. But the estimate is it will take a year." At the same time, another approach is also being taken. Different herbs and compounds are being tested on the group of cells that have the defect before it is actually isolated. This work is being done with computer models and the help of

IFJ ,l= ffi

verythin-e

was going great

guns" for Ara Parseghian during his golden years.

Then, last fall, the legendary Notre Dame football coach-known for having molded the Fighting Irish of Indiana into two number one finishes in national college football championships-and his wife Katie were hit by what Parseghian described as "a bolt of lightning." Three of their

four grandchildren were diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Disease Type C, a rare, incurable childhood disease of which there are only 600 known cases. NPC is a genetic disorder that keeps cholestrol from being properly metabolized in the spleen, liver and brain. At present, it is almost always fatal. The coach, his son Michael, and daughter-in law came up with a game plan. They formed the Notre Dame,

Indiana-based

Ara

Parseghian Medical Reasearch Foundation to find a cure. Ten years ago, Parseghian said, there would have been no hope. "But with the advancement in genetics, 95 percent of chromosome 18, where the defective cell that causes NCP is, has

out. We specifically have an opportunity to find the defec-

been mapped

44 I

AIM DeceNasen 1995

pharmaceutical houses. Parseghian knows that the battle is not yet won. Realistically, the two girls, who are only 3 and 6, and whose symptoms are not yet as severe, have better odds of surviving because of the work of the foundation than does their brother Michael. But he said that while the foundation's work may not be able to benefit Michael in time, it certainly will ben-

efit children in the future.

The research may also, as the foundation's literature declares, "help thousands of adults fighting heart diease, stroke, Alzheimer's Disease and other disorders that appear to be related to the

metabolism of cholesterol." It isn't that Parseghian doesn't

know about pain and struggle.

never knew his grandfathers; in fact most of his family disappeared in the

l9l4-1915 Genocide, he says. Growing up in Akron, Ohio, "I listened to the stories. I absorbed enough to get a sense of the disaster of

it.

But my attitude has been to face

challenge when confronted with it." Parseghian has had experience with tragedy before. He was national

chairman

of the Multiple Sclerosis a longtime board

Foundation and

member. Ara and Katie's oldest

It's hard to pick up a map of Karabakh without seeing Samvel Karapetian's name in the credits for either

cartography or research. Trained neither in map-making nor in computer design,

Karapetian

responsible

for over

dozen maps of Armenian historical sites

and monuments-none

them in

Armenia.

"There are plenty of experts who have been working on Armenian historic landmarks. It is the architectural remnants on historic Armenian lands which need to be accounted for," he explains, from his home in Yerevan, which is also a library and work space. His grandfather was from the Archesh region of Van, and Karapetian's interest in Armenian monuments developed from an immediate curiosity about his father's roots.

He has never traveled to Westem Armenia, but has wandered extensively

through Armenia, Georgia

and

Azerbaijan, studied the terrain and the monuments, and photographed and chart-

ed ancient Armenian inscriptions

and

newly-discovered mon-uments. Among his unique studies are the inscriptions gathered from the left bank of the Kur River, and compiled in a volume that still waits publication by the Archaeology and Ethnography Institute. He is not a cartographer, exactly, he

explains. He utilizes existing physical identify sites. He is not

maps to place and a

librarian, either, but he has compiled an of newspaper sources on various

index

monuments.

In the

with the

1980s, Karapetian worked

Monuments

Preservation

daughter suffers with multiple sclerosis, as does Ara's sister. The disease is not always fatal, but Katie's afflicted brother died of it.

Commission. There was no flnancing for the many and difficult travels which such work requires. He tumed to the Germanybased Research on Armenian

Bv ana PrneNteN

finance his travels, film and other neces-

Architecture

(RAA) which

now helps

sary expenses. Karapetian's work is a worthy addition to the RAA archives,

of over 600 such locations was the result of years of research and travel.

which consist of photographic and archi-

His work is also evident in

tectural information on thousands of

Gharabagh volume of the Documents of Armenian Architecture series, as well as in the many brochures RAA prepares about various well and little known historic places in and around Armenia.

Armenian churches, forts, monasteries and other monuments in historic Armenia. Karapetian's most recent work is a

map of Armenian historical sites and monuments in Georgia. A detailed listing

the

av Goser. Snsexnru

Founded in 1993, the Fourth

Millennium Society is an independently funded and administered

public charity committed to the dissemination

of information and developing an informed public.

Underpinning all our work is the

firm conviction that the vitality of an independent press is funda-

mentalto a democratic society

Armenia and democratic institu-

Last fall Lily Vorperian was honored by the National Endowment for

the Arts for her lifelong work in the craft of Armenian embroidery. She was one of l l American folk artists to receive a National Heritage Fellowship during ceremonies in Washington D.C. National Heritage Fellows are awarded a one-time-only $10,000 fellowship and are selected on the basis ofauthenticity, excellence and significance within a particular artistic tradition.

