The head of the notoriously corrupt Passport and Visa agency (OVIR) was sacked today in the latest bout of corruption swilling attempts by Tigran Sarksians newly formed cabinet.

Having had dealings with this ridiculous agency myself, to say I’m happy is an understatement. Let’s see what happens, though. I personally have had to pay bribes, be ridiculed, and harassed by this one guy at OVIR, who I Hope next time I visit, will have left, and taken his huge gigantic gut with him….Let’s hope!

I found the above titled article on the Hetq website. This touched a nerve with me as someone who looks to perhaps begin a future in Armenia. It really is a testimony to how the goodwill of people can be abused anywhere in the world, but how Armenia’s “system” can leave us all disillusioned. I am not one to focus on negatives, but I just hope this can make us all think a little. The hunger for money, greed, excess and status seems to have reached epic proportions in Armenia these days, especially since many can now “just” afford to show off, it seems that more people are inclined to do it. I speak as someone who has sometimes felt compelled to do this myself. Why is it in Armenia, suddenly the make and model of my mobile phone becomes important? Why is it always necessary to assert authority wherever I go? Maybe it’s a weakness in me, or Armenians in general, or maybe we just all get pulled into the way things are these days in Armenia. Either way, it is ridiculous, and it has to stop. I quote the article from here forward:

“Today I am sad. Thirteen years ago I decided to leave France, my third homeland, and relocate to Armenia, with the intention to invest in the fatherland, which I did by creating the Le Cafe de Paris. I invested my time, energy, health and resources, so that our little Parisian cafe could illuminate Abovyan Street.
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Over time the Cafe has become a favorite place to do business, meet friends and just relax. However my little dream has turned into an unending nightmare. Not wishing to delve into my personal problems, I’d just like to simple note that due to my faith, perhaps misplaced, in my fellow man I gave a loan to a person. This person claimed that he couldn’t repay the loan while actually he just refused to do so. When I took this person into my business, out of a sense of charity, I realized that he was periodically stealing from me along with other employees he had won the loyalty of. These employees, like their patron, had become corrupted, one more than the other. I could say that this is a fairly commonplace occurrence that can happen anywhere. But everywhere else there is a system of justice that serves as strong defender of one’s rights and interests. The justice system is there to grab the hand of the thief…This is the reality everywhere except in my beloved Armenia where the practice of justice is corrupt to the very core, where compromises are made with the guilty party, where the weak are preyed upon for all they have, the spoils to be split with the powerful, and where money is valued more than the truth. This is the reason for my grief. I am sad that our beloved Armenia, so dear to our hearts, has ceased to function normally. I am sad because in the event that things continue in this way I will be forced to close the Cafe and return to France.

Valerie Gortzounian”

Armenia 1 (H1), the national television station, has been put to use by Serzh and his brother. The target, the meat selling area across from Tashir commonly called “Gyum Market”. As we know, there is no free press in Armenia. The closest thing that comes to it is Hetq.am and they are constantly under threat by those with power and money.

The goal of the brothers Sarkisyan is to drive down sales volumes by reporting about the sanitary conditions of the meat selling area. The fact is the area has not changed much in many years. There is no more a risk than there was ten years ago. By focusing the weapon of Armenia 1 against the meat sellers and driving off potential customers, the property becomes cheaper. There has been great resistance by the residents of the area to the forced sale of their land. The Sarkisyans want the land to do what has been done for North Avenue. You steal the land from the local and sell it to the rich foreigners for a tremendous profit.

This is a dirty trick and shows you how the powers-that-be can use the news as a weapon. Of course, this is not new in any society but it is commonly believed that as Sarkisyan and friends gain more power this will become even more common. Kochariyan’s time in office will be known as age of “secret fire sales of land”. People think that Serzh’s time will be the use of the state powers to enrich a select few to a far greater extent then is currently happening.

Stand your ground people! If you wish to help, go ask the meat sellers how you can help protect the last bastion of community in the center of Yerevan.
If you care about Armenia, now is the time to think about supporting freedom, encouraging property rights and removing political control of the nation’s airwaves. For many, optimism about a free Armenia where everyone has equal opportunity to compete and win is quickly waning.

