The Unbearable Freedom - October 1993 by Armenian International Magazine

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FOREGROUND

Armenian gains on the war front have drawn sfrong reactions from the international community in recent weeks: as sphere of influence agendas crystallize, regional powers are threatening heavier involvement in the Karabaktr conflict... Pushed into signing the "ruble zorre" agreement with Moscow, Yerevan faces further economic and political dependence... And Armenian parliamentarians continue to debate the shape of governance before writing a new constitution. COVERSTORY

THE UNBEARABLE

FREEDOM 16

Tivo years after independence, Georgia must still define its terms of nationhood. Overwhelmed by inter-ethnic strife, foreign intervention and anarchy in his own camp, Edvard Shevardnadze presides over a state in shambles. FIELD REPORT

VANISHING

POINTS

Armenia's economic crisis seems to promise yet another

harrowing winter. Back from a fact-finding mission, a humanitarian-aid specialist reflects on the organizational aspect of dealing with the county's worsening living standards. COMMUNITIES

COUING OF AGE IN THE

U.K.

Britain is home to some 10,000Armenians. It is also the first state to establish an Armenian embassy, thanks, in part, to the lobbying effort of a localArmenian community that has become a model of unity in action. CINEMA

LEAGUE

OFACCENTS

The currentArmenian film festival at France's prestigious Pompidou Center is the fust definitive gathering of a nation's best and worst on celluloid. Ourfilm critic in Paris makes sense of the historic pell-mell.

l{otc Lcttcrr Artr Journal Flccr Focur Publlrho/r

4 5

COVER DESIGN: DICBAN Y. KASSOUNY

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Michael Nahab€t Varten Oskanian

This decade has seen a reversal in Armenia's fortunes. Often colonized and

victimizedthroughouttheir3,000-yearhistory, Armeniansarenowindependent politically and victorious militarily. What a fine way to conclude the first 3,000 years of a continuous national record!

The fourth millennium of Armenian history, therefore, holds unparalleled challenges and promises for us all. The promise of self-determination and independence, with all its implications for homeland and diaspora, comes coupled with the challenge of communicating our view and vision to the world. AIM was founded with just that vision: to fulfill that promise. AIM's successes are many: reaching some 45,000-plus readers each month forttre last40 months; presentingnews and analysis about Armenia andArmenians in acontextthat acknowledges the significance of the subject in a style that respects the intelligence of the reader; presenting Armenians with a publication that reflects a confident sense of self that's revolutionizing the Armenian selfimage and ransforming it to universal standards. But if AIM was to continue to deliver on its promises, putting you, the subscribers, on top of the increasingly complex Armenian world, we had to contain a tide of reversals that threatened to affect both our ability to publish highly en-

ArlaBhes

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FIA\TNI MEXICO

Ammrn; Karekin Kelellan; E lrut:

Torry Savino; Lo3 Ang.lo: Sossi Madzounlan, Kerro* Ohnszian; t{a{v Jaraay: Ard€m Aslaniani t{ow Yorh: llarry Kdundakjhn; P!rl3: Amlneh Johann€3, Alina Manoukisn; Provldrricr: Berle Are Zobian: Srn Frrncltco: Armen

gaging, significantstoriesand,consequently,tomaintainreaderconfidence. After all, no monthly magazine maybe worttrthehooplaif itfails to ship onthefirstof each month, as it had become painfully visible for the people working on these pages and the thousands of you out there getting them late-a case in point is our September issue that wasn't altogether.

The present issue constitutes a turning point as AIM makes way for a fresh group of custodians who will carry on as the magazine' s parent company. TheFourth Millennium Society is organized as anot-for-profit, public benefit corporation, committed to uphold AIM's principles no matter what ideological or commercial pressures it may face. Continuity will remain central in the editorial and visual aspects as well, although AIM editors and writers will introduce new departments and strive to achieve wider news coverage and analysis. This, then, is the face ofchange. It is now up to you, our loyal readers, to give Fourttr Millennium, and a rejuvenated AIM, the support they surely deserve.

Pllllt:

Amo Jihanhn; Eo.ton: Lona Sanents, Ad Siamaliou; Flotld!:

lvr

z\INI

ZrEh BEdailsn, Vr,ian K!,loghlulrn, Krhrlan, Krikd Kilkortan, Mlchacl NahEbct, Vltcha Otmlln, Vrrtln OlkEnlen, Thoma Yabrlrn EDITOiST Chrld Nmrisn, Mlna Kol8len

TcrtbookGase I am proud of AIM for printing

Ishak

Alaton' s boot-licking letter in the July issue. We have freedom of speech in the US.

This man refers to the "never proven Genocide of 1915." Ifhe has any brains he should lookuptheTurkish, Armenian, French and other papers published in Istanbul between 19 19 andDecember l922toreadabout the massacres of Armenians in 1915-1922. He could also read the minutes of the Military Court in Istanbul that tried Enver, Talaat, JemalPashasandothersinabsentiafor their role in organizin

g the

Genoc

We s trnins te

W ::r:A

r, C alifu rnia

I agree with Mr. Ishak Alaton that Armenians of Karabakh and Azeris should come to

terms with the suffering of their people and

ThcWcll.Roundcd Blurt As

devoted and attentive readerofAlM

since its first issue, I write both to praise (loudly), and chastise (sotto voce). Overall, AIM is a pleasure to read and to share with others. The physical object itself is attractive, and the content heterogeneous enough to provide many items of interest in each issue.

Given the realities

of the

American

economy, whichbegantolosethemomentum

it had generated in the 1982-88 periodjusr aroundthetimeAIMfirstappeared, youhave had an uphill struggle in the past four years, and I congratulate you for enduring and im-

provmg. Could you, however, exercise a closer quality control overyour many otherwise interesting regular columnists and occasional contributors?

You have a special responsibilty here, because many Armenian-Americans and even a few Americans know about us only tlrough what they read in AIM, so accuracy is very important. Take Shireen Hunter's column, "A Question of Identity," (Cover Story, July). Should you not inform your readers of who she is? True, you name her position, but might it not help yourreaden to say that she is an Iranian-Azerbaijani by origin? She has long been committed, rightly, to stressing the Iranian dimension of Azerbaijan's history, and this makes her appealing

to Armenians today; so does her implied condemnation of the Turkification of the complex Azerbaijani population of Talish, Lrzgi and Kurd. But notice that nowhe re inher article does the word Armenian occur, not even in the paragraph where she names the otherminoritiesinAzerbaijan. I surelybelieve in the writer's freedom, but I also believe in your responsibility to note what she omits saying about herselfand others in an editorial note.

Prof. KhachigTdldlyan M iddletow n, Co nne c t ic ut

establish peaceful co-existence. Thepositive message Mr. Alaton tries to convey in his letteris unfortunately lost when he states outright that the Genocide of 1915 has never been

proven. IvIr. Alaton may have a point when he argues that politicians in general try to exploit historic events to their own advantage. Armenians, however, do not need to listen to politicians' accounts, but their own parents' and grandparents' first-hand experiences of the Genocide. Today Israel and Germany enjoy cordial, if not friendly, relations withone another. This has been achieved not by denials ofhistoric facts but by Germany's full acceptance of its responsibilities as the successor state to the Nazi state. The same could be said for Japa-

nese relations, especially with Korea and China. Turkey can start demonstrating its willingness for friendly relations with Armenia by helping ease the impact of the Azeri blockade. Further, Turkey can stop spending millions of dollars to finance third-rate academic research on Genocide denials, stop the publication and free distibution of worthless history books in its attempt to rewrite Armenian and Ottoman history, and stop spreading disinformation about Armenians tfuough its well-oiled Washington lobby. Turkey can choose to take the high road like Germany and Japan and gradually accept its responsibilities for the Genocide as the successorstatetotheOttomanEmpireandthe Young Turks regime, which, after all, committed the Genocide of 1915. I assure Mr. Alaton thatTurkey and Armenia would then

(offees

become the best ofneighbors. N ame w ithheld by reque st

Toronto, Canada How could you let garbage such as Ishak

Alaton's letter go through your pages without any editorial comment on yourpart? Refening to Antranig Tatossian's letter appearing on the same page: you havejust proven that you are more than "sitting on the AII\4, OCTOBER I99.3

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fence 0rying to please" even the Turks. However, I stop my condemnation of your action right there, and do not ask you to cancel my subscription. You are the only one we have on the intemational market.

Allow metotell yousomething aboutyour profession, though. Unless you fully endorse '"TwkishDisinformation l0l" (whateverthat

NIVAN GASPARYAN

you do not let it slip through your fingers withoutputting things in perspective foryour

surroundingthedetails ofhis death"leavethe impression that his death was somehow

readers.

mysterious. Unfortunate andtragic, perhaps; but mysterious it was not. He died in battle. The sigfficant details are clear and undisputed. Whether the shrapnel that struck his

Note: We empathize with Mn Kricorissian's ire and thank him, nevertheless, for

hi s rathe r half- he art e d v o t e of c onfi de nc e fo r must be stessed, however, that AIM's lztters pages are afreeforumfor the exchange of ideas and perlwp s one of the be st

ourwork It

ways to disprove accusations against this magazine of political prejudice or partisanship-unpalatable though some of the pieces appearing on these pages mtry seem, it is our dury n provide spacefor dive rgent voices and perspectives. This said, we also reserve the right to either append edito rial conunentaie s to lette rs (the title preceding Mr. Alaton's piece,for

FweLilde Dtr/rs

instance) or, as is ofien thc case, let the letter

speakfor itself, Asforthe numeral inthe title "Turdsh Disinformation 101," it is a reference to first-year US college classes, thus connoting, perlwps unfairly, a certain mea-

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The MisdlbvilNs Amen (ttrltudesturg6ffik)

Congratulations to Dikran H. Mouradian the courage to expose a forgotten factor which has actively contibutedtoArmenia'sproblems and gleefully financed its enemies. President Woodrow Wilson proposed making Armenia a protectorate of the US. American offlrcials balked at the idea, deciding there were not enough natural resources in Armenia to make the projectprofitable. As then, so too now that each time a toilet

(rtters, July) for having

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3) "ASALA members from around the world" did NOT attend the funeral. I am only

numeral may mean), my understanding is that

Ontario,Caruda

ciallyhurtful. aware of one current member who did. However, several ex-members attended. 4) Thereference to "conflicting accounts

Petros R. Kricorissian

TALINE G5II1

group's despotic leader, Hagop Hagopian, around. Monte suffered greatly at the hands of Hagopian, making this inaccuracy espe-

flushes in AnkaraorBaku, the dinneralanns

blareinWashington, DC, London, andtherest of the "moral" steve yakoubian Torrance, Califurnia

world'

Record lless.Up I am disappointed with the way you have reported my brother's death in your June issue (Dossier): the piececontained no less than fivererrors. I would appreciate itifyoucould publish the following corrections: I ) Monte died on June 12, not June 15. 2) The most disturbing error is the description of him as "a member of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA)." Since 1983, Monte has been an ex-member-in fact, one of the most outspoken and proactive opponents of the

AIM, OCTOBER 1993

headwas fromafirstcanonroundora second one is ultimately trivial. 5) I also question the portrayal of"angry middle-agedwomenfromMartuni [who] said

they would have preferred to bury him in Karabakh." It was the wish of his widowbased on Monte's own preferences-that he be buried at

Yerevan' s Yeraplur, and this was

agreeduponinMartuni andunderstoodwhen he was flownback to Armenia on June I 3. My family and I visited several villages in the Marnrni region after the funeral and fteonly angerwe witnessed was atthe factof Monte's death. It is probably fair to say that there was disappointment among the good people of

Martuni'butnodissent' Ma,eMelt<onian Visalia, California

Holy Shmoly In my August 10, 1993 letter, I wrote you regarding the "Courting Detente" article of AIM's March issue, and I praised the meeting between Yazgen I and Sheikh-ul-Islam

Allahshukur Pasha-zade. However, I read in the June 1993 issue

the Armenian Missionary Association of America publication that "Sheikh Pashazade, the Muslim leader of the Caucasian region, recently appealed to all leaders, governrnents, and religious leaders of the Islamic world to condemn the aggressor country, Armenia, which has incited hatred against Muslims." He further said that "it is time for Muslim countries to state theirposition... to undertake immediate and active measures." Ifthe above is true, then I have spoken too soon. Mypraiseofthereligious leadertomeet with his Armenian counterpart and talkpeace may have been premature. Aspet Ordoubegian

ElkGrove, Califurnia Letterc to the editors should be brief and include verifiable name, signature, address and daytime phone number. Mail lettersto

P.O.Bor 10o6{r Glcndalc, Galifomla 91 209-3064 or fax to

(8r81 546 OO88. Letters may be edited and/or condensed.