Despite her familiarity with 18 other regional Armenian embroidery styles, Marash embroidery, known for its difficult and complex stitchery, rich

only grown. Waking up at 5 a.m., she works about eight hours a day, with some pieces taking up to six months to complete. In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Yorperian says, "I want to tell the world through my work that the Armenian people are very much alive and we are creating in velvet, in silver and gold." Beyond keeping a tradition alive by reproducing the demanding standard patterns, Vorperian creates her own designs by devising variations on the Marash style. In her recent work, pillows, tablecloths and wall hangings are

tions in the Diaspora. The Fourth Millennium Society supports Armenian lnternational Magazine in its effort to contribute to the national dialogue.

Please remember the Fourth

Millennium Society with your gifts.

Think of the Fourth Millennium Society as you prepare your will.

adorned with khachkars, the Armenian

We can help you with planned

alphabet and lines from Armenian poetry. Folklorist Susan Auerbach says of

giving and estate planning.

Fourth Millennium Society

life's work. She has practiced her craft since the age of

Vorperian, "Not only is her workmanship in a complex technique superb, but her intricate designs bring Marash work to a new aesthetic level, while still keeping to traditional forms. Marash embroidery is the vehicle through which she expresses her creative energy and

twelve when she first learned to embroi-

vision, as well as her passionate cultur-

der from elderly refugee women who

al pride."

color combinations and

intricate

designs, is Vorperian's expertise. The bold pattems characteristic of Marash

work are built from clusters of

squares

or crosses which in tum are created with interconnected herringbone stitches. Vorperian has made Marash

embroidery her

P.0.Box 10793 Glendale, CA 91209

Phone (818) 2467979 Fax (818) 246 00BB

visited her family's home in Aleppo. At seventy-five, Vorperian's motivation has

sy SYLve DarBsslaN

AIM NOVEMBERLqq' I 45

iLsrlWiu:sii

:ul*': t **tri

RoUBEN MANCASARIAN

46 I AIM DBceMeen

1995

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bw AW %T

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AIM DTcEMBER 1995 I 41

THESE ARE REAL LETTERS TO REAL PEOPLE. SEND US YOURS

Dear Mom,

Yesterday was April 24 and I decided to go to where the Karabakh soldiers are buried. It is a little outside the city. I went in the morning and it was a really surreal experience. At the bottom of the hill, it was all green and there was a small lake. I walked up a windy road following some other people. When I got up to the top, it was odd to see how dry and rocky the hilltop was. You could hear a lonely duduk playing. There weren't many people up there, but there were a lot of graves.There were many more graves being dug, getting ready for more people to come and

join.

I don't know why I decided to come here and not Tsitsernakaberd. Lena had sent me a book called Rise the Euphrates and it started out with the Genocide. I was full of the book in my head

and that really set the tone for my walk. Back in the city, it was odd how everything else, including Yerablur, seemed so far away. This morning, I was talking with Joe. He's a professor from Indiana and he's here doing some research and teaching. These past few days he

hasn't been feeling well and has been

really depressed. He was even looking for a counselor from the universi-

ty or the embassy. (I

was really

amazed that no one has any mental health support systems, even with all the foreigners here.) I felt bad for Joe. He's just not

able to cope. He has internalized everything he sees and feels guilty about a lot of what he sees around him; he feels that he hasn't accom-

plished anything or made any changes, and has let everyone down, including himself.

don't know why I'm telling you all this, but it struck me today, what is it that makes some people survivors and others not.

More next week. Love to all.

Keep sending me their news. It helps me feel connected. Lots of hugs, G.

