Footprints

Armenian Red Berets Protect College Students?

editor — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:51:12 +0000

This morning as I drove past the State Economics Institute on Nalbandyan Street in Yerevan I saw two Red Berets standing on the corner in front of the entrance. Today is back to school day across Armenia and students were flocking in front of their college buildings waiting for class to start while smoking slim cigarettes and playing with cell phones, as they do every day.

I’ve heard that oligarchs, big shots, and wannabes send their sons to the institute, which explains why there are so many fancy European cars parked in the area. The thing I did not understand was the presence of the armed military guards.Why do those privileged kids need such protection?

The Red Beret division of the Armenian military is supposedly an elite corp. There are Blue Beret soldiers as well, although I don’t understand what the difference is. You can visibly see Red Berets roaming the perimeter of the Opera House every evening, and they travel using in pairs or packs of four. They walk around at a snail’s pace while staring at males suspiciously. Once in a while you see them communicating on walkie-talkies or cell phones. Most of these guys are noticeably overweight, and I can’t imagine any of them running very fast (although I’m sure their blows can inflict serious damage).

You would think that the Defense Ministry had better things to do than to place military details at areas where the businesses of oligarchs are located. After all, it’s not the oligarchs themselves who visit their own establishments, and even if they do, they have their own armed bodyguards with them, so the military presence seems redundant. Besides, Yerevan has a police force to deal with fights that arbitrarily break out between young males, so it seems to me that the army should not be involved in public shoving matches. I can see them being needed when diplomats visit the area — when President Dimitry Medvedev was here last week he went to a cafe somewhere with President Sarkisian, so obviously maximum security was needed at that time. But what threat do middle-aged couples pose strolling around with their kids?

I really don’t know what to think about it any more as I’ve become used to feeling the presence of Red Berets roaming the streets of stoic downtown Yerevan. I used to be intimidated, even disgusted to see them, but now I walk right by them without giving second thought. Nevertheless, it was surreal to see them on campus today, and I can’t help but wonder what students who aren’t being protected think.

An Afternoon in Gyumri

editor — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:46:15 +0000

Yesterday I took a trip to Gyumri with two fellow Americans. We first visited the marvelous monastery Marmashen before driving around town and then wandering in the historic district. Although we were only in the area for a few hours, I was fairly impressed with the second largest city of Armenia.

Gyumri is in some ways still in a rebound since the 1988 earthquake and the country’s independence. Several construction projects are ongoing, including housing for struggling homeless earthquake victims. There are people still living in trailers believe it or not after all these years. But I noticed a lot of new two-story buildings going up to support businesses in various areas of town. The new, sprawling City Hall is erected on Central Square, a reincarnation of the grand structures built in the era of Imperial Russia, but it is not yet open for business.

I am happy to say that no matter what is going up, there is some effort made to retain the facade of the late 19th century architectural design in some way. Several buildings are more plain looking than others, but there is a noticeable attempt to make structures look as much like they were once built, without much deviation from the norm.

The historic district is quite charming — it was the first time that I explored the central area on foot. There are noticeably quite a few green areas and certainly more trees lining the streets than you can find in Yerevan. The All Saints Church (which was I believe damaged during the earthquake) is also being faithfully restored.

Gyumri has come a long way since I visited it in the spring of last year, and the overall look of the city can’t be compared to the grimness that I surmised when I first visited in 2002. It’s more eye appealing for one thing, and there are businesses abound, so the socio-economic situation–at least on the surface without looking at any figures–seems to be on the upswing. Though you will find the same industrial wastelands that you see in pretty much most inhabited areas of Armenia.

By comparison to Yerevan, Gyumri is a very pleasant place to be. I’ll go ever farther by saying that it’s the most attractive city of Armenia that I’ve seen. Things are only looking up.

Unfortunately, due to server-related problems regrettably beyond my control, I can no longer upload images to this blog. See Notes From Hairenik for photos.

