Karabakh Lives - October 1998

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DEPARTMENTS

8 Editor's Note 9 Letters to the Editor 12 View

14 Notebook 15 Bytes on File 60 Underexposed

NATION

16

Focus

20

Cover Story

- On the New Silk

Road

Prime Minister Darbinian attended the first TRACECA meeting in Baku.

Will opposing political interests allow the rebuilding of the old silk road?

-

Karabakh Lives

From Martakert in the north, to Stepanakert the capital, the residents of Karabakh are rebuilding even without water, roads. One

thing they do have plenty of-landmines. ln Stepanakert, and the rest of Karabakh, life goes on, even as the world debates Karabakh's status.

ECONOMY

38 The Russian Ruble in Ruins

How does the Russian economic crisis affect Armenia, and is the country doomed to follow in Russia's tracks?

CONNECTIONS

50

ln the Spirit of Lord Byron

Schools in Huchnall, UK, and Cuhri, Armenia were the seeds for further relations between these sister cities.

52 Actions Speak Louder Than Words The Aghabegians Family of Glendale has moved

to Yerevan. Now what?

ARTS

54

Patigian Alive

old European city, with much public sculpture.

Most of it is Haig Patigian's.

San FrancEco is like an

Cigars and Armenians just seem to go together. A look at the business and romance of the smoke.

BOOKS

56

After Mulan, Anahit

Robert San Souci first wrote Mulan, then he gave new form to Anahit in a beautiful new children's book, A Weave of Words.

SPORTS 58 Armenia vs. Andorra: 3-1 Not a bad beginning for a team that must still face Ukraine, France and Russia.

COVER PHOTO BY HRATCH LUKASSIAN; COVER DESIGN BY RAFFI TARPINIAN

AtM (SSN 1050,3471) is published monthly, $45 per yeaL by The Foudh Millennium Society, 207 South Brand Boulevard, Suite 203, Clendale, CA 91204; Phone: \a1!, 246-1979, Fax (818) 246-0088. Penodicals Postage paid at Clendale' CA and addf tional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No 0515457 O CopyriSht 1998 by The Foudh Millennium Society. AII righB resetoed. AIM may not be reproduced in any mannei either in whole or in part, without writen

Armenia beat Andorra in the Euro 2000 Qualifying

permission from the publisher The edrtoB are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or art unless a *amped, seltaddressed envelope is enclosed. Opinions expressed in signed adcles do not necessarily represent the view5 of The Fourth Millennium

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Problems and Solutions

ffiru:*

Armenian lnternational Magazine 207 South Brand Blvd. Suite 203 Clendale, CA 91204, USA Tel: 818 246 7979 Fax: 818 246 0088 E-mail: aim4m@well.com

'ou're wondering how much more can be said about Karabakh given the political stalemate that has been

g

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the status quo for nearly a

John Hughes interviewing the

EDITOR-PUBTISHER

decade.

Salpi Haroutinian Chazarian

As you read this issue's lengthy cover story, Karabakh Lives (you decide whether lives is a noun or a verb) you will agree that AIM's writers and photographers have found ways to go beyond the surface and dig deeply into issues of economics, sociology and ideology. In other words, into life.

Armineh Johannes and Zayen Khachikian have been going since the early days of the movement. Eric Nazarian who had never before been to Karabakh. and John Hughes, who is now almost a local,

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

A. H. Alexandrian, Yerevan SENIOR EDITOR Tony Halpin, London

PRODUCTION AND PHOTO MANAGER Parik Nazarian DESIGN

ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR Dania Ohanian

governor of Martakert.

SUBSCRIPTIONS s

came back with similar reactions.

When Eric brought his photos to the

office, the emotional

I

o x

I

observations

a youngster has a shovel, he uses it. If a young man has a car, he uses that. Everybody, everybody, including the soldier who has had his leg arnputated says if it comes to bat-

583639 Tel/Fa\'. 151849 E.mail: aimarm@arminco.com COORDINATOR

Anahit Martirossian

tle again, we're ready. The world it. It's going to take

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Cohar Sahakian

another Hiroshima to take these people out of there."

Then the tough part, and this is where AIM comes in. "The saddest

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Vahan Stepanian

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Ronald Crigor 5uny, Hratch Tchilingirian, Taline Voskeritchian

thing is that the Armenians in the Diaspora don't know the real circumstances of the people in Karabakh,"

CONTRIBUTORS Arld5he5 Emrn, John Hughes. Matlhew Ka,anran, Yerevan: 5Jsan Pattje. Londo4, A,a Choullran, Hra8 Valabedrdn, Los Angele5: Janet Samuelian, Palm Spnngs: Mark Malkasian, Rhode lsland; Ceorge Bournoutian, Lola Koundakjian, New Yoik; Myriam Gaume, Paris; Moorad Mooradian, Washington, DC; Vartan Matiossian,

Eric says. By the way, Eric is 22 years old and attends Film School at

Euenos Aire5.

Southern

PHOTOGRAPHERS Mkhrtar Khachatlan, Zaven Khachtktan. Rouben Manga:arran. Yerevan. Antoine

Califomia.

A8oud,ra", Ahne Manoukian. Armrneh rohanne5. Pans, Edmond Terdkopian.

London: Karine Armen. Kevo'k Dtdn\ezian, Raff, Ekmekl. Enc Nazarian. Ara Oshagan, Los Angeles Caro Lachinian. Mds\achu5ett!: Ardem Aslanran. New

Of AIM. our readers demand rigor, seriousness and reliability.

Jeriey, Harry Koundakrran. New York; Berge Ara Zob.an. Rhode l5land

They also want guidance on how to

EDITOR EMERITUS Charles Nazarian

act to achieve real solutions to some

pages. With

Karine Avedissian, Sonig Krikorian

Tel:

doesn't get

the problems outlined in

INTERNS

YENEVAN BUREAU 5 Nalbandian Room 24

effbrt. If

of

MANACER

Seta Khodanian

ADVERTISING Fimi Mekhitarian. Ratfi Ohanian

came tumbling out. "Everybody's rebuilding with something," he explained. "lt's a pure communal

the University of

AND PRODUCTION

Ray H. Toonian/DigrLith Graphics lnc.

EDITORIAL CONSUTTANT

these

Minas Kojaian

this issue, we think

INTERNATIONAL

we've offered both. Let us know.

4wrr-

Eric Nazarian and young Monte, in front of the Avo Fountain in Martuni, sculpted by a general, in memory of Monte Melkonian.

5UBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISINC REPRESENTATIVES

ARCENTlNAColetroMekh.tarsa,VrreydelPinol5ll(1425)Bueno5Atrer,Phone54l 552 3690 . CANADA Rdmrg Hak,mian, 5695 Hena 8oura55a West, Mont,eal, PQ, H4R 2t1. Phone 514 339 2517 . UNIIED ARAB EMIRATES: Gul zd.lonian, PO. Box 44564 Abu Dhabi. UAE, Phone 97 1 2775 721, Fax971 2 775 191 . UN ITED Kl NCDOMi Misak Ohanian, 105A Mill Hill Road, Aâ‚Źton, London W38ll Phone 081 992 4521 . ITALY Pierc Balanian, Via 61 A4l5, Rome, Phone995 1235. HONC KONC: lack Maxian, RM. A2, 1 1 ^4orlacca, /F, Elock A, 26 Kai Cheung Rd., Kowloon Bay, Kowloon, Phone 852 795 9888 . AUSTRALIAT Varooj lskenderian, 148 Koola Ave. East Killara NSW 2071 Phone 02.9251 2882; Alfred Markarian, PO 8ox 370, Hatris Park NSW 2150, Phone 029897 1846; Vahe Kateb PO 8ox 250, Port Melbourne, Victoria 3207, Phone 03 9794 0009.

WRITE TO AIM! We welcome ali communication. Although we read all letter and submissions, we are unable to acknowledge everythinS we receive due to limited staffing and resources.

Letters to the Editor may be edited for publication

AIM OCTOBER

1998

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Armen Gakavian

will be more transparent, accountable and also serve to strengthen a sense of "connectedness". The All-Armenia Fund is best positioned to become the conduit for those who want to be connected. And to

Sydney, Australia

those

Good on you for being willing to tackle complex and controversial issues such as intermarriage- issues which are of immediate concern to my generation of Diasporan Armenians.

"Armenia and Diaspora Reaching Out" (Cover Story, July 1998) was well balanced.

The absence of empty rhetoric, of self-granted rights and entitlements (so common in the Diaspora's "traditional" news media) was a welcome relief.

Can there be a Diaspora Policy for Armenia? Hardly. Diaspora is not a sociopo-

And lhe winner is...

A brief note to say how much I liked the August issue of AIM. The magazine is more consistant now in its quality, too. The Armenians-by-Choice section (Cover Story, August) is a great innovation; the Kerkorian piece must have required some innovative journalism to get to press so fast. I very much appreciated the focus on soldiers/veterans/ POWs. The Diaspora press needs to do more on Armenian POWs: they're news that isn't news, and should be. Finally, whoever fashioned the photo of Tsitserbanakaberd/French Assembly, with the latter fitted around the eternal flame of the former, deserves an award

for photo composition!

Tb lo I y an, P rofe s s o r Wesleyan University M iddle town, Connecticut

K hac hi g

litical or geopolitical entity to have a viable policy for itself as a whole, let alone a policy for Armenia. "We should accept the fact that the Diaspora will not have a uniform view of Armenia. Diversity in Diaspora attitudes towards Armenia will remain, and it will be futile to work fbr unity said Mihran Agbabian in that cover story.

Is the Diaspora 3.5 million strong? Let us get real.

Excluding those t'ew tens of thousands

to whom Vahe Aghabegians refers,

the Diaspora has indeed largely remained idle and detached. Add to these an equal number who

would not only "go so far as to disown the country for Ter-Petrossian" as Aghabegians says, but also in the process even violate the memory of the Genocide martyrs by equating Ter-Petrossian to Talaat. That's the strength of the Diaspora. And the dynamics of that strength is more in its diversity than in its numbers.

Can there be an Armenia Policy for the Diaspora? Absolutely. As an independent state, Armenia could formulate and implement

The award has been handed to Ray H.

Toonian

of Digilith, Inc. who has been

designing the magazine since April 1998.

Congratulations on this major improvement in quality and regularity of your magazine.

I used to read it slowly-not knowing when the next issue would arrive-but the last three issues have been right on time and full of excellent and varied articles. Keep up the good work.

Shoghig Tbrossian Fa

rmington

H i lls, M ic higan

Ghanging fiealiU and Perceilion

policy for the Diaspora. The comerstone of that policy should follow the Israel model and

Armenians into our communities and allow them to have an active role, the healthier and richer we will be for it.

parishes, etc.,

for whom Tony Halpin says "the

appointment of Dashnaks to government office. marked the restoration of an historic link with the firstArmenian Republic of 1918" the connection will remain just that- party affiliation. After all, not even the adoption of the flag, the national anthem, and the coat of arms served to connect.

Nation-building cannot be based on tribal, clannish and divisive structures of which the Diaspora has too many and which Armenia does not need. "Survival and evolution of the nation depends on the level of its economic, political and above all spiritual life and values," said Garo Keheyan and Armenia should focus on these issues. Ifthe experiences ofthe past l0 years are any indication, that will be a tall order. Fortunately, the emerging democra. cy of Armenia, the interactions between Armenia and the Diaspora, and the availability of new communication technologies are helping us to become a more informed society, instead of indoctrinated groups or tribes.

Perceptions are being replaced with realities; fact and fiction are being sorted out. The challenge for President Kocharian and his administration is to continue and enhance this process and base their policies on realities and not on perceptions.

Zohrab Sarkissian Tbronto, Ontario, Canada

llluminaling the Masses

a

actively encourage immigration as Tony Halpin suggests. But it should also include the Israeli model of non-interference in the political affairs of Armenia by the Diaspora. Israeli political parties do not have joint or de-centralized chapters or central executives in the Diaspora, but they do have many supporters and sympathizers. Armenia's policy for the Diaspora should also be based on the principle of non-interference by Armenia into the politics of the Diaspora, as Australia's Stepan Kerkyasharian says.

As for "the need to create a working insti-

tutionalized channel Congratulations on your excellent piece on non-Armenian spouses. We need to learn to accept, embrace and affirm such people (and their Armenian spouses) rather than reject them. The quicker we learn to accept non-

S

of communication

and

interaction", I agree, but the channels should not be institutionalized. There are too many

old anachronistic and institutionalized structures in the Diaspora. Their "trickle-down" assistance to Armenia has been just that. They lack transparency and accountability. Direct, non-political communication and interaction on specific projects by individuals. chapters.

AIM OCTOBER I998

As an avid reader of AIM I applaud your honest and brave stand on issues. Many thanks for finding and printing inspiring stories espe-

cially the story of Father Saribekian of Khor Virab (Religion, March 1998.) He is a unique hero leading such a life in our times when materialism is the driving force in every society and everywhere. He deserves all the help we can lend him.

Dania Ohanian writes "Father Mkhitar Saribekian....Dean of the Khor Virab Monastery, considered the oldest Christian

site in Armenia where St. Gregory

the

Illuminator accepted Christianity as his religion, according to church tradition..."

Corrections:

Yes. Khor Mrab Monastery is the best known site, but it.is not the oldest. The tombs of St. Santookht and the Apostle Thaddeus in the region of Ardaz precede Khor Virab by more than 200 years.

St. Gregory the Illuminator, born of Parthian nobility was given the name Suren.

The Fourth Millennium Society is an independenlly lunded and adminislered

public charity conrnrilled trr the disscmination of informilti()n tirr the purpose of developing an intbnrcd public. Undcrpinning all our work is the firin conviction thal

thc vitality of an indcpenrlent press is lundanrenlal rc a democratic socicty in Arnlcniil und dcnn)crulic institutions in thc Diarpom. Thc Founh Millcnniunl Sociely publishc\ Arrncnian lnlcmalionul Muguzinc iD its ellinl k) contribute lo the nuti(Dal diilk)guc. Thc dircctfs ure gratcful tr thc Bcnclirctfs. Trustecs. Patrons and Fricnds ol rhc F'ounh Millenniunr Socicty who rrt conrnrittcd 1() the wcll-b(inE.

After he was orphaned because of family animosities his guardian Yevtagh and wet-nurse Sophia baptized him a Christian and renamed him Gregory. Years later he became the palace secretary of King Tiridates III, a position he held till 287 AD. When the king failed to persuade Gregory to deny or denounce his Christian faith he ordered Gregory tortured and eventually thrown into the Khor Virab the

THB

s[)wth lnd dcvcloporcnt ol Armenians and Armcnia through thc pron(nion ol opcn discussion and thc lrce llou ol inlinrnulion anurg individrals and orSanialions.

FOURTH

Their linilncial conlrihulions supporl lhc work ol lhe Fi)urlh Millenniunr Society and

MIttBNNIUM

cnsurc the indcpcndcncc ol AlM.

S0CIETY, Inc.

Michacl Nahahct Rxlll 7itrlalian. l)ireck)rs

same year.

The person who embraced the Christian faith in 301 AD after Gregory was brought out of Khor Virab was the King, Tiridates III.

What saddens me most is the fact that Dania is not alone. Millions of Armenians are misinformed and/or indifferent on church matters. The young generation is deprived of Armenian church knowledge by the efforts of certain organizations. The truth

is

DIRECTORS'98 Shahen Hairapetian, Armen Hampar. Zaven Khanjian, Michael Nahabet,

Alex Sarki ssian, Bob Shamlian, Raflt Zinzalian.

BENEFACTORS Sarkis Acopian, Hirair Hovnanian, The Lincy Foundation. Louise Manoogian Simone

whether

politicians like it or not the Armenian Apostolic church history is the history ofour land and culture. I am hopeful that a good time before the l700th anniversary celebration of our church in 2001 AIM will 'enlighten' its readers.

Eugenie Sltehirian Scarboro, Ontorio, Cunada *Veerab is a better transliteration of the Armenian word.

SENIOR TRUSTEES

AUSTRALIA: Heros & Kate Dilanchian: CALIFORNIA: Khachig Babayan, George & Flora Dunaians. George & Grace Kay, Joe & Joyce Stein; CANADA: Razmig Hakimian, Kourken Sarkissianl HONG KONG: Jack Maxian FOUNDING TRUSTEES

AUSTRALIA: Vrroojan lskcnderian: CALIFORNIA: Garcn Avedikran, Mardo Kapriclian.

Edward Misserlian. Boh Movel'i. Varoujln Nahabet. Norair Oskanian. Emnry Papazian.

Zareh Sarkissian. Ralfi Zinzalian: FLORIDA: Hagop Koushakjian

PENNSYLVANIA: Zarouhi Mardikian

This is a good opportunity to state that AIM follows the Library of Congress translileration system, with some modifications. This is based on phonetfus.

ASSOCIATE TRUSTEES Araxie M. Hlrurutinian. Ralph and Savey Tulenkian

linguistic equivalents, and not just

Io llream lhe Armenian llream I labeled this the "Armenia Year." The year of magic for the Armenian people. Just look around you. Every one of us knows of someone who either has just returned from a trip to the homeland or is planning one in the very near future. People are flocking to our homeland like never before. Articles are overflowing in newspapers and magazines of our experiences in the homeland.

I do not need to boast about the captivating experience I had visiting Armenia for the first time this year. Or do I? There are hundreds and thousands like me-the "drearn come true" experience of visiting Armenia.

The "dream come true" experience has given me a stronger perspective on lif'e. Since

PATRONS

AUSTRALIA Derderian George and Vartouhi Tavoukjian Artin Etmekjian Arman and Nairi

10

Kcvork

Gaidzag and Dzovig Zeitlian

CANADA Migirdic and Ani Migirdicyan

Nishan-i and Sona Kazazian John and Rose

CALIFORNIA Mihran and Elizabeth Agbabian Garabed Akpolat Armand and Nancy Arabian Vartkes and Jean Barsam Hany and Alvart Barseghian Berj and Hera Boyalian Hagop and Violet Dakessian Ardash and Marian Derrleriln Dimitri and Tanrara Dirnitri Steve and Lucille Estephanian Manoushag Fernranian Cagik and Knar Calstian Vahan and Audrey Gregor Picrrc and Alicc Huig Armen and Cloriai Harnpar Arpiar and Hermine Janoyan

SubsGribe to

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Karabian and Satcnig Karajcrjian

CALIFORNIA

Walter and Laurel

cary and Sossi

CYPRTJS

Ketchoyan Kevorkian

Garo Keheyan

Zavcn and Sona Khanjian Krikor

Krikorian Kuhn

Dora Serviarian

ITALY Krikor and Harout Istanbulian

Avik Mahdesian Stepan and Erdjanik

Markarian

Harout and Rita Mesrobian

Mgrdichir,n Navasargian and Cindy Norian

Jasmine

Edward and Alice Kenncth

Lcbanon Kcvork Bouladian

MICHIGAN Ceorge Chartrchikian

Alcx Ma,oogian,l.