Dear Sis, Since some version of this letter may also end up with Lynn, I better be careful what as I sit here, I really think there are more stars here than Arizona even. Of course the fact that the Azeris just last night blew up the only two lines bringing natural gas into the country helps. The streets and buildings are so dark-the only thing between me and heaven are the top lights of the taxis across the street. That and my flashlight as I walk across pitch-black, deserted intersections. Even the flashlight distinguishes me from the rest of the citizenry. The locals are so used to dark that they have acquired night vision. They can maneuver stairs, potholes, everything without the need for a flashlight. You can get used to anything they say. They have. I haven't. I haven't yet figured out that there is no such thing as a quick dinner here. The rice and lentil pilaf that was our last resort at home is the product of great planning here. You can't always find rice in the stores. And when you find it, often the grains are small and crushed-the guaranteed road to mush that no one will eat. When you do find the rice, it must be washed. But that's nothing compared to what you have to do to the lentils. The Istanbul-Armenian poet Zahrad has a poem about lentils and words: the process ofdiligently cleaning, separating, discovering, discarding, refinding. That's what you have to do for about an hour to two cups of lentils before you can start on what other people consider a quickie Middle Eastern favorite. The first time I unwittingly began this process, I got so caught up I didn't have the patience to listen to the local version of a precinct-walker who wanted me to sign a petition to get his guy on the ballot for the upcoming elections. The candidate's name I don't even remember, but I haven't forgotten that he's the president of Armenia's Millionaires Club. Would-be or real, I don't know, but neither would surprise me. The number of brand new, sparkling, gorgeous Mercedes, Jaguars, BMWs and fancy Japanese cars hasn't ceased to surprise me. Local plates, too. These aren't summer visitors. I'm tempted to say "summer visitors like us." Is that what we are? The kids keep hoping that's the case. When we get back home is the beginning of every other paragraph. But just yesterday one of them said, look, when we come back, we need to go to a better school. Aha! So we are coming back? I always knew it, now they're thinking that way too? It's funny that schools are the focus for them. These are the kids who wouldn't play hooky even to go to Disneyland, now waking up with stomachaches, headaches, and every other kind of disease, just to avoid the principal, Comrade WhatsHerName. I know you think the Comrade days are over, but this woman still lives them. The kids'yuppie westem Armenian names weren't good enough for her. She sat down to actually think of altematives! One of the very caring and able teachers on her staff called me in one day to see if I was aware that the kids were having trouble adjusting. She understood that Russian wasn't the only class that would give them trouble. After all, their kitchen Armenian has never included the requisite vocabulary for Botany or Ancient History classes. So, tell me, how do you say piston, stamen and food chain in Armenian? Thank God the idea of little comer grocery stores (a la Greenwich village) has made it. Once a day one of the kids gets thrown out of the house to go buy something useful. Bread, cucumbers, cheese, rice. Yesterday it was Boric Acid for the ants who sublease

I say. But,

from us. We live on what has to be the busiest comer in Yerevan. Upstairs from the Children's Art Museum. Next door to the Puppet Theatre. Across the street on one side is Levon Travel. On the other side is a permanent row of taxis whose drivers know our entire life story. They probably also know the color of our underwear since we're on the second floor, and our windows don't have curtains. You know why I miss the washer-dryer? Not for the convenience, but for the privacy. The balcony clothes line on the other hand, says more about our lives, than hours over coffee and goodies. You can write and tell me what OJ Simpson is doing now. Not that it matters here.

Love,

48 /AIM

Dscsunen 1995

Lffi

El,ENTS & E)(HIBITI(,NS

Arshile Gorky, The Breakthrough Years, an exhibition which began at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Albright-Knox Art GallerS Buffalo, New York, through December 31, 1995;

Modern

Art

Museum

Fort

AR(,UIuD THE Ul,(,RLD

Chilingirian Quartet,

the

London-based string quartet's 24th of Denmark,

season includes tours

January 7 to 15, and the US, February 5 to 14, including the Orange County Performing Arts Center

(21

14), California.

Worth, Texas, January thru March,

t996.

Special Session on the Karabakh Conflict at the Annual Meeting of the Middle East

Studies Association

will

feature

Ambassadors Ruben Shugarian of the

Republic of Armenia and Hafiz Pashayev of the Republic of Azerbaijan, December 7. The fourday conference will include panels on

Literature, Art and Politics. Washington Hilton, Washington DC,

December 6 to 10, 1995.

International Symposium on the Application of the Theory of Metabolic Regulation to Pain, sponsored by the Society for

the Promotion of Science and Technology in Karabakh, will feature intemational scientists and clinicians speaking on metabolic regulation of

cell excitability and

nociception,

peripheral and central mechanisms of

pain, the pharmacology

of pain, and

pain management in developing countries. Organized by Dr. Vania Apkarian at the State University

Syracuse,

of New York

13210, (315) 464-5187

and Dr. Sirenik Ayrapetian of the Univ.

of Winds of Passion, a concert featuring the Armenian Woodwind Instrumental Ensemble playing duduk, zurna, shevi, tav shevi, blul, bgu, parkapzuk, sponsored by Garni

Productions. Barnsdall Gallery Theater, Hollywood, California,

mail

Nagorno Karabagh, :B i

ophys@ armi nco.com.

Stepanakert, Karabakh, September 23-29, 1996. Registration deadline: January 31,1996.

The Melkonian Educational

December 15-16.