After a few weeks of work in Yerevan, I am happy to return to rural Armenia. The greater Yerevan area is getting harder and harder to enjoy and the expense of staying there is becoming unreasonable. Sadly, in my time in the capital, I went visiting old friends in my favorite part of the center which is Tigran Mets past St. Gregory. It is part of Yerevan that still has some neighborhood charm with Tashir being the only major blight on the area. However, that is about to change.

My dear friends are beside themselves as what happened in the area of which is now North Avenue is due to repeat itself with the recently passed law allowing the government to use eminent domain for development purposes. The area from Tashir to the Erebuni area border on Tigran Mets will soon be seized by the government and auctioned off. The area’s best known residents are the owners of the large meat market that starts opposite the Gyum Shuka. Plans are even calling for the ripping down of the triangular shaped apartment building that starts on the south corner across from Tashir which would displace hundreds of families. Will these families receive $200,000 so they can buy a similar apartment in the center? I doubt it.

Rumors are thick but it is suspected the Sarkissiyan family is behind this push as it is the last area of the center of Yerevan that is populated by local Yerevansti. Of course, knowing the current leadership’s business interest it is also a power grab as some of the most successful small meat merchants reside in this area. As we know, most of the current oligarchs have major interest in the food chain as it provides great cash flow. Again, we see the use of the government to condense power for a few and remove the ability for small business owners to make a reasonable living.

My friends have condemned the current building spree that seems to be fueled by investment from outside Armenia. I am constantly asked, “Who is buying these apartments in the center?” Most people who read this blog are Diaspora or like myself care greatly for the country. Many people from this love wish to live in Armenia some of the year so they buy a modern apartment in the city center but it seems most remain ignorant of the social injustices that occurred to build that apartment. At the same time, as Onnik talks about today, there doubts about the structural integrity of those buildings.

The locals are angry and they are frustrated because at every turn they are loosing the opportunity to compete. Many feel they are being pushed out of the center and even the areas of Komitas, Barikamutsun and Monument, people are realizing they can no longer afford property but foreign peoples can easily buy the property for what by developed nation standards is a bargain. My friends, if you are investing in Armenia, be sure you are investing in a way that makes you part of the community. What makes Armenia strong is its sense of community. Having the whole center of Yerevan full of rich people will quickly end the culture which people have come to be a part of.

We cannot say the market will take care of itself due to the lack of freedom and the use of law to force people out. If you are investing or have invested, look at your motives. Would you be better giving that money in rent then continue to encourage the oligarchs to rip apart what was five years ago one of the nicest city centers I have ever seen.

Armenialiberty reports on a high profile bank robbers escape - from a courtroom.

The suspect Aharon Hakobian, was suspected along with 4 others of stealing $600,000 worth of money and gems from a Yerevan bank recently. He managed to escape from the caged enclosure (used to house suspects in Armenian courtrooms) and is now nowhere to be seen.

I am unsure about this - firstly, how can someone get out of that cage, secondly, did no one spot the lad running through the corridors and outside? Is there no security in the courtroom? This kind of thing is so strange it’s laughable. The cynic in me wonders if this is some preorchestrated deal with the relevant bodies to get out of this crime - but surely, surely , this is ridiculous, if it is the case, however, it seems the authorities are getting better and better at fooling people….

I think im just being negative.

It is no wonder Armenia’s reputation runs risk of turning into some kind of rogue state where people get shot for working in politics. Armenialiberty reports on an assasination attempt on the mayor of Gyumri Vartan Ghukasian, a controversial figure with some corruption accusations hanging over his head. He is also a high ranking member of the republican party. He survived the drive by shooting but 3 of his bodyguards were killed.

In the international press, they are quick to describe Armenia as a “turbulent, impoverished ex Soviet nation”…and they quickly refer to the attack on parliament in 1999. A tourist sitting in Amsterdam will search Armenia and see this. I always like to talk about Armenia being safe and secure, and whilst I know this kind of thing “happens everywhere”, when we talk of Armenians being a close and warm nation - it seems politics is a game only for those who are as violent and unruly as each other.

