November 30, 2009

This was Thanksgiving week, a holiday treat unfortunately not celebrated by Armenians. The Peace Corps had a five day required conference for all 79 volunteers in country, which culminated with a Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday night. We had turkey (frozen from Russia), and all the other usual fixings, including twenty pies. I was in charge of stuffing, gravy, and casseroles, and did such a great job in the kitchen, that I’m in charge next year! (Really, what all these kids needed was a mother to organize them.)

(Jack and I with our "Turkey" hats.)

We are scattered all over the country. It takes approximately twelve hours to get from one end of the country to the other. So I had not met many of the volunteers who started the previous year. It was a lot of fun listening to their stories, sharing their miseries, and their successes with all kinds of things; learning the language, host family horror stories, keeping warm in winter (tips on lighting fires, buying wood, storing water), washing clothes when it is below freezing (many guys suggest going dirty/smelly), finding food other than root vegetables, dealing with nasty landlords, and for the women, dealing with the misconception that you are a Russian prostitute. Part of the conference was concerned with safety, so we all know where to gather in case Azerbaijan invades, or Russia invades Georgia again, or there are any issues on the Iran or Turkish border. And we are constantly informed about demonstrations in the capital, Yerevan, where the police have been too quick to fire their weapons.

(All-Volunteer Thanksgiving dinner in Yerevan hotel.)

On Thanksgiving Day, I helped another volunteer prepare turkey dinner for a facility that offers a meal a day, vocational training, and tutoring for single moms and their kids. Our traditional holiday dinner is so different from anything that Armenians eat, that the kids ate very little and could not be convinced to try anything new, especially pumpkin pie. Armenians think that their food is wonderful (and it is in the summer), and all Armenians are reluctant to try anything new. (It makes me think that America is a really special place where we can have Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Italian, etc., any day of the week.) The woman who runs the facility said that a huge issue is that when the place closes at six pm, many families do not want to leave because they have no heat at home. It has been 28 degrees at night for the last two weeks.

(Kids sampling American Thanksgiving dinner.)

Our family dog, a really sweet pit bull named Gosha, appears to have been attacked by a neighborhood bully. He is not using his right forefoot, and is very bloody. I am very stressed out about this. There are no veterinarians in this city of 150,000 people. It would be culturally insensitive of me to actually do anything because dogs hold an entirely different place in this country, and it would upset the family if any money was spent on him.

Last week my host sister celebrated her 53^rd birthday. Her husband died many years ago, and she has a 22 year old son who is in the compulsory military. She works in the local market where she makes $3.87 each day she works. In the summer she was working six days a week. She is now working about four days a week. Because she had terrible teeth pain, she has been seeing the dentist over a five week period, and last Friday received her “new” teeth. She had four root canals, several teeth pulled, two new gold crowns, and a new bridge for her upper teeth. She is extremely happy! The total cost for all this was about $297. After much soul-searching (because there is so much need in this country) I gave her $150 for her birthday present. She cried. This is a country where there is almost no social help for people in dire circumstances. When she retires at the compulsory age of 59, she will receive a pension of $50 per month. She is fortunate that she can live with her sister. For people who do not have family who can help, this is a desperate place. A major effect of the economic crisis in Armenia is that foreign remittances are down 40%. These are amounts sent from France, Russia, the US, etc. from family members to help family in Armenia. Many of the men, who were working in Russia, have come home adding to the burden in Armenia, because construction jobs have dried up.

(Spice market. All signs are in Russian, so my Armenian does not help. I am so confused when I look for spices. I never paid much attention to what was in bottles at home, and now I have to identify spices by color, smell, and taste. I feel clueless.)

November 6, 2009

The following information is copied out of a booklet put out by the National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia.

.........................................2004 ......2004 ......%
.........................................Girls ......Boys ......Boys
Total Births ...................17,192 ...20,328 ....54.2
1st Child ..........................9,250 ...10,191 ....52.4
2nd Child ........................6,007 .....6,815 ....53.2
3rd Child .........................1,440 .....2,523 ....63.7
4th Child ............................295 ........556 ....65.3
5th Child ............................200 .......243 .....54.9

Fertility rate: Urban (Yerevan) 1.3, Rural 1.5 (2.2 children is the replacement rate)
Average age of mother at birth of first child: 22.5 years
Induced abortions per 100 live births: 28.2 (Down from 34.0 in 2000)

In nature, if no intervening action is taken, slightly more boys are born than girls.

