Blogrel: Hummers

February 01, 2005

Hummers

I see Ara Manoogian has blogged this; it's an interesting view into the new rich in Armenia.

This article appears on the Armenialiberty website, and was written by Ruzanna Khachatrian and Emil Danielyan.

Many wealthy and government-connected Armenians consider it highly prestigious to have as many repeated numbers on their cars' license plates as possible. The most powerful of them usually ride in motorcades made up of several SUVs with virtually identical numbers.
The presence of several 8 digits, for example, indicates their ownership by millionaire businessman Gagik Tsarukian, while 6s are seen as the exclusive domain of another 'oligarch,' Samvel Aleksanian. Individuals close to a brother of Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian and a top army general, Seyran Saroyan, are thought to have three or more 7s on their plates.

The story is about how a Hummer rammed three other cars in central Yerevan on Sunday night, when Yerevan was blanketed by snow.

Posted by Matt on February 01, 2005 | TrackBack | Email to a friend

Comments

The Hummer story is not unusual but I have to take an issue with the RFE/RL report's claim that poor observance of traffic laws is limited to the powers that be. Anybody who has been in Yerevan can testify that shoddy Ladas and shiny Hummers are equally likely to break the rules - and get away with it for a fee.

In that regard, the Georgians are conducting an interesting experiment with traffic police. The old force was disbanded completely, and new people were brought in to act as mobile patrol force. So far, it has removed the major irritant of police bribe-stop roadblock and increased the confidence in the law enforcement system. If it works out well in Georgia, there is no reason for Armenia not to repeat the same, building upon their experience and correcting whatever mistakes they have noted.

Posted by: Hovakim at February 2, 2005 12:45 PM

this is funny.

I think if Ara Manoogian is living in Armenia he may be prosecuted for INVESTIGATING citizens. Or, wait, is he assigned by the Human Rights Watch?

It's so true that Armenian law enforcements are not working properly. If they did work properly people would not do unlawful investigations.

Posted by: Հակոբ at February 2, 2005 01:19 PM

Hovakim has a point about traffic rule observance in Yerevan but it has to be pointed out that while most drivers are terrible and the traffic police crooked as heck, people really don't know how the oligarchs and the people drive. Most normal citizens drive badly and break the traffic rules (then again, the traffic lights keep breaking down in my area and don't work for days as well) but the Hummers and other luxury cars drive and endanger everyone else on the road. It's the same arrogance that they have when they beat people up on the streets and steal from the state budget by not paying huge amounts of money in taxes. They are a law unto themselves and one feeling in Armenia is that the Dodi Gaghos and Lfik Samo's are more powerful than the President. Anyway, this isn't the first time something like this happened and it won't be the last.

BTW: The second point is irrelevent and I think is designed to once again discredit real information coming out of Armenia by someone living thousands of miles away and is particularly irrelevent given that Ara Manoogian has nothing to do with this report anyway. As for Ara's investigation, wait for his current investigation to come to light. It should make the major national and possibly international headlines. Most normal people will thank him for it, I would guess.

Cheers,

Posted by: Onnik Krikorian at February 2, 2005 02:36 PM

Օննիգ

Կարծում եմ սա՝
The presence of several 8 digits, for example, indicates their ownership by millionaire businessman Gagik Tsarukian, while 6s are seen as the exclusive domain of another “oligarch,” Samvel Aleksanian. Individuals close to a brother of Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian and a top army general, Seyran Saroyan, are thought to have three or more 7s on their plates.
ՀԵՏԱՊՆԴՈՒՄ է համարվում։

Հիմա չգիտեմ ով է այդ հետապնդողը, սակայն օրենքով այդ տեղեկատվություն հայտառարարողը՝ Արա Մանուգեանը, պատասխանատու է։

Posted by: Հակոբ Գեւորգյան at February 2, 2005 04:55 PM

Great point re: Georgia, Hovakim!

Posted by: katy at February 2, 2005 10:26 PM

The article is from RFE/RL and was merely posted on Ara Manoogian's site. This is essestially what most blogs are -- some personal accounts and links and or excerpts from published material available on the web or other web sites. In this case at least, Ara merely copied and pasted a report from RFE/RL's ArmeniaLiberty.org web site in much the same way as Matt and other sites post stories from other sites (although it has to be said, usually you don't post the entire article -- merely a quote or two with a link to the full article as Matt generally does).

Cheers,

Posted by: Onnik Krikorian at February 3, 2005 01:18 AM

hmmm,

that thing about Georgia is a sarcasm, right? LOL

because, if they are well organized then things like this: http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5367465&startrow=1&date=2005-02-01&do_alert=0 wont happen ;)

At least in Armenia we don't have terrorists like they have in Georgia. So please don't be funny and compare Armenia with Georgia.

Օննիգ,

Դու փորձում ես ասել որ Հայաստանի Հանրապետությունում գոյություն ունի գաղտնի հետախուզական ծառայություն՝ RFE/RL, որը եւ պատասխանատու է ՀԵՏԱՊՆԴՈՒՄՆԵՐԻ համար։Եվ այն մարդիկ ովքեր համագործակցում են այդ ապօրինի հետապնդումներին նույնպես պատասխանատու են։

Եթե նման բան կատարվեր ԱՄՆում, ապա դու ինքդ լավ գիտես թե ինչ պատժամիջողներ կարող էին կիրառվել հանցագործների նկատմամբ…

Ուղակի ձեր բախտը բերելա, ընկել եք մի անքաղ բոստան ու ավիրում եք այն… Բայց դե մինչեւ ե՞րբ։Չեք կարծու՞մ որ ձեր դեմքերը դիմակազերծվել են։

Posted by: Հակոբ at February 3, 2005 05:24 PM

Hakob,

A few things:

i) Everybody including the most cynical of observers have noted that the Georgian traffic police have been cleaned up whereas in Armenia they continue to demand money from passing motorists and pass it up to a chain. Two senior officials are believed to earn $50,000 each per month from this money

ii) What happened on the Georgian - S.Ossetian border has nothign to do with the traffic police but everything to do with Russian meddling in Georgia. However, you're right. At least we don't have breakaway regions within the territory of the ROA that results in such activities. Instead, we have cross-border incidents on the ROA and Karabagh borders with Azerbaijan.