Rali Ourlaliarr Michael and Hernrinc Hratch and Helga

Piranian Sarkis

NEVADA Larry and Seda Barncs

Alex Sarkissian Robcrt and Helen

Shanrlian Taglyan Tavitian

NEW YORK

Pelros and Carine

Harry and Aida Koundakjian

Ara and Avcdis

Vahe Nishaniant

FRIENDS OF AIM The Fourth Millennium Society is grateful to the following tbr contributing during the last month to help secure AIM's financial future.

NEW YORK: John Sahagr TEXAS: Agop and Sylva Bedikian

AIM OCTOBER I998

L belonging has always been an issue for me, born outside my ancestral homeland, raised on "foreign" land... Do I feel guilty now towards the country I embraced from the day I tanded on it? To America, the land of opportunities?

Creating my own world in the land of opportunities has brought absolute joy to me and my family. Teaching the Armenian language and culture (and whatever else I can ) to my children has been a rewarding challenge thus far.

Define me, I asked myself. At this stage in my life. I am the Armenian I always have been.

The difference now is I know where it is that I belong.

I had just finished reading an article written by John Hughes, a reporter working for the

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little information about Mscount Bryce, recently honored in Armenia as one of three "avantgarde humanists." (Nation, July 1998). Not only

were his biographical details confined

to

14

lines, they were also innacurate.

I

am currently writing a history of the in Manchester: "Merchants in Exile: the Armenians in Manchester, England, 1835-1935," and one of my primary sources are the Bryce manuscripts

Armenian community

at

Oxford. James Bryce befriended

the

Manchester Armenians early in the 1870's, later supporting their cause in Parliament and the press. Two of the leading merchants and

the Armenian priest kept him informed of events in Turkish Armenia; all of their letters

Orange County Register, Hughes left

are among the Bryce Papers.

California and now resides in Yerevan and writes for AIM. He writes (Essay, August

Lord Bryce was not "vice-minister of forin 1886. Transcaucasia and Ararat was published in 1877; He established the Anglo-Armenian Association in 1890.

Bryce not only kept his prime minister, the revered Gladstone. informed about the

1998) "Somewhere in between is the Armenia that has drawn me... My blood does not find its

fountain here. My kin knows no suffering from her past. I am the odar - the other, the foreigner." No, he is not married to an Armenian.

He has no Armenian girlfriend. Yet, "This one is a temptress," he quotes.

I told my son, Vahram, "There is that obvious thing called 'the American Dream.' I have no idea who invented the phrase. But I know I have just invented the notion of 'the Armenian Dream.' Consider this for your generation."

Seta Mergeanian Mission Viejo, CaLifornia

eign affairs

Turkish atrocities against Armenians in

Ihanfts, But Send Money Thank you for

a very

the

Ottoman Empire, he also influenced the aging statesman. Following the Sasun massacres of

informative story on our

campaign to elect MariaArmoudian to Congress.

I would like to point out two important items. The vote tallies (about 1,800 to 36,000) you gave for the primary election are misleading because they are out of context. We had not campaigned up to June 2 because we were unopposed. Meanwhile; the.main opponent, Howard Berman has over 25 years of name recognition. This is important because potential supporters might be disheartened.

This brings me to the more important second point. As the campaign's Fundraising Director, I must point out your omission of the mailing address. Where are people who want real Armenian representation to send their contributions?

Checks should be written to Armoudian for Congress, POBox 7982, Mission Hills, CA 91346.

Garen Yegparyan Burbank, Calffbrnia Giuing lord Bryce His llue I have read your magazine from the beginning and had faith in its general accuracy until the July 1998 issue. I was dismayed to find so

AIM OCTOBER

1998

S 1894, Gladstone wrote to Bryce deploring the

fact that the Armenians "will not fight for themselves as the Greeks did."

Bryce replied: "The Armenians are not wanting in valour. They gave Russia her three best generals in the Asiatic war of 1877...The Armenians of Turkey are at a disadvantage compared to the Greeks...they are almost entirely without arms, while the Turkish troops have modern European weapons of precision...the dispatches of our Consuls show that the Turk not only does not disapprove of murder and torture as applied to Christians, but deliberately desires so to reduce the Christian population as to make

it insignificant..."

Lord Bryce and other members of the establishment like the Dukes of Argyll and Westminster and prelates of the Church of England were indef'atigable supporters of the Armenian cause-as were sections of the British press-but despite their efforts, and public opinion, they could not change British fbreign policy which was governed by fear of Russia and financial interests in Turkey.

Joan George Berkshire, England

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When Ituo Negatiues Ilon't Make a Positiue

?UA, L\'Z

rmenians (and Greeks) in the US have made so much noise about a planned feature film on Ataturk that the actor who had been considering the leading role backed out (See page 61).

It was a campaign to educate filmmakers, actors and others in the film industry that they have an ethical responsibility-in this case, to refrain from making a political leader with lots of brutality, violence, repression and worse on his list of accomplishments into a celluloid hero. The filmmaker said he intended a fair portrayal. Still, it's hard to imagine how a leading man like Antonio Banderas could be seen by viewers as anything but a sympathetic character. So, it's a good thing Banderas bowed out.

Kurt Russell's next. The young boy who was in

so many

old

Disney movies has become a star who can attract film financing, and the Armenian and Greek communities are gearing up again to blast him with enough letters and information to dissaude him.

Seeing tum-of-the-century Turkish leaders as historic heroes is enough to tum the most uninvolved people into active letter writers. So, let's assume the pressure campaign can succeed again.

Now, if only someone could figure out how to turn all this successful defense into a scoring offense. Armenians can stop

every

film that

Hollywood wants

to

make, and still, the

Armenian story-from tragedy to victory from superhuman lives to very real, normal shar'4sfs1s-\,ri/on't be known.

Unless, of course, we apply the same zeal to supporting film projects. If we do not get one step closer to the influential world of cinema, we will not have succeeded in the long run.

Schindlerb Lisr didn't get made overnight, or on the cheap, or by outsiders. The young filmmakers in our community who are serious about their craft must be encouraged-with dollars.

Here's a chance. There is a young man in Hollywood, now, with a film deal that sounds too good to be true. Yet, he may lose the chance altogether, because he's a few tens of thousands of dollars short. In April, AIM wrote about Vahe Babayan who has a signed contract with one of the biggest names in Hollywood, one of the most influential men in the US (in any field). This man has an option to buy the new film Babayan produces. It's a foot in the door-a small foot holding open a huge, heavy door. What does it take to finance a small, independent film for consideration by this big powerful studio guy? Less than a quarter of a million dollars. More than half has been raised. The rest has to be found if Armenians are going to do more than just boycott other people's films.

It's time we start telling our story.

Pfincess IIi Should Haue Seen Kara[akh

Jf terrorism is considered cowardly because it is indiscriminate I about its targets, what can be said about governments which Icondone

the production of landmines? Last year, 100,000 landmines were cleared around the world, but 2,000,000 were laid. The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that a mine that costs $3 to make can cost up to $1000 to clear.

These numbers make plain the magnitude of the problem.

When Karabakh's Minister of Agriculture becomes the best source of information on the problem of landmines in Karabakh

most accidents are reported in springtime, at the beginning of planting season.

Beyond all the war dead, and all those disabled by the enemy's gunfire, Karabakhis now fear permanent disabilities from the thousands of landmines that both sides placed throughout Karabakh's border regions and in all those areas which changed hands so many times during the years of fighting earlier this decade.

(and on Armenia's borders), the problem quickly comes into

The govemment of Azerbaijan has not even considered joining the

focus (See page 28).

Landmines not only kill and maim, they also starve. Fertile, arable lands are left untilled for fear of mine explosions. Indeed,

world-wide movement to ban the production, export and use of anti-

12

penonnel mines. For ttrat reason, the govemment of Armenia too, did not accede to the prcposal last year in Ottawa to ban landmines.

AIM OCTOBER

IS98

v

E

w

Waler, Water Euerywhere And ilot a llrop to Drinlr

magine you live in the midst of lush mountains and valleys with lots of streams, and with a beautiful reservoir that looks like an Alpine lake. Imagine that in your home, you turn on your faucet and there's nothing there. Ever. Imagine thinking and planning before you use a little water to rinse a fruit or a baby's hands. Imagine being unable to bathe or cook unless someone walks back and forth to a fountain several hundred meters away, up and down two or three or four stories, a couple of times a day.

Imagine that the only people capable of doing this are the old folks or the young women.

In Karabakh, the young men are in the army. All that's left at home are their parents and their sisters. The government wants them to stay. After all, if everyone picks up and leaves, who will be left to defend the land?

But, where Karabakh has lots of landmines, lots of cemeteries and lots of determination, they have little water (See page

20). Old pipes are either decayed or destroyed. New ones cost money. Wells must be rehabilitated

if

they are to be functional.

Experts and supplies cost money. Irrigation networks have become useless and only money can replace them.

How much more obvious can a problem be? It takes water to live. The people of Kardbakh want to live. They have amply demonstrated their will. Willpower alone, however, won't acquire the pipes and the technology necessiuy to bring water from the mountaintops into their homes.

There is no sense in sitting in the Diaspora and talking about wanting an independent Karabakh. Karabakh is not an imaginary

place. It is a real home to tens of thousands who want, need-and desenre-water. Just plain water.

What will it cost? Six hundred thousand dollars made it possible to put in place a reservoir and pipes around Stepanakert which now brings drinking water into the majority of homes.

That's just Stepanakert. The people of Karabakh subsist on agriculture. The villagers need water most desperately for themselves and their crops. Without adequate crops, the one problem

which Karabakh has not had thus far-inadequate

food

resources-may also become a reality.

What will it take to bring water to Shushi? The Armenia Fund has estimated two and a half million dollars. The next time we rave about the beauty of Shushi's mountains, we should remember it's harder (and more costly) to pump water uphill than downhill.

Martakert in northern Karabakh? A little less than two million. This huge fertile region is on the front line of the military and subsistence battle. Martakert has to produce for the people of Stepanakert to live.

These are the big numbers. Each little town and village comes with its own bill. But these are bills that can be paid easily (or even in installments). Several Christmases ago, a family in Los Angeles decided to skip Christmas gifts and instead sent all the money they saved to a program which sponsored specific projects in Karabakh. As a result, the village of Karintak which didn't have a functioning fountain now has one.

So, what will you give this Christmas?

AIM NEEDS INTELLIGENT INQUISITIVE INTERNS a) to monitor, archive and distribute electronic text and photo files. Knowledge of Quark Express is important.

Ten hours per month. Flexible schedule. Wonderful environment. Invaluable experience;

b) to do research, fact-checking and reference material maintenance.

Inquire by Fax: 818.246.0088 or mail: 207 S. Brand Blvd. Suite 203, Glendale, CA 91204.

AIM OCTOBER I998

T3

N

o

T

E

Slraight Shooter

Aznauour on Broadulay Not that Charles Aznavour had dropped out of sight. After his series of concerts in Paris last year, the singer staged a onetime periormance which attracted over 3,500 people, including the President of France, the Mayor of Paris, Catholicos Karekin I, and a host of Armenian and French dignitaries. The purpose was to raise money to benefit Armenia's schools. Since then, he has been relatively quiet. Now, he's in the US with a big bang.

The great French balladeer who is fond of saying "I'm 100

percent French and 100 percent Armenian) will appear on Broadway, at the Marquis Theater, from October 20 through November l. The twelve concerts promise to be a replay of old and sentimental favorites from his French and English repertoire.

Beyond

his singing and cinematic credits

(Francois

Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player and Volker Schloendorf's l/re Tin Drum) Aznavour is still Ambassador at Large for the government of Armenia. His charitable organization, Aznavour pour l'Armenie which was founded after the 1988 earthquake continues to provide humanitarian assistance to Armenia's villages and schools.

After New York, Aznavour heads West

to

Southern

California's Wilshire Theater.

Left to right: French President Jacques Chirac, Aznavour, and Armenia's former President Levon Ter Petrossian, during Aznavour's Concert in Paris this January to benefit Armenia's schools.

Hagop "Jack" Boyadjian is well known and respected by many of the world's sharpest shooters. The master gunsmith has been fine-tuning shotguns and rifles since the age of l0 when he and his brother Atam became apprentices to their uncle Avedis in Lebanon. Today, Boyadjian is a US citizen living in Seekonk, Massachusetts with his wife and one of four daughters, the other three live in California. Boyadjian, 71, continues to fill custom orders for a price worthy of his skill and expertise, more than $2,000 per gun in some cases.

AIM first wrote about Boyadjian in April 1992. Since then he has gained even more attention after creating a custom-fit gunstock for the youngest female ever to win an Olympic gold medal in the double trap shooting competition. In the1996 summer games in Atlanta, 17-year-old Kim Rhode celebrated her gold medal win just months after hiring Boyadjian to create a custom stock for her expensive Perazzi shotgun. Rhode credits Boyadjian's work with helping her achieve a lifelong dream of winning an Olympic gold medal.

Boyadjian specializes in fitting gun stocks, the large butt end of the rifle that rests against the shooter's shoulder. Expert riflemen know the key to excellent aim is having a stock that tits their grip and reach precisely so that consistency and alignment are perfect. Boyadjian fits existing sbcks, and in some cases creates entirely new ones for the fanatics who make the trip to his New England workshop for a personal fitting. Boyadjian works strictly from measurements taken in person, not numbers given over the phone or by mail order. He compares his work to having a suit professionally tailored. You can buy one ofTthe rack and hope for a decent fit, or you can have it altered to match your body perfectly. ls=

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bytes on file Number of Armenian schools in the US and Canada which close on Vartanants, in memory of Armenia's defeat to Persian forces 23

An Enteilainment Wiz Millions know and love Bob Dorian as the host of the popular American Movie Classics cable television network. This month Dorian celebrates his l4th year with AMC. He started as the network's host on October I, 1984 when the channel first launched in the US.

Number of Armenian schools which close on September 2'1, Armenian lndependence Day: 0

Dorian is still AMC's number one guy, but he keeps busy doing other work as well. Recently he was in a travelling production of The Wizard of Oz staning Mickey Rooney as the Wizard.

Dorian played both the comical gatekeeper of the Wizard's castle and Dorothy's Uncle Henry. The show has been seen in New York City's Madison Square Garden, Chicago and San Francisco and is scheduled to hit every major US city over the next three years.

A veteran entertainer, Dorian has been pleasing audiences fbr nearly 40 years now in many facets of show business. He began acting as a kid in New York, and by age 16 had appeared in several early television productions including Suspense, Studb One, and The Perry Como Show. He credits famous actor-celebrities Yul Brynner, Jack Benny and Paul Lukas with teaching him how to act.

Although he considers.himself an actor first, Dorian has also worked as a radio personality, stand-up comedian. impressionist. jazz musician, circus ringmaster and magician. He is no longer travelling with The Wizard of Oz production, but continues to entertain audiences of AMC with his famous voice and welcoming personality.

Portion of California's 70 Congressmen who are members of the Armenian Caucus:

1/3 Number killed in Abkhazia conflict since 1992:15,OOO

Number of refugees 300,000 Number of professionally trained attorneys needed in Armenia today 15,000 Number of business managers: 39,000 Segment of Armenia's children suffering from some form of cancer

Dorian, right, with Mickey Rooney in the Wizard of Oz.

12/100,000 Percentage rise over the last 1O years 15 Number of Turks who were allowed to become naturalized Cerman citizens in 1995

77,872 Number of Turks in Cermany still "deemed foreign"

2,107,426 Tons of grapes that the new managers of the Armenian cognac factory are prepared to purchase this year.

35,000 Percentage rise over last year's grape purchases by the cognac factory

100 Minister of Statistics & Information; AIM Research, Azg

AIM OCTOBER I998

It

A RIIAD N[|I

s0 sMoorH Ihe Eurorcan Union wants to reuiue the old Sill( Route, Ihe IRAGEGA meeting in Baku laid the lirst stone.

By I01{Y HAtPll{

Jt was easy to forget the reason for the trip I in tn. hype surroinding the tirst visit by an IRrrn.niun politician io Baku since the break-up of the former Soviet Union.

The grand plan to revive the ancient Silk Road linking Asia and Europe holds open the possibility of a massive expansion of trade through the Caucasus. The economic and political prizes involved in creating a network of transport routes from Brussels to Beijing could shape the future of the whole region.

As Prime Minister Armen Darbinian landed with his entourage at Baku Airport,

ence, Azerbaijani President Gaidar Aliev

It was a little disingenuous, then, for EU ofTicials to claim that Darbinian's presence at the conference was "highly symbolic".

In fact, on this basis, there was little chance of any serious rapprochement and so it proved, despite encouraging noises from both Baku

complied.

and Yerevan.

Aliev, facing an election in October, had to contend with criticism from opposition parties in Azerbaijan which declared that the

"treasonous" invitation to Darbinian "offends

however, the Silk Road seemed certain to pro-

the feelings of millions of people".

To his credit, he did not use the occasion

vide anything but a smooth ride. While any

to

contact between the two sides was welcome, it was clear that Armenia's invitation to attend

the conference marked no breakthrough in relations with Azerbaiian.

Had Baku been left to its own devices, Armenia would never even have been invited.

The TRACECA

conference-TRAnsport

Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia-was originally intended to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, but was switched to the Azerbaijani capital early this year. Planning was already well under way before Armenia protested to European Union officials, who were sponsoring the event, that it had received no invitation.

The EU, embarrassed to be appearing less than even-handed in its dealings with countries of the region, applied pressure to Azerbaijan to issue an invitation. Unwilling to put at risk the prestige of hosting the confer-

score populist points with the voters.

Instead he spoke of the need "to move away from enmity", saying he looked forward to "the restoration of friendship between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the context of a peaceful resolution in Nagorno-Karabakh".