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AIM. OCTOBER I993

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By TIGRAil

XilALIAN

MENDING OLDWOUNDS In Armenia, the Cold War endd at 12 noon on Monday, August 30, I 993. That day akhachkar was mounted at the site of the crash of a US Air Force C130 shot down by a Soviet MIG fighter plane on September2, 1958, nearthe villageof Sasnashen, in northwest Armenia. Laterthat year ttrebodies of only six of the 17 crew members were returnedby the Se' viets. Now, 35 years later, a high-level US delegation, among them l,orna Bourg, the sister of one of thecrewmembers, arrivedin Armeniato visitthe site of the crash and to inquire about the fate of the other I I crew members listed as missing in action. Bourg, who anived a week earlier, found during her own observations of the site the dog tag of her brother, Archie T. Bourg Jr.-A2C USAF, 184855 13. A team offorensic experts from the USAF base in Hawaii are also currently exploring the site, while theBBC is frlming adocumentary on the event.

CASH BASH Under pressure from the lntemational Monetary Fund, and in an attemptto stem inflation and main-

The

plotthlckens: An

Armenlan ofllcer checks rulns ol a houge ln the vlllage ot Genl. The house was blown up byan Azerbalanl alr attack after Karabakh detense lorcea occupled the vlllage.

MATRIX: MOUNTAINOUS

KARABAKII In early September, the situation around Mountainous Karabakh deteriorated to a degree that might have triggered military involvement of the regional powersIran, Turkey and Russia.

After the advancement of Karabakh forces into southern Azerbaijan, close to the kanian border, Iran moved troops into Azerbaijan underthe pretext of protecting Azeri refugees from the Karabakh offensive, while simultaneously serving to assure the safety of a reservoir which Iran claims has significant value to is owneconomy, Turkey, on its part, amassed is own troops on the Armenian border, and warned Armenia not to enter Nakhichevan, threatening to respond in kind ifnecessary. Turkey's move, aside from being a serious threat

tain control of its monetary policy, the Russian Central Bank announced on July 20 its intention to take

a reaction to Iran' s entry into Azerbaijan. The Iranian and Turkish moves resulted in Russia's more active engagement in the region and the Mountainous Karabakh conflict, signalling Moscow's unease over the increasing involvement of other regional powers, while atthe sametimeraising fearsintheCaucusus thatRussia may deploy roops in the region yet again. These incidents may well alarmthe West" which has been trying to contain Iran's influence and minimize Russia's involvement in the region.

nant Armenia. Armenia had no choice but to

to Armenia, was also viewed as

The long arm ol the ruble.

AIM, OCTOBER 1993

allbanknotes printedbefore 1993 outofcirculation. The announcement alarmed most of the former So' viet republics, among them the economically stag-

join the new ruble

zone agreement along with Belorus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan-and Russia. Since issuing rubles is Russia's prerogative, thepolitical implication of this agreement is that the other members will sunender their monetary policies to Russia's discre-

tion. Forthat very reason, the new agreement stipulates

macro-economic coordination among the five republics. Most importantly, the membercountries are

obligid to rcduce ttreir budget deficits, conrol inflation, adopt unified interest rates, and guarantee the frce movement of goods and services across their boiders. The old rubles will continue to be accepted as legal tender in Armenia, and Russia is ob[g6d to accept them, but only through the Cenral Bank of Armenia.

session of parliament, is

over the new constitu-

tionofArmenia. There are two alter-

native draft constitutions being presented to parliament. The main

The new agreement curbs some economic anxieties in Armenia, whose oldrubles continue to have

difference between

value within the local economy. However, those many merchants actively engagbd in importing goods fromRussia willpreferto deal in new rubles, andthuswillcreatedualpricesandeven anexchange market for old and new rubles.

of Armenia's govern-

them is the future form ment. The version offered

by the Constitutional Commission,chairedby

President Levon Ter

OIL FOR GOLD

Petrossian, proposes a

President Levon Ter Petrossian's

visit

Ashgabaq Turkmenistan, in early September raised hopes that 0ris winterwill be a warmerone in Arme-

nia. During the visit, the two sides agreed that Turkmenistan supply Armenia with 8.5 million cubic meters of gas daily instead of the 3 million which Armenia has until now been receiving. In return, Armenia will pay Turlonenistan with gold. However, itremains to be seen whetherGeorgia abidesby the terms of its own agrcement with Armenia, obliging Georgia to not utilize Armenia's portions of the total flow of gas from Turkmenistan and ensure the safety of ttre pipelines on its territory.

WHOSECONSTITUTION? The most critical debate, and one which is expected to generate much heat during the seventh

presidential form of government with substantial executive power resting with the president, while the alternative, presented by the joint commission of five opposition parties, advocates aparliamentarian system of government with only a symbolic role for the president. The opposition argues that in a small and newly independent country, a presidential system of govemment runs the risk of becoming an authoritarian regime, while the current administration insists that in this time of transition and uncertainty, there is a need for a more organized and efficient executive. Tliere is also disagreement as to how the constitution should be adopted-whether by Constitutional Convention as preferred by the opposition, or, as the

governmentsuggests,byapopularreferendum.

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IRR

Peter Der Manuelian's Quest for Hiercglyph Tales By AYLIN BAHABTAN

orEgyptologist Peter Der Manuelian, atypeface can go a long way. A curator at Boston's Museum of FineArts with extensive archeologtcal and research experience, Der Manuelian focuses on the visual legacy of ancient Egypt. His recently pub-

lished$rrami.ds, Mummies and Fun is the latest installment in a series of works dedicated to the

re-creation of Egypt's pictorial heritage through computer-aided design; and his Hieroglyphsfrom A to Z, a children's book, is the culmination of ateam effortto adapt Egyptian pictograms for computerized typesefting andpublishing.

Der Manuelian studied Near Eastern languages and civilizations at Harvaid and in Germany. He earnedhis doctoratefromUni-

versity of Chicago. "My dissertation was based on the Egypt of 600 BC, when the counfiry went through a wide-scalecultural renaissance," he says. "Artistic and linguistic frames of reference veered to the deeppast to an exlent that would be analogous to, shy, Armenian newspapers today suddenly pub-

lishing stories in grabar [classical Armenianl." Decoding such linguistic shifts and reconsfircting history through the study of inscriptions have been Der Manuelian's major preoccupations. "There's an overwhelming amount of material to make sense of, and this is the reason why the field has become so specialized," he says. "In the old days an Egyptologist could cover all the bases, including dynastic chronology, the visual arts, literature, theology, international relations, and so on. Nowadays you have to Pull together specialiss in all these fields

l':"';:l:'r,I:il:ffi:,,1*lr" Manuelian Since 1977 Der

has participaEd in a dozen

cavations

ex-

in Egypt as epi-

grapher, Egyptological con-

sultant and artist. He has also published widely in scholarly magazines and authored two monographs

in addition to his pictorial books.

Though well-funded by museums and universities, the excavations in which Der Manuelian takes part pose some logistical diffi culties

in Egypt, he says. "In

where ihere's a "oo,itfu' shortage of living space constant and agricultural land, it's very hard to make the argument for excavating a site which might otherwise be used as prime real estate forhousing anddevelopmenL It's always abit

of a struggle to meâ&#x201A;Źt the needs of ttre living while taking care of the needs of thedead." AIM, OCTOBER 1993

;11r'r $ r!

The idea of writing children's books grew

out of Der Manuelian's obsession with hieroglyphs. "It was purely experimental," he explains. "I saw it as an opportunity to do something a bit different and creative, with a lot of color... all that black and white fare in

academic publica-

uitous, DerManuelian says.'"Take the Statue

of Liberty; or the Parthenon; or the AT&T logo. These are all universally recognizable icons, and they are part and parcel ofa global discourse-legitimate pictogram material." Der Manuelian says he is fascinated with recentinnovationsin

tions tends to getdull

computer gXaphics and desktop pub-

sometimes."

Der Manuelian had no shortage

lishing. "When the

Macintosh and

primary materials. "What mainly interests me about ancient Egypt is that it's of the most graphical cultures you can study," he says. "Hieroglyphs are fundamentally pictorial representations but also

one

Apple came out in the early 80s, their icon-based interfaces were a tremendous revelation," he recalls. "You could seeimage-based signifiers of what you were working with, so you didn't have to memorize obscure command codes."

But beyond the simplified working environments that today's computers have made possible, Der Manuelian sees the promise of computer technologies as the great convergers of human interests and concerns. "The challenge is to make information available to everyone rather than resene it

monopoly of an elite," he says. "The morewecankeepitopenand share, themore everyone can benefit, regardless ofnational

as the

borders."

Der Manuelian is currently involved in projects thatrangefromthepreservation and publication of archive photos of past excavations for the Museum of Fine Arts to up-

coming archeological missions in Egypt, where he will decode and translate inscrip tions, make drawings of hieroglyphs, and record newly-discovered artifacts. Says Der Manuelian: "Egypt is really a

1:,at4

ROOMWITHAVIEW: Der Manuellan durlng an 1982 excavatlon ln Glza, left; hls hleroglyphlc deslgns have appeared ln a chlldren's book, above.

kindofmeltingpot. It'shardtosaywhereone group ofpeople ends and another begins. "But there's also a wonderful sense of continuity: it's not unusual to walk down a street, notice a particular face, and go, '[,ord, that's the same face I've seen at the Cairo Museum on a statue!"

ERRATUH language likeany other. The Egyptians made a veritable artform out of the visualiza-

Grace Nahigian's name was misspelled in the "Postscript" section (page

tion oflanguage." Parallels with the modem world are ubiq-

45) of our August issue. Our apologies.

form

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THEUNBEARI FREEDOM Precipice Georgia On The

By STEPHEil JONES n

17 months

of rule, President Edvard

Shevardnadze has been unable to reverse

former sfiongman Zviad

Gamsa-

khurdia's legacy of an economically devastated and politically divided country. The population, over half of whom are

officially on the poverty line, has grown cynical and weary, worried about the continuingriseincrime, theunendingbreadlines which begin at four o'clock in the moming, the price of peftol (a gallon will cost you two months' average wages) and the collapse of municipal services. Uncollected rubbish lies in Tbilisi streets, famed for their elegant architecture, breeding an infestation of flies. Hospitals have diverted whatfew medicines they have to the warfrontinAbkhazia.

Inflation in Georgia is running at over 1,200 percent per annum, 60 percent offactories are idle due to the economic blockade imposed by Russia, and the

rollable." Heknows thatpolitical stability is unattainable in Georgiaunless ethnic minority concems are addressed. Neitheris itlikely that friendly relations will be attained with other Caucasian states if their co-ethnics are mistreated in Georgia. But despite Shevardnadze'

assurances

ethnic equality and universal citizenship, the the hostility and suspicion sown Gamsakhurdia period remain. Gamsakhurdia launched a Georgianization program and encouraged an intimidating press campaign against non-Georgians. In Gamsakhurdia's view, it was time to promote the rights of the indigenous peoples, not the minorities who had homelands elsewhere. The long established non-Georgian communities, such as the 437,000Armenians and 307,000Azeris, were threatened with discriminatory electoral and citizenship legislation.

budget infroduced this July anticipates an 80 percent

deficit. The privatization programs in bottr agriculture and industry have ground to

ahalt. Central power is weak and ineffective, unable to

itselfin the provinces or establish law and order in the cities. The western region of Mingrelia is in the hands of l,oti Kobalia, who leads a assert

bandofsoldiers still loyal to

Gamsakhurdia,

and

the

cabinet of Prime Minister Tengiz Sigua, which was forced to resign this August,

gathered almost universal scorn as acorrupt holdoverfrom the communist past. The new parliament, elected in October I 992, comprises 26 parties and is legislatively ineffective. Shevardnadze has made real efforts to improve relations between Georgia's nationalities and is wonied that "one little spark could turn the present regional conflicts into abig fire that would rapidly become uncon-

I I I I

n the offices of Minister Alexander Kavsadze's Committee for the Protec-

tion of Minority and Human Rights, situated in the Stnlinesque Government

Building still undergoing restoration following its destruction during the conflict with Gamsakhurdia, a group of Armenian and Azeri community leaders recently spoke about what troubled them, displaying a much AIM, OCTOBER 1993

Georgians

Armenians Abkhazians Russians

Ossetans Others

BLE

').

'J, r.

frii,lent

, r,ftqgpd.bmll

ARMENIANS IN GEORGIA Sone 437,000 Armenians live in Georgia. They are mos$ @ncentnted in Tbilisi, the capihl, and the distrids ot Ninobminda, l*hallalak, l*haftskha aN

apatchffro(kofndiffi$ ftmtiqn$ in &e *or&,,af,dl probl€ms unril dro 19& eemny,

'in&ii of

ffitq&Fgs'tofuagttf wwld ' I*1$l&tufiqqrifgtk tablishing a sovereigp rEpubfic,l staf€s of &etime, tumd into ani erty, aud intsmst eftnic strife.

