This is somewhat old news, but I just discovered for myself that patients in an Armenian mental institution were forced to vote for the ruling Republican party during the parliamentarian elections earlier in 2007.  Source: 168 Hours

According to Lragir.am the patients of the psychic institution of salt mine were made to vote for the 15th number of the proportional ballot, that is the Republican Party.

The citizen who provided this information is one of the relatives of the patients. The patient called him and said that the ballot-box was brought in, however the patients were not allowed to vote on their own and cast ballots in the boxes.

The nurse threatened the patients to give a shot if they vote on their own. Only after the alert call the patient, who made noise was allowed to vote alone.

But 15 others were made to vote for the 15th number in the ballot. After the alert several other patients were able to vote on their own.

Sri Lanka’s government is eager to emigrate an elephant to the largest zoo in Armenia, but some activists say Armenia’s climate is not suited for the protected animal – a growing controversy that has landed in the highest court of the South Asian country.

Image: Hrantik (from Wikipedia) awaiting for a ruling by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court on whether he will be joined by a female partner in a controversial Yerevan Zoo

The Sunday Times Online informs that the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka will decide on the transfer in February of 2008.

An elephant has been taken to court, not just any court but the highest in the land, the Supreme Court. Asokamala, born and bred at the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, has kicked up dust being in the centre of a controversy over whether she should be “exported” as a gift from Sri Lanka to Armenia.

While animal rights activists battle the authorities in the Supreme Court, in a fundamental rights case, Asokamala, oblivious to being in the eye of the storm is following her routine. Her fate will be decided in February next year.

[…]

He compares and contrasts Pinnawela to the elephant shed at Yerevan Zoo. One is like being under ‘house arrest’ and the other in ‘solitary confinement’. Although Asokamala was born in captivity she lives in an open area at Pinnawela, walking on grass under the blue skies with food such as kitul and kos leaves. Under house arrest, the detainee has all the comforts and facilities. But Yerevan will be solitary confinement with all its hardships, the harsh climate and a concrete box. It will be cold and dreary. What will be her fodder?

The Sunday Times understands that elephants need to walk and zoos are found to be unsuitable places for them as their foot pads get thick and crack if they don’t walk enough, and foot rot can set in, with snow aggravating the problem. Adds environmental lawyer Gunawardena: “Male elephants are loners but females are herders. So when they are isolated there could be deviant behaviour due to stress and this brings us back to the question of who ensures the maintenance and wellbeing of an animal as mandatorily required by CITES.”

Didn’t you see all the letters from the Armenian government denying all the allegations made here, Minister Lokuge asked The Sunday Times, while another official source who refused to be identified said that the first requirement for the export of an elephant was that the authority mandated under CITES in the recipient country must initially secure a CITES import permit for the animal.“All requirements have been checked out there,” was the answer of the official when The Sunday Times asked whether Asokamala would be able to bear the winter.

Refuting claims by animal rights activists that there was a confectioner involved in the deal to “gift” Asokamala to Armenia, Minister Lokuge went on to explain that they already have a bull elephant reported to be the offspring of an elephant gifted to Russia by Sri Lanka in the past. “That’s why they wanted a Sri Lanka elephant,” he said adding that talk of heavy winters were not true because the elephant would be living close to the Iranian border which was quite warm.

However, this what an internet search discloses as recorded by Wikipedia: “Winters (in Armenia) are quite cold with plenty of snow, with temperatures ranging between -5° and -10°C. Winter sports enthusiasts enjoy skiing down the hills of Tsakhkadzor, located thirty minutes outside Yerevan.” About the two elephant deaths in Armenia, the Minister claimed the Armenian authorities had said that the animals were killed during unrest in the country.

[…]

This is not the first time of an export of elephant controversy involving Armenia.  But others say Hrantik – a male elephant in the Yerevan Zoo of Armenia – needs to get laid.  A lobbying campaign by some activists calls on the Sri Lankan government not to send Asokamala to Hrantik. 

My little niece in Armenia has never asked me for money. Today she did. Not for her though, but for Armenia.

Today is the 10th International Telethon of Armenia Fund, the organization that has been building roads and schools in Armenia and Karabakh.  The ongoing live broadcast is shown all over the world, and you can watch it online at http://www.armeniafund.org/telethon/telethon-2007/telethon_2007.php.