A Call For Entries

editor — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 06:44:07 +0000

I want to change the dynamic of this blog to make it more interactive by inviting anyone living in or even visiting Armenia who is proficient in the English language and wants to express his or her ideas about what’s happening around them to contribute. Those of you who do not have an outlet to do so are encouraged to express yourselves in Footprints. Themes discussed can be personal, cultural, political or social in nature. Prose and poetry are welcome.

It’s important that Footprints become a blog that reaches a wider audience, to be a forum where essential and not so important topics are introduced and debated on. With your participation Footprints can be regarded as an alternative source of information and thought about any issue that pertains to Armenia and the Armenian experience. What you want to discuss is completely up to you. But please refrain from writing text that could be construed as being slanderous.

Send your entries to cgarbis@yahoo.com. You can sign your entry (either with your real name or pseudonym) or choose to be anonymous. I look forward to publishing them.

Scenes From Aghveran

editor — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:45:04 +0000

All photos of Aghveran, Kotayk, Armenia by Christian Garbis

Things Happening (or not) in Armenia

editor — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 05:44:58 +0000

The summer is upon us, which means that things will begin slowing down in Yerevan politically and socially, but not necessarily culturally. There’s always plenty to do for social butterflies in the summer months, plenty of cafes to visit, concerts to attend and distractions to take your attention away from things that really matter.

Liberty Square has become a giant playground for preschoolers–the authorities are doing everything possible to prevent peaceful political demonstrations from happening there. In the meantime, cafes galore where you can watch the World Cup soccer games while drinking a beer or two and even place bets with the “international bookmakers” doing business here. We have another few weeks of that to go.

In the meantime, political life will begin to drop off for the summer, on both ends of the spectrum. The entire government even shuts down during late summer for a couple of weeks, something that really perplexes me. Even the press takes a break–all newspapers and even online news sources stop working because there’s nothing apparently to report. That is of course absurd but that’s the way things work in a tiny country of barely 3 million people.

The Karabagh peace process will not go anywhere this year after the Azerbaijani-initiated skirmishes on the border on Saturday, half a day after both Presidents Serge Sarkisian and Illham Aliev met with Dmitry Medvedev in St. Petersburg. Yet on a positive note, I’ve been reading about conferences being held where Armenian and Azerbaijani university students meet to get to know one another and share experiences, in an effort to reach out and find some kind of solution to the conflict through the channels of civil society. Based on what they have written, in other words their own personal accounts, their efforts are naive and impractical at best.

Indeed, there should be discussion between the two societies, but at the end of the day, the Azerbaijanis expect things to go back to the status quo of the Soviet era–in other words for Karabagh to once again be placed under Azerbaijani control (naturally with the Armenian-occupied lands returned) in exchange for “the highest level of autonomy,” and I am pretty sure that the younger Azerbaijani generation expects the same, having been thoroughly brainwashed. So don’t necessarily understand what the Armenian and Azerbaijani youth groups are aiming to achieve through casual dialogue and partying (again, according to what I read).

Having said that, I really have no grounds for criticizing the youth because there needs to be discussion, the two sides must talk to one another through unofficial channels, now more than ever. My concern is–to what end?

I couldn’t find any more news about Gohar’s case. If anyone reading this blog has, please leave a comment with a link to the article you’ve found.

Server Upgrade

editor — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:37:00 +0000

Until things are straightened out with our server upgrade, I probably will not post something for the next couple of days. Hopefully, the issues related to the upgrade will be resolved soon.

Thanks.

A Follow Up In Gohar’s Case

editor — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:41:59 +0000

A1 Plus published a follow-up article–this time both in Armenian and English– about the case of Gohar Martirosyan, who tragically committed suicide on June 4 after she discovered she had flunked an impossible university entrance exam testing knowledge of the Armenian language and literature.

Below is the full text, with my minor copy edits in brackets.

The [Armenian] Assessment and Testing Centre (ATC) today published the results of a joint examination in Armenian Language and Literature held on June 4 across the republic.

Interestingly, posters appeared on the walls of Yerevan buildings today with [strong statements addressed] to the [ATC].

“The [Armenian language exam] sows hatred towards the language,” “Check our knowledge and not the contents of our parents’ pocket,” “You are responsible for Gohar’s death,” read the posters.