Sr*r@;:t&.iss*df

vital to Crugia's survival Wealrenod by economic

collpn,*at,gli& Amel*+Rrusiqd

andign@bythe intemationalcoqmqdE, CFp{giahc$arre which seized the republic in 1921. AftEr th trCIoilof pd&giyrfn$ I 930s, Georgia settled into apedodofrclAivc probleln had been "sotved" in fuirgi4wtr"itfusory, Communist rul6carne to atr €Ddin.Offiq 199q, s/hen the forrerdissident Zviad Camsalfiu$a $l4ioporr€ron ewsvsaf

AIM

re@ilY, l&$Vtfr CS$S

BY OEMN Y, FGUFES BASEDd

@uund

morecomplex and ambivalentrelationship to Georgians than the simplistic view encountered in the Western press of chauvinistic Georgians oppressing their minorities. Van Baiburtian, editor of the Armenian newspaper Vranran, had his complainB. Why was a 20-kilometer military zone inhoducpd in the southern Arrnenian distics bordering Armenia and nowhere else? Why werp there only nvo Armenian deputies in the Georgian parliament and not a single one from Tbilisi, despite the 200,000 Armenians living there? Why hadn't ttrc Georgian govemmentbeen more active in assuring therelease of Armenian hostages who were taken from aGeorgian uain in Azerbaijan on its way to Russia? They were, after all, citizens of Georgia.

lrsrHd,{nfiao

tMbrffiqtn deE6p,@,|gfrotdt lDs,wa/|dc,,nytpvld 9,6g,{tli6€tnn l(,,,/t,A,atbNntot&-

NON.GEORGIAN POPULATION BREAKDOWN IN SOUTHERN DISTRICTS

Kareli 2lGspi 3 Axmeta 1

4lagodexi SSagarcjo Gardabani TTetricqaro

SCallc

Ihe#€/hDha'D€en blomWatlsdc/rix lin]ps,

fintwwotsdtw

iltodlffid

Aze/frf.iianb

wbnticfukaded Afltsnia.

9Athallolak l0Aspinza

17.go/olBei

11 Akhaltskha

42.5% laei 23.17oGreek, 12.4%Armenian

6l%Greek,28.5%Armenian

rent economic situation could turn Georgians against Azeris, who occupied some of thebest farmlands nearTbilisi and soldtheirgoodsfor high prices in the capital's markets. There had also been attemps, such as the blowing up of bridges and roads in Azeri and Armenian areas, to ignite conflictbenreen ttre

two communities, and relations with local Georgians in Bolnisi and Dimanis were

15.4% Ossetian 10.1olo Ossetian 1 1.1% Osseitan, 10.1olo lngush

26.3%Men

Suluman Sulumeinov, editorof theAzerbaijani newspaper Gurjistan, told me there were no Azerbaijani rcpresentatives in parliament at all. He was also afuaid that fte cur-

91.3oloArmenian 19.1oloArmenian

42.8% Armenian 12 Bodganovka 89.6% Armenian 13 Dmanisi 63.9% Azeri 14 Bolnisi 667o Azri 15 Marneuli 76.31" Azei, l 0.4% Armenian

AIM, OCTOBER 1993

tense. Nevertheless, Baiburtian and Sulumeinov

did not consider themselves oppressed minorities. Armenians have 208 schools subsidized by the Georgian govemment, and the

Azeris l53.Irssons arctaughtuntil the l lttr

gade in the native language and both com-

and psychological. As protected minorities,

munities have libraries, radio programs and

the Abkhazians in the west and the Ossetians

native-language newspapers. Armenians have a state theater and six churches, the Azeris two major mosques. Surprisingly, Baiburtian and Sulumeinov srongly supported a Georgian sate language; tlreirmain priority, as community leaders, was to ensure that their co-ethnics learned the

inthe north may havehadpoliticalprivileges, but on the whole they were less educated and occupied lesser-skilled jobs than Georgiurs. The Georgian govemment's tolerance is not always reflected among ordinary citizens, who have their etlmic prejudices. I would oftenhearGeorgians, whohaveover 1 500years of literary history, express disdain for the

Georgian language, especially in the regions

where they could only communicate with Georgians in Russian. A suggestion that they organize ethnic parties to achieve betterrep resentation in parliament was greeted as naive: this would only create further divisions,

theywarned. l,eaders of the Georgian People's Congress, a non-govemmental organization of Assyrians, Kurds, Poles, Russians, Jews and

others founded in February 1993, voiced similar sentiments. Igor Bogomolov, the Georgian-speaking President of the Russian

Cultural-klucational Society of Georgia told mehis main taskwasto getRussiansto learn Georgian and o educate Georgians about the multinational nature of their state. Without an

"unculhfed" Ossetians and Abkhazians. During the warwith South Ossetia many of the 33,000 Ossetians living in Tbilisi were forced from their homes by angry Georgians or lost theirjobs. The two Ossetian schools in Tbilisi were closed down and have not been rcopened. Russian officers werc a$acked in the streets and insulted in the press. But these were extreme times, and Georgians were receiving similarteaunentin South Ossetiaand Abkiazia. According o Valeri Vashakidze, Chairman of Georgia's Commiree on Refugees, there are currently 150,000 (mainly Georgian) refugees in therepublic. Tbilisi's

hotels are overflowing with them, their washing draped fromthebalconies and their children playing in the grand fountains in the hotel plazas. There are

Russian, Armenian, Greek, even some Ab-

khazian refugees among them. Vashakidze qubted polling results to prove his point: 'There was no psychological basis in Abkhaz-

ia for the conflict be-

ciety. The war in Abkhazia, which

nveen Abkhazians and Georgians.

draggedonforayearandleft over l,400dead and 5,(X)0 wounded on the Georgian side alone, is the cuknination of an animosity that

'Ethnicconflictwas the wrong !erm. This

was

a political con-

flict, and the main culprit was the Russian state," Despite the glaring presence of dispossess-

Georglan prleoners ol war held by Abkhazlan separatlsts. offrce or newspaper, this was going to be difficult, he agreed. There had been an exodus ofRussians in the lastfew years, butmost of thoseweremilitary families, hesaid. Only26 Russians had asked forRussian citizenship in Georgia. Madimir Picxadze, the Jewish representative in ttre People's Congress, asserted that Jews had always been reated well by Geor-

gians, even in the days of Stalinist antisemitism. He told me that the Jewish community, which was significantly r€duced by an exodus of the 1970s, now has 16 syna-

Tbilisi,

has been simmering fordecades.

Wonied about theirdemographic decline, Abkhazians accuse Georgians of genocide; Creorgians counterby noting thatAbktazians, despite making up only 18 percent of the Abkhazian republic'

population, dominated

all the top political and economic posts for years. During the war, which came to an end

the city has regained its traditional face of multiethnic tolerance. Ethnic relations in the provinces are much less predictable, complicated by economic catastrophe, lawlessness and local ethnic mafias. In Ninotsminda district which is almost 90 percent Armenian, tensions have arisen wittr Georgians over what to do with the land

ttris July when a Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed, the northern two-thirds of the Abkhazian republic was connolled by the Ablhazians. Sukhumi, the capital, was held by theGeorgians, butitis now inruins. Half

abandonedby ttre Russian Drkhobor sect, and in Akhalkalak authorities were unable to pre-

prime minister of Abkhazia, the Abktazian

vent the lynching of a young boy who had

Eshera ridge overlooking the city. Georgian soldiers anxiously scanned the palls of smoke to see if their houses were among those hir In

rapedachild.

gogues and its own Rabbi.

his picture, of course, is incomplete. Any studentwilltellyou tlnt ethnic inequality is not simply institutional but social, economic,

ed Georgians in

has

bkhazians and South Ossetians have both demanded incorporation into the Russian republic.

The 96,000 Abkhazians, who languageunrelated to Georgian, have long resisted assimilation into Georgian sospeak

AIM, OCTOBER

1993

ofthe 120,000 residents have left. In June, one could watch from the bunker ofTamaz Nadareishvili, the official Georgian

artillery's daily shelling routine from the

Sukhumi, houses arebuiltwittroutbasementg which made shelter difficult. Bombing was indiscriminate, claiming Russian, Annenian and Georgian victims. A Georgian soldier recounted how, in one of those ironies of war, hehadheardthatthat very day amarriagehad

GEORGIA ON THEIR MINDS: Clockwlsetrom

left, Russian President Borls Yeltsln and Georgian President Edvard Shevardnadze; Georglan Prime Mlnister Tenglz Slgua; lormer strongman Zviad Gamsakhurdia. taken place in Sukhumi between a Georgian and an Abkhazian. The warcost Georgia 50 million rubles a day. It wasadangerous political issue in Russian-Georgian relations and its peaceful outcome was vital to the survival of the Georgian

state and to Shevardnadze's own career. Russia, along with the tenitorially fictitious Confederation of Caucasian Peoples. which

aims to unite all North Caucasian nations, supplied the Abkhazians with arms, soldiers and money. According to the Georgian side, only one in three Abkhazian fighters were ethnical ly Abkhazian ; the rest were Cossacks,

Adyghe, Cherkess and other North Caucasians with whom Abkhazians claim ethnic fraternity. Vladislav Ardzinba, Prime Ministerof the rebel Abkhazian govemment, clai ms

Abkhazians from the 200,000 emigrâ&#x201A;Ź community in Turkey also helped. Some Armenians in the Abkhazian sector

joined the Abkhazian side, but Ada

N,!ar-

shania, a pro-Georgian Abkhazian deputy in the Georgian parliament, was not surprised.

"Surrounded by Abkhazians, Armenians found it difficult to refuse," she said, agreeing, however, that it will make Georgian-Armenian relations in Abkhazia hard to repair. Armenian villagels. too, are bitter at the way Georgian troops treated them during the war. Russia wants to keep its foothold in

Abkhazia-it

has a strategic coastlineand

will

give Russia continuing leverage over Georgia. R.ussian suppofi for the Abkhazians will

appease the North Caucasians who are threatening to secede from the Russian Federation.

o less important was a Russian military interest in promoting the

fall of Shevardnadze, the co-ar-

chitect ofperestroika and the SovietUnion 's dismantlement. Georgians argue

OUT OF SUKHUMI: A Georgian

refugee and

that Russian rnilitary involvement in Abkhazia follows the pat-

of Moldova and

her child

tern

leaving the battered city.

Tajrkistan, which have both expelienced Rus-

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sian military intervention. Russia, according to Gela Charkviani. Shevardnadze's Chief foreign policy advisor, has not abandoned its imperialistic ambitions. Shevardnadze talks quite openly of the "dark forces" in Russia that wish to see Georgia's break-up. Indeed, what conclusion should Georgians draw when Russian Vice President Alexander Rutskoi anticipates the resurrection of the Soviet empire, and Sergei Stankevich, one of President Boris Yeltsin's main policy advisors, clairns special rights for Russia in the former Soviet territories? Furthermore, Defense Minister Pavel Grachev has demanded that Russian troops stay in Abkhazia, "otherwise we will lose the Black Sea." On July 27, the Georgian and Abkhazian leaderships signed a ceasefire. Brokered by Russia, it gives the latter peace-keeping powers-a defeat for Georgian policy which wanted the remand of Russian troops-but recognizes the territorial integrity of, Georgia. Perhaps it will bring a temporary stop to the bloodshed, but, as in Ossetia, it has not resolved the question of how Georgia will in-

corporate its rninorities into the new state structure.

Shevardnadze has set up a parliamentary commission and a State Committee to protect minority rights; appointed regional representatives lrom among the local nationalities; proposed wide powers of regional self-administration; and created a Ceorgian Constitutional Council to include all non-Georgians in the discussion of a new constitution. But parliament has notpassed any important laws on the national question, although a bill on national minorities, if passed, will give nonGeorgians the right to address any official in their own language, demand a translator during a trial and have regional councils work in two languages, should one-third ofthe coun-

country's political survival. On National Security AdvisorTedo Japaridze's wall is a map of Georgia. He pointed to itand explained that the national minorities are gathered almost exclusively along Georgian borders. The

Armenian communities

sphere fears that any decentralization will lead to the collapse of the Georgian stute. All Geolgian leaders are worried about the

AIM. OCTOBER I993

in Akhalkalak,

Akhaltskha and Ninotsminda (along the south). and the Azeris in Dmanisi, Bolnisi, Marneuli and Gardabani (along the east and southeast) are considered by many as potentially disloyal diasporas which may at any time attempt to ten'itorially rnerge with their mother republics.

conflict between Armenians and

Azeris-a danger always

cil agree. Currently there is intense debate in the Georgian Constitutional Council on whether federalism with wide powers for a ten'itorially distinct Abkhazia, Ajaria and possibly South Ossetia, is the answer. But even if a federal plan is devised, it must get the acceptance of the rninorities themselves and face the hostility ola parliament which in the present atmo-

ffi

Japaridze's rnind---<ould set off southern

a bloodbath along Georgia's tier, inviting interlerence by either

ArmeniaorTurkey. The situation in thesouth

is complicated by the rnainly Muslim

Meskhetians, who were brutally expelled in 1944 frorn Georgia's southern districts, now

inhabited by Georgians, Armenians and Azeris. In the last few years, after being evicted frorn the Ferghana valley in Uzbekistan, the Meskhetians have intensified

government, will seek anything more than greater autonomy. He himself condei.nns any talk ofAjaria's wish to secede as "gossip and rumors" and in arecentinterviewdeclared, "I am standing guard over Georgia and its integ-

rity, weapon in hand." Much more dangerous to Georgia's secu-

rity interests is the continuing inability of Tbilisi to assert its rule in the West Georgian region of Mingrelia, which still seryes as former President Gamsakhurdia's political base. In August, strongman Kobalia'stnoops seized three strategic towns in the disfict and

threatened to capture the vital Georgian port

of Poti. hevardnadze returned to Georgia

with a promise to reunite

HEIRS TO A GLITTERING PAST: Tblllsl ls home to some 200,OOO Armenlans. Armenlan-owned cal6s (left and below), churches and other cultural landmarks are ublgultous throughout the Georgian capllal.

their campaign to return from exile in Russia and

control over the republic, reminiscent of Haidar Aliev's independent rule in Nakh-

Azerbaijan, where there are 75,000 regi stered refu gees. The Georgians, already

ichevan during the presidency of Azerbaijan's Abulfez Elcibey. But although Abashidze has encouraged Turkey, which lost the region to Russia in 1878, to expand its economic and cultural activities in the area, there is little evidence that Islam in Ajaria will take on a fundamentalist character, or that Abashidze, a former minister in the Georgian communist

alarmed at the demographic growth of the country's Azeri Muslim population, argue that the return ofthousands of Meskhetians to their homeland would createa fuithersecurity problem forthe state and cause more ethnic tension. Georgians, an ancient Christian people on the frontier of Christendom, have always perceived Islam as a threat. The ancient religious and cultural fault lines in Caucasia are still in place, and although organized religion plays no overt political role in Georgian society, it still determines attitudes. The war in Abkhazia, despite the fact that few Abof Georgians a Christian-Muslim struggle, particularly given the presence of North Caucasian mercenaries fighting for Abkhazians are Muslim, became in the minds

khazian secession.