Darbinian, too, expressed satisfaction with his visit on his return to Yerevan. In talks with Aliev, he had underlined Armenia's readiness to participate in all regional co-operation programs, he said, and had received corresponding guarantees from Azerbaijan.

Nevertheless. as participating countries signed the "Baku Declaration" agreeing to work towards the fulfillment of the project, Azerbaijan added a reservation that it would oppose transport projects that passed through Armenia. Azerbaijan and Turkey also rejected a proposal by Darbinian to lift the illegal eco-

AIM OCTOBER I998

nomic blockade of Armenia.

Darbinian was reportedly

transport routes, not just for crude oil but

rebuffed too by Turkish President

for all of the associated industries brought

Suleiman Demirel when he suggest-

! i.,

ed building a rail link from Yerevan across Nakhichevan, and restoring a rail route from Kars into Armenia.

will

that

have been

This is not a prospect which oil companies, and their

E wasted. =

Demirel insisted there would be no reopening of borders as long as

Armenian forces

to life by it, (6 money

respective national

occupied

governments,

Azerbaijani territory.

even dare to contemplate.

The routes of the

Georgia, too, was none too happy with Baku, which it accused of reneging on an agreement that the

Silk Road effectively bypass Iran, thus sat-

next TRACECA meeting would be held in Ttrilisi.

Still, the EU hopes the scale and potential of the TRACECA project will be sufficiently attractive to

isfying a key goal of American policy. It is determined to prevent

any growth in influ-

by Iran in the Muslim countries of

overcome such ancient enmities.

Although the plans are primarily economic, there is a repeatedlyexpressed hope that greater interdependence will foster increased polit-

ence

ical stability in the Caucasus region, which has been racked by ethnic

intensifying relations

conflict since the demise of Soviet Union.

the

Central Asia

However, Armenia's Prime Minister Darbinian greeting Azerbaijan's President Gaidar Aliev in Baku during the TRACECA Conference in early September.

TRACECA was created bv the EU in 1993 as a project specifically to rebuild sea, road and railway routes through the Caucasus and central Asia to create a corridor from western Europe to Japan, China, and the rest

of the Far

East.

EU officials report that traffic across the

Silk Road route has already grown by 60 percent in the past two years. TRACECA aims to boost transport volumes through the corridor

nearly 20-fo1d in the next 12 years, from 1.9 million tons in 1997 to 34 million tons by 2010. The EU has already pledged $170 million for the project but the total cost of repairing and upgrading transport facilities across the region is put at $l billion. Much of this will also be funded by the EU and through

loans by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Heads of state and high-ranking representatives from 33 countries and 12 international organizations gathered in Baku for the oneday conference on September 9 to discuss the project. Twelve nations signed a multilateral agreement to regulate transport tariffs and customs across the Caucasus, Caspian and Black Sea regions. Baku was chosen ahead of Tbilisi and the Uzbek capital Tashkent as the home of the permanent TRACECA secretariat.

The countries which signed what Georgia's President Eduard Shevardnadze,

l8

and

southern Russia.

one of the key movers of the initiative, called

the "New Silk Road Agreement" were Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkey.

Although Russia sent a representative to the conference, the above list shows only too well one of the key political goals of the EU's initiative-to provide the former Soviet republics with trade routes which are not dependent on their former masters in Moscow.

Georgia, which is among those which stand to gain most from the project. is particu-

larly keen to loosen Russia's

grip.

the

between Armenia and

Iran, as well as the road which will link

Iran through Armenia Georgia and the Black Sea, could give Tehran an indirect way into the Silk Road, at least for its own goods.

The American interest in creating stable and secure connections between Central Asia

to

and Europe is also spurred by the prospect of vast new consumer markets for American companies in the countries of the Silk Road once transport routes have been secured.

A week after the Silk Road confer-

ence, Richard Morningstar, the newly

appointed special advisor to the US President and Secretary of State for

Shevardnadze has complained regularly of Russian attempts to destabilize the republic

Caspian Basin energy diplomacy,

and has already been cultivating ties with Turkey to counterbalance Moscow. For

addressed the 17th Congress of the World Energy Council in Texas. he said he was

Shevardnadze, the long-term goal is to enmesh

"more convinced than ever" that an oil

into the Caspian Sea to exploit its oil reserves are a critical spur to the development

pipeline between Baku and Ceyhan in Turkey and a trans-Caspian gas pipeline "make absolute sense for both national security and commercial reasons".

Concerning Iran, he said, "We believe it makes no sense to undermine the independence of the Caspian NIS (New Independent States) by tying their hydrocarbon exports into the pipeline system of Iran, one of their primary competitors. It makes equally little sense from an energy security standpoint to concen-

of the whole Silk Road project. Without secure

trate

the region

within the EU's sphere of influence,

economically and politically, as the best way independence. The determination of the US to support him in any way possible underlines Shevardnadze's pivotal position in the "Great Game" of prying the

to guarantee Georgia's

Caucasus out of Russia's hands.

Azerbaiian knows full well that the billions of dollars that western companies have poured

AIM OCTOBER I998

oil and gas from the

Caspian

in

the

Persian Gulf region.

"Our underlying objective is therefore to ensure that the first pipelines built in the Caspian

region are oriented along an East-West axis."

China, too, sees the potential in the Silk

Road for securing energy resources from Central Asia for its rapidly expanding econoraw materials needed to produce everything from clothing to electronics. Open routes to the markets of Europe also provide cheaper alternatives for exports and therefore of attracting more foreign investment into the country to establish manufacturing bases.

my

as

well

as

Norway, again mainly for oil reasons, of securing major investments by its companies in the Caspian. sees the Silk Road as a way

But Scandinavian countries generally also

see

the Silk Road as an opportunity to resume his-

toric trading patterns with Russia and the East, thereby balancing their involvement with the European Union. Norway is outside the EU and fearful of becoming overly dependent on a

trade bloc which it cannot influence, while there remains a strong anti-Eu current in Sweden, which has opted not to be part European Single Currency.

of the

Armenia, dependent on trade for developing its economy, knows it needs to be part of

TRACECA. Its location at the heart

of

the

Caucasus makes it ideally placed to benefit from the huge potential flow ofgoods and ser-

well placed to become the banking hub of the region, financing trade and investment along the whole corridor.

But-and there is always a but-the weight of other countries' self-interest in the project is going to make it harder for Armenia to stand out against pressure to settle the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. It cannot veto TRACE-

CA and the Silk Road could be routed, albeit awkwardly, around Armenia, a disastrous situation for its economy.

The EU is keen to avoid any such outcome, seeing in TRACECA an opportunity to build its influence by promoting regional peace and prosperity. It wants Armenia innot least because the EU wants to guarantee the security of the route against any threat of

disruption from Karabakh-and is therefore likely to press Azerbaijan to show greater willingness in peace talks.

Both sides are likely to see Shevardnadze as a potential mediator in finding solutions which allow TRACECA to proceed even if a stalemate over Karabakh continues.

Ironically, Karabakh boasts probably the most modern road in the whole of the proposed transport corridor thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Armenian Diaspora. The 50-mile highway linking Goris in Armenia to Karabakh's capital, Stepanakert,

across

the

vices. Political stability and the expertise of major companies such as HSBC

Lachin corridor, acts as umbilical cord and trade artery between the two states and could easily be extended to provide access to and from Azerbaijan.

With a further road planned to run northsouth through Karabakh and the plans, funded

by Kirk Kerkorian's Lincy Foundation, for

a

major highway linking lran through Armenia to Georgia and the Black Sea ports, Armenia and Karabakh are better placed than most to capitalize on the opportunities offered by the Silk Road. Armenia has ruled out any possibility of returning control of the Lachin corridor to Azerbaijan, seeing it as vital to guarantee the security of Karabakh. Azerbaijani negotiators have indicated their willingness to accept international supervision of the ruea so as to permit the free flow of non-military car-

gos through the territory. Similar creative thinking could make Karabakh a key intersection on the Silk Road, guaranteeing its prosperity, if the thomy issue of status can be settled.

President Kocharian, in an interview with The New York Times after the TRACECA conference, played the long game, arguing that Azerbaijan's coming oil wealth will make it unwilling to fight for Karabakh.

"Are you sure the rich man fights better? In 10 years, who will be ready to light and die, and for what? In 10 years, any attack on Nagomo Karabakh would be viewed by its residents as aggression against their country," he said.

However, he also talked of finding a "unique solution" to the issue, pointing to recent settlements in Northem Ireland-where a devolved government runs its affairs under an umbrella providing for British sovereignty but with mechanisms for consultation with the Republic of Ireland-and in Bosnia. The tiny principality of Andorra, which has a seat in

already make it

the United Nations but is nominally ruled by the President ofFrance and the Bishop of Seo de Urgel in Spain, has become a fashionable topic ofconversation in foreign policy circles.

Aliev, meanwhile, told those gathered at the conference to witness the signing of the "Baku Declaration" that "the restoration ofthe

historic Great Silk Road...will become the strongest impulse for bringing our nations closer and for mutual enrichment."

An early test of his sincerity may be pro-

vided in the shape of an invitation from Darbinian to hold the next session of the TRACECA intergovernmental commission in Yerevan at the level of transport ministers. If the meeting in Baku is really to take on the historic significance already invested in it by some, then it will have to be more than a one-off. r

AIM OCTOBER

1998

t9

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lcss

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plcntilirl than watcr. '['hc1, ar-c thc vouns liuni]ies of Askeran.

wlur to br-rikl ncw livcs. nrake their hornes by gathering blocks lrrrn the ghost town that wus

ffis&w-wffi ffiffi*ffiffiffi*wffiwffi ffi

once the sprar.r'linu citv olAgclanr.

And thei' itl'e tltc y6utrg wicl.w ol'

a

govemor recentll' killcd by a lanclnrine on a road he'd tlavelecl often withor-rt known danger. For now. she lives in re lative wcalth in the home the state provided, but has no nolion of her future once the symputhy hy which she is presently supported is spent on the next survivor of tragedy.

The conbspendellq ttvho'; during war, might have taken her story globally have

From the Gapital to the horder uillages, new battles haue replaced the wal.

By J()HN HUGHES tr(rl \(!'tt \\iir'. l)ul I ll:rrr' sr'r'tt Jlt.,t.'

I rt. .ltr'tt. \lttl I \\(,r[lrl il ilt rt,rrrt' I .rrr rirl u.n lri irr:: u itlr it: lrlter rrntlr i:n t ul:o , .l"rtrrltin,l ls sulclv us

lrLlling brrnrbs arrr-l lircd at'tillcrl' unrl lrt lttrnirr..: 1,,,'

llrr' .lr,,r, l tlrirtnt'rl nliUl\, !flVcs. 'l hctc is

,,,fui1l;

it ron)iulcL- to

r,'

ar. rr hor-

''r;.ri":l

riblc rcrirrcss. iu) cllcrllv nrlrbe thut

il nol lilc. lhcn lil lea:t thc

srrslirins. rrhsclrcc

.l -. {i,-i",. r jar,t

'd* )

ol rlclttlt.

Wllr nrirl\c\ Itcloc: ol tho:c u,ho:c livcs. il lclt uithoLrt thc ehallcngc ol hi rrr clr - rr orrltl pass. orl-

Free Karabakh Greets You, says a sign in the

e

rtton lurtl Lrnrroticetl. (lrLlccr-s

llc rilrric br ulir: rlrlor. r'ightJ1,

clirilcrl. is rr tIarrsccnrlir! crctierrtilLl. \\'ul nlrkes tlingcntilLl hcr-rrcs ol llrosc rilto rkrcrrnrenl i1. thc nrcrr lnrl norrrcrr t,lrobv thciL obsclrutiort bcconrc u\sociirlcs to thc fL-\\ iu'(ls ol' su|r ir al.

ho hantls out rncrluls. irppoirrt nlcnls. llr()nrotions-tlrc.jcn,cllv ol hrrltlc lo ihe able-buriiecl u'hosc only light is to livc BLLt

u ith the'

rr

lrrc ntore ol'

the

sc rre nrorv liccpcts

lrclc thun evcn the considelahlc rvlr rlclti.

'l-lrcir

ou'n sLrlc vulor is unhet'alclcd. sharirrg

lL:

doc: inglorioLrs conrptrnv.,vrth ntcrc cri:lcrtcc. lirl whiclr thclc are no conlnrrrtdation:. i1

'I'lrcv livc u,ith thc hloken huiiciin-us. tltrcripplcd psyches. thc disnrantlecl infrastri-rctr-rlc tllat won't l)c lccollstnlctcd bt' tribLrtes or patri otic l)raisc no urlttci horr ricll eltlncd. '['hc,y

urc u lurrrilr. unirclsilr erlucatcd

scicrtcc pnrlessionlls. uho oun it honre in Ycrcver. lrut Iir c in Stcpunakcr'1 becliusc hcrc is rvher-e thcil son. lu in ol u tlltLruhlcr. u,as

l0

corridor. killccl. They stur,. lbur sharin!. thrcc loonrs whcrc waler corrcs onc I.rour e vcrl othcr

cla1,.

Thcsc lirc a u,iclou in N4eltakert u,lro sharcs thrcc tirrr roor.r.rs u ith an elderly sistcr'. lr sorr unrl thc son's uile. in the skelcton of'a honrc that \\ irs oncc

lclitrr crs l

'l'hcr-e'

: ,l + r+:ef

I)0

scluarc meters. now, l:1.

Ilcr inconte is u

-l(XX) Drant (S6) per nrontlr yrcnsion.,\ sirrglc u,inclow costs seven tinrcs lhlit. linrl tlrr-rc llc nlrrny winclows that ttccrl rcplircinr irt tlte house that took fivc \curs t() hLriltl ;irrtl utt instant ol' r-Ocket fire to Lrn bu ilrl.

-l-hct,

irrc tlrc 5(X) r'csitlcrrts ol"l-alish. once

a to\\,n ol' l(XX) r,n,hcrc rtcws ol' thc clav

is

lcanrcrl rvailiug in lirtc ut u singlc pool front u,hich r.vater is purnpccl two hours a r.rcck: ultet'c thc ncat'cst lclcphonc is at the crrcl ol a rocky road an hour by car-. r\nd clls hcrc arc

Looking down from Shushi. \l\1

OC IOBt_R l()eS

".

,

"I'

"

.

'*,,1i;il

moved to other conflicts. But even had they stayed, none of the professionals of communication could help her answer the question of her three children: "Where's poppa?"

They are a farmer in Martuni who works 84 hours a week for pennies to feed a family of five that used to be six.

And they are the new soldiers, freedom

fighters .t$rned pcace keepers, on borders is a frequent contradiction to

land, defiant of, assault, season upon season in peace and at war yieldingharvests,to fight for.

For them, there is nciquestion about why

they have stayed when others have fled. Or why they have returned to rebuild without certainty of not becoming future targets.

And so it is. Because grandfathers and the grandfathers before those planled fruit trees and wgrked this soil forrdecadej before

it

But &ere are new children here. Lik 4tly, and like the ones they have replaced. their playfirl

laughter mocks the intentions of those who would have denied a generation of future heroes.

And they play, in villages where war's

ruins are roys for childhood adventure, yes.

But also on the rebuilt amusemenf*des qfr*' Stepanakert park, tit in the night wbere once c aused tlarhlesg!:t

war,

Holle and Hell are Folr Letter Words lile in l(arabakh's noflhern regions

By J0H1{ HUGHE$; Pholos by ZAUEI| lffiAGHll0Al{ ognetta leads a visitor into what is left

of her home. It is a warm August

day,

and up the stairs and through two tiny rooms-truly "bedrooms" for that is all they hold: bed against bed against bed for the five that live here-she leads to a balcony with a

welcome breeze; it would seem that the designers of this home had studied well the need

for summertime relief.

But

it

becomes apparent that this "bal-

cony" wasn't planned. Wasn't meant as a balcony at all. Was not carefully laid out by archi-

tects.

It is, rather, the remains of

artillery

shelling that turned this home into something Rognetta never imagined when she moved into it 28 years ago.

In

1970, after five years

of

building,

Rognetta and her family moved into a 120square meter, two-story home. Today, she shares what is left-24-square meters-with a son and his wife, their child, and Rognetta's 75-year-old sister.

Turn from facing the sweet breeze for a glimpse of what was.

Walls, now opened, gutted by shelling, still wear the wallpaper that once made this a beautiful home; a fitting complement to the beauty of this region.

For 22 years, Rognetta's family enjoyed this home. But in 1992 they, and a city of others like them, fled the fighting that years later is still evident in nearly every home like this one. And in homes from Hadrut to Shahumian.

Many have not returned to Martakert.

Those who have. says its mayor (Rognetta;s nephew) Ilyitch Bagirian, live in homes like this-with beams exposed rock walls with pock holes. To say nothing of the psychological implications of living in leftovers.

Those victims of war who have returned (estimates range from 50 to 80 percent) are now victims of infrastructure.

"We were very satisfied before the war."

Rognetta says. "We worked hard and had no needs. Now, we need everything."

From jobs to (sufficient) water.

Rognetta supports herselfon her 3000 Dram per month pension-about $6. Replacing a sin-

Farmers regularly gather wood for winter, even in areas that are dangerous because of landmines. parents, a transition point of sorts, where the family leaves the son to begin his military ser-

gle window costs 20,000 Dram.

It is a staggering struggle.

Still" "We won't leave our land. We won't

go away," Rognetta says. "(But) we

can't

rebuild by ourselves. We need help."

Destruction's four-letter word shares company with another here: h-o-p-e.

In the office he assumed following the death in April of his predecessor Slavik Abrahamian who was killed when his car hit a landmine, Governor Sevag Arzrouni sees selfreliance as his administration's main mission for returning Martakert to pre-war conditions.

Before the war, the Martakert region had 43 schools. All but six were destroyed. Fortyone have been rebuilt or reopened. The region has three hospitals. The town of Martakert has a hotel-although it is used mostly by soldiers'

AIM OCTOBER I998

is a soccer stadium. There are lined with kiosks, selling produce,

vice. There streets

bread and basic staples.

Life, considerably altered, goes on.

The governor understands cries of help, but is most concerned with finding ways that his people might help themselves.