The [ATC] declined to comment on the accusations.

“The messages convey public accusations. The ATC is not a political body to answer the accusations,” said ATC spokeswoman Gayane Manukyan.

“The [ATC] will invite specialists to discuss the exam results after receiving the appeals which are to be submitted [to] examination centers within 24 hours,” she added.

[We remind readers] that the exam was marred by an incident in which a teenage girl committed suicide soon after learning that she had scored an unsatisfactory mark (7.5 points [out of a possible 20]) for Armenian language and literature.

Gohar Martirosyan, 17, who studied at Viktor Hambartsumyan Secondary School #12 in Yerevan’s Shengavit community, jumped from a seventh-floor balcony after learning the result of the exam.

Today, the ATC spokeswoman refused to comment on the consequences of the death saying the police probe into the case is ongoing.

I hope to continue posting more updates about this tragic situation, specifically on the ATC’s unacceptably delayed reaction.

There’s another very interesting article on Tert.am that claims 1,171 students have failed the Armenian language and literature examination thus far this year.

Paradox in the Armenian Education Debate

editor — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 08:06:09 +0000

Last night my wife mentioned that a girl had committed suicide after finding out that she flunked her Armenian language exam, which she needed to pass in order to be accepted into university. I asked her if she could determine the news source, and she found two articles on A1+. I tried to find other articles written about this tragedy but I wasn’t able to.

The girl’s name was Gohar Martirosyan, only 17 years old. She apparently threw herself out of the window of her family’s apartment, located on the sixth floor in a Shengavit neighborhood. The incident occurred on June 4.

A press conference was held on June 7 sponsored by a group of “honored” teachers and literary critics called Mirror. They complained that the entrance exam was designed so that students would fail. The exam apparently contains complicated, intense words that are no longer used in modern Armenian or cannot be practically applied to university-level courses. Although Gohar’s grade wasn’t specified, it was inferred from a quote from one of the group’s members, Davit Gasparyan, that she received a 7 out of a possible 20 points, and she had been recognized as being a good student. He also mentioned that the top score being earned by students on this exam who do study hard is only 15. Mirror finds the exam as it exists to be totally unacceptable, and students should not be permitted to struggle though such a difficult entrance process. Students should simply be tested on the Armenian they had been learning during their primary education as part of the curriculum. The test incidentally was designed by the Assessment and Testing Centre.

So you have children who have gone to Armenian schools their entire lives failing entrance exams on which they are doomed to do poorly. In the meantime, politicians, journalists and other blowhards are protesting vehemently in front of the National Assembly against the proposed bill that if passed would permit the opening of private foreign-language schools. Their argument is that primary education must be taught in the Armenian language exclusively.

But it seems that no matter how hard you study, you’re going to be denied entry into the state university if you don’t know classical Armenian or obsolete words. So the public educational system is clearly flawed. If anything, the opening of private schools would essentially compel the Ministry of Science and Education to raise the bar of the state educational system. They can start by punishing teachers who demand bribes and ensuring that all students have the proper books they need to learn.

No one from the opposition to the proposals for opening private schools seems to be commenting on the suicide other than Mirror. There apparently isn’t public concern about what’s happening during the entrance exams, that students are failing a vital, make-or-break test given in their own mother tongue, the same they studied their whole lives. People are dying as a result. But, they argue, all subjects must continue to be taught in Armenian at all costs, private schools or public, otherwise the nation’s statehood is in jeopardy, that in 20 years no one in power will know Armenian had they benefitted from schooling conducted in a foreign-language. Two political parties are behind this ridiculous sentiment and are rallying citizens behind them, exploiting it to the hilt. But to what end?

The hypocrisy being demonstrated here is astounding. Students continue to suffer from poor education while expected to meet high standards they are never permitted to achieve in the first place because of a crippled, dysfunctional system in which the amount of cash defines the level of knowledge. It’s clearly not Gohar who is at fault—she is a victim of a corrupt, unjust structure that she would never have been able to beat on her own. All she wanted to do was go to university.

Now a new question must enter the debate—will she be the last victim?