My solution? We all move to Glendale, re build somewhere that looks roughly like Armenia..(it’s already almost there!) .wait a few years, let all the oligarchs, mafiosos, party members, and mayors, run over each other, shoot each other, stab each other, poison each other , or kill via any other desirable method…. Then once the last one has died, we can all move back and be safe, and hopefully a little richer.

This is , of course, wishful thinking.

Firstly, please accept my apologies for not posting in a while. Things have been very busy.

While one of the hottest topics at the moment seems to be the new Armenian Eurovision Song Contest entry, there is a rather more important event due to take place in May - that is the parliamentary elections. I have made a few observations, and whilst I don’t consider myself a political analyst in any sense of the word, I’d be interested to hear our readers’ opinions also.

The Justice alliance of the key opposition parties has broken down. Armenialiberty reported on March 2nd about the key parties headed by Stepan Demirchyan and Aram Sarkisian. It seems each party is interested in seeing their own candidate fronted for the presidential elections, scheduled for 2008. It is dissappointing that the members of the alliance cannot see past their own individual aspirations - however, it is also true to speculate whether an alliance that could barely keep itself together, could ever work collectively as a governmental force. Either way, it seems clear to me that there we can expect little change in Armenia’s political climate , based on a couple of strikingly obvious factors:

The Bargavach Hayastan party, headed by Gagik Tsarukyan, has ( in political terms) become an overnight success story. I remember just months after it’s launch last year , Yerevan and the regions were littered with the friendly Bargavach Hayastan logo, representing a huge array of party presence, much more than any other party. There is also the factor of the so called “vote buying” allegations - the party has been distributing seeds and other donations to the poorest villagers through Tsarukyan’s “charitable fund”. They claim this is fine, it technically is, what Tsarukyan does with his wealth is up to him - but what is unavoidable is that people will associate his name with the party, and subsequently engage in votes for him. He is widely regarded as a popular person.

It is all very, very well thought out.

So the Europeans are saying “Hey, don’t fix the elections this year please!” , and the USA is saying “Hey, we wont give you money if you fix the elections…”

So it seems the best option is to create a force that cannot be reckoned with. It’s widely known that President Kocharyan is a strong supporter of Bargavach Hayastan, and its huge popularity may well cause an upsurge of votes from the regions and Yerevan alike - the result being a landslide victory, that didn’t even need to be fixed. That way everyone is happy - and Kocharyan is likely to retain some form of power within the government.

The opposition alliance disbansion has quashed any hope for a victory of the traditional opposition parties. The only contender I could see would be the Heritage party headed by Raffi Hovhanessian. Interestingly, I saw him for the first time ever on Armenian public television this month. Obviously, he wasn’t given a voice, he was just paraphrased by the voice over. He was prevented from running in the presidential election due to problems with his citizenship. Despite his popularity, this western educated guy still hasn’t been running around the villages giving out grain to desperate citizens , and what I think this boils down to is people in desperate need of a way to keep their families together. It is absurd to speak of a true election when the population are still relying so heavily on potato seeds given by a well wisher.

It is an extreme example, but I think the only chance of huge jolt in power may be the advent of a reason for people to come together and unite against the current regime. Times of natural disaster,(God Forbid ) times of extreme need, and suchlike. The fact is, Armenia is quite happily cruising along. Perhaps when Bargavach Hayastan are in power, they can improve the situation of those people who accepted the handouts, and make them comfortable enough to vote based on policy, not charity.

Imitation has been the main working style of Armenia’s current administration: imitation of democracy, imitation of electoral process, imitation of coalition, imitation of free market, imitation of anti-corruption strategy… The news from Transparency Armenia about resigning from the RA Anti-Corruption Strategy Monitoring Commission comes to prove just that - after a conversation with fellow-blogger Onnik Krikoryan I am convinced, that Transparency Armenia have decided to quit playing along the imitation game with the government.