"Most of the first step has been done," Arzrouni says. "Ninety percent of our people have houses. It is like a miracle for us. Four years is a very short time for all that has been done. But we must go faster. We must be selfsufficient. "

There were 41 villages in the Martakert region before the war. Ten were completely destroyed. Each village left, Arzrouni says,

"has potential."

In Martakert there are textile factories, a

wine distillery a furniture factory that could be rebuilt. Mostly, though, there is the possibility for great agricultural export. If there were means for irrigation.

Take back the river?

"Tell the General," the governorjokes.

Meanwhile elected and appointed officials are looking for ways to win a new war; to find

ways

to

make their beat-up little enclave

attractive to outside investors.

"Our people are farmers," the governor

Karabakh's 33-member House of

says. "They have the ability to produce crops."

They have, though, only enough water for personal use. They raise pigs, but have no market

Parliament passed legislation that clears the way for tax-free construction. Investors, both local and foreign, are invited to start businesses in Karabakh with the provision that they provide jobs for the population.

for selling them."

It is the cruelest of ironies that this fertile region, blessed by nature in this place that lir erally means "black garden," lacks the wherewithal to utilize the gifts of God-because of the indifference of man.

The irony is compounded in that the region's main source of water, Sarsang Reservoir (fed by the Thrtar River), sits in the middle of Martakert, a tease to those so near it who must rely on springs because there is little means

"There is no simple transition to the conditions Yesayan,

of a liee-market economy," says Oleg Chairman of Karabakh's Parliament.

And, in his country, the transition is further complicated by the lack of a viable export system. What does a farmer do if he can produce enough wheat or grapes for export. To whom would it go, and by what means?

Rouben Danielian. (Danielian's home

is in

Haykajur, under Azeri occupation. "When I go to Talish," Danielian says, "I can see my village, but I can't go there.")

Danielian has been charged with the considerable task of researching each Martakert village and preparing a report of their needs.

In his office are stacks ofnotebooks, handwritten, representing each village. The needs are many and the work is only beginning.

"It would require going into every village and entering every house," Danielian says, "to learn how great the need is."

Most humanitarian aid to the region has come from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Government funds helped rebuild 100 homes in 1993, 150 in 1994, and will help 45 by the end of this year. A

French organization

and less money for getting

the water from Sarsang to the villages.

has

offered to help rebuild a vil-

lage near Martakert. A

Pipes that once brought water into homes like Rognetta's, where there was even a water heating system, were mostly destroyed by artillery fire. The waterlines

that survived the

Arzrouni's first act as govemor was to create a Division of External Budgetry, led by

Canadian-Armenian businessman has provided money for a

5

hectare garlic farm, from which he buys the harvest for foreign distribution.

An Armenian in Moscow, a former resident of Martakert, rebuilt the city's kindergarten

shelling,

decayed and because unusable during the years when Martakert was not safe and not populated.

and is paying the teachers

Yet the city of Martakert is far better off than the northemmost town of Talish, where 500 (formerly a town of 3,000) residents get water one hour every

ofits

40 children. A Liverpool soccer team wants to help rebuild

Martakert's stadium. And in the village of Kusapat, the Friends of Armenia have just opened a school complete with computers and other modem facilities.

four days.

Levon Apresian and his fam-

ily of four are among the 133

families who have retumed to Talish in spite of its extreme conAll well received here where ditions. (The nearest phone is an There is plenty of dried fruit but no means for export. a little help goes a long way. hour away in Martakert, over an But, "we don't want to beg As part of the shift to privatization, each unpaved road.) The state gave goats and sheep for money," Danielian says. "We want to create Karabakh family (outside Stepanakert) has and building materials to each family who businesses." been given 6,000 meters of land. Blessed by returned-a gesture, at least, of a willingness The governor agrees. nature, it is a simple act for the families of to help when help is available.

"We have the people," Arzrouni says. "We Karabakh to be self-sustained. Not so simple, Talish has 2,000 hectares (about 5,000 have the nafural resources. If someone wants however, is the process of forming a self-susacres) of farmable land. Before the war, it to give aid, I would prefer that he give money tained country, especially as the unresolved profited from use of irrigation pumps from the for a factory or for farming in order for our issue of self-determination lingers and so nearby village of Mataghis. But those pumps people to become self-reliant." many soldiers are a reminder that peace is no were destroyed.

So Danielian will take those reports and more a promise than prosperity.

"With proper irrigation," Apresian says, prepare from them a handbook for distributing "According to our information about con"Thlish could produce 3,000 tons of wheat, abroad to show potential investors the possiditions in other Caucasus countries, our condienough for the entire region. With money, we of this region. Will show them the bilities tions are not worse," Yesayan says. But simply could have wells drilled enough to have water hopes thriving in this place where at least for goal. not "not worse" is the being every day."

50 percent don't have telephones. This place of Yesayan says that, with a peaceful settleThere are seven villages in the Martakert resources with no infrastructure for using ment of the conflict withAzerbaijan, his counregion that remain in Azeri hands. In enemy them. This water-strapped region where old try needs about four years to re-establish its hands, too, is the main river, which villagers in women carry jugs to feed fruit trees outside stature as a leading agricultural source for the Talish can see from their homes, but can't use. homes a fifth their former size. region and a few more years to reach its indus"The water that was supposed to come to "The challenge we have now is very realtrial potential. the city of Martakert," Arzrouni says, "is in The new govemor of Martakert is taking istic," Arzrouni says. "The war was unrealistic.

Azeri hands. The repopulation of the city is steps to speed the process.

But we won." very difficult because of that problem."

AIM OCTOBER 1998

23

A $chool By

J0llll

HUGIIES; Phoro By

[r Frleltil$; Ior Friettils

zluElt lfiIcillflAlt

first impression of the Varoujan Karian School which opened August 26 in Kusapat, a small village seven kilometers from Martakert, is from the top.

Rounding the rnountain grl the difi road into Kusapat, the shingled rsof is a pool'of snpoth black-unusual among the rusted

tin roofs on buildings which hang to

the

hillside like growths. lnside, impressions begin with a step onto a tiled entryway that leads to freshly

painted and newly appointed classrooms, each with a plaque outside its doorway say-

school was turned into a.hospital and was among the many buildings in Kusapat lev-

ing who it was half-way around the world

eled by Azeri artillery.

that made this place possible. ' It isa school that first opened 120 year-s

Armenia, a Southern California based,char-

ago:and'beq4me regionally famous for its high-caliber academics, producing graduates who themselves became teachers. scientists, military leaders and includes one alumnus who translated the works of Karl Marx.

But when war came to Karabakh, the

i1.

*{i ill

With donated funds, the Friends of itable organization, rebuilt the school and named it',for one of' [rc group's yotrng founders who died ofa heart attack

With $110,000 worth

of

in

1993.

materials

shipped from California and the work of local laborers. the school opened to coincide with the anniversary of its first establishment in 1878.

Today's version is an Americanized facility, complete with a computer for use by the 48 students who are the core of a stu-

dent body that

will multiply

three times

once plans are realized for bringing students

from throughout the region to this special learning center.

Srudents from surrounding villages and towns-those identified by teachers as the area's brightest and most promising-will for special studies. Two houses on the school property are targeted to become dormitories where students (and teachers) from outlying areas will live.

Ttvo other schools were reopened in the Martakert region by Friends of Armenia but, be bused here

H

$

il h q

says Sarkis Hatspanian, formerly of Istanbul and Paris, now of Martakert and Yerevan, "we wanted this one to be special because it is dedicated to Varoujan."

Martakert's governor, Sevag Arzrouni, says the school is "notjust good for the students, but for the entire district. We want to give back to this school its former leading role in the region."

Above that black roof on the Karabakh hillside, two flags fly over the Varoujan

Karian School: The flag

of

Nagorno

Karabakh and the flag of the United States.

Hatspanian says that during the opening

ceremonieg,

the Republic of Karabakh's

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Naira

Melkumian looked at the two flags

Filr

J* s.&**"

.:F,

24

and

wondered aloud how the flag of an unrec.,

+

ognized country like Karabakh could fly

,1ffii}

next to the U$ flag?

AIM OCTOBER

1998

IHE MAYOR A]ID

IHE GtlUER]TllR

BY J(IHI{ HUGHES; PhOIOS

[Y

ERIG ]{AZARIAI{

water, now receiving water only an hour a day.

He has looked into ways to run a pipeline

from the nearby mountains ofTonashen, but has leamed that the electicity required would be prohibitively expensive.

"Some have retumed here from Russia" Bagirian says, "and they see ttre conditions, then go back to Russia. If we are able to solve ttrese problems, people will retum. I feel sad about (those who don't retum), but those who are here will live here forever. This is the land of our grandfathers and grandmothers.

ne is a war hero. One is a humanitarian. Both are young. Martakert

Mayor Ilyitch Bagirian

is

29;

Govemor of the region, Sevag Arzrouni is 33.

Bagirian grew up here, fought

here,

started a family here.

Arzrouni was born in Lebanon, schooled in France, brought his family to the Hadrut region when he moved there four

his

hometown out of the shadow of war.

It is said here, though not by the man himself, that when rockets were falling, Officer Bagirian never hid. Said too, that when rifles were lred he stood defiantly firing back.

Shot twice; twice hit by shrapnel. A son of the land with scars to show his defense of it.

In 1989, before there was an organized

army here, Bagirian led students who

years ago to work for a relief agency.

Their paths have intersected in

for the task he now faces in bringing

the

Martakert Govemment Center, a couple of miles across open plain from the front line.

formed paramilitary groups to defend the border village of Kapan where he was studying at a university.

By 192, n this town he now leads, the bravery of Ilyitch Bagirian is a testimony

that in no small way prepares him

he had become the leader

of an

unofficial army made up of students in various villages, about 70 to a group. His wounds came defending Martakert; the fint on ML Omar, the

"[,ove of land is greater than the risk of [fe. ancestors lived here. Wherever you live, this is your land."

Restoring his land to the level ofhis child-

My childhood was here. My

hood is an unenviable challenge, and a changing battle for the war hero.

"Now

it is peace time," Bagirian says.

"During the war at least you knew you were fighting the enemy, and he is there. Noq you have to think more about daily life."

Bagirian says his constituents are patient people; people who know the toll of retuming to a shattered land. But to land, even shattered, ttrat

is theirs. His.

Does he think he is headed for a life in politics?

"No," Bagirian says. "We are very eager

others defending border villages.

"It wasn't good being a leader," Bagirian says. "The work was very hard, particularly when there wasn't an army itself. It was just people from the villages."

People who now come to the Mayor's

office each Monday when he opens his doors to hear the complaints, the needs, of those he helped liberate. People who have turned to him to fight a new battle against the damages inflicted by the first one.

"Now," Bagirian says, "the battle is for water, for reconstuction of homes, for harvesG ing the lard. It requires a lot of money that we don't have." (A study by engineen estimates that it will cost about $2.5 million to retram Martakert to its pre-war conditions.)

There are about 3,500 people now in Martakert. When Bagirian grew up here, the son of a farmer, there were about 10,000. It is Mayor Bagirian's intent to see a return of those who fled, to Moscow, to Yerevan, to the nearer villages of mainland Armenia.

(Bagirian was appointed Mayor by Arzrouni, who became Govemor following the death, in April, of the previous govemor.)

llyitch Bagirian, Mayor of Martakert

Bagirian travels the familim streets of his hometown andpasses abandoned wine factories, textile mills. He sees homes which used to have

AIM OCTOBER

1998

Sevag Arzrouni,Governor of

Martakert region

25

to revive this region, but on the other hand

it is very difficult to do it. Our purpose is to prepare something for people who come back, so that when they see it, they won't return to Russia or abroad.

"I

am not a politician.

I

am a builder."

our years ago Sevag Arzrouni left

France

for

Hadrut

to help

a

humanitarian agency bring relief to that southern region of Karabakh.

He is educated in political science, but it is the science of rebuilding villages that became his vocation. It is that science that is most needed in his new post (to which he

was appointed by President Arkady Ghukasian).

He is governor of a region whose fertile agricultural resources are depleted by 30 percent because of land mines. Where land

that should grow crops is cut into ribbons of trenches for soldiers still responsible for the

farmers' security. Where 46 kilometers and more than 1.000 hectares of farmland are the frontline-no-man's land.

It is a region that

stretches from

Garnakar in the south to Talish in the north;

from Nareshtar to Hatsavan. Forty-one villages, all with similar needs.

"All

the infrasnucture needs to be recreatred,"

Arzrouni says. "Water, telephones, roads . . ."

Comparing what he does now with his

work with the humanitarian agency,

the

work of an administrator is "psychological-

ly,

strategically different," Arzrouni

explains. "When you are a humanitarian agency, you give. As a representative of the state, I have limits.

"Now, I cannot give. I ask the population to create."

He is a man used to seeing immediate results. Now, he is a facilitator, aware that wheels turn more slowly when the load is heavier. He recently organized a visit by

journalists from throughout Armenia to show, he hopes, the needs ofhis region.

Arzrouni has created an agency to study his region's needs (see related story). He says his priorities are to improve education, to develop agriculture, to provide roads and communication systems.

"For the moment we don't have a clear idea," the Governor says. "But we are creat-

LIFE LruING Uisiting a Stepanakert llisBo By

J0Hll tlU0HES; Fltotss [y ZIUEil lffilGll]l(lff|

fn the basement of a Stepanakert office I UuitAing, just off the capital's main Isquare.

a long, narrow room shakes with noise. There are few lights inside and none outside to mark this place but people know where to find it.

The children of Stepanakert have known for years this room existed. Have used it for refuge, as they do now.

Oncb the room shook, rattled by falling artillery that told visitors to this room that things,,wouldbe different, tenibly so, when they left this shelter.

,

Ten months ago with

a dancer's

a

23-year-old girl

heart and a dreamer's ener-

gy tumed what had been a bomb shelter into what is now Stepanakert's only disco.

Susanah Husnunts.

a

mathematics

Old and young huddled here, their prayq! the music of the darkness; their

institute graduate, is the untikely proprietor of the enterprise that defies typical eqtrations for bitrsinos$ sucsess in. this reglon. She. A girl.

moving about to make room for others the horrible dance of a people under siege.

is'not normal that a girl would do this. To

ing ideas."

26

Here, during nights that.w.ere tgg long they held onto each other, a macabrc waltz that is no longer the fashion in this place where noise as loud as shelling is welcomed by these who dance their sublime nighs away in a place that once cradled terror.

,AIMOCTOBER 1998

"To the people here,l' Susanah says. "It

Dancers (right) in Stepanakert's only disco, which Susanah Husnunts (left) owns and runs. me. it is natural."

As natural as the urge to move when, as a child during clays worse than these. thc girl would escape the ugliness of her world by turning on il crssette player in her family's home and dancing to whatever music happened to be in the deck. "l like to dance." Susanah says. "but I had no place to go rnyself."

Now, in a room that these new dancers might not be alive to enjoy except l'or the shelter it once provided. the young ol Stepanakert jam the 60-occupant room in search of a different escape.

The sounds of Western music, recorded

onto tapes by the owner, rock the

stone

walls and low ceiling while young, sweating bodies lose lhernselves in the rnix ol' noise and smoke and Cokes fbr 34 cents and 60cent Armenian Kotayk beer.

The disct-r has an ol'licial nume. writtcn into documents by someone who previously, but unsuccessfully, attempted to open. It is called "Night Star."

Susanah says

if

she could

pick a name it

would be "Dance While You Are Young."

The owner hersell says she

will

not at Night Star. She says she'll sell the disco as soon as she rnakes enough money to linance an idea she has fr;r a program ltr help the children of Karabakh. She will only say that it is a program that has not bccn attempted belbre in her country.

"dancing when I am 60." Although probably

the disco has no flashing lights outside announcing its presence, as il'a degree of anonymity rnight ensure continued operatktn.

"Frankly speaking," Susanah says, "l have one main problem. I'm atiaid the

of Culture and Sport doesn't approve. I think one day they will tell me to leave. lt is a sin to thern. how much money

Minister

To the people

it

here,

is not normal that

a girl would do this.

I put into this."

She won't say how much she spent, but only that the cost is not as much as people think because she took so much tirnc, and because she got help lriends to build.

from family

and

Her detractors have claimed that Susanah got money for the disco by work-

"All my life, I've liked

being first,"

Susanah says "l don't like being in the middle."

Susanah. her father and two friends

worked for half a year to turn the shelter into a disco.

And. while the youth ol the city havc

clearly appointed her their queen, others, be

not appropriate for a young woman to open And it is significant, perhaps, that

such a place.

she says. have not been so supporlive.

There werc "hints" she says. that it wrrs

AIM OCTOBER I998

ing as a stripper outside the country-a rumor she says is "totally absurd."

"They say 'How could she open such a place,' " Susanah says. "But those same people come here to dance."

On a recent Sunday night, most of the crowd packed the dance floor fbr a song that filled the room more than others. "It's rny life," the song blared, "l want to live it . . ."r

27

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MAU WE NGUE] LIUE Iho$e Terrlble Days Agal n Iext and Photos by ARMINEH r

cn tlrough

lilc

is vcrr, dill'icult.

J0HANNES

wc try to

Likc nrlul

ilpartnrcnt builrlin-qs

irt

nrxnaga uith uhal uc hnve; tltc only thing we rsk is to bc uhlc to lirc in peace : in it)(.)j. lirr over' ()llc ycll when StcPunakcr-t rras slrcllccl. uc lirctl in thc ccllrr ol our bnilcl ing; thcrc uelc llrr-ec iiiirrilics srqucczcrl in l0 sqLlar'o nrcters (.j(X) sc1 li.). Wc crxrkccl thelc. anrl rrc slcpt thclc. evcn though it was vcry' hurnitl lncl thcrc iierc luts rurtning ull arouncl. Il -lirr.la\'. uc thank Ciotl was u lotal nig.lrtruat'c. thril thosc cllrvs lrc rx,er. ancl pmy thut thcy u'ill

Steparrlkcrt unrl in Ycle r lrn. thc l'ivc-ston'

nc\cl courc hlrck aglin." sals Vulcrik.

thc cvenino

]E

Sovict era builcling inhabitctl b1'

thc

Kirirko:ian frnrilr,has a shirbbv cntnrnce, bto kcrr winrlou s. tirnglecl clcctric rr ircs han,gin! evcrywhere. 1'hc stairways look like thcr huvcn't bccn clcunccl or'paintecl in years. "liVcrl'onc's used lo tlte clirrl\. lrnd no onLl has tlrougl'rt ubout lcplacing thc o1d bulb to light thc stairwuv. so lhat yoLr tlon"t lull urtcl blclk lour ncck *hile going Lrp thc stails in I

\t\t o( -f[)BEI{ t,)93

"Sincc thc sovie t cti. pcoplc lhink that tlte tacurle lnd thc cort.ttnururl parls ol' the ltLrilrl ings tio not bclong to tlrcnr ancl tllrt thcir rnirin tcnancc is thc rcsponsibilitr of the rnunicipali-

ty:

gradLrally.

thcy will t-ealizc lluit tirt

thcrr'

ou n conrfil't thcl, 11'111 havc to tal(c this resportsibility on thcnrsclr cs." obsctves Irtlik Balscghian. I)cl)Llt), Mlilur nl' Stcpanakcrt.