Journalist Ani Gevorgian Freed

editor — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 06:36:25 +0000

The police released Ani Gevorgian along with her brother Sarkis on Thursday afternoon on the grounds that they don’t leave Yerevan until a “final decision on the case” has been made. Apparently they are still potentially looking at jail time–up to five years.

Video taken by the police apparently shows Ani knocking off the hat of a police officer, thus the accusation of assault. Again, no one can say what he exactly said to her, but it’s obvious it was harmful enough to make her irate.

Armenians get emotional fairly quickly and can start arguing 10 seconds into a conversation without a second thought. They can also be antagonistic and downright rude in their verbal approach to situations, which judging from what I saw in the posted video was certainly the case in these forced evictions from Liberty Square and the arrests made by the police. Now, assuming protesters and even innocent bystanders refrained from arguing with the cops and simply walked away, would anything have changed, in other words would some people have been detained regardless? According to an account told by a woman that was cited in a previous post, the answer is no. That is, unless the police knew who her son was and was believed to have had some kind of role to play in the oppositional protests. There has to be a good (not necessarily justifiable) reason why he was beaten and taken away, according to the woman’s description of the events.

No one can say because the police haven’t made any public statements regarding the specific reasons for the arrest of each person there. And even if they do speak up, their reasons will most likely be inaccurate or totally fabricated, since this is a common practice.

I still think that more protesters need to get arrested in order to wake up the general public from its apathetic slumber. Simultaneously, the opposition parties have to get their act together and start figuring out what they want to do next, aside from calling early elections. Right now, there seems to be only malcontent and disorganization among the opposition, and until they put their houses in order, nothing can change. Assuming, of course, the majority of Armenian citizens really want “change”…

Ani Gevorgian, Journalist, Detained, Fate to be Determined Today

editor — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 07:38:13 +0000

Ani Gevorgian

As I wrote in my previous post, three journalists were arrested on May 31 during the chaos surrounding the crackdown on a peaceful protest that was being staged in Liberty Square.

The police claim that Ani Gevorgian, a 22-year-old journalist for the pro-opposition “Haykakan Zhamanak” newspaper, assaulted an officer and was dragged away, judging from the video that can be watched here, by what seemed to be undercover cops, again smoking slim cigarettes (it always kills me to see these supposedly macho guys smoking cigarettes marketed towards women, another Armenian societal paradox). The state prosecutors will decide what to do with her today, since she hasn’t been formally charged. Hopefully, they will do the right thing and release her from custody.

It’s hard to believe that she did in fact “assault” a police officer. Perhaps the guy dragging her off, who was in plain clothes and didn’t look much older than her, said something she didn’t like–we can just imagine what words could have been exchanged during that scuffle–and maybe she slapped him. He could have been anyone, assuming he had no identification to prove who he was, which most likely was the case.

However, there is no way of really knowing what transpired in the moment she was apprehended because it wasn’t captured on video. Regardless, she was certainly targeted because she was recognized as a reporter for the paper edited by Nikol Pashinian, who is serving jail time for speaking his own mind during past protests. Obviously, no one in the authorities is crazy about “Haykakan Zhamanak” for the anti-governmental information that it prints.

The strange thing is, despite that Europe and the US keep voicing stern warnings to Armenia to clean up its act when it comes to human rights violations, they continue unabated. The struggles are videotaped, the brutality of the police in full view and broadcast on the Internet for the world to see. And the authorities don’t care.

As the Armenians always say about situations where people are acting out of sorts in public and causing a scene, “It’s shameful.” The troubling thing is, the police don’t comprehend this, and they keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Their actions do not uphold the freedoms a diplomatic society enjoys, they in fact ridicule those freedoms.

So let the protesters sit on the asphalt on Liberty Square and hold their signs, who cares? Who are they disturbing? And why lock up a young journalist for doing her job–reporting about what Yerevan citizens are doing peacefully to voice their concerns, their essential right to do? I haven’t read any interviews with bystanders complaining about the protests going on there, it’s only the authorities who seem to have a problem with it. Don’t they have anything better to do?