The Chairwoman of the Center for Regional Development /Transparency International Armenia resigned from RA Anti-Corruption Strategy Monitoring Commission under RA Anti-Corruption Council on February 20 this year, and hereby informed the heads of both the abovementioned structures, namely RA Prime Minister A. Margaryan and Assistant to RA President G. Mheryan. Via Transparency.am

The worst part of the whole story is that even this “imitation politics” is an imitation! These guys couldn’t think of it themselves, so they imitated the “imitation politics” in Russia… Looking at the video below, from Transparency International, marking Global Anti-Corruption Day 2006 - I ask to myself again and again: so what are we going to to about it?

Director: Daniel Wolfe
Producer: Tim Francis
Production: Media Trust
Coordinator: Jesse Garcia

Armenialiberty.org reports on some shocking news. A 44 year old father of 4, Jivan Hakopian, from the Armavir region, set himself alight by pouring petrol on himself and chanted anti-government slogans outside the main government buildings in Yerevan. He was taken to hospital but died later.

His family are not commenting, and the Mayor of his Village says he had no complaints made by Hakopian, but the Prime Ministers office has said they have recieved letters from Hakopian requesting loans to compensate for extreme loss of savings during the hyperinflation in the early 90’s, when many Armenian citizens lost their Soviet era accumilations. Hakopian also requested meetings with Gagik Tsarukian , and Stepan Demirchyan. The requests went unanswered.

This is a shocking incident to an extreme degree. What frustration and upset does it require for a man to leave his family and children behind , probably due to a truly helpless situation. It is difficult to speculate, but one thing is for sure - the government cannot cover this one up. It is a display of the true degree of anger and helplessness that one can encounter after a conversation with many an Armenian citizen.

It will be interesting to note how the strongly pro Kocharyan Public television will report this event.

ArmeniaLiberty reports on the apparently violent infighting in one of Armenia’s oldest conservative opposition parties : “The Union for Constitutional Rights” . It seems that Hrant Khachatrian, the party’s former leader, who was ousted during a recent congress by Hayk Babukhanian, attempted to enter the party headquarters. The result was a violent clash, and Khatchatrian admitted “slapping” Babukhanian in the face.

It was only after a “special police” unit was called to the scene, that the brawl was calmed.

I am interested - we are often used to the mass media “opposition bashing” usually because of their own loyalty to the administration, but really, are we given anything more to think when such events are taking place? I understand that this party , despite it’s age , is not a very large or influential one - but nevertheless it is part of the opposition alliance, which was created in an attempt to dismiss claims that the opposition is disorganised and incapable of running the country.

If these guys can’t even act in a civil manner towards their own colleagues, how on earth are they going to discuss issues of war and peace with Aliyev and Gul, Genocide Recognition around the world , control the various criminal elements in the country..amongst Armenia’s other obstacles.

It is also worthy of note that this “special police” unit seems to be increasingly influential in solving problems which many might feel the police should be solving. Is there really need for a special police unit to be called to a minor fight? Or was this some sort of deeper PR stunt aimed at taking advantage of the situation for bad press. Maybe I am over analysing this. Special police is a very ominous term, because it gives the impression that being “special” it is therefore secret, and accountable to no one, bar the administration. It also begs the question, if the police units cant handle a minor fight, then we have a serious problem.

I recall an incident when I was sat in a Cafe in Yerevan - a drunken Armenian was racially abusing an Indian student. The Armenian then started violently kicking and punching him. Passersby attempted to help, but the guy was crazy. Instead of calling the police, within minutes, the “Red Beret” police ( who hang around the Opera, quite often ) arrived, in a troop. They floored the Armenian guy ( an impressive display of physical force, some kind of martial art move, it seemed!) and threw him into a black van. Like something out of a movie ? Yes. Impressive? Perhaps yes. Reassuring ? Yes. But in a “civilised” situation - a normal police brigade would be called, escort the man away, arrest him formally then take him to the station for questioning. Is it so odd to expect such behaviour in Armenia?

Sorry if this is a long write up, I hope we have some interesting views here!