Hoq'e vcr'. the rnitjor problcttt in Stepanirkcrl (us in much ol'Krrabakh) is thc u,uter. rvhich is suppliecl firr tu o I'tottrs cve r\ l\\ o ilur s. Hcl'c. thc' wutcr is closc to rtrsty bnl.in.

-=-rl

-*

1]k r+Ei{ B!E.:l-,1J : t:

"We cannot drink, bathe or even wash our clothes with this water; we fill our bathtub with it and use it only for our lavatory needs.

Drinking and bathing water we fetch from a stream located half a mile away from our house. Still, for the dirty water that the city supplies us with, we have to pay 350 Dram a month per head, complains Elmira, Valerik's wife and the mother of three children who still live at home.

According to the Deputy Mayor, "the city's water supply problem dates back to the Soviet era, but today the situation has worsened. The municipality can't even afford to change water purification filters."

Stepanakert has overcome its electricity problem. A kilowatt costs 14 Dram and light is always available. Nevertheless, gone are the soviet days when all kinds of appliances could be left running at the same time.

Valerik and Elmira's oldest child,

Lilit,

21 ,

is a graduate of the College ofAgricultural studies. Her fiance Araik, is an officer in the army. earn 60,000 Dram (about $120) a

"I

month. This is considered a good salary today. Only those in construction or in the army can earn such high salaries," Araik says proudly.

It's no wonder then that the Karabakh army attracts many young men; Lilit's brother Meher, 20, is also an officer and trains new tank operators.

Meher comes home two or three times a week, but spends very little time with his family, as he prefers to go out with his friends

to the few bars that exist in Stepanakert.

Valerik is no thrilled. "Meher spends his whole salary (also 60,000 Dram a month) on himself-he does not help us financially and even asks us for more money to buy cigarettes." complains Valerik.

Lilit and Araik get married, the family will have to borrow money.

When

"According to our customs, both the bride's

family and the bridegroom's family have wedding celebrations; we will be inviting about 200 people and spending around $1000 for this wedding," says Valerik.

"Araik's family is building them a twostory house, but we will still have to prepare a dowry, buy them furniture, a refrigerator, and pots and pans," continues Elmira.

Lena is 15 and the youngest in the family. When she's not in school, she spends her

days sleeping or visiting friends. Lilit and Lena share a bedroom; Meher has to sleep on the sofa when he comes home.

Elmira, 42, worked as an accountant in a bank until she was laid off in November.

"They brought computers into the bank and, as a result, fired a number of employees. For six months. we received 3000 Dram in monthly unemployment benefits, which is a ridiculous sum considering the high prices today," says Elmira. It is no wonder then that she is constantly pre-occupied with feeding the seven hens she keeps in a wooden shed behind her apartment building. "My hens lay about seven eggs a day, and considering that of an egg is 50 Dram, I can say that

the price

AIM OCTOBER I998

we save 350 Dram a day, or about

11,000

Dram a month," she points out.

When Stepanakert officials warned the

family that the chicken coops were considered a public nuisance and had to be removed

from the street, neighbors helped Valerik move the shed to the front yard.

Valerik, who trades

in iron scrap

and

repairs heavy machinery, earns 40,000 Dram a month. With all resources pooled, the family manages to get by. Once a week, they may be able to buy meat. It is only on the very rare occasion that the Kirakosians enjoy the extravagance of making kebabs on an ingeniously designed Karabakh barbecue, hanging on a rotating metal bar on the balcony.

The usual daily menu consists of eggs, of course, and pasta, yogurt, herbs, cucumbers and cheese. Every evening, around the table, Valerik drinks a toast to those who lost their lives in the Karabakh conflict. This is a new custom, strictly followed in Karabakh homes.

"Even though we don't go to church, still, we believe in God, and we thank God every single day for what we have and pray for peace to prevail on our land; may we never live those terrible days again," says Valerik. r

Far left: Bringin! water from the fountains; Top left: At home; Top right: a game of poker; Bottom left: Barbecuing on the balcony; Bottom right: Coffee with neighbors.

29

flfter th-e WaL

Landmlnes Llue 0n

By JtlHI{ HUGHES if there is a landmine problem in Nagomo Karabakh

sk Marine Ohasian and she

will

s

z

ask you a question:

I

U

"How do I answer my children when they ask: 'Where's Poppa?' " Poppa is dead, children. Poppa won't be coming home.

Faces on still-new tombstones throughout Nagorno Karabakh reveal this country's familiarity with death-too-soon. Young faces, mostly of vibrant men frozen forever in images that stare out over this land they died for.

The face of Marine Ohasian's husband, the face of that Poppa to aboy, 2, and daughters 6 and 8 will forever look from his grave at the land that killed him.

Slavik Abrahamian was not

Nagorno Karabakh is little more than a footnote. As with much of its struggle to carry, Karabakh struggles mostly alone against its landmine scourge.

A document released last spring by the UK Working Group on Landmines, laid out the history of how the present conditions came to exist: "Five years of conflict (and full-scale war

between 1992 and May 1994) has left Nagorno Karabakh littered with mines and unexploded ordnance. Mines were laid by both sides in the conflict, and minefields were duplicated as territory was taken and retaken by opposing forces. The usual Soviet military tactic of giving local commanders stocks of mines to surround their military posts with minefields, was the source of most of the mine-laying. Five years of fluctuating conflict has left the entire region heavily infested with

a warrior

defending his people against a visible enemy.

He was a man riding in a car, four years after the shelling stopped. But dead now, as surely as the heroes whose faces are frozen with his.

Is there a landmine problem in Nagorno

mines, most unmapped.

by Halo

of

which are unmarked

and

A three month survey

conducted Trust in 1995 estimated that there many as 100,000 mines scattered

Karabakh?

were as

Ask the woman in Mataghise who this spring walked into her garden to shake mul-

throughout the region. They estimated that if the number of mines was analyzed in relation to the population density and land area, the degree of infestation was close to that of Afghanistan. Types of mines found were mostly of Soviet origin."

berries from a tree and had a leg blown off.

Ask the farmers in Martuni at a collective farm where the number of cattle was once nearly 1,000 and is now only 500 because landmines were rooted under grazing pastures.

Five killed by one mine this June.

Ask the wheat farmers or the vineyard tenders whose fields once carefully cultivated are now a paradise of weeds stealing the soil from those who need it. These farmers cannot enter their land because the rich dirt hides a deadly

yield. Too many have been blown off their tractors lor the risk ol raising a crop.

Ask. Walk.

Follow a well-travelled path toward a Talish vista and hear the advice of a local: "Don't step far off the path, there may be landmines."

Yes, there

is a landmine problem in

Karabakh and it is considerable.

Behind the compelling anecdotes are cold numbers:

*Approximately 150,000 citizens; Nearly 100,000 landmines.

*A country of farmers whose arable land has been cut by one-third because it contains landmines. (Amount of lost agricultural rev-

30

enue, according to a Foreign Ministry official: $10 million per season.) *A clinic that specializes in treating the maimed has 400 patients; 320 are landmine

victims and the number grows at two per month-these are the "lucky" ones.

They live with those facts here. As if the talk were about potholes.

"The road I drive on, so many cars have blown up," says Sarkis Hatspanian, of Martakert. "It is the biggest problem in Karabakh and I don't know how it is going to be resolved. Our guys say 'We've gone in, we've cleared the fields.' But it's a myth."

It

of life, says Razmik of the Kusapat village in

becomes a fact

Stepanian, head

Martakert, one of the most heavily-mined areas.

"We have fields full of mines," he says.

"At every step, we have danger."

The enclave of only 758 square miles is part of a global problem. But world attention

focuses on Afghanistan, on Vietnam, on Bosnia, on places made infamous by visits from the late Princess of Wales.

To those who

fill

dozens

of websites with

information about clearing the problem,

AIM OCTOBER I998

From

April

1995 until the summer of

1996, Halo Trust worked from an outpost in Stepanakert to clear Karabakh of its landmines. Further, it trained 45 Karabakhis in the dangerous science ol demining.

During its stay, Halo Trust cleared 888 mines and neutralized 6,886 unexploded munitions.

But when Halo's funding expired in 1996

it

brought an end, effectively, to aggressive

landmine clearing in Karabakh. With no money to pay the 45 who have been trained, the need for outside help to solve this internal

problem highlights (again)

Karabakh's reliance on those beyond its borders.

"We have an agency that is willing to come help with the work," says Ashot Ghulian, head of the Political Department in

the Karabakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"But we need a sponsor. There is some work being done, but not on the scale as when Halo Trust was here."

Ghulian says that Halo Trust's work was

Opposite page: Marine Ohasian with her children, and a picture of her dead husband: a victim of Iandmines; Above left: Technicians in Stepanakert meaure a prosthesis; 80 percent of their clients are landmine victims; Above right, Razmik Stepanian toasting the war dead. financed by a $250,000 contribution and that a similar amount would be needed to re-start the effort. (Halo Trust presently has a sponsor in Georgia, but none in Karabakh.)

"The problem of landmines is really painful for Karabakh," Ghulian says. "For years after the ceasefire, this problem still

Karabakh

And as surely as it hampers the work of farmers and weighs a simple walk through the country's great nature with the burden of caution, the problem also interferes with the work of those here who have come since the war to help regain normalcy.

ofthe interna-

Organizations such as Red Cross and

tional community's work in Karabakh and the government is doing what it can. But with no

Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) must pace their work of reconstruction to the pace of sappers who first tell them if it is safe to do their work.

MSfl for example, recently began a multi-

exists. We are very appreciative

money we can't continue.

"Soldiers who have been trained for this work are near completing their service and would be available to continue minesweeping. if the funds were available."

In May, Ghulian represented Karabakh at a Moscow conference devoted to the landmine problem in the Commonwealth of Independent States. (This is significant, considering Karabakh's efforts to be independently recognized. Nagomo Karabakh was invited, separate from Armenia, separate from Azerbaijan.)

During his presentation in Moscow, Ghulian, in a speech to the delegation said, "The problem of mines is closely connected

with sociological problems. The number of victims is growing and rehabilitation from this kind of disability requires a lot of money and time. Most of the victims are handicapped for life and need special care.

"And what are the prospects? The Government of the Republic will continue the program of mine clearing. But we need to quicken this process as it means hundreds and hundreds of lives."

On the outskirts of Stepanakert an army battallion

of

sappers-mine cleaners-is

Karabakh's main source of demining efforts.

There, Major Anatoli Galstian says his troops can have Karabakh's landmine problem solved "in 10 years."

In 10 years that prosthetics clinic will have added 240 patients maimed for life and those graveyards will hold unknown new victims.

Yes, there

is a landmine problem

in

million dollar program to install waterlines and sewage pipes in l2 villages of Karabakh.

But before the first ditch can be dug or brush cleared MSF workers have to first know whether the humanitarian gesture of laying a pipeline thousands of miles away in a foreign land might be hazardous duty.

Gegham Petrosian of MSF hands out maps to all the new personnel brought to Karabakh for

various projects. "Carte Des Mines Au Karabakh" it says across the top of the photo. copied maps and one doesn't need to know French to understand the legend which shows l0 zones and two routes where travel could mean disaster. But even maps are unreliable and hardly specific considering that a single footstep is pressure enough to trigger an explosion.

"There are places where it's safe only to stay on the pavement," Petrosian says. Simple, except it isn't on the pavement where the work needs to be done. Nor is it simple always to tum directions in a [,and Cruiser using only a narrow stretch of pavement. No wonder Petrosian and other drivers use the middle of the road.

To a lesser degree, landmines are a prob-

lem too for mainland Armenia, where Turkish and Azerbaijani borders hold approximately 80,000 landmines. Farmers in border villages still are in danger during harvest time, and in 1996 a bus travelling from Kapan to Yerevan exploded with several casualties.

Nevertheless, Armenia was among the countries that did not sign a UN-sponsored

AIM OCTOBER

1998

proposal last year, calling for a ban on land mines, the so-called Ottawa Treaty.

Armen Kharazian of Armenia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained Yerevan's position.

"We agree that landmines are inhumane, and it is clear that a modern army does not suffer from mines. It is the peaceful population that suffers. Nevertheless, up to now, this has been a legitimate means of territorial defense."

Legitimate. And horribly effective.

But in Karabakh, it is not the borders that are of concem. These civilians have had four years to learn to stop where the cross-ties and barbed wire begin.

But the borders don't reach to a mulberry tree in a Mataghise garden or a road in the middle of the Martakert region where Slavik Abrahamian travelled, for the last time on April 8, just as he had on other days.

He was the govemor of Martakert and was on his way to visit a village to celebrate the deliv-

ery of electricity to his constituents. His driver was also killed and when sappers were called to the scene four other landmines were found.

"He was very cautious about mines," says his widow. "Just a month before, we had travelled the same road with our son and nothing happened."

But on April 8, Abrahamian became an

illustration not only of landmines' brutality, but of their deceit, their unpredictability.

So, Marine Ohasian, how do you explain to the children? "It is fate," she says.

It is a good enough explanation.

An

aggrieved acceptance. Que sera sera.

"I have no moral support now that he is gone," she says. "I have two children who need a father and another who will forget his father and only know him through photos."

Marine understands the necessities of war.

Her own home was destroyed in the war. She understands the need to protect territory. Still, she says, "It is too high a price to pay." r

3r

Gouernance and PollfiGs In Karahakh Kara[akh's domestic Rolitical scene is no less interesting than its international inuoluements.

By A. H. ATEXA}IORIAII

$

Ttlitics took on an unusually vibrant hue as l-IN"ro-o Karabakh marked rhe seventh L,,i,,nn since its independence referendum.

The people went to the polls for the first time on September 27 to put the structure of local government into place, to choose 203 community leaders, including the mayor of the capital Stepanakert, and 1,500 local representatives. In the race for the Stepanakert mayoralty, initially Edward Barseghian, vice-president of the local governing body, and ARF candidate Georgi Petrossian, acting president of Karabakh's Supreme Council from April to lune 1992, challenged the favorite, former interior minister Karen Babayan, brother of

the powerful defense minister

Samuel

Babayan. Then, Barseghian, inexplicably pulled out.

Internal solidarity and civil order considerations greatly reduced the significance of political parties during the war years in

)z

Left to right: Kocharian, Ghukasian and Poghosian Karabakh, but the situation is already changing

in the

of military hostilities. The ARF has been an active force locally for several absence

years, the communists re-organized themselves and held their frrst conference in July, and there

are numerous other political groupings. The ARF put forward candidates for mayor in four cities and for local leadership posts in 28 communities. Another 57 representatives stood for positions on local committees in 26 communities, and the ARF backed another 50 candidates who were not party members.

October I marks another important date with the expected beginning of land privatization in Karabakh. The issue has provoked controversy, with critics blaming privatization fbr economic deterioration and population migration in Armenia. For national security reasons, the economy has until now been strictly con-

AIM OCTOBER I998

trolled by the state and various shadowy interest-groups associated with it. Two years ago, scientists and specialists were invited to conduct local studies on the economic situation and came up with an all-encompassing "Artsakh" development plan. The authors of the plan, which was accepted by the leaderships of Karabakh and Armenia, warned then of the dangers of land privatization. They suggested it be postponed until careful planning had been carried out and the population was ready to take advantage of the policy. Until then, they advised, the authorities should lease agricultural lands to the peasants.

Other important items on the autumn agenda for Karabakh's National Assembly are the establishment of a new electoral law and of

a constitutional committee, with the task of drawing up a constitution for Karabakh.

Analysts believe the local leadership is inclined to set up a parliamentary system ofgovernment.

Current events in Karabakh are taking place within the much wider and on-going process of integration with Armenia, which

following the resformer president Levon Ter

has become more apparent

ignation

of

Petrossian and the shaping of a new Armenian

policy for Karabakh. Close governmental and parliamentary co-operation between the two Armenian entities covers especially the legislative and jurisprudence aspects of foreign policy, rural economy, urban construction and economic development.

This process of integration may be traced back Io December 1997. in the last days of the

Ter Petrossian regime, when Armenia's National Assembly adopted a series of economic and financial measures intended to boost the country's ailing economy. Karabakh was then asked to transform its own laws to match the new Armenian legislation. A special committee was created tbr this and the idea of a new course of social and economic develop-

proposition, reflecting the fact that the defense minister had the upper hand.

According to Babken Ararktsian, the for-

mer speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, Armenia did not restrain itself from intervening in the picture, while many mentioned the possible existence of a (concealed but denied) feud between President Kocharian and Samuel Babayan.

All these events took place in a troubled environment. In the last few years Karabakh has undergone several shocks, not the least of which were President Kocharian's resignation and Ghukasian's election. A fragile peace has succeeded the war, but a permanent solution still has not been concluded by political agreement and periodic incidents keep flaring along the demarcation line with Azerbaijan.

The economy of the region was left in tat-

ters following the war, while the regime in power was centralized and authoritative, almost a dictatorship, where tensions and misunderstandings lbmented without consideration "for the welfare of all". The political cli-

was appointed in his place. The former Prime Minister later became an advisor to Armenia's Prime Minister Armen Darbinian.

Jirair Poghosian formed a new government, taking into account the changes in

administrative appointments desired by Babayan, whose plan for economic development was also taken into consideration.

Several structural changes were made within the government, of which the most important was the formation of taxation and cusloms-duties commissions.

Following these events,

and the four leaders, Ghukasian, Yesayan, Poghosian and Babayan pledged to resolve problems together by consensus.