The growth in Islamic consciousness among theethnically Georgian Ajarians, reflected in the establishment of l8 mosques overthe lasttwoyears in the Ajarian Autonomous Republic, is also troubling Georgians.

Located in Georgia's south-west along the

Turkish border, Ajaria has become the fiefdom ofAslan Abashidze, Chairman of the Ajarian Supreme Soviet. He exercises tight

the country and heal political wounds. His task has proved much more difficult than dismantling the Sovier empire, and his history as former Communist party chief inGeorgiahasopenednewdivisions. He has ended Georgia's international isolation, signed treaty relations with the Caucasian states and with neighborsTurkey and lran. He has kept Georgia out of the Armenian-Azeri imbroglio, which, if it were to spill into Georgia, would end in the country's destruction. But Georgia is still torn apart by political, regional and ethnic divisions, and while these continue, Georgia's path to democracy remains precarious. Cunently, the survival of Georgia and its fledgling democracy dependent on Shevardnadze defusi ng these numerous ethnic time bombs. If he fails, Georgia will take one more step toward disintegration, and Caucasia

will continue to be the subject of bloody

headlines. Stephen Jones ls Asslstant Professorof Russlan Studles at Mount Holyoke College,

Massachusetts, Hrs book, The Georglan Democratlc Bepubllc: 1918-21, wtll be publlshed by MacMlllan later thls year.

POINTS

Armenia's Recovery Will Depend on Gr?ss-Roots lnitiative By KEN CUFTIN

he airport operation in Yerevan was

the worst agy ofus had everseen. Delegates of 14 American international humanitarian agencies, we had come to Armenia to assess needs

andtorecommendactiontoourhomeoffices. As veterans of all the worst airports in the world-Lagos, Khartoum, Nouakchott, JFK-wewereimpressedbyYerevan's level

Human Assistance. Of ttre 334,000 refugees, 130,000 getfoodpackages fromthejointllN and Armenian-International Red Cross pro, grams. Bagoian says theprojectcovers 30 percent of basic refugee necessities, while Levon Karadjian, head of international services for the Armenian Red Cross, confirms that the people' s needs faroutmn availableresources. Karadjian says the Red Cross plan todisEibute kerosene stoves and winterization materials incommunal shelters willbelimitedto 5,000 families during the winter-"limited

of aggressive disorganization. A new record: fourhours to stamp 200 passports, and ano0rcr

becauseof budget, notneed ordistributionca-

hourforbaggageclaim. No otheraircraft distracted the ground staff by aniving or departingduring this time, sotherecordispure. The uip from the airplane's door to the airport's parking lot took longer than the flight from

One mother showed us herquarterof the small classroom she splits with three other families. They share a tiny wood stove, their only source for heating and cooking. She said

Paris to Yerevan.

Karabakh or in town "speculating"-taking relief goods to the marketplace. 'There areover300 communal buildings, shelteringmorethan l00,000refugees," says Dolph Everts, ttre representative in Armenia of the UN High CommissionerforRefugees. "They live in hotels, sanatoria,hospitals, factories and university dormitories. The condi-

International-aid professionals do not show initation in such ftavel situations-that for touriss and amateurs. Instead, we spent those five hours humorously bragging about other travel horrors we had survived. Butwewondered iftheairporttypified organization and management in Armenia. Refugees from Mountainous Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Armenian border areas now make up l0 percent of the Armenian population, accordingtoBagoian, State Ministerfor is reserved

pacity."

the men were either away fighting in

tions in these places are absolutely

atoiious."

Another problem exacerbating the plight

oftherefugeesistherequirementtoprovefumenian citizenship in order to get work or

THE DOLEFUL PACE OF RECONSTBUG TION: The earthquake zone ls rtlll waltlng. qualify for government assistance. Refugees are faced with a bureaucratic maze that often makes establishing citizenship next to imposgible.

"People are sent from one office to another," Everts explains. '"They are sentback to their districts for additional documents. Whentheyretury withthepapenrodC

war-displaced, the country's homeless rate soars !o over 30 percEnt, accoding oBagoian. Thousands of earttrquake survivors now live in communal shelters, often side by side with

refugees. Gail Howard is an American working for the International Federation of Red Cross So, cieties in Armenia. She says the main diffrculty Red Cross relief workers have to deal with is explaining to earthquake victims in

BARELY GEfnNG BY: Employment agencles, llke the one ln the photo on left, and soup htchens someryhat ease the paln.

AIM, OCTOBER 1993

tlryarc

told they need something else." fhetwo greatesi needs are training government o actually helppeople a4dencouraging people to organize ind help themselves, Everts concludos. When earthquake victims are added to the

The trip from the airplanets door to the airport's parking

lot took longer than the flight from Paris to Yere!u?n... We wondercd if the

ailport typified

organization and management in Armenia.

residents get. In Gumairy and Spitak, many people who

have not abandoned their destroyed home towns live in shipping containers or home-

made shelters. Those we interviewed appeared healthy and were clothed rather well, but they were despondent. A grandmother, forcedtolivein a shipping

container with her daughter's family, spokofstresses that drove her to thoughs ofsuicide. Though furnished adequately with the chairs, carpeting and china of an ordinary working family, thecontainerhad no heat. ThL daughter sentherchildren o fetch somecoffee. She cut trvo small pastries into tiny pieces to make them sretch among the six guests. Thepain of herembarrassment was evident. weprepared to leave thecontainer-city _ fs of Gumairy, the deputy mayor who had accompaniedus was surrounded by angryresidents. There were a few touchy moments before we extricated him from the crowd and drove him to safety. Why were these people

angry with their local government? There could have been many rsasons unknown to

ButI thought of the airport. International funding for earthquake sur. vivon has diminished considerably, but ttreir needs havenot. Forthesevictims, thecollapse of the Soviet Union-and its pledge to rebr;ild theircities in two years-wasthe second great

Ourgroup had no tnouble identi$ing tlie human needs. Solutions, however, werc hard tocomeby. VeryfewArmenianorganizadons had programs or ideas ready tobe implemented if funding were available. Tlrcre was adearth of self-intercst groups such as cganizations for the disabled, or parene worldng toward better education. Most cstabliahed charities were Soviet throwbacks lacking in feasible projects. We found some exceptions. TheAnrrnian Red Cross, for instance, revitalized during ttre

amounts to only 3,000rub1es a month, barely enough to buy bread. There are now SOO,OOO

communal shelters why, under the UN refugee aid program, they are not entitled to reoeivethe food relief packages theirrefugeeco.

casualties of war. Indeed, the life of most everyone in the counny will continuetobeaffected by the general scarcity ofheat, elecricity, fuel, food, work, money and security.

earthquake and reformed in its aftermath, is a model volunteer agency. On a smaller scale, we met a woman who had simply begun her

own schools in Yerevan for the benefit of

unemployed." . "Emergency coordination practices are important, and the governmentls trying, but we arc new at it " Darpinian explains. "For example, the challenge of discerning which

homeless refugee children. Usually, however, there seemed to be acultural disinclination to tackle collective diffrculties collectively. Everyone was waiting for

of the 640,000pensioners are mostneedy has caught the govenrment unawares, but itmust

ing the capacity to take meaningfrrl and effec-

bedealtwith."

Perhaps we learned everything we needed !o know at the airport.

Butunfathomable though it may seenr, the crisis facing Armenia this coming winter goes beyond the particular problems associited with pensioners, earthquake victims and the

governmentthat still shows no signs ofbuild-

tive action.

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disaster.

"Seventy percent of the factories and

,Dlants don't work or work only partially, so

thatmostemployees arejobless," says Annen

Darpinian, Deputy Minister of Economics and Coordinator of Humanitarian Aid and Technical Development.

_'"Thegovemmentpays anamountequalto

the minimum salary to each worker. This

AIM, OCTOBER 1993

MEDICINE FOR THEMASSES An Armenian Health Gare Genter In Lebanon Has Become an Oasis For the Down and Out By VIKEil BERBERIAN Pholography by ABNO JIHANIAN

hen

1987 the Armenian

Lebanese

Relief

Cross

(ALRC) opened a sociornedical center in rundown

Bourj Hamoud, it faced adaunting landscape. Three years later. the United Nations issued a

grim summary of the Lebanese civil war: more than 900,000 displaced and about 50,000 dead. Today, Lebanon and its mostly Arrnenian district of Bourj Hamoud look a lot calmer. I

But at the Araxy Boulghourdian sociomedical center, a hectic staff still caters to some of the country's sick and poor. The center's clients are a mix of needy Armenians and Arabs, rnany of whorn

ipped

into poverty with the fall of the Lebanese pound. Others belong to Lebanon' s forgotten caste of the mentally ill. They all come here for affordable health care.

Girius Hamed, a Christian Malonire, bought cough medication from the center's pharmacy recently for I ,750 liras, about 400 Iiras less than the market price. Ani Pilavjian, a pat't rime seamstl ess, seâ&#x201A;Źs a psychiatrist at the center. "Outside, it costs at Ieast $25 fora prelirninary psychiatricconsultation," she said. " l can' t aftbrd that much. Here,l pay 4,000liras(less than $4)everytwo weeks. I can afford that rnuch." Reliefoftrcials used agrant fiorn Melkon, Harouthioun, and Sarkis Boulghourdjian to build the five-story complex, dedicated to the benefactors' mother, Araxy. The late Araxy

Boulghourdjian was a memberof the ALRC Bikfaya chapter. Founded in 1929, the ALRC has grown 26

into an omnipresent women'

voluntary group

with 26 chapters and more than 4.000 members nationwide. The executive branch ofthe ALRC-part of the worldwide Arrnenian Relief Society-has alsocontributed funds to help build the center. "lt's a place where a person heals and

sometimes pays back with a prayer," said

Salpi Simitian, a volunteer. "It's hard to imagine that something like this could actuallyexist in Lebanon ofallplaces, wherecorAIM. OCTOBER I993

ruption and anarchy have ruled in the last l7

yeani." In the cramped pharmacy, patients traipse in and out with paper bags carrying a cornucopiaof pills. They range fromblue stelazines to turquoise phenergans, and relief officials say that medication they buy fronr wholesale distributors is depleted rapidly. Medication at the pharmacy costs 22

percent less on average than at privatelyowned pharmacies in Beirut, according to

center director Sossy Sagherian. Some of the prices are rock-bottom. For instance, 30 tablets of daomil, a widely used medication for diabetics. sell for 1,500 liras or $ I .46 cornpared to 10.862 liras or $10.59 at a nearby

Bourj Hamoud pharrnacy. "lt's a shame if don't come herc," she said.

people

Contributions from local and international charitable groups help the ALRC pr ovide the center's low-cost services. Relief officials have also secured staff training grants from the Middle East Councilof Churches. In addition, service fees and fundraisers helped

balance the center's 1992 budget of 650.7 27

iras or $634.855.

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The center has a lab, a radiology department, a social assistance division, medical examinatidn and dental roorns. and three ambulances. Of the22 doctors here, I I are volunteers. Their specialties include gynecology. oncology. urology, ophthahnology, cardiology, psychiatry, and physiotherapy.

our $ocial workers screen clients and determine their financial need. But when the civil war still raged in 1987, the staff spent little time in-

terviewing clients. During times of heavy fighting. the center turned into a makeshift hospilal, teeming with the city's wounded. Generators kept the lights on, and in I 989 relief officials kept the center open 24 houls a day. "We used to corne and sleep here." said Seta Kerleshian, presidenl of the the ALRC executivecornrnittee. "Webecanre a beacon of hope for the people. This was the only place where they breathed in peace." Now. the houls at the center atâ&#x201A;Ź considerably shorter and, relief wor:kers say, the legions ofthe wounded have been replaced by the able-bodied poor. Many of the new patients stlt-ferfrorn behavioral problems. Dory Hachenr, a volunteer psychiatrist hele, believesthat the numberof alcoholics and her oin addicts has also increased since thd outbrcak of war in 1975. "We're in the alierrrrath of the war and face differcnt chal lenges, " said Si nr itian. the volunteer'. "We're well situated in the healt

of Bourj Hanroud. in the rnidst of environmental pollution, deprivation and a povertystricken population."