Still, there's plenty to note that ISN'T well organized in Georgia just as there's quite a lot of rot in Armenia. However, the general consensus was that there was more rot in Georgia than here. In a few years, however, will the situation be the same? To be honest, we might not be able to say the same but who knows?

iii) I'm actually quite impressed that you can write in Armenian and I have to be honest, it looks great (btw: do you just type it in in Word and paste it or is it HTML, what? How is it done?). However, you are effectively commenting for only some people to be understand and Matt might want to consider setting a rule for language for comments when we're commenting on English-language posts.

Nevertheless, I don't quite understand. WHat's the uncultivated garden and incidentally, I've never worn a mask. Just as you quite openly say what's on your mind, so do I. As for RFE/RL, I know who funds them but I also know two of their journalists personally, and one in particular, Emil Danielyan, is in my opinion the best journalist / analyst in Armenia. In fact, I know him well enough to say that he writes as any professional journalist would regardless of who is behind RFE/RL. Certainly, it is the best and most professional source of news coming from Armenia.

I'd also add that you think that none of the other local media outlets published news of this incident and that it ISN'T common knowledge who owns the Hummers, the Rolls Royce and whatever other luxury cars drive on the roads of Armenia without fear of prosecution for violating the law and endangering lives? Next time you're here just ask anyone on the streets about Dodi Gagh, Lfik Samo, this government official or that, it doesn't matter. Everybody knows everything about them.

It's not even a matter of investigation.

As for the US, I doubt the same is true although yes, there is dirt there just as there is in the UK. However, the laws are generally (although not always) equal for everybody and that's the point. Put simply, if the bodyguard of Tony Blair beat a man so hard that he died in a London cafe toilet, he would still be in prison and the Prime Minister might even have to resign. And if the bodyguard or employee of one of the richest men in the UK was drunk (or even if he wasn't) and killed some people in a car crash and fled the scene, they would also be arrested.

Still, I have to be honest. Despite your implied comment about the US, I'm impressed that you still stay there instead of moving to Armenia. Oh, I forgot, you said it was the Vasgen Sarkisyan clan and you mentioned Manvel Grigorian that stops you coming although I'm confused because now Grigorian is close and subservient to Kocharian.

And anyway, the point is that you imply in your comment that the threat that you say stops you coming from Armenia (related to the issue of oligarchs mentioned in this article) doesn't exist. You can't have it both ways.

Cheers,

Posted by: at February 4, 2005 02:23 AM

I am also impressed at the Armenian. This website is encoded in Unicode, so all you need is a computer that can write Armenian and then you can write directly into the form.

I thought initially to ask Hakob to write in English, but it's a website about Armenia, so I don't want to stop people from using Armenian. I would ask however, that you write the equivalent in English below, as the comments should be read by everyone.

Matt

Posted by: Matt at February 4, 2005 11:09 AM

Matt,

Thank you for allowing me to write in Armenian script. In my previous post I told Onik and others that they seem very suspicious and that they wear "masks" (pretending to be Armenians and speak on behalf of the Armenians) and that they are lucky because they are destroying a garden that is ready for harvest. (Onnik, not unclutivated).

Also, I have to say that, there are some things that you simply can not translate to English, therefore I call out you people who speak on behalf of the Armenian to speak in Armenian and write in Armenian script. This way Matt and others who are interested in Armenia can learn learn Armenian.

Onnik, I still think that there has been an unlawful investigation. The crime is, they (the press) know license plate numbers and the owners of the vehicle. This information is confidential and only the government agency can hold that information.

Onnik, I type directly in this website. I have installed microsoft's complex script language pack. However, there are some tools you can use to convert Armenian ASCII to UTF-8.

Posted by: Հակոբ at February 4, 2005 01:16 PM

Hakob,

Just a quick point here. Everybody here knows who owns what. As for who found out first, I really have no idea. Maybe RFE/RL were simply the first to publish that information but I don't think that's unlawful and anyway, is quite a public service. First, because when you see these vehicles on the road, don't get in their way. Secondly, there's an AWFUL lot of money in circulation in Armenia -- mainly in oligarchal and official cricles -- that should be taxed but isn't. The vehicles they drive, the restaurants, cafes and businesses they own etc are representative of that in a country with a low GDP.

What is more to the point, however, is that there is actually quite a lot of information that should legally be in the public domain but in actual fact, the official structures resist any attempt to gain access to it. And the reason is quite simple. For example, questions then get asked how a government official on an official salary of a few hundred dollars a month can own homes values at over $500,000, own a cafe worth $200,000, drive a car worth over $100,000 etc.

Yes, the situation was the same under the last president and this one and is the same in every other FSU republic but the point is that this is one of the main issues that is holding back the development of the nation. When open contempr for the law and the ability to escape prosecution for very serious crimes is then drawn into the equation, I think we actually need more articles like this.

Cheers,

Posted by: Onnik Krikorian at February 5, 2005 01:25 AM

Posted by: texas hold'em rule at February 19, 2005 04:23 PM

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February 01, 2005

Hummers