With the resolution of the crisis, the coast was clear once again for Armenia to pursue its integration processes with Karabakh. On August 4, the ministers of social affairs of the two entities signed a co-operation agreement and on September

I Prime Minister Darbinian concluded

an inter-govemmental agreement with his counterpart from Karabakh to boost eco-

for

Karabakh became a pressing item on the agenda.

On May 9. the foreign ministers of Armenia and Karabakh

ment

Samuel

Babayan publicly declared himself satisfied

nomic integration. The agreement has an annex which even

signed an agreement stating that they would co-operate closely in all fields of foreign policy.

An inter-parliamentarY agreement followed on May 15,

projects. Finally,

with the respective

held its fi-rst meeting.

identifies deadlines for various

September.

mentary

National

Assemblies setting up a joint committee to pursue close co-

the

joint

in

early

inter-Parliacommission

An active

political

autumn awaits Karabakh on operation and unify legislation. the external front as well.

Karen Babayan's campaign posters on Stepanakert streets.

However, a crisis which The three co-presidents of mate was heavy and not without a certain broke out at the end of May within the power group visited the region in midthe Minsk degree of fear, while true power belonged to circles of Karabakh threatened the fragile a renewal of Armenianseeking September, various well-known gathered around clans equilibrium of the region. This set Defense Azerbaijani negotiations once the presidenpersonalities, among lvhich the names of the Minister Samuel Babayan, the most powerful defense and prime ministers were whispered tial elections are concluded in Azerbaijan. leader in the self-proclaimed republic, and his frequently. followers against Prime Minister Leonard The acting secretary of the OSCE is also Samuel Babayan argued that, while Petrossian, considered to be "Armenia's man" expected to visit in mid-October for the Armenia tries at all costs to adapt its legislation in Karabakh. It was at the same time a power same purpose. to European standards, Karabakh cannot do the struggle, a personal feud and a clash of clan Similar initiatives are also expected to same because of the need for local leaders to interests which brought long suppressed ranplace within the framework of the take provide for the welfare of combatants and of cor to the surface. Babayan virulently attacked of Europe, which is examining Council performance ministhe administrative appointments, and the economic plan of Petrossian's govemment, demanding the latter's resignation and proposing to take on the premiership himself along with his defense portfolio.

The power crisis involved at the same time the executive and legislative powers, as the President of Karabakh, Arkadi Ghukasian, and the speaker of the National Assembly, Oleg Yesayan, didn't side with Babayan.

Ghukasian proposed at one stage to take both the presidency and prime ministership onto his own shoulders, but the parliament rejected his

their families. [n this context, the defense ter pressed for the adoption of his own plan for economic development and insisted on changes in administrative appointments. Clearly, Babayan disagreed with Armenia's taxation, land privatization and conscription policies, customs procedures and duties.

A compromise solution to the Power struggle was reached on June 13. Samuel Babayan was offered a choice between the offices of prime and defense ministers. He preferred the latter. Leonard Petrossian's resignation was accepted and Jirair Poghosian

AIM OCTOBER

1998

applications for membership from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In this respect, the Council of Europe has scheduled an interparliamentary meeting between delegations from Armenia, Karabakh and Azerbaijan for the beginning of November, while Lenny Fisher, president of the Council's parliamentary assembly, intends to sponsor a meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents to try to launch a new phase of peace negotlatlons.

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How seriously is Armenia's lragile Goonomy allected by Russia's eoonomic meltdown? [y

MATTHEW IMBAilIAl{

ura's father knew something had to be done. Yura, a sixteen year-old, and his family had lived in Karabakh all their lives.

They had survived the siege of Stepanakert, they had struggled alongside their neighbors to defend their homes, and they had survived the war. But the peace, it seemed, and the crippled economy that the peace rode in on,

was something they could not endure.

that his father had decided to move the family to Russia. They couldn't live on the $40 monthly salary that Yura's father earned as a

in Stepanakert. So they would follow the lead of the thousands of

policeman

Armenians before them who had left the black gardens of Karabakh for the greener lands of Russia.

The decision was made in June. The move was made in July.

One cool summer day, Yura learned Yura and his younger brother stayed Yura watches as his grandmother mills flour from wheat at her home in Stepanakert. z z

People standing in line at an exchangr

G

Y

u I=

behind, with their grandmother, and waited for their mother and father to send for them.

But the call never came.

Yura's father could not have chosen a worse time to seek his fortune in Russia. He had barely scrubbed the grime of the journey from his face, when the Russian economy collapsed.

By September, the family was all back

E

together in Stepanakert again, thanks to a reeling Russian ruble that made Karabakh's currency (the Armenian Dram) appear stalwart by comparison. Yura and his family had become one of the first Armenian casu-

38

Y

lE

$

office in St. Petersburg in mid-September eager to cash in on the surge in the dollar's value. alties of Russia's financial collapse.

Ihe Social

Gost to Armenlans

The loss to Yura and his family, however, is merely a lost opportunity. They can still take consolation in knowing their family is together, in their own home, and in their own country.

Hundreds of thousands of their countrymen do not have these comforts. Analysts say that most of the Armenians who could not earn a living at home have already emi-

grated. According to unoffrcial estimates, 600,000 people have left Armenia for econom-

ic reasons since 1992. Some analysts put the figure at between 8m,000 and one million.

Sixty percent of these economic refugees are believed to have relocate-d to Russia.

And, according to some observers, between one-third and one-half of Karabakh's 150,000 residents has already

will be worth when they earn it.

The financial hardship upon these Armenians living in Russia is likely to also cause the first major impact upon many of the people who stayed behind in Armenia and Karabakh. This is because many families in Armenia did not join their breadwin-

fled the dire economy of home for either Armenia or Russia-mostly Moscow. There

ners

are no official statistics.

Now, because of the collapse of the Russian economy, these refugees-and

important part of Armenia's economy, some analysts predict that the already precarious financial conditions in Armenia will deteri-

their Russian neighbors--don't know where their next ruble will come from, or what it

orate further, hurting even those with no direct ties to Russia. The full impact will

AIM OCTOBER

1998

in Russia.

Because foreign income

is

such an

39

HCONOfu{Y

&

BUSINESS

probably not be felt until November. when savings

weather this storm.

Despite the differences of opinion, no one is seriously predicting doom.

Galoyan comes close, however, with his prediction

become depleted, say analysts.

"Many Armenians in Armenia live on the money which is sent to them from

Russia," says Hovannisyan.

an

Vahan economic

that Armenia

observer for Radio Liberty in Yerevan. "The social impact is serious, because the social

will be "worse =

economist, has broadcast his reports on this American radio

for the past

years.

Some Armenians would Russian Credit Armenia Bank in Yerevan

six months, while keeping their families in Yerevan, explained Ara Galoyan, a writer about the economy for Aravot, a daily newspaper.

Now, he asks, what will happen to these breadwinners? "lfs hard to say if they would

come

back. But we know for sure that

Armenia will not get any more money."

A report recently commissioned by an agency of the United Nations found that fbreign remittances to Armenia are worth about $400 million yearly. About half of this income was derived from Russian sources, according to the conclusions of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

An Armenian financial house in Russia has already reported a significant drop in the total number of private financial transfers to Armenia from Russia.

Tigran Gerbashyan, an economic consultant with the Sed Marsed Consulting Co. in Yerevan says he is not surprised by this. "The flow of private transfers fiom Russia to Armenia are certainly going to go down," he says.

Regardless of the impact the Russian crisis may ultimately have upon the economy of Armenia or upon the

nomic ties to Russia are sig-

$

nificant. as might be expected

I

rate imports and exports,

a

small 5 from $ Russia's sphere

three

go to Russia to work for five or

than in Russia."

Armenia's direct eco-

transfers from Russia are reduced," Hovannisyan, an program

will suffer a

"major financial crisis in late autulnn," and that the crisis

financial solvency of its government, most observers agree that the social cost to Armenians here will be high.

'The Armenian diaspora in Russia is in a very serious situation,' says Hovannisyan.

And, he adds, their situation may soon be visited upon Armenians in Yerevan.

Vahran Nercissiantz, an economic advisor to President Robert Kocharian. is more optimistic. "There will be a reduction" in remittances fiom Russia, "but I don't think it will stop," he says.

The lmpact on the Armenian Economy-lm[orls and Exporls No one here questions that the financial meltdown in

Russia

will affect

the economy.

Disputes arise, however, regarding the extent to which

Armenian

the Armenian economy is dependent upon or even

influenced by Russia, and over the ability of RussianArmenian joint ventures to

!

nation within of influence.

for example. During the past year, approximately 22 per-

cent of Armenia's exports went to Russia. These exports were mostly valueadded products, such as generators, electronics, spirits and synthetic rubber.

Meanwhile, almost 20 percent of Armenia's imports came fiom Russia. The biggest of these imports were energy products such as natural gas and gasoline.

"Almost always," says Galoyan, "one in five products in Armenia is Russian."

But Armenia's trade with Russia today is not as strong as it was just two or three years ago, explains Hovannisyan. "Today we import more from Iran than from Russia.

We have strong ties with lran. We can change the import and export [balance of tradel to place even more empha-

sis on lran and on other markets, like Europe. in an elfort to mitigate the harm from Russia's crisis." he says.

Belgium is one of the coun-

tries to which

Hovannisyan

alludes when he speaks of placing

more emphasis

on trade

with

Europe. For the past several years, Belgium has been a significant

U

E d

zu

E tr U F l u E

40

ECONOMY

8{

BUSINESS

importer of Armenian cut diamonds. Indeed, it is estimated that as much as $100 million in last year's Armenian govern-

Konaz

ment budget came from the dia-

mond trade.

Armenia

will

March, in which Konaz

was

to produce aluminum for sale

probably

to Russia.

stop getting Russian diamonds, predicts

"Konaz was going to be

a

big contract for

Armenia," says Galoyan. "But now there is no such bank and no such

Galoyan. Why? Because Russian businesses, in the wake

of the financial collapse,

is an Armenian

manufacturer of aluminum.

The two businesses entered into an agreement in

are

agreement."

not permitted to accept US dol-

Any deals which

Iars or other hard currencies.

Instead, says Galoyan, they

in-

volved the Russian banking industry are paralyzed now,

now must take rubles, and they

as is the entire Russian banking industry.

Even if each of these deals Two pensioners walking past a wall with graffiti reading "No worthless paper. succeeds, there is no telling In the case of diamonds, money? Kill the bank director" in St, Petersburg. how many other business deals however, the situation is brighter than in might have been concluded between future of this joint venture will be, because other areas of the economy. Armenia can Russians and Armenians. the future of Gazprom itself is unclear. always find other sources of uncut diaInvestments by both Armenian and Information about the joint venture-and partners. monds, and thus new trading Russian businesses are being postponed, Armrosgazprom-has not the new company Nevertheless, in most other areas of the says one of Armenia's leading entrepre-

would rather hold their diamonds than trade them for

economy, there is a big connection between Russia and Armenia, and the connection is

very important.

been released since the financial collapse.

If Russia's troubles shut down or delay

this joint venture, this would certainly be

a

set back to Armenia's efforts to capture the energy it needs to develop its industry.

Joint Uenlures Energy and metals account for almost 70 percent of Russia's total foreign revenue

earnings, according

Hovannisyan explains

is

significant

Gas

Janis

you got nothin'to lose. This could easily have been the maxim of the Armenian stock market this year.

There are fewer than 75 companies listed on the Yerevan Stock Exchange, with a

Gazprom's money and Armenia's gas system to supply Armenians with natural gas.

This deal would renovate and recreate

Armenia. This would bring tariff revenues

to

Armenia, and would help develop

Armenia as a regional partner.

Now, however, no one can say what the

a song a generation or

it

was Arlo Guthrie, lamenting that when you ain't got nothin',

and gasoline to augment its domestic supply of nuclear power.

Armenia linked-up at least part of its energy future with Gazprom last year, when it entered into a joint venture that would use

pipeline that would be built through

Joplin sang

so ago, or maybe

Armenia, which must import natural gas

component of this deal would permit Gazprom to sell gas to Turkey, by using a

delay.

Stoclrs and Bonds

to energy-poor

Armenia's old Soviet gas lines at Gazprom's expense. In exchange, Gazprom created for itself a new market in Armenia and it guaranteed all the gas Armenia needs.

A second, but politically uncertain,

the

"Armenia had some hopes that Russian capital would come here. Now it is impossible. The Russians have no money to invest inArmenia."

Industry Co., is the world's largest gas producing firm. Clearly, Russia's economic future will be determined in large part by its energy industry and by Gazprom.

This

Khachatur Sukiasian, the president of the Sil Group (see AIM, July 1998) which is one of Armenia's largest domestic business conglomerates.

to recent financial

reports. And Gazprom, the Russian

neurs. "This delay will continue for some time, until the situation stabilizes," says

total capitalization of about $25 million.

There are perhaps 10 or 20 transactions each week in trading that is so slow that there is actually time to print the bids while

Other joint ventures between Amtenians and Russians may not fare as well, particular-

ly those that involve Russian banks.

Inkombank of Russia is a huge financial enterprise. Its assets totaled $5.59 billion before the collapse, according to news reports in the Financial Times.

AIM OCTOBER 1998

waiting for buyers.

This is a small market.

This market is to the New York Stock Exchange what an abacus is to Microsoft Excel or what a child's lemonade stand is to the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Which is to say that not only is Yerevan dwarfed by New York, but that the maturity of the two markets is also disparate. TheYerevan

4t

ECONOMY

&

BUSINESS

Stock Exchange is still in its infancy, as is Armenias transitional free market economy.

Setrakian. "This is because without Russia, nothing happens."

"We have formally a stock market,"

But otherwise, he acknowledges, the sit-

explains Hovannisyan, "but it is not serious.

It is a prototype of a market, it's a game,

uation in Russia has had no impact on the Armenian market. Armenia simply does not have a developed market ofcorporate stocks.

Not so with bonds.

The bond market in Armenia has not been hurt yet, but problems could develop quickly, says Galoyan.

Armenia has a relatively small treasury bond market, with only about $50 million

nothing else," he says.

Hovannisyan pauses a moment, shakes

his head, and corrects himself. "No," he says. "There is not even any game in the market," suggesting that the stock market is too staid to present any interest to investors.

There are privatized companies, but no real flow of capital."

And, in the absence of a developed capital market, says Hovannisyan, the extemal influence upon the market must be small. "If Armenia had a stock market, it might have gone down," he says, without a hint of humor.

All of which leaves Setrak Setrakian, the president of the stock exchange, in the unenviable position of needing to assert that the Russian crisis did indeed have an effect upon the market, so as to demonstrate that the market is relevant to Armenia. Markets in the U.S., after all, got the jitters and even blue chips like IBM and AI&T suffered sig-

invested. This is possible because the Armenian budget deficit is also relatively small----only about five percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Unfortunately, the secondary market for T-bills is also small. "They're traded, but

there's not much

nificant declines.

"Yes, there have been interruptions in

trading because

of the crisis,"

says

ill the Russian tinancial crisis be repeated in Armenia?

Armenia's loreign debt ls mote manageablc than Russia's. Armenia owes roughly $800 million to the US, France, Russia and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

ctisis.

market,"

says

able debt

the country," he says, placing great emphasis on the word "will." Hot money thus turns into "flight capital." According to Credit Suisse-First Boston, Russia lost at least $66

billion in flight capital from lgg4-lgg7. By conirast, onty

ques- +igH%:h"ill,,"; tion on eueryone's mind, after ilH,:t"i:jff+[ff1 asking about the impact upon cites this as a reason-

This is perhaps the second

Armenia from Russia's

of a

Gerbashyan. This makes T:bills more risky, so the government must pay higher rates of interest. The Armenian government is now paying interest of 50 percent on its T-bills.

The rate was about 36 percent before the Russian financial problems.

So, Armenia's borrowing costs appear to have increased in the wake of the crisis, or at least the cost of its borrowing through the issue of bonds has increased.

$58 billion flowed into Russia.

^

\

Had that money remained in

it might have been for domestic investments Russia,

for a countrv

used

ls Armenia destined to make the same mistakes and suffer the same monetary collapse?

Many commentators believe Russia's clisis wi!! not be repeated here. Io support this belief, they point to seuelal differences between the two economies.

Here are some of the majol points.

ITAIAGEABIE FOBEIGI DEBT

EXIE[$IIIE

rrvEsllttilI

with Armenia's economy. Russia's foreign debt, by contrast, was massive, and it ate away at the economic solvency of the nation.

that could have fueled the economy, which

lussia had gleal sums 0l "h0t"

Armenia doesn'l haue a l0l0l "h01" money inUeStmenlS. Armenia's treasury bill market is only about $50 million. This money

money

entGflng lhe Go[n|ry. Money is considered hot, Gerbashyan explains, when the funds are invested by foreigners, at high interest rates, for speculative purposes. "This is dangerous because this money will leave

AIM OCTOBER I998

turn might have permitted the government to reduce its deficit spending.

earns about 50 percent interest from the government, which is paid to speculators who usually take the money out of Armenia,

ECONOMY Bonowing may also become more dif-

ficult, ironically, because "so much of

the money came from Russia, as much as 45 percent each week," says Galoyan.

Hovannisyan agrees. "And it's more dangerous money," he says, "because they can take it back."

The Russian government has also pro-

vided the government of Armenia with direct loans, which

it

may now call in,

although no one has hinted at this yet.

Armenia's debt to Russia is roughly $130 million, but this is insignificant compared with Russia's total foreign debt of $148 billion.

Russian loans to Azerbaijan and Georgia are in rough parity with its loan to Armenia, at about $120 million and $200 million.

&

BUSINESS

direct impact on Armenia's financial market. The reserves of the Central Bank are adequate to protect the Dram and are probably sufficient to drive the exchange rate against the dollar to 400, he says.

Perhaps more significant, however, is the linkage of the Dram to the US dollar, instead of to the ruble. This almost gives the currency immunity from Russia's problems, he says.

Not so fast, says Hrant Bagratian, Armenia's former prime minister, and now a frequent critic of Aremnia's fiscal policy.

Yes, the Central Bank has significant reserves, but they could be depleted in less than one month, he says. The Central Bank's currency reserves have been increas-

ing in recent months, however. So

Financial Maftels The Armenian currency, the Dram, is not likely to be affected by the crisis.

Immediately following the collapse of

the ruble, speculators briefly drove

the

Dram's exchange rate against the dollar up to 530. The rate leveled off at 510, however, and remained there. This is a devaluation of only two percent from the Dram's previous rate of 500 to the dollar.