2006 Global Integrity Report proved rather intersting. The report which places Armenia among the very week rating countries comes just a day after Armenia occupied a surprizingly high 32nd Place in World Rating of Economic Freedoms. Not to go into details about why I find the letter result so surprizingly high I’ll just link to Onnik Krikoryan’s post, where the matter is discussed at length.

As Armenia heads into the elections of May 2007, and in the context where absence of any ethical standards in government, inefficiency of the laws and practices designed to combat corruption and prevent abuses of power in the country prevail, the report by the Global Integrity undoubtedly provides information of wide public interest to Armenia.

The country uniformly ranks among countries with week and very week indicators as can be seen in the following indexes. And this time it’s not the discredited Armenian opposition speaking, but rather the results of a major investigative report released by Global Integrity, an international nonprofit organization that tracks governance and corruption trends around the world. more…

Had to do a round of introductions today on issues in Democracy for an international group of people representing various countries with similar or worse democratic problems than those of ARmenia. As we had 12 presenters, the speaches had to be done in 5 minutes max, and had to include our vision of Democracy in the UK and Democracy Problems in our countries. Really really tight - isn’t it? I had to choose carefully what to say and how to convey a more or less general picture. As we didn’t really have time to prepare the little impromptu speech I made was rather one sided, still, I guess I ought to publish it here - for public shame and comments… more…

Armenialiberty.org reports on the plight of the 3 Armenian army conscripts accused last year of murdering two fellow soldiers in Karabagh. Whilst the military prosecutors charged the soldiers with murder,one of the conscripts claimed he was forced into confession through torture, and subsequently withdrew his “confession”

Human rights groups have been criticising the trial for a long time, and many believe it was a cover up and the soldiers were infact murdered by Captain Ivan Grigorian, the commander of their unit, and a war veteran. The conscripts were believed to be “scapegoats” for a military cover up.

The soldiers have staged hunger strikes, and protests, and are in very poor health. But it seems justice has been done, and the appeals court ordered the verdict as invalid and the soldiers are free.

This shocked me to a degree, as we are so used to perverted justice in Armenia. I wonder is this a genuine ruling against the military prosectors ( the first in Armenia’s history) or does it have deeper meaning? Perhaps a pre election publicity stunt, although I believe this would be an unlikely explanation.

Any comments?

Hayk Newspaper reports, that the Forbs - Armenian service soon to be launched in Armenia, will publish the following list of ten richest people in Armenia in the first issue of the magazine. Hayk draws readers attention to the fact, that 6 of the 10 people in the list are high ranking state officials. more…

It is good to see that the national budget is increasing the salaries of public employees but there seems to be no initiative to improve responsiveness of the public sector and reduce corruption. There are the various aid organizations that have programs but none of them seem to be making a dent in the environment of corruption and payoffs.

more…

As you can see from Matt’s post below, there have been no blogs for a long while. I am unable to explain the absence of the other bloggers, but my role of showbusiness blogging turned into a more general one. I can explain my absence - I’ve been in Armenia ,for a long while …and I will try to briefly sum up what I got from my 2 month trip this time around.

I was working this year, at a very big Armenian TV station - I won’t name it, - the people I worked with were great, the experience was great - but all in all I was left with a true taste of exactly how difficult living in Armenia is, and how completely inverted the mass media is in Armenia.

I am worried to explain what exactly I learned about this tv company, mainly because I know there are very powerful people who would not be happy to read it - but all I can say is the well wishing and generosity of some people can be grossly taken advantage of, and used to produce what we would call “Commercial” programming. This channel - which claims to take the interests of the diaspora to heart. - is merely putting on a facade, they charge for the subscription, thats if you can find anyone to offer you one.. the canteen closes at 2pm because the boss doenst want anyone eating after that - but the ladies will let you in through the back door if you knock - and the receptionist spends more time talking to her boyfriend than actually answering anyones questions…oh, and if you want a glass of water, you can go drink from the hose pipe out back, then return to your desk full of $25,000 worth of editing equipment - all of these seem pretty trivial, but when you are in a huge media complex, it becomes baffling!

You might try to contact someone to discuss the matter - but the fact is, no one cares.