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AIM. OCTOBER I993

INTHEU.K. The Hour of Britain's

Armenians

ByTOllY HALPIN Photogruphy by JArrlES PELTEKIAN

lowly, quietly, a new phenomenon is emerging in London. It is a picture of the Armenian community of the future. Since the sudden and unexpected emergence of an independent Armenia, both diaspora and republic have been fumbling for clues to the proper relationship.

Finding the answer

will do much to

time as the Armenian center of Europe. Today, only about 50 families remain of the Manchester community, which retains its independence from the largerlondon organizations. The St. Sarkis church in London's posh Kensington district was built in 1922 as agift fromCarlosGulbenkian. Asecondchurch,St. Peter's, has also bepn leased from the Church ofEngland since 1975. Around the corner from the church, the embassy is housed in the Armenian House. A mere l8 months after its opening it is a hive

reinvigorate a diasporawhich views many of its organizations as atrophied or irrelevant to the new situation. Butin Britain, hitherto regarded as an Armenian backwater, it is intriguing to find a community confident of its voice and of its place in the new scheme of things. There is a belief too that there are lessons here to be leamed by anyone who cares to look. Certainly, one of the youngest diaspora communities has notchedup someimpressive achievements. The first Armenian embassy anywhere in the world opened in London, wherethereareatmost l0,000Armenians. So elated were they by this prospect that they

The country's first Armenian church was built in Manchester in 1870 and served for a 28

closely and in a very friendly way forthe Armenia Fund, which is collecting the money," says Sarkissian. That the community has responded so readilyto theembassy is ributeto Sarkissian's

senior ambassador to Europe, responsible

for

lion to enable Armenia to buy 50,000

kerosene heaters for the forthcoming winter,

while in April EBRD Vice-President Mario Sarcinelli and Armenia's Energy Minister Sebouh Tashjian signed a $60 million loan agreement to enable Armenia to complete

london. The British government co4ributed a further f,5 million in support, including the I-ord Byron School in trninakan opened by then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

itself and Azerbaijan as refugees.

by a member of the Dashnak party and a Ramgavar colleague. "They work very

coordinating the work of existin! embassies and forencouraging the establishment of new ones with the support of Armenian communities in the various countries. The [,ondon embassy also takes the lead in building relations with the European Community and NATO, and shoulders the work involved in applying for assistance from the European Bank for Reconsfiuction and Develgpment (EBRD), which has its headquarters in the city. The latter recently agreed to give $3 mil-

cial support and twice-annual visits from

l9T9Islamicrevolution,fromCyprusafterthe 1974 Turkish invasion, and from Lebanon during the I 5 years of civil war. More recently a small number have anived from Armenia

based onlyontheirprofessionalexpertiseand goodwill towards the embassy." As if to underline the fact, the committee setup toraise money fortheembassy isheaded

among his government superiors. President LevonTerPetrossian recently appointed him

months to support the embassy's work. The community's Aid Armenia organization raised f,4 million ($6 million) after the 1988 earttquake, building a 6Gbedchildren's hospital in Kirovakan which still gets finan-

The majority came from Iran following the

good relationship with all the political parties," says Sarkissian. "We choose advisors

diplomatic skills. Certainly it is hard to find anyone with a harsh word for him, not least

raised f150,000 ($225,000) in just four

Though Armenians began settling in Britain as early as 1830, when they worked in the Manchestertextile trade, the present community has been bom of the violence and revolution in the Middle East over the past 20 years.

Dashnak, Ramgavar, or whatever. We have a

Celebratlons marklng lndependence day outslde London's Armenlan embassy.

of brisk activity, the work of Ambassador Armen Sarkissian and Second Secretary Zorab Mnatsakanian supported by a small army of volunteâ&#x201A;Źr experts. T\e 42 advisors appointed by Sarkissian provide advice in their professional fields, from banking and

constnrction of the 300MW I-Irazdan power plant, creating 2,000 construction jobs into thebargain. The Annenian govemment seems to place strong emphasis on developing relations wittr Britain, despite the general perception that British sympathies andpolicy are skewedby theprospects of Azerbaijani oil. PrimeMinister Hrant Bagratian signed agreements on political and economic cooperation during a

weekJong visit to [,ondon with Foreign

economics to agriculture, thelaw, culhue, and energy. Theyrepresentftefull specxumofthe

Minister Vahan Papazian.

community's political affiliations and none.

due to make a three-day visit as the fint CIS head of state to make an official visit to Brir

"It

doesn't matter whether they are AIM, OCTOBER 1993

In February, President Ter Petrossian is

ain after Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Though relations between Armenia and Britain are good, it remains a sore point that the latter is [re only one of the Big Five UN powers not to have an embassy in Yerevan, despite repeated lobbying. The vibrancy of Armenian representation here seems to owe much to thewillingness of the community to put aside factional disputes

in pursuit of common goals. The embassy is supported withoutreservation, and there is no confusion over the relative roles of the government representative and the community. Much of the credit for that goes to the community's goveming body, the Armenian Community Church Council of Great Britain,

thecountry andobviously itwould like to see in front of it the voice of the British-Armeniancommuniry." Sahakian says ttrecouncil is afirst among Armenian communities, which, if repeated elsewhere, could produce very positive results. Hecompares theenergyof theLondon community with the relatively disorganized but far bigger community of France, and

woulddeadylovetoseâ&#x201A;Źtheestablishmentof a European council representing all Armenian communities on the continent.

''Finally, we have to set up a council of all

work, a feat which continues to elude other communities in America andFrance. Noristhereany schisminthechurch. The council is subject to Ejmiatsin, says Sahakian. "We have always been united on that." The prelate, who is elected by the council every six years, comes from a list ofcandidates approved by Catholicos Vazgen I. Archbishop Yeghishe Gizirian, the Primate, has been in Britain l l years, during which time he has seen the community grow in confidence and energy. "It is an active community because they

which unites all the various groups into a single popularly-elected body. Eight of the present 23-member council come from the three main political parties, while others profess no particular allegiance. Elections are due again next year, open to anyone resident in the United Kingdom who

Clockwlse lrom above: AmbaEsadol Armen and Mrs. Nuneh Sarklsslah wlth thelr sona and the Oueen's Mar3hal! belore ambasoadorlal presentatlon to tho Queen; Prlme Mlnlster Hrant Bagratlan and Brltlsh Forelgn Secretary Douglas Hurd exchanglng agreements slgned ln l-ondon. In the mlddle le Zorab Mnatcakanlan, Second Sebretary at the embassy; London's St. Sarkls Church.

haspaid afl2 annual levy. Armen Sahakian, thecouncil's chairman, is in no doubt about its contribution to harnessing the energies of even a small commu-

nity like361"in'r. "It's curious but the parties have gotten used to the council; they can take refuge there," he says.

"Rightorwrong, theycan say it'sthefault ofthe council. But without it, they would feel much more exposed, they would be just parties. We have a very close and constructive relationship with the Armenianembassy and theambassador. Armenianshavetolearnthat as the embassy takes on its responsibilitiei it pre-empts a lot of the things the community used to do. "We can't go to the Foreign OfFrce as we used to do because now there is an embassy o speak forArmeni4 whereas the council can write to the British parliament as a representative body. It is a whole new world we are getting into where we have an official voice and have to be more circumspect and not do anytldng to embarrass the ambassador."

The arrival of the embassy has only snengthened the spirit ofcooperation in the community, he believes. "It doesn't speak to the parties as parties. It speaks as the voice of

are newcomers: they are coming from different counfries andbringing theirown philoso

phies," he says. "Little by little they are getting to know each other more and giving assistance to one another. Since the embassy arrived, life has become more interesting iir

thecommunity."

Armenians; we can't have this ragbag approach," he says. Of course, the council has not entirely succeeded in erasing the partisanship common in many otherdiasporacommunities. But itdoes seem tohave drawnthe stingfromthe arguments and acted as a bridge across the divides. London, for instance, has held unified

April

commemorations of the Genocidefor

the last three years thanks to the council's AIM,OCTOBER 1993

His one regret is that the community has not bepn able to support a school. There are plenty of children, with two kindergartens and Armenian language classes taking place on both Saturday and Sunday at a local government school hired forthe occasion. "There is a demand, but financially they couldnotorganizeit. Thedesireisthere," says theArchbishop. "Thatis somethingI feelbad about, but financing is a problem even in the

us." Nevertheless, there is a strgng sense of identity among Armenians here, witnessed by

AIM, OCTOBER 1993

liament (MPs), and an advisor to Cardinal Hume, head of the Catholic Church in Britain. The group lobbies MPs, government

Min-

istries, and newspapers, particularly in relation to the crisis in Mountainous Karabakh. In some ways, this is a continuation of the lobbying work that has been carried out in London by the small, but active Armenian National Committee, which has invested much time and resources over the years in establishing contacts with academicians, parliamentarians and the press. While believing expectations of the embassy are too high in the community, Ohanian sees the arrival of the ambassador as a tuming point for the British diaspora. "There is a new entity which in effect is going to take on board all the national questions. We can concenEate on helping improve our own community. Our identity has been clarihed much more." On that much at least, he and the council seem in agreement. One other body that needs

mentioning is the British-Armenian All Party Parliamentary Group, which is working to build political links between MPs in Britain and Armenia via the community. The group, formed in July 1992, now has 4l members from the British Parliament. in-

'rMilitary strategy determines support for Turkey and Gorporate investment determines support for Azerbaiian... Armenia has to make one hell of an effort to make its voice heard.tt CHRISTOPHER WALKEB cluding such heavyweights as Sir Marcus Fox, a senior Conservative MP. Another member, Paddy Tipping, whose constituency includes Lord Byron's former home Newstead Abbey in Nottingham, has been instrumental in setting up an exchange partnership between a local school and the [,ord Byron School in trninakan. A nine-foot khachkar erected in the grounds of Holgate School stands testimony to the relationship, which has seen students visiting each other's schools during the last three years. Another initiative is the visit by a delegation of MPs to Armenia in September to discuss possible cooperation, including the pros-

DIPLOMAT

pect of sending coal mining equipment to the republic. Cash has also been secured to sponsor two Armenian MPs every year to study

democratic procedures in Britain for four to six weeks. The group offers a platform for questions about Armenia to be raised in Parliament, secretary Odette Bazil says. She admits the task is difficult but believes the Armenian viewpoint on issues such as Karabakh is slowly making headway. "British government officials neversay a blunt 'no' to you. But very slowly they are starting to understand that it is not only interests they must consider but the funrre also," shesays. "You gettheimpressionthatthey are not as sympathetic as with Azerbaijan, but we should not be deterred by that. We have to be friendly anddeterminedandtry to woothem." Baroness Cox, another member and the

most famous non-Armenian voice for Karabakh, believes Armenian lobbying has improved with the work of the CAIA and arrival of the Parliamentary group. "Until then I was surprised at how unorganized and ineffective the Armenian community was so far as affecting the political process was concerned," she says. Historian Christopher Walker, however, believes much more needs to be done to counterwhathe sees as Britain's inherentpro-

Turkish, pro-Azeri bias. Military links through NATO with Turkey and British interestin developing oil fields in Baku makea powerful combination against Armenia, he

nity, which has been unstinting in its support. "It would not have been possible for me to create an embassy. I have the support ofa lot of people, a lot ofgood friends," acknowledges Sarkissian, 39. "It was a very dramatic change in my life from scientist to diplomat, but I am learning a lot. . It is very important to get experience because we are an old nation but a new state. Thisiountry is very efficient in many things and we can adapt things from here." He sees no great mystery to good diplomacy, which he calls "public relations between countries brought to the level of relations between individuals." His wife Nuneh, 38, and sons Vartan, 13, and Haik nine, have also had to get used to a new life away from Yerevan amid the rarified circles of London diplomatic life. "It is difficult for them, especially for the children. My wife explains tothem why we are here when Armenia is in such a difhcult condition. They understand that I am doing this job for Armenia, but

in any

case they miss Armenia very much.I miss ittoo," he says. But while the trappings of diFormer Prlme Mlnlster Margaret Thatcher saylng plomacy seem attractive, the urgoodbye to Sarkleslan, Mnatsakanlan and Bagritlan gency of the situation gives him atlerdlnner at her home. liule time to enjoy rhem. Much of histime is spent shuttling between different European cities, attending meetings to gather aid and_support for Armeni a. Racking up frequentflier miles may appearglamorous but theirmission isdeadly serious. ,"It is very importantnow to supportthe feelings ofnational unity amongArmenians. That is the only way our state and nation can survive. otherwise there witt be no hope. A unique culture will be lost," says Sarkissian.

AIM, OCTOBER

1993

says.

"It seems regrettable that very few Armenians seem to have taken that point on board and seen what an enorrnous amount of work there is to do in Britain. Military strategy determines support for Turkey and corporate investment determines support for Azerbaijan. This is what counts in the modern world and that means Armenia has to make one hell of an effort to make its voice heard. "I can't see all that much evidence ofthat one hell of an effortbeing made," says Walker.