Hovannisyan expects there will be no

says Gerbashyan.

But this market is small enough to make its impact on the economy slight. Russia's economy, by contrast, simply borrowed too much.

Vahan Hovannisyan, an economic commentator for Radio Liberty, says the bond market is so insignificant to the operation of the Armenian economy that "even if we have to close our treasury bill market, nothing dra-

the

Dram may not be immune from weakness, but there are objective reasons to be optimistic about its continued stability.

Ihe Ptognosis lfi lhe Economy The conclusions that economists reach

from all of their somewhat similar analyses is, predictably, somewhat different.

Galoyan, the economics analyst for

Aravot, is forecasting a "major crisis" for late autumn. Russia, he says, "will

economic advisor to President Robert Kocharian. "In Armenian industry, the returns are equal to those of treasury bills."

Ihe llram is Linked l0 tlrc llollar, il01 lhG BUDle. nxperts say that this should shelter Armenia from the currency problems of

Russia. Further, the assets of Armenian

banks that

are

probably drag down Armenia."

Hovannisyan, the Radio Liberty commentator, expects the impact on Armenia's economy to be "serious but not dramatic."

The economic conditions of five years ago will not return. But, he cautions, "if the political situation collapses in Russia, the results could be tragic."

Setrakian, the stock market president, is bullish on Armenia. "You can buy a factory here for the price of a house in the US. We have to believe in our country."

Roy Kelegian, a semi-retired US stock broker who now lives in Yerevan and has

worked closely with the government through several non-governmental organizations, is reassured by the confidence of Armenia's financial leaders. "If the more savvy people thought the crisis was going to affect us, the Dram would not have lost only

two percent. Those who know, are afraid of it [Russia's collapse.]"

not

President Robert Kocharian, of course, is predictably upbeat. His economic advisor

says that Russia's financial free-fall will have no impact on the Armenian economy. and that Armenia has a bright economic future. Russia's crisis, he says, will not be repeated in Armenia.

costly populist measures such as salary raises and other consumer benefits increases.

Nercissiantz says, "Armenians criticize, but at the end of the day they have demonstrated enormous national cohesion."

Why the patience? Nercissiantz offers this explanation: "Independence and nation building has been an aspira-

tion of Armenians for

held in rubles are

ORAM

The downside, however, is that if investors are buying T-bills, they may not be making other investments in the Armenian economy.

I{rant Bagratian, a former prime minister, believes it is foolish for the government to pay high yields on its short term bonds. He, and others, say the guaranteed high rates of retum discourage investments in industry which would, in tum, help fuel the local economy.

Nonsense, says Vahram Nercissiantz, the

LilIEII

TO

estimated at only about $750,000, or only about roughly one half percent of the total assets. The economic ties between Armenia and Russia are strong, but they are simply not as significant as they were during Soviet days, or evenjust a few years ago.

centuries. This whole idea of statehood has been a burning issue. Armenians don't want to fumble it."

Therefore, say Armenian leaders, Armenia will not, by itself, generate a crisis like the

one

in Russia.

Armenians simply have

more at stake than the Russians to allow this

Amenlan sociGty is more c0hesiue lnan RUSSIa'S. Russian impatience with economic reform forced the government to yield to

AIM OCTOBER 1998

to happen.

But, they caution, no one can be immune from the influence of such a great neighbor.

E

C

o

N

o

M

&

Y

B

U

NOI

s M[! KED

N

S

E

S

History is nol destiny If there are vague historical

S

precedents

linking Armenians to the tobacco trade and important instances of family business passed on

through generations, there are like-

ly even more simple coincidences of cigar lovers in the right place at that right time.

Jivan Tabibian says he cannot account strong connection between Armenians and cigars, other than to suggest

for the that

it

comes down

to a basic

passion.

"Smoking grows out of a passion, and that passion is shared. There is a deep relation between smoking cigars and passion for the

product.

It is this affinity which

explains

why we are becoming involved in this busi-

0

ness rather than becoming,

say,

owners."

But,

racehorse

he

adds, "While it

not

sur-

Armenians in the Gigal Business Alc Here to Stay

By PAIBIGIA A. BIttIlIGS

I

it,"

prising Los Angeles. Paul Garmirian, of Washington,

Armenians are bowing to

Cigar Palace proprietor Charlie Guluzian, in Austin, Texas, over a

DC, a professor turned cigar scholar wrote a guide to cigars (See AIM June 1992) and produces his own PG brand. Among the newer names in the cigar world is Jivan Tabibian, an international relations and urban studies specialist. a long{ime connoisseur who has his own Don Jivan brand. Also from Southern California, Physician Garo Bouldoukian has been producing his own GARO brand since 1993.

When Guluzian spoke of the trend slowing down, he was speaking notjust based on his own experience, but also that ofhis brother Nazareth who heads the exclusive Nazareth Cigar Shop in Beverly Hills.

With such a significant Armenian presence in this popular but still relatively esoteric field, one might expect to find some determining link that connects Armenians to

the pressure

declare

year ago. He was right. Nevertheless, those businessmen with long experience producing, selling and distributing this specialized product, along with those avid cigar smokers and connoisseurs who have combined other

professional interests with their passion for cigars are here to stay. Among them, a surprising number of Armenians.

The best known name is Avo Uvezian, musician and composer, whose line of AVO cigars was the reason many started down this aromatic road. Then there's Tennessee-based CAO and its founder Istanbul-born Cano Ozgener who has been in the tobacco business longest-since 1968. Other old-timers include Vahe Gerard, proprietor of the Gerard Pere et Fils shop in Geneva's Noga Hilton, who follows his late father's footsteps as a world- renowned specialist in Cuban cigars. He's the one who tries to assess a new customer's cigar preferences with his classic question: "Tell me, do you like basturma?"

is Edward Sahakian, proprietor of the elegant Davidoff shop in London's St. James.

Also in cigar production is the Espanola line manufactured in by John Mahroukian of There are more. There

44

that

said

he trend is over.

cigars. The hypotheses range from the romantic to the cynical: Armenians as lovers of life's finer things, as clever merchants and entrepreneurs, and as fickle followers who merely jump on the bandwagon of every trading trend, be it carpet shops, gas stations, jewelry shops or----cigars. Whatever the motivation, as Paul Garmirian says, "Each story is individual."

AIM OCTOBER I998

of

opportunity and

gradually sliding into the business, so is everyone else." There is an important distinction here: "Pre-ctaze it was a personal interest which made people smoke and get into the business. Then, it became commercial."

While he only moved into production with his own brand, Don Jivan, in 1997, Tabibian has been an aficionado and suppotter for years, using his popular Los Angeles restaurant, Remi, to launch a cigar club in 1990. Monthly cigar nights became weekly events as their popularity increased and as longtime smokers and newcomers sought out a comfortable environment in which to enjoy their chosen treat free from the politically correct and anti-smoking pressures of the outside world. But Tabibian's cigar nights were politically correct in their own right, as he insisted on a policy of "no smoking without women."

In fact, recognizing a prominent female cigar

lover, Tabibian formed the George

Sands

Society for women smokers in 1992.

"IhG Magazine" All commentators confirmed the primary role of the magazine Cigar Aficionado in popularizing cigars, some calling it the single

most significant factor contributing to the

trend. Launched in 1992 by cigar and wine

connoisseur

Marvin Shanken,

Cigctr

Afic'ionado undemcored the links between cigar smoking and gourmet food and wine, of a luxury lifestyle such as good cars and holidays.

And with a stream of unexpected celebrities, olien women, appearing on its cover, cigars

as well as other hallmarks

in hand, the magazine injected a previously

Atmosp[ere is euerytling The significance of these factors

the pleasure of smoking. Cigars were is

made instantly clear when you enter the Davidoff shop on St. James Street in London.

A haven from the rain outside, you are greeted instantly by alert, smiling staff who are direct and helpful without being obtrusive.

Given the general coldness of service in London, this is a striking and welcome treat-

absent sense of glamour into the image of the

Of course, Sahzkian notes that cigar smoking has always been popular in Europe, relatively untouched by anti-smoking cam-

ical departure from the traditional image of the underworld character playing poker and chomping on his fat stogey.

Tabibian characterizes recent cigar his-

paigns and charges of political incorrectness.

Though not as prevalent as in major US cities where the cigar trend has had its biggest impact, cigar clubs have opened in

tory in two eras-BCA, or before Clgar

London, too. Sahakian does not believe in the distinction. "Here, a cigar club is a glorified name for a pub. People are still smoking mainly in fine restaurants and at home."

AJic'knado', and ACA after Cigar AJicionado.

'BCA, a lot of Armenians were smoking cigars. ACA, they are making their own brands." Tabibian observed. adds,

Consumers and kings

"When the cigar magazines

in the early

Vahe Gerard of Gerard Pere et Fils, the world-famous specialists in Cuban cigars based in Geneva's Noga Hilton, does not see the US-based trend affecting Europe. While he is pleased that his latest book on Cuban

90s,

they created inflation. But

they also awakened a giant."

Edward Sahakian believes that " C i gar Atic ionado brought cigars out of the closet. People no longer had to hide the fact that they were smoking when they saw that everyone was doing it, including movie stars."

The main criticism of the magazine is reserved for its cigar rating system. There is unanimous rejection of this system which is seen as arbitrary and simplistic. Not surprisingly, retailers come down particularly hard on this feature. They feel that such a system is unfair to consumers by failing to recognize and respect their diverse and educated tastes.

"All tastes are different. We must leave freedom for consumers to make their own judgements," says Vahe Gerard. ."After all, it is much easier to make a rating system than to explain each product."

"You can't rate cigars. It is all up to personal taste," says Charlie Guluzian, while Garmirian stresses that "the consumer is the ultimate judge." Indeed, retailers such as Sahakian and the Guluzian brothers say that, Cigar Afickmado or not, you make your own customers through high quality cigars, excellent service, product knowledge and by creating the right atmosphere.

him. Behind the counter for the first time himself, he learned that if you give good service and attention, the customers will come.

And a great variety of customers at that, he notes. "From princes to taxi drivers, they cial."

el or a computer programmer, marking a rad-

came out

mad."

come here to buy themselves something spe-

cigar smoker. The magazine fleshed out for the first time this profile of the sophisticated, successful smoker who could be a supermod-

Nazareth Guluzian

so

unpopular at the time, according to Sahakian, "The people whom I consulted said I was But he convinced the renowned Geneva-based Davidoff family to believe in

cigars has sold phenomenally well in the US,

ars and consumers. ment. Edward Sahakian himself is the picture

of

politeness and calm as he smokes his

"breakfast" cigar. Seated next to him in the shop's leather smoking chairs, one cannot but be impressed by Sahakian's arguments for the pleasures and benefits of cigar smoking. "Unlike cigarettes, a cigar is one of the real pleasures in life, like good food, wine, coffee. You have a great meal, perhaps a drop of brandy and then you smoke your cigar. It is a comple[ing and fulfilling experience."

"Armenians have good taste," he continues with a smile, explaining why he thinks so many are involved in the business.

When he came to London after his

family's brewery closed down during the Iranian revSahakian had to decide what to do next. He was already a committed cigar smoker by age 22. Although all signs indicated that cigars were a dying business, he chose to pursue his

olution,

hidden dream of opening a cigar shop and stocking it the way he liked in order to share

AIM OCTOBER I998

he says, "We cannot compare markets like the US and Europe because we are talking about different consumers. One cannot call it a new fashion in Europe because it has been a fashion for centuries." Trusting more in the established smokers, he says, "This fashion will pass with time and we will go back to the real cigar lovers." And, at the height of the craze last year, he was concerned that the real

cigar lovers were not finding their place in the market. The demand was so great, it was cutting into the crucial maturation period.

"Cigars are not a technical product; they are an artisan product. And like wine, they take time to mature. This maturation is very critical to creating the best quality product."

A Passion lor Business Noneof these men take their cig-

ars lightly. They are as committed to quality as they are passionate about their after dinner stogey.

The Don Jivan line launched at the height of the cigar boom was a natural culmination for the long-time connoisseur, Jivan

+)

ECON

o MY

&

BU SINESS ness and confidence of an established player when asked about the trend.

2 U tr

He understands that newcomers are

G

developing their own brand names in order to separate themselves from everyone else in the market. But he cautions that "without the necessary product knowledge, this could be disastrous." In any case, even at the height of the trend in 1997, he saw the atmosphere changing again dramatically: "In another six months, the trend will calm down and things will go back to normal," he predicted, and he was right.

Normal, for the committed manufacturer is a manageable quantity with consistent quality. "That's the most important thing," says Garo Bouldoukian who was in medical school in the Dominican Republic when he created GARO in 1993.

"This year at the Retail Tobbaco Dealers of America Trade Show, I was pleasantly surprised at the impact I've made. The GARO

name is now known in the industry." Of course, an aggressive national advertising campaign helped. But Bouldoukian is serious about this business that started out as a

hobby. He's not worried about the craze abating. "The cigar smoker is always going to smoke. Even in the mid-60s cigars were a booming business, but nobody talked about it because there was no trade magazine to reflect that."

The common Armenian denominator?

Bouldoukian says it's a love of cigars combined with business savvy.

And being in the right place at the right time. Bouldoukian was going to medical school in the Dominican Republic, the new capital of good cigars, after the onset of the Cuban embargo by the US.

Avo Uvezian and Jivan Tabibian Tabibian. Those who know this professorrestaurateur know that he is as serious about his specialization which is international relations and urban studies, as he is about his food, his music, his reading, and his cigars.

His cigar line is called Los Lectores in tribute to those dramatic readers who spent days recounting the classics to the young women

who hand-wrapped cigars. From Balzac to Saroyan, from robustos to coronas, his cigars bear the Nathan Glazer caicature ofthe con-

l993,but by then CAO wasn't just Cano Aret Ozgener, but also his daughterAylin,26, the company's national sales manager and son

Murat, 28, national marketing manager.

When Ozgener talks about his work, his life and his family, the terms he uses are all the same. "CAO is one of my children," he recently told Cigar Aficionado.

Ozgener's Armenian connections are strong, even with a non-ian name, and a Tennessee address. His colleagues in the business know and respect his products.

Nazareth Guluzian, owner

summate cigar lover.

When Tabibian began manufacturing, the veterans were already well established.

Cano Ozgener, 61, a mechanical engineer, established his business, CAO International, by fashioning humidors out of antique boxes, and modifying Turkish meerschaum pipes.

He didn't enter the cigar market until 46

of

in

1985 out of-there's that word again-a passion for cigars, and out of a clear interest in doing business. With years of experience running the Dunhill shop in Beverly Hills and his own smoking club, Guluzian demonstrates the matter-of-factbusiness

AIM OCTOBER I998

Mahroukian, a long-time cigar smoker, was a

jewelry manufacturer with a plant in

the

Dominican Republic where he saw the great potential of the cigar business which began booming on the island of Espanola after the US-imposed Cuban embargo. Mahroukian moved into cigar production, as well. The

manufacturing experience was there, he explains, the product simply changed. Now, his Espanola Gold Label is considered a "top of the line smoke" by Cigar Aficionado.

the

Nazareth cigar shop in Beverly Hills, went

into

For John Mahroukian, too, location a great role. The Lebanese-born

played

Auo, the man in the hat When you talk about cigars, all fingers inevitably point to Avo Uvezian, a longtime resident of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and producer of the well-known AVO line of cigars.

Uvezian was instrumental in getting other

o

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Armenians started in the business, including Garmirian, Tabibian and Bouldoukian.

As a Spanish speaker living in

the

region, Uvezian was ideally situated to explore cigar production.

Working with his colleague

Jack Melkonian,

in

Dominican Republic,

he

searched

for the ideal manu-

facturer

in the

Dominican

Republic. In those

days,

cigars were often attached to

liquor brands, such

as

Drambuie and J & B. Under

the direction of

Cigar

Aficionado's Shanken, then editor of a wine magazine, who came to the Dominican

to advise him, Uvezian decided to tie the cigar he produced to the smoker behind it. "For the first time, behind the product was the image of a person: Avo is a living person!"

Uvezian tried out the first cigars he produced on Republic

customers in his small piano bar. By 1986, he started his own brand, producing only 20,000 pieces. Later, he made an exclusive deal with the

Davidoff shop in New York; and now his sales are in the millions in the US alone.

This summer, Uvezian launched four new

cigars-

QuartetG-to continue

XO line that

his

included

Preludio, Intermezzo and Maestoso. Appropriate for a man whose father was con-

ductor

of the American

University Symphony in Beirut and whose mother was a singer. Uvezian himself was (and is) a musician. Not an amateur, either.

He studied at the Juilliard School in New York, and subsequently played in various orchestras and bands. ln 1947, his was the

ftstjazz group to perform in Tehran.

The Shah was as impressed by Uvezian's playing, as by his Farsi. During the two months he'd lived in Tehran, the Armenian-English-Turkish-Arabic-French speaking Uvezian had simply added one more language to his repertoire.

A seventh language, German, came in handy when he presented the AVO line in

ESS

John Mahroukian, top, center, with his son Anto is based in Los Angeles and manufactures the Espanola line in the Dominican Republic on the island of Espanola. growth has decreased from 28 percent per year to five to 10 percent. No one is complaining and no one is worried, however. "No business could hold that kind of growth," explains Uvezian. "The market will hold on to its expanded base of younger people and

women. The more established brands will continue, keeping the best manufacturers and the best

smokers."

r

Berlin last month, to journalists who write on tobacco-related subjects. This was the first introduction of AVO cigars to Europe, and will continue with presentations this

month in Brussels, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and conclude in

Switzerland at the Basel Jazz Festival where Davidoff has sponsored an AVO showcase.

Not bad for an industry where

The Nashville, Tennessee based CAO started out over 30 years ago, spe-

cializing

and

in humidors

meerschaum pipes.

The

white,

clay-like meer-

schaum

is

found in abundance in Eskishehir, Turkey, and the pipes are crafted there, near Ozgener's birthplace, lstanbul.

AIM OCTOBER I998

49

C

o

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E

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has

S

a significant role in pushing the British

Govemment to expand the school's relationship to include the twinning of the towns.