As a student and an immigrant family with financial problems, it is hard for us to donate money. In the last two years I have donated to Armenia Fund during their telethones about more than a quarter of my monthly salary.  But this year I was more than broke (have been using my credit card for a while), so we had to convince my Mom – who works less than me – to donate.

You don’t have to donate a lot of money. Even a $10 donation would make a difference. And if 10% of all daily Blogian readers did so that would be 70 times $10 = $700. 

You can either donate online at https://www.armeniafund.org/donate/donations.php or call the toll-free number (from the United States)  1-800-888-8897.

One nation, one future.  If not you and if not now, then who and when?

Another ancient Armenian church is being restored in Turkey, to be converted to a museum, as the Turkish Mayor of of Kars – a historic Armenian city – says he wish he could do more.

Image: Relief carvings from the Kars Church via VirtualAni

The front page article of Azg Daily‘s November 21, 2007 issue (in Armenian) is an interview with Kars Mayor Naif Alibeyoglu who reveals that the ongoing restoration of Surp Arakelots (St. Apostles) Armenian church, the building will be converted to a museum and not to a mosque.  This comes as a surprise because “[i]n 1999 work began to convert [the church] into a mosque.”

Image: The cathedral in Kars at the end of the 19th century with the destroyed belltower via VirtualAni

The mayor says that his attempts to build a monument to Armenian-Turkish friendship in Kars have failed and that there are no Armenians participating in the
restoration of the Kars Church.

Image: The Mayor of Kars via ExtraHaber.com

After the reporter asked the mayor whether he was aware that the house of famous poet Yeghishe Charentsin his native Kars is almost in ruins and a sign says it is for sale, the mayor replied that he didn’t know that Kars had a famous Armenian poet and would now try to find out more about it.

Although Mayor Alibeyoglu may have a true commitment to restoring peace between Armenia and Turkey, he certainly doesn’t represent the views of everyone who live in his city.  As we revealed in April of 2007, a member of Azerbaijan’s “Sicilian mafia” (the Azeri journalist who gave this name was killed in 2005) is in Kars working hard to keep the Turkish-Armenian border closed. The Economist did similar reporting a month later confirming that “Hasan Sultanoglu Zeynalov, Azerbaijan’s consul-general in Kars, eastern Turkey… openly complains about Naif Alibeyoglu, the mayor, who is promoting dialogue between Turkey, Azerbaijan and their common enemy, Armenia, just over the border.”

According to 168 Hours (Oct. 18, 2007),

“USA Today”, an American daily will be published in Armenia too. According to radio “Liberty”, the owner of the paper has decided to issue a weekly consisting of the publications covered during the week. The weekly will be called “USA Today Abroad”. It is supposed that the first outlet of this paper will be published on Friday.

I asked one of the editors of USA TODAY about the news and she said,

I have not heard about this. Frnakly we are going through some cost-cutting so it sort of surprises me.

What’s going on?

Because of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, most discussions and talks about the two nations is their differences and not similarities.

But one thing that these two people, unfortunately, have in common is the high rate of human trafficking.  And since both countries are vehemently patriarchal and don’t care much about their own citizens, it seems that the problem is not going to become any better any time soon.

I just read a disturbing story in Gulnaz Guliyeva’s article about an Azeri teenager who was forced into prostitution (it seems the link doesn’t work any more, but you can read it through a Google capture as retrieved on Oct 18, 2007)

14-year-old Elina (the name is fictitious), who lives in Baku, was in love with a young man, and ran away from home and married him.

The young man turned out to be a drug addict and at one of the moments when he was under the influence, the brother of her husband and the son of her husband’s sister took advantage of the situation and had a sexual intercourse with her. She spent a long time having to satisfy the sexual demands of the men in her husband’s family.

After her husband was arrested for drugs, Elina was left high and dry with a child. Strange as it may seem, but a “Mama Roza” offered to help her, saying that she can work as a vendor in a shop in Turkey.

But when she arrived there, it turned out that she had been sold for prostitution. On her return home, Elina who was left high and dry could not find any other job but prostitution. The next trip was to Nakhichevan, where she had to service businessmen from Iran and Turkey. Luckily, one of her clients of Turkish nationality decided to help her and get her out of this fatal situation. He took in her and her child, solved all her problems and brought her to the centre for psychological rehabilitation.