Many in the community accept the difficulty of influencing British policy but point to the good personal relations built up by Ambassador Sarkissian with the Foreign Office, and the work of Armenian govemment officials on visits here as evidence that an effort is under way. In any event, the chances ofsuccess have been improved by the gradual uniting of the community behind the embassy, overcoming

factional differences to work for a greater good. The existence ofa democratically accountable governing body in the Community Council has been the key to that, believes Sahakian. "It has been a vehicle that has enabled people to practice this highercalling. They are not on the front line as party members but as council members," he says. "Wehave accomplished something here that very few communities have done."

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LEAGUE OFAGCENTS the Atrccious

The Good, Bad, and the at the Pompidou's Armenian Retrospective By HOVHANNES HARUTIUIiIIAN

I !

t is, no doubt, a sign of the times: Shor and Shorshorhaveabandoned theArme-

llil"Y,:t"fi :';:T:r',#Iit',::i1:

ated ex-peasants have been camped out on a

well-exposed patch of the floor at Paris' Georges Pompidou Center, a postmodern monster of a building whose

Yet nobody has ever ordercd any ofthese interlopers to hit the road. For it is, as the 5' x 8' Shor and Shors&or poster near the ticket counter proclaims in Armenian and French, Armenian Film Festival time in Paris. Until October I 8, Shor & Co. are official guests in the French capital. If you are wondering who Shor and Shorshor are, then you already know what this festival is about. Where else could one hope to catch thevery fint Armeniancomedy film

rooftop caf6, libraries, museums and movie theater draw some 25,000 visitors a day. And Shor and his sidekick are by no means the only displaced Armenians making spectacles of themselves in the Pompidou this summer. There is

(Shor and Shorshor, of course), Setrag Vartian' s A rsll in- M al- Alan, " the first Armenian alking picture produced in the United States," 1928 movie about General

AndranikshotinFrance and Bulgaria 60odd Soviet Armenian films and cartoons, and much of the cinema produced in Yerevan since perestroika-all in the same place? Where else could one see, in the spacc of a week, a movie by Arby Ovanessian, an Isfahan-born directorworking in Paris today, and another by Don Askarian, born in Stepanakert and working in Berlin? By gathering 120 films poduced in Armeniaand l0 other countries over the last 75 years, the festival'

orga-

nizers have not only rescued entire chapters of Armenian

craggy-faced Nahabed from

cinema history from limbo,

Van, a stooped, gtandfatherly

they have made aplace in the international f,rlm commu-

type who hangs out in the resEoom area, gazing lifelessly

nity for

a newcomer called "Armenian cinema," aname previously more familiar to Soviet gangsters than film-

atthecarefree tourists consantly

streaming by. Glued to her favorite spot a few feet off, Arme-

nian-American Louise Bar-

goers.

samian, still pretty as a picture, stares as if transfi xed atthe stiffly erwt fez of dapper Setrag

The new arrival has already been issued identity papers in the form ofa 20G

Vartian, who is apparently grooming an image as the

page, information-packed

book

several hands,

Diaspora's answer to Rudolph Valentino. Down the hall, big-nosed Armenian shepherds compete for attention with big-nosed ironworkers from Leninakan, big-nosed Red Army soldiers back from Berlin, big-nosed beauties from Iran, and two

tive will stand

splendidly wrinkled little old ladies visiting from Anatolia,

Tcrmrof Bclonging

inCma anndnien, pub-

lished

in the Pompidou

Center's acclaimed series on cinema throughout the world. In the annals of modem Armenian culture as well as in the history of the movies, then, the Paris rctrospec-

while, perched stark naked on the edge of a table, Armenian-

as a

milestone.

Like other milestones, this one, too, has its flaws. The program has failed to include several dozen Armenian movies (Yerevan's newly founded fi lm library, which helped organize the show, does not even own a copy of all SovietArmenian

Georgian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov makes eyes at his Russian colleague Andrei Tarkovsky, and radical lawyer Charles Garry confers with (indispuably framed) Black PantherBobby Seale. AlM, OCTOBER 1993

course, not all the movies are god. In fact, most are propaganda and/or pap, like the

slybidtoregain oursympathies) providesthe onethoroughly enjoyablemomentinthis un-

general run of movies anywhere.

fortunately unforgettable fikn.

Prcciour.lunk

movies of ttre Cold War period go heavy on sentiment while keeping the politics subliminal. For unabashed agit-prop, one has to tum to the Diaspora. Arguably the worst offender in the latter deparunent is the 1984 documentary Strangers in a Promised l-and, ahymn of praise to

Like Honor, the bulk of the Soviet BParticularly uninspired is much of the cel-

luloidput outbetween the 30s and the end of the Cold War. Even Hamo Bek-Nazarian's entertaining 1936 classic Pepo, a moral tale about the politicization of a poor fisherman that enjoyed something like aWiwrd of Oz status with generations of Soviet Armenians, pays a heavy fibute to politico-aesthetic orthodoxy ; his hi gh-Stalnist7an g e zour (1938) is pure, if brilliantly filmed, propaganda. Succeeding decades do not seem to have

films), and several of the "Armenian" movies included are not Armenian. Neither Rouben Mamoulian's English doggerel on Mt. Ararat nor the hand-written Armenian letter by same-both on prominent display somewhere between Shorshor and Charles

Garry-make his Tinseltown-glitter "ArmenianCinema," and similarobjections can and have been made to the inclusion of a number of other pictures ("Where," quipped one observer, "is In BedWith Madonina?') And, of

brought much improvement. The nothing if not dramatic 1956 adaptation of Alexander Shirvanzade's For the Sakc of Hororcomes complete with a rich-but-rotten oilman, his

somewhat dowdy but morally untainted daughter, her morally tainted but rather wellstacked sister, a kopeckless (because bilked by the oiknan) yet simon-pure Boy Scout-type gone on the dowdy daughter, a slimy, effemi-

nate, moustrache+wirling... but you get the picture. The dowdy daughter's sad-end suicide (provoked by the oilman, doubtless in a

AIM, OCTOBER 1993

the American Way that not only drearily echoes, in ostensibly Armenian accents, the brand of rightthinking, assiduously promoted by the powers-that-be, but is acnrally narrated by a high-level party official who happens to be of Armenian extraction. After Promised

land,

the nearly contemporaneous Soviet Caucasian lnndscape, abolt 19 1 8 Armenia and Azerbaijan, can seem almost enjoyable, notwithstanding its congenitally sadomasochistic but otherwise sexless imperialistlackey, his sexy, self-sacrificing andbadly battered Bolshevikprisoner, and theravishing Armenian maiden who discovers, too late alas, that shehas been in love with ourjunior lenin for at least a reel and a halfbefore realizing it. But there is no use belaboring the

while his pungent satires on conservative Armenian and Kurdish mores and his unselfconscious internationalism situate him in the best naditions of Armenian art.

Imagine cavalcading images

The same authentic internationalism marks the complex cinema Paradjanov, whose lastiompleted

interlinked patterns-somewhat the way a kaleidoscope might, if it pulsed in synch with a Beethoven quartet.

Sergei

flm; Ashtk

Kenb Q988), mainly in Turkish with Georgian voice-overs, caps an inexhaustible body of work, attesting to the mutual enrichment

cav-

down a mountain with their flock. An aim pops up here, a leg shoots out there, a lamb comes flying helter.skelter out of a tumbling ball of men and wool. Then a jump-cut ttrat feels like lurching off a cliff, intothedeliber-

of Armenian, Azeri-Turkish, Georgian and

ate, stately, almost slow-motion gesture$

other cultures. Paradjanov's motionpictures arejustthat, a series of paintings in motion; they weave taditional Christian andMuslimsymbols and motifs into arichly colored, endlessly shifting tapesty that dances gracefully benreen history, fairy taleand dream. Theyhavebecome cult objects in European film circles, with the

prescribed since time immemorial, of a raditional Armenian villagewedding, in themidst of which it gradually dawns on you ttrat the sheepishly smiling groom is the same fellow you just saw careening down the slope.+ut again to anoiher cavalcade of cavalcading mountaineers, slip-slide-skidding down the same mountain just ahead of a dozen mammdth bales of hay that come snowballing down towards the camera in an avalanche which reminds you of the big woolly ball of tumblingmen and sheep. Imagineall that,and a hundred variations, and you will have some

result that Paradjanov is one of the two directors whose films draw a capacity, mainly Gallic crowd to the Pompidou Center's 350seat theater. Theother is Artava'ld Peleshian, "discov-

ered" by the outstanding French director Jean-Luc Godard some three years ago and lionized by French movie buffs ever since. Peleshian has invented a breathtakingly new cinematic language *iat manages, for all its newness, tocommunicate with animrnediacy that the heavily stylized visual art

Paradjanov often lacks. His nearly wordless documentaries, on Armenian and non-Armenian subjects, might be described as the film equivalent of Freud's model of the unconscious: they generate emotion out of the rfuthmic alternation of thematically related

sequences

constantly changing, yet

idea of Peleshian's meticulously crafted Seasons(1972). A haddful of more traditional films writ-

ten between 1965 and 1983 by Hrant

Matevosian are among the other gems the festival has to offer. Matevosian's adaptation5

of his novellas We Are Our Mountains, AuM as t e r hav eyielded three examples of that rarity in filmdom, movies as powerfi.rl as thepowerful fictiontheyarebased on. They treat, in moods rangingfromthehumorous through the bitter to the elegiac, a single theme: the imrption oi modernity into the apparently, but only apparently, nadiiiont umn S un, dnd The

J^couEuNEoEERrre

point. Asidefromafew fuzzycritiques of the Sovietbureaucracy in the name ofl-ife, t-ove, and Being Nice to Old Ladies (see the 1972

alcading shepherds, rolling hippety-bippety

Y ti; 5 E,l *t:..11*$lt!,

boundArmenianvillage. Particularly compelling

[Ild:il

is Autumn Szn, which evokes the wasting pov-

handful of Nostalgic Backward Looks that provided carefully dosed ttrills in their day by tiptoeing across official limits on evoca-

erty of mid-century rural Armenia as it survives in the memory of women embittered but never broken by it. Unlike many re-

tions of Western Armenia and the Genocide,

cent Armenian movies,

heart-warmer Yerevan l"ogbook) and

most Armenian directors seem to have chumedoutthesamebrandofhype, schmalz and

goo<nly worse-that is Hollywood's

stock-in-fade. ln a word, ttiere are moments during this festival when you are forcibly reminded of a one.liner that made tlie rounds in Yercvan during the mid-80s: "There are three kinds of movies in the world: good movies, bad movies, and Armenian movies..."

?ncAntitncsis But if the festival offers predictably long ofthe ridiculous, it is also surprisingly rich in the sublimd. The first and for a stretches

while the only major Armenian director, Hamo Bek-Niuarian, eight of whose 30 or mainly silent films are on the bill, stands comparison with Chaplin and Eisenstein. His ranquilly acrobatic camera work is a marvel, so

cast in a variety of Arme-

nian more widely spoken on the moon than here below, Autumn Sun let$ us savor a language so thoroughly of its time and place that it ,s its time and place. The same sense of the au-

thentic runs through Ifte

Honor of

a Poor

Man

(1969), adapted by Matevosian from an 1894 short story by Hovhannes Toumaniah.

This stark, stunning short about a village laborer forced to accept a few rubles as full and fair compensation for... the rape of his wife, is as mem-

tt(

k...",**

iiril

orable as anything in modern crnema. Sad to say, The Honor of a Poor Man can also serve as an alternative title for Arnold Agababian'sTV -filmWhe re Were You, Man, the one honorable achievement chalked up last year by the Poor Man that the Armenian national film studio, Armenfilm, has become.

If cunent trends continue, the production of "Armenian" films in Armenia will soon be outstripped in the US, France, Canada and even Germany, each ofwhich saw therelease of one Armenian movie in 1992"

lYest of Eden Warand economic crisis have much to do

with this state of affairs. So does prevailing economic wisdom in Yerevan, which advocates production for profit in art as in other domains, and so encourages directors to try and one-up Western commercial films and their home-grown clones. Given thecurrenthigh demandinYerevan forWestem religiosity, sex, action and honor, along with the resurgence ofnationalist sen-

timent, Armenian cinema may soon

dominated by titles ltke Bruce Lee Saves Mahareeshi MaheeshYogi From Pussies in Heat in Shushi. The fact that only two of the nine features produced in Yerevan in l99l have shown their faces at the Paris festival does nothing to lessen one's fears. (On the other hand, Yerevan is said to be subsidizing

the production

of three non-commercial

movies this year.)