I hope I have summed up why recently, Armenia has left nothing but a bitter taste in my mouth.

I hope to be more positive in the near future

As you can see from Matt’s post below, there have been no blogs for a long while. I am unable to explain the absence of the other bloggers, but my role of showbusiness blogging turned into a more general one. I can explain my absence - I’ve been in Armenia ,for a long while …and I will try to briefly sum up what I got from my 2 month trip this time around.

I was working this year, at a very big Armenian TV station - I won’t name it, - the people I worked with were great, the experience was great - but all in all I was left with a true taste of exactly how difficult living in Armenia is, and how completely inverted the mass media is in Armenia.

I am worried to explain what exactly I learned about this tv company, mainly because I know there are very powerful people who would not be happy to read it - but all I can say is the well wishing and generosity of some people can be grossly taken advantage of, and used to produce what we would call “Commercial” programming. This channel - which claims to take the interests of the diaspora to heart. - is merely putting on a facade, they charge for the subscription, thats if you can find anyone to offer you one.. The news readers spend more time playing around in corridors and putting lipstick on than they do taking their role seriously. The canteen closes at 2pm because the boss doenst want anyone eating after that - but the ladies will let you in through the back door if you knock - and the receptionist spends more time talking to her boyfriend than actually answering anyones questions…oh, and if you want a glass of water, you can go drink from the hose pipe out back, then return to your desk full of $25,000 worth of editing equipment .

You might try to contact someone to discuss the matter - but the fact is, no one cares.

I hope I have summed up why recently, Armenia has left nothing but a bitter taste in my mouth.

I hope to be more positive in the near future

A really disturbing experience that I have never had. We were driving along the road where Sedrak Zatikian, son of Vahan Zatikian who ran the Malatia Sebastia district until he died, was shot. The whole road was a mess, cars were everywhere, the police were shouting at us to turn around.

What is most upsetting is the innocent mother of 3 who was killed by a stray bullet whilst walking past. I really hope something can be done to help her family. It could have been anyone.

Armenia liberty reports:

You may remember a while back when 2 bodies were found in a resevoir in Nagorno Karabagh, and they had been clearly beaten and killed. 3 youths were questioned and a videotaped confession was recorded by one of the youths, Razmik Sargsian, aged 20. He claims that the confession was made a a result of hours of torture and threats of rape, he also claims that Armenia’s chief Prosecutor personally punched him in the face.

The three youths have been sentenced to life in prison for the charges. I do not know the details of this case, but the previous Ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan has stated publicly that there is clear evidence of torture and such allegations should have been treated far more seriously. The defence is convinced that the youths are innocent, and that the murder was commited by higher members of the military structure in Karabagh.

An interesting statistic is also brought forward, it is now statistically more likely for an Armenian conscript to get killed or injured by one of his own than an enemy attack. This is both worrying and shameful. I hope that the true perpatrators of this crime are eventually brought to justice. Although we can currently only hope.

I thought I’d share this story with you as it really made me think.

A few days ago, a friend of my family called up and was very worried. He is a young man from Armenia who has come to the UK to do a college course. He has a girlfriend and is living in a small village here. A couple of weeks ago, the UK authorities ( In a “clampdown” on illegal immigration ) decided that he should be deported.

This is a fair enough point, there are hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in Britain and it has become something of a central failiure of the UK government. Without wanting to cause offence to anyone, there are many illegally settled families that are known to be claiming social support from the state, without contributing anything in the way of taxes. Generally, in the larger cities, it is far easier to continue living illegally than in the small towns. There are a lot of people “reporting” anyone with an accent in such places.

This is what happend to the man from Armenia. He recieved a visit from the so called ” immigration police “. He refused to be taken to a detention centre, claiming that he had things to sort out before hand. Following this, he recieved another visit: This time he was forced into the back of a car, his hands and feet tied, and he was severely beaten. He told us that he was screamed at and taunted with racist remarks.

I ‘ve personally never heard of this sort of thing in the UK, but if it happened once, I guess it has happend a few times before. Either way, its very upsetting and worrying.