The town of Hucknall-and thus Holgate School-was chosen initially because of its proximity to the ancestral home and burial place of Lord Byron who during his short life

tlF LtlRD BYBtlN

(1788-1824) showed a great interest and affec-

tion for Armenians and their language. This connection continued in the choice of timing

Huchnall and Gumri are linked by good nuill and good memoties.

for the signing ceremony, on the first day of the annual Byron Festival.

The day

of

celebrations began

in

the

By SUSAI{ PAftlE; P[0t0s Dy Elltll0l{O TERAI(0P!A]{

Top: Armenia's Charge d'Affaires

courtyard of Holgate School with a mixture of the two cultures-the high school jazz band entertaining the crowd while they ate lunch followed by a ceremony in Armenian and English around the large stone khachkar previously donated by the people of Gumri. Representing the Armenian government, Charge d'Affaires Nuneh Sarkissian spoke of the spirited determination and humor of the people of Gumri as she signed the Friendship Agreement. Next a

Nuneh Sarkissian lighting a candle at

"Service

the Lord Byron Festival, marking

a

British-Armenian Friendship Agreement; Top right: Armenian and British student chatting before te ceremonies. Left: students from Gumri looking at Lord Byron's tombstone.

A n already long-term relationship was f\ ..rn.n,.d -i - exciting initiative I \b"gun recently as rhe BritishArmenian Friendship Agreement between the British town of Huchnall in Nottinghamshire

in

Armenia was signed. The and Gumri Agreement provides the basis for future twinning of the two towns and it is expected that the towns will take parl in economic and cultural exchanges.

The process began much earlier when

,0

Huchnall's Holgate School was chosen to be twinned with the British-funded Lord Byron School in Gumri, Armenia. Holgate has been an enthusiastic partner in the ongoing exchange, sending teachers and students to Armenia as well as hosting visitors.

During the welcoming ceremony, Paddy Tipping, Member of the British Parliament, noted that the Agreement marked an important change in the relations of a new Europe, as horizons are broadened on every level. Tipping has been an active member of the British-Armenian All Party Parliament Group which, under the leadership of Executive Secretary Odette Bazil,

AIM OCTOBER I998

of

Friendship," in Armenian and English. was followed by a concert given joint-

ly by students from the Holgate

School and Arec Koundarjian of London and cellist Alexander Chaushian of Yerevan, who is currently studying in London.

A group of 12 students and two teachers from Lord Byron School currently visiting Hucknall took part in the program. The visit made possible by the AGBU Trust London, Benlian-Essefian Trusts, and St. Sarkis Trusts, is the latest in a series. As noted by one of the day's speakers, much of education is transient but students and their families in both countries will long remember and be affected by the experience of these exchanges. Their significance cannot be underestimated as both countries work to open minds, broaden horizons and create the ground for new ideas and rela-

two Armenian musicians, pianist

tionships.

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By SATPI HAR(IUIIIIAI{ GHAZARIAI{

7-l-!here is a definite

difference

in

the quality life here," says Vahe egnuU"gians, weeks after he, his wife Odette and their two children George,

o

I

!

of

11, and Emin, 9, left Southern California behind for Yerevan.

"Publish the pictures soon," he said, only half-laughing during his last visit to the AIM office in Glendale, "You never know, we may be back in a few weeks." That was in July. They're not back yet. Instead, Vahe is pursuing his bread business (VoskeHats), as well as doing some consulting work with a government agency, on a volunteer basis.

"I like creating systems and structures out of nothing. That's what I'm good at. So, if I can do that here, I will feel useful."

Vahe, 45, founded his Glendale-based

52

AIM OCTOBER I998

Microcomp, Inc. 14 years ago. Today, it does $18 million a year by providing Fortune 500 companies and government agencies with hardware and software, as well as programming and training.

Microcomp does this even with Vahe gone. And Vahe is gone. He's in Yerevan, buying a car, renovating an apartment into an office, looking for tutors for his two children who have just enrolled in the neighborhood school.

Odette, 38, President of Microcomp, is now looking at various business possibilities in Armenia. Organizing local tours for tourists is one possibility. Together with two friends, she has formed Menua Tours. As she's doing market tests and conducting the first tours, Vahe and the boys "haven't had a warm meal in a week."

C

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i z

o

s =

z

o

lrlw"

Opposite page, top and bottom: Odette, Vahe, George and Emin, in glendale, packing for Yerevan; Below: The container of furniture, clothes and other necessities anived in Yercvan beforc the Agha@ians; Odette and Vahe sitting on the kitchen floor in their 6fl) sq. ft apartment; Bottom: right to leff Vahe, Emin, George and friend Armen at the fountains in Republic Squarc.

But no one is complaining. George and

Emin have started school. Math class is good. Emin got a 5 (on a scale of l-5) and was thrilled. On the day he had two Russian classes back-to-back, though, he skipped school. Where did he go? To Voskehats, his

parents' bread and bakery store, where the brothers have candy and ottrer goodies for sale, on consignment,

Just before they left Glendale, AIM asked George what he was sorry to be leaving behind? "I-egal firecrackers, he said, "and my

AIM OCTOBER

1998

basketball team and my cousins." What are

you looking forward to in Yerevan?

"Friends, and a good Armenian education." He doesn't seem to have a shortage of the first. And he seems to be well on the way to the second.Stay tuned.

53

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I o A

HAIG PAIIGIAN'S

SAN FRAilGISGll

By PETER GARIA]{II an Francisco, built on the gold of the Sierra mountains and the silver of

Nevada, attracted many artists from all over the world, from its first boom town days. Consequently, the town is blessed with many fine public statues, erected to

it

and there, beginning by working on the of railroads, was able to gather enough money to extricate his wife and five

54

the statue in San Francisco but

into the annual exhibition of French It received an award, quite an

artists.

accomplishment for a generally self-taught sculptor. He returned to San Francisco, married Blanche Hollister, the daughter of a state legislator, and settled down to 40 years of producing public and private works of art in bronze, marble, cement, tera cotta, limestone, and water colors.

His figures are always handsome or attractive, the men well muscled and heroic, the women beautiful and graceful. At the end of his long career, modern art was com-

Francisco was a Frenchman, the most recent was a Sicilian, but the sculptor who created more of the public statues in the city and county of San Francisco than any other artist was a refugee from Van, Armenia.

Haig Patigian was born in Van in 1876, the same year that Jack London was born in San Francisco. Both of them would eventually belong to the famous Bohemian Club; Patigian became its president.

Patigian's parents were teachers in the American Missionary school in Van. The father became a druggist and was reportedly the first person in Van to take up photography. When they saw him photographing

building

sculpted

early on the morning of the day it was to be shipped north, the Great Earthquake and Fire of San Francisco hit. Patigian believed his statue had been destroyed. Imagine his

dragged it out ofthe burning foundry betbre fleeing the area.

Patigian spent the following year in Paris, where he created a statue and entered

c

and the Old World cultures of the immigrants. The first great sculptor of San

guised as a courier.

Papa Patigian made his way to Fresno

turned to sculpture. In 1905 he was awarded a $15,000 commission to create a heroic statue of President William McKinley for the northem California town of Arcata. He

joy when he later discovered that some mechanics had loaded it on a wagon and

!

commemorate both those who built the city

the citadel there, the Turks labeled him a spy fbr Russia and determined to execute him. Happily, he escaped the country dis-

in the 1890s and became illustrators ot The Bulletin newspaper. After a few years, Haig

ing on strong, including abstract expres-

children from Armenia.

The family worked hard in Fresno and eventually owned its own ranch, raising grapes for raisins. The two older boys, Khoren and Haig, went up to San Francisco

AIM OCTOBER I998

sionism. Patigian strongly disliked art that disfigured the human face of figure.

His work was commissioned by United States senators, by the organizers of world fairs, by governments, by banks and businesses, and by private individuals. He created a fine bust of his fellow-Bohemian, President Herbert Hoover. Patigian created one of California's two statues in Statuary Hall in the nation's Capitol, as well as the Aeronautics pediment Building in that city.

on the

Commerce

However, he pref'erred to work in San Francisco. where he lived until 1950, his wife and tre dying within nine days of each other. His classical works in his adopted city draw upon ancient art and mythology to celebrate the new rnetropolis that had riscn up beside thc -qolden gate. He is still much appreciatecl herc. especialiy by the current members of his beloved Bohemian Club. Incidentally. the Bohemians still pronolurce his name as he dicl himselt- Par igan. They called hirn Pat, rnaking him a I kind ol'honorary Irishrnan!

,'p*',t]:::....

Gurluncl runs One Dolluh Stotuen'alks utuI

IoL.tr.t o.f

Patigiutt's Surt l"nri.tt'o.

Far left: top: Patigian's relief sculpture on the Metropolitan Life BIdg.; Far left bottom: Lincoln seated at the Civic Center; Top Center: The bust of Hoover at the Herbert Hoover Library at Stanford; Below: Volunteer Firemen;

55

B

o o

K

S one at this point, but anyone who

WEAUI]IG

g

rr{

to sample the treasure of such literature might

wants trove

sot

want to consult 100 Armenian

Tales by Susie

Just like Mulan, A

FOLI IALES

of Words has a strong female character.

In most stories, it is the prince who rescues the

Weave

princess. Was the rever-

Alter Mulan, Anahit. A Gonuersation rruith Robeil San Souoi.

sal of roles in

strong female characters Too often storytellers have

and she rescues him

neglected to tell these sto-

and

ries, so finding such a tale and being able to re-present it to young readers makes an already intriguing story that

delivers the kingdom from an awful fate.

What gave you the

idea to write a pic-

much more appealing.

What kind of

ture-book based on

Weave of Words is the latest picturebook from Robert D. San Souci, the

book

Disney

created its latest animated feature, Mulan. San Souci is a widely known author in the world of children's literature. He has published over 40 picture books, most of which have become

classics. His The Talking Eggs and The FaithJul Friend both were Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Honor Books and his Car From the Same Cloth and The Hired Hand each have won the Aesop Award from the American Folklore Society.

A Weave of Words, illustrated by Raul Colon, is based on an Armenian folktale immortalized by Ghazaros Aghayan. It's a story about Vachakan, a lazy, illiterate prince who wants the marry the intelligent and beautiful Anahit, the daughter of a carpet weaver.

However. Anahit refuses because he can neither read nor write nor make his living by his hands. "Times change," she says. "A king may becomes a servant" and agrees to marry him only after he has learned to read, write and weave carpets. Years later, when they are king and queen, Vachakan falls prisoner to a threeheaded monster. Using the skills Anahit forced him to learn, he sends her a secret message

Many of my books involve retelling traditional tales from widely differing parts of the world. I have had a lifelong interest in the study of myths, folktales, legends and fairytales. I am always reading different folk literature, hoping to learn more about other cultures and to find that very special tale that blends a wonderful story, interesting characters, and a unique, colorful setting. What drew me to the story that became A Weave of Words was the wise and courageous character of Anahit, the unusual challenges she sets Prince Vachakan and the use of the written word.

As a result of your research, what did

you Iearn about Armenian culture as

a

whole that you didn't already know?

I learned a great deal about Armenia's history and cultural heritage, going back to pre-Christian times. But, more importantly, I developed a deep admiration for the spirit of Armenian people. I had not realized how much the nation endured over the centuries, caught as it was in often devastating struggles between powerful neighbors and clashing political and religious influences.

Did you find other Armenian folktales that make good picture-books or could be adapted to the screen?

I found a wealth of materials that could be adapted, and which I might want to work with at a later date. I have not begun work on

AIM OCTOBER I998

response

are you getting?

an Armenian folktale?

,6

this

Armenian folktale an attraction for you?

Absolutely. Many of my stories involve

By AIIIA POGARIAI{

man on whose picture

Hoogasian

Villa.

The reviews have been absolutely wonderful, the book which seems to be selling well in stores.

Teachers and librarians in particular have embraced the book for its messages and its fresh look at a pam of the world not yet adequately presented in literature for young readers, younger students.

How did Disney pick up your story about Mulan ?

Almost seven years ago, Walt Disney Feature Animation asked me to come on board as a consultant who would work with ihem to develop new projects for the screen. I had a

manuscript for a children's book called Fa Mulan, which I had been unable to interest a publisher in. Happily Disney said, "Well, we'll make a movie out of it." Then they arranged for the book to be published by one of their publishing divisions. So the movie. in a sense. came before the book was actually published.

Can AWeave of Words become a future

Mulan?

As

I

said before, the mix of strong char-

acters, unique plot, and colorful setting would

certainly suggest that the book could be the basis for a wonderful animated

film.

r

Pogarian is an Armenian children's storybook writer living in

ln

Crescenta, Califomia.

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ANMENIA US, AND0RRAI 3-l Armenia Game ou[ ahead in the lir$ Uame ol lhe Euru 2000 Qualilying Ghampionship Rounds

BY AHAB(II{ BOYAOJIAII; PhOTOS

[Y MEIII( BAGHOASAR!41{, ABIUIEI{PRESS As the second goal was being scored by Armenia's Tigran Esayan, who only played the second half (and scored the third goal, as well.) front line of thc Armenian attack. The first goal was Avalian's and it came five minutes belbre hall'-time after a stunning one-two with Sargsian.

In the second period, urged on by 8,000

spectators in the Hrazdan stadium, thc Armenians strengthened their lead with Tigran Esayan scoring soon afier he came onto the field.

The goal came afier a long and direct pass from team captain Vardanian. Esayan added a third goal in the 90th minute to

make the score look respectable after Andorra snatched one back with an 86th minute penalty.

tter an absence of nearly a year from the international scene Armenia beat Andorra in prelimi-

Team Armenia's starting line-up for the Andorra Game in Yerevan's Hrazdan Stadium

nary rounds of the Euro-2000 games.

This was

a long awaited game

for

many reasons. Even though Andorra is among the weakest teams in Europe, Armenia had to guard against both complacency and a lack of competitive match practice. The game also gave an opportunity for the team's new coach Suren Barseghian to

measure

the talents available to

him.

Although an easy victory for Armenia, they have been disappointed not to score more goals to give them a healthy start in a qualifying group which includes Russia and the world champions-France.

Andorra managed a creditable draw against Brazil in a World Cup warm-up

will

t8

game

in

July, refereed by a Frenchman

Pascal Garibian, so Armenia will certainly be satisl'ied with the three points.

Armenia's Garabet Mikaelian was suspended for the match, while commitments

at his new club, Beauvais, forced Eric Assadourian out of the reckoning.

The new coach had to rely upon 35year-old veteran Garnik Avalian, who plays in from Russia's second division, on Krilya Sovetov and the current top player, Albert

Sargsian. Sargsian

is

The 3-l final score in no way ref'lected the style of the game. The Andorran players rarely threatened Berezovski in the Armenian goal and it was mostly bad luck and clumsiness by the Armenians that failed to increase the margin ol-victory.

Coach Suren Barseghian said he was satisfied with the result. But with lceland (which tied France l-l) to come on October l0 in Yerevan fbllowed fbur days later by a

trip to Kiev to face Ukraine (which

lead scorer with

Russia's Moscow Locomotiv team.

These three brought a broad range of experience and styles, and were the winning

AIM OCTOBER I998

beat

Russia 3-2), he knows that Armenia will have to improve. He hopes the presence of Eric Asaturian and Garabet Mikaelian will give the Armenian team a greater edge. r

Translated from the French (Les Nouvelles d'Armenie) by Harry Dikranian.

WALTER D. DISHELL, M.D. F.A.C.S,

ADRIAN

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Quolity Development

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t. Vartan's Cathedral in New York sits in the middle of Manhattana traditional Armenian church inserting itsell into 20th century America. The revived One World Festival brings together Armenian parishioners and the rest of New Vlrk fiom reggae to Irish nrusic to Dutch dancers (left) alongside

Armenian traditional

dancers

(above). 45,000 people attended the two dirys

e a !!

a

s

ul

ol

l'estivitics.

ransitional economy means a transitional career. In Armenia, former teachers are now caterers, musicians have become translators, white collar bureucrats have taken to trade. But, if you're a physicist, how do you make a living? One man has tumed to making and selling jewelry. At the Vernissage Crafts Fair in Yerevan,

he's there every Sunday with broaches and earrings made of agate, carnelian, obsidian, garnets and other native Armenian semi-pre-

cious stones. But summers are hot in Yerevan, and this summer (and fall) have been particularly scorching. None of the stands are in the shade, and some of them are

too small andnarrow to make room for umbrellas or covers. This physicist-turnedjeweler however has

it

cooler than

most.

Directly undemeath his small tray of wares is a circular object. It's a fan, powered by solar cells (blue and purple) at the bottom of his self-made table. Between the small fan, his straw hat and his cool attitude, he manages to hang

handiwork.

AIM OCTOBER I99It

in there long enough to sell

his

U

N

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D

arquin Olivier, center, son of Sir Laurence Olivier, is a filmmaker whose current project is a biography of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Antonio Banderas The Mark of Zorro, Evita) right, who had been considering the title role, turned down the offer in late summer, due largely to

protests by Greek and Armenian Americans. The Spanish-born actor's refusal puts Olivier in a tough bind, because much of the $25 million financing fbr the film was reportedly contingent on Banderas' participation.

Now that Kurt Russell (Executive Decision) is being consideredto play Ataturk, Armenians and Greeks in the US are gearing up to pressure him to reconsideq as well. As Olivier complained about the effects of such protests on artistic expression, Armenians and Greeks rejected any efforts to glorify the life of a man who was responsible for the brutal slaughter of tens of thousands of non-Turks in Turkey, as well as the establishment of a modern state fbunded on the use of ethnic cleansing as a political means to achieve societal cohesion.

E

rmenians and Persians have

been neighbors since time immemorial. Armenian kings share certain hereditary lines with Persian emperors. Armenia was even under Persian rule for several centuries over the Iast two millennia. It is not surprising then that sitting in the

=

center of Yerevan is a mosque. Called the Blue Mosque, Iranian authorities say that this is one of eight that were constructed in Yerevan in the mid l8th century. This is the only one that has survived, and even that, not com-

pletely. As Yerevan's main street (first called Lenin Boulevard and now renamed Mashtots) was being constructed in the 1950s, part of the

building was demolished. Until recently, the museum housed a municipal museum.

The BIue Mosque is undergoing renovation, now, with the financial and technical assistance of the government of Iran. Together with an active Iranian embassy in Yerevan, and many Iranian businessmen and lraders, this restored mosque is just one evidence of a growing Iranian presence in Armenia.

AIM OCTOBER I998

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