Still, if one of Yerevan's 1991 entries in the festival is a patriotic drum-thumper of mainly tactical interest, the other, Harutiun Khachadurian' s Rerum n the Promised ktnd, is an altogether remarkable piece of work. A wordless m6lange of documentary and fiction, it follows, day by day and, almost, gesture by painful gesture, an Armenian refugee family's struggle to esrablish a new life in a village whose Azeri inhabitants have been driven out. Equally noteworthy are a cluster of movies made in the golden age (for cin6astes) of perestroika, when censorship was disappearing but state funds continued to flow to the studios. These films seem to fall into three groups. Khachadurian's 1988 White City, a prize-winning expos6 of intolerable conditions in an Armenian enclave in Georgia, is representative of a trend toward unadorned, socially committed documentary realism. A second, related, trend has spawned a number of satiric films and especially cartoons, like Robeft Sahakiants' hilarious Button, about a Soviet bureaucrat who can't touch a switch without blowing something to smithereens. A third setofmovies digs into the darkerreaches of the psyche: it is best represented by Suren Babaian'

B/ood

990), about psychosis, the

founding myth of Christianity and men's unconscious desire to kill (notably by crucifying) their fathers so as to acquire sexual monopoly over their mothers. Though fl awed by an excessive reliance on Gothic gimmickry,

AIM, OCTOBER I993

Babaian's is an ambitious

andfa#ffi;i,

whichjustifies the hope that the 43-year-old director will soon be producing movies that rank him with a Paradjanov or a Peleshianif, that is, he is given the opportunity to produce movies at all. One dares to hope the same in the case of another half-dozen directors, from Armenia

or the Diaspora, whose work is being presented at the Paris retrospective. The clearest

indication of this festival's importance, in other words, is that it leaves you wondering when the next one will be-and what it will

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World ranking, by size of collection, of the lrnin State Library, in Moscow : lst World ranking, by size of collection, of the Myasnikian State Library, in Yerevan : 32nd Worldranking, by size of collection, of the Boston Public Library, in Massachusetts : 50th

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Numberof BBC World Service broadcasts aboutArmenia during January-June 1993 z 574 Com pl I ed by HOVtc TC HALIAN Press Otlice; AGBU/AIS; Armonian Minlstry ol Econoiry; wodd Ffrts F,gures (St8te Dopt. ol Statisiics, Armenia).

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/ \I II I EDITORIAL FOSITIONS AVAI LABLE AIM h looking for individuals who are willing to break new ground in editing and wdling. Requirements include establishing and maintaining contactwilh reporters and conespondenb, following up dn features assignments, and managing files and databases. Familiarity with the Armenian community a plus. Send resum6 to P

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AIM, OCTOBER 1993

ALMOST KOMITAS The Los Angeles-based Hamazkayin

KOMITAS: RUSTIC SCENES Ncr rot C ho i r Vatsche Bo rsountim\ cond uclo r. Hunozkayin, VHKNI. ADD. 5l'47"

Narot Choir, under the direction of Vatsche Barsoumian, atternpts to fill the void by continuing its survey of Armenian choral works with Rrrsllc' Scetrcs, a new disc of Komitas'

H anrtzkct.\ in

rnusic.

By IIICHAEL H. ABSHAGOUN!

While not quite up to par with the overall

quality ol' Chorul Wor'('s. a recording of

dnt Song-Dances, Series /V, "Come, My Dear," shows a tonal richness that many professional choirs would envy. And as in the Ganatchian recording, the use of the Henick MemorialChapel in Los Angeles, addstothe lushness ofthe sound. The venue. however, cannot mask a numberof lapses in the equilibrium. General ly, the

balance favored

by Barsoumian has an

evenness across the

full range from the low-

uppermost soprano notes. With dynamic contrdsts tastefully and effectively executed, "l Have Planted a Garden" from Arnrcnieut Peusaht Songs, Series /serves as a model for this and remains a highlight of the concert. When he commands sirch control

est bass notes to the

over his singers, one wonders

why

Barsoumian allows, for example, a disturbing imbalance during "Plowing Song of Lori" (Track I I ). Here, the sopranos are too loud, and the tenors lack the focus necessary to balance the women.

ny new recording devoted to tlre music of Kornitas ( I 869- I 935 ) is an occasion. A scholarwhose lifelong prebccupation revolved around the creation of a national music, Komitas researched Armenian vocal traditions by collecting and transcribingdance tunes and songs, investigating the Annenian k/rrr.: (neumatic) system, train-

ing choirs. composing, and recording on phonograph records. His body of work de-

Vatsche Barsoumian fi ned the Annen ian musical idiom for the 20th century. Surprisingly, there is adearth of recordings (notwithstanding two recent ones of his Drvine Liturgvl worthy of Kornitas' legacy,

while both Arrnenian and non-Armenian ensembles record the instrumental music

his rnore

famous compatriot, Ararn

Khachaturian. so often that one grcets another version of the "Sabre Dance" lrorn Guvurch with all the exciternent of a toothache. 38

Parsegh Gariatchian's music the choir released last year, Narot's latest offering delivers performances that will not disappoint the listener. On thewhole, theqtrality ofsound andthe blend of the choir please the aural palate. At tirnes. they pay more than just lip-service to these works. The second song of Track 4, "Two Colurnns of Srnoke." despite the need for a little rnore longing and pathos, is beautifully sung. The first of the Arntenian PeasAIM, OCTOBER I993

Throughout the coflcert, a less than iinmaculate ensEmble mars the overal I effect. As

in its previous recording and live performances, the choir seems morc comfonable with the faster rather than the slower, introspective pieces. lri the simplest passages, those of a homophonic texture, why does the conductor continue to allow the men to lag behind the wornen? This lack of concentration, as seen throughout "Over the Mountains" (Track 3. first song) and at the end of

"The Blessing" fromWedding Songs (Track 8, second song), pervades the disc, seriously compromising whatever interpretive goals the conductor seeks. One of the most difficult effects to reproduce in choral music requires the singers to sustain a gradual decrescendo over several measures. Komitas asks for this in a number

of the compositions

recorded

here.

Barsoumian seems content on infusing the music with curious and obtrusive dynamic swells which contradict the markings of the score; this kind ofinterpretive trick, as dur-

ing "Plowing Song of Lori,"

destroys

Komitas' intended effect. Numerous instances occur where the intonation of the choir is suspect. In the last phrase of "The Mill Wheel" fromAnnenian Peasant Song-Dances, Senes /V(Track 5), the basses sing flat with an ugly, strained sound. In a live performance, one can excuse this, but in a recording, where the luxury of retakes exists, the conductor and the sound engineer should have insisted on one. In producing a generally pleasing and rich tone, Narot tends to swallow consonants so thatsongs sound like wordless melodies rather than texted pieces. One only has to sample the

performances of the Chamber Choir of Gostelradio of Armenia in their concert of Armenian choral music (MCA Classics AEDI M83) to realize that it is possible to have both tonal beauty and articulated words

at the

same

time. The program notes include the complete lyrics in both Armenian and English. One usually applauds such thoroughness. However, when the performances do not include all the verses ofsongs (forexample, ofthe five verses of "Drizzling Rain," only the first and

lasthalfofthefifth

get sung);

IIELP VICTIMS OF MIDWESTIS FLOODS When Hurricane Andrew struck Florida recently, the Armenian of America (AMAA), representing the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the United States and Canada, with relief aid to the victims. Special offerings collected by membr churches were directed to the AMAA, which in turn chaoneled them 0o the disaster area through the Church World Service of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Another section of the U.S. has experienced a disaster of dramatic proportions. The states along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, in the wake ofweeks ofincqssant rain, have experienced floods that have

Missionary Association

devastated large areas.

The AIvtA\A is once again calling upon its membrs, friends aod supporting churches to help the victims of the flood. All contributions received for this purpose will, again, be channeled through the Church World Service. The Church World Service is coordineting relief efforts in eight stelas, taking care not to duplicale the work of the Red Cross and government agencies. lts relief activity is directed specifically at the flood-related needs of the poor and underprivileged. It provides food, clean-up equipment, bedding and building materials. After the floods have subsided and the reporters and cameramen have gone, this prograrn will help people rebuild their homes and return to more normal lives. Although most of the Alvifu{rs relief efforts are directed

principally

in the Middle East and Armenia, the Association also relief for victims of natural

addresses domestic needs, including disasters.

Those who wish to help the victims filling the coupon below:

of the floods may do so by

includeonly the

refrain and notanyoftheverues(as in

"[rt

Take My Love" from Annenian Peasot orwhen the program lists a song that does not appear on the recording (omitted from the concert is "Water Wends Its Way" from Annenian Peasant Songs, Series IV). the listener cannor but help feel

Armenian Missionary Association of America 140 Fonest Avenue Paramus, NJ 07652

Songs, Series IV);

Yes,

I would like to help the victims of the Midwest floods.

cheated out of some beautifu I music. Overone

third of the pieces are incomplete. Compact discs can contain up to almost 80 minutes of music, and this one hasjust under52 minutes. With so much morr time available, why not include the complete pieces?

Narot's performances please the listener,

iffor

will not fail

Enclosed is my gift of

$--------

Name Address

no other reason than

this disc offers important music not rcadily available elsewhere. It is a testament to the quality of the compositions and the genius of thecomposer that the glory andbeauty of the music shine through mediocre performances and somecurious and idiosyncratic interpretations. One hopes that in the future more

Make-tax deductible check !o AMAA - Midwest Flood Relief

satisfying readings ofthese works will appear.

Mlchael Arshagounl, a PhD candtdate tn

muslcology at UCLA, has studled at the

Royal College ol Music, London, and holds an MFA ln conducting.

AIM, OCTOBER I993

OFBREAD AND BUTTER

A Tale of Bakers in

the New Land By MIGHAEL KBIKORIAN Photography by KEVORK DJANSEZIAN

from the Hye Quality Bakery in Fresno. You're aboutto enterPartamian's Bakery, [,os Angeles landmark for over 40 yearsand the only Armenian establishment still surviving in the WestAdams neighborhood, once affectionately known as Pilaf Plaza. As you neartheentrance, youcannothelpbutbe perplexed by the sign on the window advertising not kula , sou boreg or lahmajoon,blt a

ou're driving deep in the heart of Texas, and you're hungry. You decide to try a restaurant named Annie's Cingerbread House in the town of Midland. To your surprise, the menu is offering Hye Rollers, sandwiches made with softened Armenian cracker bread 40

pizzaand hotdogs. Pizzaand hotdogs? At Partamian'

Well, one has to adapt orend up

AIM, OCTOBER1993

like the dinosaurs: loved but extinct. Theseare two examples of how Armenian bakeries, either by choice or responding to survival pressures, have changed through the years, often prospering beyond their neighborhood niches.

Fresno's Children One such thriving establishment, opened

in l922by Gazair Saghatelian, is the Valley Bakery, located in what was once the heart of the vibrant Armenian community of Fresno. Gazair, whodiedin 1945, isbestremembered forhis Valley Peda bread. Similar to the thick round loaves produced in Armenian villages, Saghatelian toppedhis peda with a milkwash and sesame seeds. It is still made according to a 70-year-old, time-consuming recipe, although the oven has been updated. The bakery is now run by Gazair's daughter, Janet, who has worked there most of her life. Ferociously proud of the family bakery, she sees herself as her father's heir and carrier ofhis tradition. Janet's daughter Agnes, who recently graduated from Fresno State

University with a degree in business, is set to continue on into the nextcentury as the manager of the company. Like her mother, she plans to put her heart into the establishment. It is with hearts that Janet has made strides in the business. Always a lover of heart designs, in everything from candy boxes to light fi xtures, shedreamed of making small cracker breadsshaped likehearts. Others scoffedatthe

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thought, but when she took over the bakery, immediately went to work on her design and the result was fte popular Valley Hearts. Last year the bakery sold over 55,000 cases of Janet's Hearts. she

More new Valley Bakery offerings are soon to hit the market, including the Peda Quiche, apedacrustencasing a mixtureofjack cheese, parsley and herbs. Also in the stores, afteryears of development, is Valley Bakery' s version of pre-softened cracker bread, known asValleyWraps. Just down the street is another Fresno landmark, theHyeQualityBakery, abusiness Sammy Ganimian never intended to enter.

While his parents, Yervant and Grace, ran the store, Sammy was busy earning a master's degree in film and television production at University of California in Lps Angeles. But, afteryears as amanagerofarecordcompany, Ganimian tired of the Hollywood ratrace and moved back to Fresno where he taught at Fresno State University. When his parents retired in 1975, he took over the bakery. Within ayear, Ganimianmoved outof the modestly sized outlet into a lO,00Gsquare-

footfacility. Business

is so good now, he says,

thathe may expand again. Butthe biggestchange atHye Quality has been the switch to automation. While the bread is still based on the same old family recipe, it is now made on a state of the art

Steam gushed forth... On half the roll I put some string cheese, and on the other I slathered a slab of butter which

quickly

melted.lt

was one of those grand, simple plea. sures of life. production line. Formerly a retail store, Hye Quality now sells its products nation-wide through a vast

network of wholesalers and distributors. Ganimian traces the impetus for market expansionto apoductrequestfromRalph's: the deli manager of the supermarket chain, having rasted softened cracker bread, had asked Ganimian if he could develop a pre-softened crackerbrcad. Ganimian was quick to respond. He con-

coctedasoft crackerbreadthathadashelflife and would be safe to ship. He coined a carchy name, Hye Rollers, and business skyrocketed. Hye Rollers are now the best-selling deli item at Ralph's and have spread to other markets, including the prestigious Bristol Farms in Pasadena, Califomia. HyeRollen canbehad even at Disneyland's PlazaCafe on Main

Sreet. Over 200 years ago ancestors of Manoog, Hagop, and Asadoor Soojian were milling

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While most people would have boasted of suchafinerating, HagopSoojianwas tempted to take out a fu ll-page ad in the newspaperdenouncing the rating and the fact that there was no mention of ak-mak's 100 percent stoneground wheat content.