Institute, the AGBU's first school, will mark its 70th anniversary with a

Van, Its History and Culture,

series of celebrations. Nicosia, Cyprus, April l7-2L, 1996, Los

an exhibit from Urartu to Akhtamar to

Angeles, California, July 5-7, 1996.

a l9th century period room, featuring photographs and artifacts. Armenian

Information is correct at press time,

Library and Museum of America, Watertown Square, Massachusetts, Opens January 2l through

Reoders are welcome to submit infor-

September,1996.

listing.

but please reconfirm dates and times.

mqtion

for

possible inclusion in this

AIM Deceirasen 1995 I 49

+ffi 0n Dl'e aln$ altd RealilU 0msehumps and [llol'mahy here is a lot of mythology about

America. When the huddled masses of Europe dreamed of this counffy, they believed the streets were paved with gold. Those suffering religious persecution saw the New World as a place of spiritual

tolerance. Others, oppressed by a rigid social system which inhibited progress, conceived of America as a class-free sociery in which everyone had opportuniry. These grand and glorious visions were not always accurate, but they created a folklore about America that still shapes our image of this country. Perhaps not so

surprisingly, as various waves

of immi-

grants confronted the realities of life in the

New World, a reverse myhology began to develop about the "old country." By the 1970s, second and third generation ethnic

"Tembeckjian? What kind of name is that?" That is still a common question, 35 years after one grade school teacher after another couldn't pronounce my name or identify a single fact about my ethnic heritage. (Indeed, my fifth grade teacher mispronounced my name all year long and I was too embarrassed to correct her. In the 1950s and 60s, the Armenian in America was militant at home and silent everywhere else.)

Even today, among intelligent and informed people who should know better, ignorance abounds. "You were teaching in

Armenia last year? Where's that? What language do they speak there? What blockade? Nagomo What?" Some years ago. before arriving in Armenia for the first time, I expected to be overwhelmed with emotions. I imagined that the excitement

Americans made a routine out of searching

for their ancestral roots. Welcome toArmenia.

To those of us who grew up in America, Armenia is as much a state of mind as it is a plot of land. We think that to beArmenian is something special, different and better than the rest of the pedestrian world. After all, we are descended from the people who stepped off Noah's Ark onto Mount Ararat; from a great king, Dikran, who built a fortification around his capital second in size only to the GreatWall of China; from daring men and women who fought heroic, if often losing battles against Persians and Romans, Parthians and Turks. Moreover, because of this rich history and the Genocide that profoundly connects us all, we Armenians believe ourselves to have a warmth and clannish understanding of each other unlike any other people. We like to think, for example, that no two Armenians are strangers; an Armenian away from home is heartily welcomed by new Armenian acquaintances. (Unless, of course, one happens to be American-bom and the other is newly-arrived; or one is a Dashnak and the other is a Ramkavar.) These self-conceptions may not be entirely accurate. But real or imagined, they are an important part of our character and how we define ourselves to the rest of

the

world. [n

fact, the Armenian in

America spends a geat deal of time defining and explaining what it means to be an Armenian.

50 / AIM

NOVEMBER 1995

seeing

Ararat for the first time and

walk-

artlsts.

What was wrong?

Before long I realized nothing was wrong. [n fact. everything was quite normal. Indeed, when you are inArmenia, you are in the one place on earth where it is absolutely normal to be Armenian. Of course, the bus drivers speakArmenian. Of course, the street names are Armenian. Of course, the statues and monuments commemorate imporlant Armenian flgures and events. Armenia is the only place in the

world, with the possible exception of my late grandmother's house, where Armenian is the context. Anywhere else, Armenian is unusual; in Armenia, it is routine. If I hear Armenian being spoken at the next table in a New York restaurant, my ears perk up; in Armenia, if I hear any other language my ears perk up. In Armenia, it is not unique to be Armenian, and that is precisely what is so special aboutArmenia. Armenia is the one place where our ethnic knowledge is shared and our passionate emotions understood, without explanation or apology. Never is this more evident than on Apnl 24. In a simple pilgrimage, people fiom all over the country come to the

Marlyrs Monument in Yerevan, silently leaving flowers at the etemal flame. There are no speeches

or rallies, no

lectures or films, no contrived events.

There is no need for mass demonstrations like those in Times Square

on the soil of my ancestral home would give me permanent goose bumps, that the

every year, because there is no need to educate the politicians and the rest of the community about Armenian issues. By circumstance more than choice,

accumulated impressions of a lifetime of stories would come gushing out as the Armenia of my heart came face to face with the real thing. But that is not what

Armenians in America have their feet in two marvelous and hearts and minds worlds. Bridging those worlds, without becoming so absorbed in one that you neglect the other, can be difficult. But it is

happened.

essential.

For days,

was deeply puzzled by

how unemotional I was. I did not understand why I was unmoved by the sight of Armenian street names and road signs; why I was not impressed by the sound of theArmenian language spoken on the sidewalks; why I was not overwhelmed upon

visiting the modem art museum with an entire collection of work by Armenian

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