Few victims of human trafficking get help from strangers like in the case of Elina.  Guliyeva goes ahead to point to the interesting connection of a newly opened pipeline, that the United States refused to build because it isolates Armenia, and human trafficking:

Inside Azerbaijan, trafficking is blossoming in places of intensive economic activities. So-called Mama Rozas (pimps) hire 15-20 girls and take them to various places where intensive construction work or trade is going on. The centre has cases when girls were taken to cities where the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is being laid and to the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic which is often visited by businessmen from Turkey and Iran. This is a well-organized criminal business which is well-aware of the situation in the country and in places where their services are in demand.

One of the scariest things about human trafficking is that people ignore it and don’t want to discuss it. Last week, for example, I wrote a two-page article in Armenian about human trafficking for the newsletter of the the Student Government of the Yerevan State University.  I had talked to their president – a good friend – and he wanted me to write it.  I wasn’t surprised that they decided not to publish the story. So I sent it to Azg, and I am sure they won’t publish it either.

Why is it that when I write a critical piece about Turkey or especially Azerbaijan, oh, I have the blessings of Armenians and a number of newspapers ready to publish my writings.  But when it is a problem of human trafficking or Armenian poverty, for some reason the level of my writing doesn’t appeal as much to Armenian publications (I wonder if I should write an article about human trafficking for History Today).

Arminfo via Groong informs that Armenia’s Armavia Airlines has increased frequency of flights between the top destination of human trafficking victims from Armenia.

“Armavia”, the national air carrier of Armenia, increases the
frequency of Yerevan- Dubai-Yerevan flights up to 3 flights per week,
the company’s press-service told ArmInfo.

According to the source, in order to meet the increasing demand of its
passengers, “Armavia” will implement the 3rd frequency of flight
operations Yerevan-Dubai-Yerevan starting from the 18th of November
2007. This will provide a new opportunity to get unforgettable memories
from the sunny beaches of Dubai with unbeatable low fares solely
applied on the flights operated on days 7. The minimal “One ay” fare is
Euro 69 /without taxes/. The minimal “Round Trip” fare is Euro 138
/without taxes/.

Turkish researcher Ziya Meral has an interesting article in the Turkish Daily News(Nov 12, 2007) calling for “rehumanization” of Armenians by Turks and vice verse.

You are not alone if you have not heard the word ”rehumanization” before. Unlike its twin sister ”dehumanization,” rehumanization is not a popular tool in politics and identity construction.

[…] 

Rehumanization is restoring the other’s dignity and humanity and attributing the other the same rights ”we” have or demand. Without rehumanization, there can never be reconciliation simply because without accepting each other as human beings and acknowledging the other’s voice, we can never expect that the other will hear our pain and concerns and be moved by it to act unselfishly.

With stereotypes of Armenians and official historical propaganda in Turkey, Ziya says there was “no room left to hear what Armenians were trying to communicate.” 

Then one day, I found myself on a trip to Armenia and Karabakh. Thousands of scenarios went through my mind and none of them was about receiving hospitality. After two weeks, I found myself crying in a church in Karabakh and embracing a new Armenian friend. The same night, I remember crying more around a dinner table dominated by vodka shots and toasts for a better future. I was finally able to see who lives on the other side of Mount Ararat; not a group of conspirators with a mischievous plan, but a group of broken and hopeful people. Since then, ”Armenians” isn’t an abstract category for me. The tension between us have been rehumanized and made flesh and blood.

The author, then, discusses Armenian attitudes that the the Armenian Genocide was committed because Turks are a genocidal race.  But we all know that many Turks saved Armenians during the Genocide.  Yet…

If my memory does not fail me, I do not remember seeing a section in the memorial in Yerevan like the one in Yad Vashem– the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, dedicated to ”righteous among the nations.” The phrase refers to non-Jews who risked their lives for protecting Jews. It is a simple yet profound way of rehumanizing a past conflict by showing the humanity found in both ends of the story. Aren’t there Turks who have risked their lives protecting their neighbours and friends? An Armenian friend once replied to me by saying “only a handful, most of them did so for their own benefits.” In a single stroke, whatever they have done was relativized and stripped off its humanity. Thus, we are back to the black and white narrative of  ”Evil Turks.”

[…]

Although I have visited the Genocide memorial many times, I have not been to the actual museum.  I don’t know if there is a section for Turks who saved Armenians, but I highly doubt that there is.