Race.Prool Of all the major Armenian bakeries in the US few have seen change quite as much as

Partamian's Bakery in South Central Los Angeles. When the Partamian family opened shop in 1948, and moved to their present location in 195 I , they were supported by a large, local Armenian clientele. By the early 1960s, many of the Armenians were moving out and African-American families were moving in. tn the 1980s immigrants from Mexico, Peru, El Salvador and Nicaragua had settled in the neighborhood. But Partamian's Bakery con-

flourin PalouontheeastbankoftheEuphrates River. Their great uncle opened a bakery in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1892 and eventually moved on to Cherry Avenue on the west side of Fresno. In 1971, the bakery moved to

The Soojians' signatureproductis ak-mak,

Thatthebakery is still in business is acredit

Armenian cracker bread, made form stone-

its present location in Sanger, about 12 miles from Fresno. The Soojian brothers, who have worked at the bakery since early childhood, studied electronics, plumbing, welding and building to design much of their own working environment. Little has changed at the

ground wheat flour, butter, sesame seeds and clover honey. Introduced in 1952, ak-makis now sold throughout the US and Canada. So proud are the Soojians of their staplethatwhen a Boston newspaper recently awarded them with a three-star rating, they were outraged.

to owner Leon Partamian. More than anything, even more than the excellent kufta, peda, sou boreg and other Armenian specialties, it has been Leon's ability to adapt to

company in the last 20 years, save the switch

from water-powered to electric-powered

tinuedtoflourish, andtheArmenianswhohad left the neighborhood kept coming back to

mills.

shop at the landmark store.

AIM, OCTOBERl993

and respect his new neighbors.

The bakery received its biggest payback last year during the Los Angeles riots, when

::tii:+liri*Jj,*;4j.ffi vigi lant ground to

Doreg just about the same

protect the store. In those days. Partamian added hot dogs to his menu to meet the demand for fast

the oven, built by owner Hagop Danaian, a former

s main grocery store was burned to the ground.

blacksmith. is the same. This is a honiey bakery.

residents stood

rval'thef iilways

foods alter the area' Reccrrtly he

al so

began

zas. The bottom line zas a week.

sel

The customcr. upon entering. is likeli'1o see the Danaians. llagop and his rvile Lousin. ancl daughters Nilaral and

ng pi z-

now: 50 piz-

But many of the local residents

Ashken, gathered around a srnall table, hand-making

to like Artnenutn foods. even if they occasionally modify them to their own tastes. For exarnple, more lhan half'ol Partamian's cr,lstomcrs ordering lahnnjoon request checsc on top-. to many Armenians, particularly' old-timerr. lhi\ pirrl iculirr toppirrg have groun

wanders

enabled hirn to travel much of the world. Still, one is struck by the

9-5

price tags at Danaian'sthey haven't gone up in

2-s

vears. In 1968 a luhtnajoon cost 50cents, today, the same

ldntujt.tort, made with fresh garlic and Roma tomatoes. larnily-mn opreration in east Hollywood, an area comlnonly rel'erred to ns Little Annenia. Since 1968 thc Danaians have made and sold lohrnrtjor)n, :.oatur bread and cheese

ery,, a

Not all Armenian bakeries have seen such dramatic changes. Consider Danaian's Bak-

in to say hello.

Hagop Danaian harbors no great dreams of expansion: profits frorn the bakery have

perccnt of Prtrtutniitn's htt.itrt... Today, they account firrabout onethrrd. However. when Partanrtan's Armenian clientele. some rvho hail from as far away as San Diego and Santa Maria. do come in. they spend lar more than the locals.

When flre Going Gets Tough...

olnr uj oon.s. Perhaps they' ll joinecl by a neighbor who

will sound rathcr unpalatablc. In the I950s. Artnenian customers accounted lbr nrore than

have . Even

still costs -50 cents. Fierce competition in the last dccade rnay accot"tnt for the rock-bottonr priccs. Like Partamian's, Danaian's was once thc only lahrnujoon maker in its area. Todav there are over a dozen

Bring enchantment to your home with this hand-carved solid mahogany standard size Alphabet Door The pictured model is now available at the special price of US$1500. Regular price is set at US$1895. Allow approximately 3 months for completion and delivery of orders . Minimum deposit of US$l000 is required with each order. Balance is due upon completion of order.

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bakeries in Hollywood and nearby Glendale vying for the lu crative lahmajoon market.

The Lega! Lahmajoon Some 3,000 miles away,

another lahmajoon story has its roots in the same year that Danaian's opened shop. In 1968, the Kupelian family arrived in the US from Syria.

They settled in New Jersey, and in 1975 Yervant Kupelian set up a small, back-room operation maki ng lahmajoons. On a good day he would sell 50 to 100. Today Kupelian Foods, Inc. makes approximately 12,000

lahmajoons a day, selling throughout New

YorkCity. Shortly after Kupelian opened the bakery, the growing

demandfrom localMiddleEasr

ern markets forhis lahmajoon promptedhim to request united States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approval forthe product. He

went on to prove compliance with strict government regulations and in due course became the fi rst USDA-inspe cted lafunaj oon seller in the US. The USDA approval allowed Kupelian to

expand into a wholesale operation with sig-

nificant sales increases. He has also trademarked

catchy brand name thathe hopes

Pitas in Demand Twenty years ago if somebody said "peda bread," it meant one thing: the thick round loaves most prominently baked at the Valley Bakery and Partamian's. Today, the utterance

is frequently confused with "pita bread." Sometimes called pocket bread or Arabic bread, pitabread has seen aphenomenalboost in sales andpopularity intheUS during the last decade. The pita bread marketis controlled by Armenian-owned bakeries, such as Global Bakery in Pacoima and Goglanian's Bakery in Orange County, both in California. The Goglanians entered the bakery business as a result of political turmoil in the Middle East. Alexander Goglanian, who designed ovens to heat solarcells fortheJet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, developed a tunnel oven for baking pita bread with the intent of exporting it to Middle Eastern counFies. But a volatile situation in the Middle East of the late 1970s made business dealings difficult, so Goglanian and his sons, Sam and George, focused on baking bread themselves. Business has grown so much in the last several years that the Goglanian will soon move into a48,00Gsquare-footfacility in Santa Ana.

will

one day become household fare: Hie Pie, which is packaged with an attractive logo featuring a red, blue- and orange-colored rainbow arching over Mount Ararat.

Scent ol a Bread While culling material forthis srory, I mer many fiercely proud bakers who believe they have achieved perfection in their trademark

WESTERN DRUGS, GIINDATE

Bakery in Fresno, when I was given

I then headed straight for Hanoian's Market, where I bought some

butter and string cheese. On the way back to mymotelroom, entrancedbythearom4 Isplit open the loafofbread. Steam gushed forth. On halfthe roll I put the string cheese, and on the other half I slathered a slab of the butter which quickly melted. I can still taste that sandwich. It was one of those grand, simple pleasures in life. As I bit into it, the joys of bread, particularly fumenian bread, rushed through my taste buds and straight to the memories of my youth. It was heart-warming to know the bread still tastes as good as ever. I've heard it said that discovery is a greaterthrill than confirmation, but in the case of Armenian bread the confirmation of its goodness is an endlessjoy. Armenian bakeries have seen great changes through the years, but fortunately the bread remains the same. Mlchael Krlkorlan ls a freelance wrlter llvlng ln Los Angeles.

I I 009 Burbonk Boulevord, Unit 108

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the store. The timing could not have been more impeccable: Bert, aBasque-Frenchman whohas been a bakermost ofhis life, waspulling some piping hot peda bread from the oven. I was

WESTERN DRUGS, NORTH HOTTYW@D

433 West Colorodo Boulevord (

offerings. But the highlight of my research come toward the end of a visit to the Valley

TELEPHONE:

FAX:818-507-6324 WESIERN DRI'GS, GLENDATE 6 Eost Colo rodo fit Gtendote Ave.) TELEPT-IONE:818-243-2231 FAX: 81 8-243 2801 4I

AIM. OCTOBERI993

THE INDOGTRINATION YEARS

AREN'TOVERYETNOTBYALONGSHOT BY - GREG BAGDASSARIAN Phologr.phy by Mkhltlr Khrchatrlen

On March 9, I 992, PresidentlrvonTerPetrossian exhorted newlyenrolled students at the American University of Armenia to "forget what you have learned during the Marxist-Leninist indoctrination years and start afresh to snrdy in a free and open environment." This was just a casualjudgment perhaps-and a nearly unanimous one at that. A long, cold winter has passed since then, however, and another one is on the way. It might not be too early to take a second look at the president's advice. Butbeforedoing so, I wantto acknowledge thatTer Petrossian may

more obedient vassal of the IMF. In the name of Sovereignty they've entrusted the integrity of Armenia's borders to the gentle mercies of an aggressive US ally that has over the past several decades invaded every one ofits neighbors excepttheold SovietUnion. In the nameof Civilization they' ve presided overproliferatingbigotry, thuggery and prostitution-for-export. In the name of the Purity of Armenian Culture they've gutted state subsidies forartists and ransformed Armeniainto a dumping ground for shabby, overpriced Western kitsch. Whipping upTurk-hatred oneday, the nextday they beg Ankarafor"humanitar-

There wellbethebestleaderArmenianscanhopeforatthepresenttime. certainly are some unsavory demagogues waiting in the wings forhim to fall. For this reason, I am reluctant to criticize him too harshly. Nevertheless, I feeljustified in taking him to task because my comments apply at least as well to Ter Petrossian's most vocal parIiamentary opponents as to the president himself. Something officially dubbed "Marxism-l,eninism," no doubt, was required course work forTer Petrossian, as it was for other state-subsidized academics in the

ian assistance." Fantasizing that the diaspora would deliver untold wealth and technology totheirdoorstep, theyhaveinstead setthe stage for the sortofbrain drain so familiar to any other dependent country of the "South." As a result, the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

Beggars loiter in Yerevan's parks, while nouveau riche mafi osos cruise the boulevards in shiny BMWs. The largerpart of the workforce has no regular income, while social services that were once taken for

granted have

all but

disap-

old Soviet Armenia. Beginning with Stalin's tenure, this essen-

peared. Real estate prices have

tially religious doctrine

hundreds of thousands of refu gees continue to live in squalor, without reliable heat, electric-

gone through the roof, while

has

grown almost as stale as the skewed version of history propa-

THE GROWING DISPARIW BETWEEN THE HAVES AND ity or running water. And last gated by the US Department of HAVE-NOTS: Gambllng ln Yerevan. winter alone, untold thousands Education. For the sake ofaccuof infants and elderly people quietly died from exposure and malnuracy, however, it should be pointed out that this doctrine is quite diftrition. ferent from anything that Marx or Lenin themselves would have Despite the best efforts of the president, as well as his opponents, it claimed as their own. is likely that acoming generation of working-class Armenians will not At any rate, a few of us who received our indoctrination in the "free let the American University--or even their parents' prejudices-get and open environment" of the West "started out afresh" years ago. As in the way of theireducation. Even as I writethese lines, anew generaa result, we are in a position to recognize that, if there is an obsolete tion of Armenians is coming face to face with the ugly realiry of capidogma that Armenians need to "forget " it is the superstition that a flag talism. They are watching their country slide into deepening poverty and a seat in the UN General Assembly guarantee greaternational sovand dependency, as the old problems have only gotten worse and as a ereignty and prosperity. In the New World Order, the UN Security multitude of new hardships have been foisted on them by people who Council has been transformed into little more than an echo chamber promised prosperity to all but delivered only misery to the majority. for the US State Department, lending an airof inlernational consensus It will be up to this new generation of Armenians to "forget" the forhigh-tech butchery in Lebanon, the Persian Gulf and anywhere else pro-capitalist indocrination which both Ter Petrossian and his chief the commander-in-chief decides to bomb or invade. political opponents have welcomed with open arms. And in the course Today, Western lending institutions, transnational corporations and of "starting afresh," thebrightest among them may very likely discover the CIA literally dictate foreign anddomestic policy todozens of supfor themselves the genuine intellectual legacy of Marx and lrnin. posedly independent countries. And, whether democratically elected or not, the leaders of these countries-among them Ter PetrossianGreg Bagdassaritn is the pseudonym of a member of the San serveessentially as local managersforthelntemationalMonetaryFund Franchco-based Sardarabsd Collective. Founded in 1983' the (rMF). Collective assists imprisoned Armenians, provides aidtor the re[et's review the record of those who advise us to "forget" Maxconstructian of Annenia's earthquake zone, arul supports detendism-l.eninism: In the name of Independence and Democracy, both Ter ercin Karabalclt Petrossian and his mostvocal opponents havereducedArmenia to one 46

AIM, OCTOBER 1993

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ARMENIAN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE PO BOX 3296 MANHATTAN BEACH CA 90266-9830

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