My own great-grandmother was saved and raised for over five years by a Turkish woman in Urfa.  The Turkish woman didn’t do it for her benefit, at least not for benefiting the “Turks,” but benefiting humanity.  I agree with the author that there should be a section in the Genocide museum for those Turks who saved many Armenians.  We shall never forget these brave souls.

Today I watched yet another ‘unknown’ Armenian film and encourage everyone seeing it.

My friends and I went to to see Stone Time Touch (2007), which is being shown in Colorado as part of the 30th Denver Film Festival.

A summary of the film at The New York Times states:

Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Gariné Torossian interweaves memory, loss, and expectation in this experimental documentary, which follows actress Arsinée Khanjian through an Armenia that seems half-real and half-imagined. During her time spent filming director Atom Egoyan‘s Calendar in Armenia, Khanjian was treated to numerous stories of filmmaker Torossian‘s distant homeland. But so much can change over time, and now as these two curious souls explore a land rich in religious iconography and haunted by history viewers will bear witness to a decidedly nontraditional study in identity, home, and place.

Having born and lived in Armenia for over 16 years, I actually saw many things in the film that I didn’t know much about.  Instead of showing the developed side of Armenia, it takes you to the homes of the most oppressed people and makes you hear their stories.

A short reference to human trafficking almost brings one to tears, and yet the passage fails to explain what trafficking is and how it actually works.

The most interesting point of the film is the attempt to explain the connection of Armenians to their sacred stones.  And it’s a difficult task.  Although the film doesn’t articulate it, Armenian connection to historic churches is more than Christianity.  The stones give them sense of identity and are a sort of time travel to the days when Armenia was defining its identity.  It sounds like earth worshiping – closer to the way Native Americans honor the nature and mountains.

This film is a MUST see.

An interesting article in ArmeniaNow reveals two interesting things on cultural property in the South Caucasus – governments are highly involved in both protection and destruction.

For one, the article says, Armenia has welcomed European observers to monitor Azeri monuments on Armenian territory regardless whether Azerbaijan (which has twice denied such monitoring) agrees monitoring of Armenian monuments on its territory or not. 

The news that the government of Armenia has given its consent to the European observers to carry out a monitoring on the state of cultural monuments on the territory of the republic, regardless of the official Baku’s standpoint on receiving such group of experts, caused an ambiguous reaction in Armenia. It should be noted that the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis declared this during his visit to Yerevan on November 5. Commenting on the news, he stressed that such position is in the country’s interests as it can have a positive impact on its international image.

This has invited criticism by those who think Armenia needs to improve civil rights and not “show off” that it is not destroying Azeri monuments as a means of promoting itself as a democratic country.

“Does the Council of Europe have the right to judge Armenia’s image not from the view of adhering civil freedoms, but of the declared interest in preservation of the Armenian nation’s cultural heritage?” wonders a well-known art critic, the Head of Avan’s Museum of History and Archeology Ara Demirkhanyan.

The ArmeniaNow article also shows a possible link between the destruction of world’s largest Armenian cemetery in Azerbaijan (reportedly destroyed in 1998, 2003 and finalized in 2005) and the now-deceased former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev, who was succeeded by his son.  It is not ruled out that the order was central, concludes an interviewee.

It’s noteworthy that it was in that period when a special archeological expedition started operating on the territory of Nakhijevan. “It [the expedition] was called by a direct order of Heidar Aliyev in 2001,” says the Deputy Head (on scientific issues) of Azerbaijan’s National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Archeology and Ethnography Najaf Musiebli. “That expedition continued its work up to 2003. During the three years large-scale field works were held on the territory of Nakhijevan aimed at revealing historical monuments so far unknown to science. As a result of archeological excavations monuments of ancient settlements were discovered.”

“It’s quite possible that the given archeological party, besides other things, was engaged in making an ‘inventory’ of Armenian monuments that were subject to extermination. This is indirectly confirmed by the timing of its activity,” Demirkhanyan says.

Musiebli’s recently published (November 5) statement in this connection is worth mentioning here: “We have to say that the expedition was not organized by chance. Constant disinformation of the world community by the Armenians that the territory of Nakhijevan is also an ancient Armenian land forced the state to call a scientific-research expedition and as a result of numerous archaeological facts the false propaganda of the occupants was proved.”