This is a country which shows a strong preference for boys. Volunteers teaching in schools are constantly mentioning how poorly disciplined the boys are. Girls are far more numerous in higher education (which is also true in the US) which makes me wonder if the lack of discipline (and resulting poor performance in school) that the boys receive affects their ability to enter into the university system. Another issue may be the two-year compulsory military service at age twenty. Many boys have a difficult time getting back into school.

There is a lot of speculation about the difference in birth rates between the sexes. Selective abortion is the most likely explanation.

In Armenia, men take the responsibility for care of their elderly parents. Women are responsible for their in-laws. Armenia has a mandatory retirement age of 59 for women and 63 for men. There are no retirement plans. At retirement age, Armenians are eligible for a state pension which is about $50 a month. I have been told that few Armenians have savings as anyone who had money in the bank during the collapse of the Soviet Union lost everything, so they are afraid of the banking system. There has been a major emphasis by the US Government and the World Bank to put banking practices and loan practices in place in the country that will build people’s confidence in the banking system.

Nearly all workers are paid the last day of the month by bank draft. And the lineups at the ATM machines and in banks are significant. The head finance person at one company told me that almost all workers withdraw all their pay on payday. Outside of Yerevan, it is nearly impossible to use a credit card at any store. And bank debit cards are unheard of. Almost everyone pays their bills (utilities) in person in cash.

Most workers own their homes or apartments. When the Soviet Union was in place, there was no private ownership of property. In 1992, shortly after the breakup, families were issued vouchers to exchange for the places they lived in. Paying for their homes was out of the question as the nation was destitute. As a result most homes have been lived in by generations of the same family. My own host family is holding on to a run-down unfinished home across the street that they are hoping their sons, who live in Russia, will move into. The sons have been in Russia for thirty years and raised families there. Many families seem to be in this situation. The unemployment rate in Gyumri is around 70% so there are no jobs to come home to.

My Adventurous Trip to Turkey by Nelli Minasyan

In October our organization got invitation to go to Turkey, to take part in Turkish-Armenian Civic Dialogue project called “Two Sides of a Mountain”. We were three from Gyumri. Our trip started from Gyumri Railway Station. We took the train to Tbilisi (Georgia) where we were to meet the other ten participants from Armenia and then continue our trip to Turkey, Hatay the project venue.

Here comes the most cruel and the funniest part of my trip. It was 5 o’clock in the morning, the train stopped and we were asked to show our passports. When I showed mine the policeman told that I had to leave the train as there was no stamp which allowed me to leave the country.

I am so absent-minded that I just forgot to get the stamp I was nearly crying. I left the train and my friends left the train with me. They didn’t leave me alone. We took a taxi and came back to Gyumri, went to the passport office, got the stamp and went to Tbilisi by taxi.

We managed to get our plane to Turkey.

After a crazy night we reached Turkey. The Turkish organizers met us at the airport. Now comes the 2nd “funny” part of the trip. All Armenian participants lost their luggage. I was in my pajamas 2 days. So after funny moments and sufferings we got to Turkey and the project started.

The Turkish-Armenian Civic Dialogue was organized by AEGEE-Ankara (branch of European Student Forum) and by the “Youth Initiative Centre” in Armenia, Gyumri (one of the founding members of which is me.) The project was financed by the American Embassies in Turkey and in Armenia. The project contained interesting workshops, seminars, and study visits.

We stayed in Hatay, in the youth hostel, just near the Mediterranean Sea, but the courses and workshops took place in the Armenian village called Vakifli. The village was inhabited with Armenians who speak Armenian, keep Armenian traditions, and religion and live completely in peace with Turks.

One of the most impressive and unforgettable days of the project was the intercultural evening, which took place near the Armenian church in Vakifli. During the intercultural evening, we presented our national food, dances, and songs. We were singing, dancing hand by hand, shoulder to shoulder with Turks.

There is a folk traditional song which is the same in Turkish and in Armenian and when we sang it with Turks nobody could help crying. The villagers, the guests, the organizers, the participants, everybody was crying. I will never forget that day and those feelings. While standing on that ground, hand in hand with Turks, we felt how close we are with Turks. We are the same. We have so many things in common. We lived together like friends, like brothers and now because of misunderstanding and lack of communication we have problems.

The project did not have any political context but during our free time we decided to have a discussion and just talk about the things which bother us. The discussion lasted more than seven hours. It was really interesting.

I have taken part in various international projects but this was one of the most effective ones, both personally and professionally. During the project we worked on our common ideas with the Turks and in very close future we are going to realize them. Next year we will host nearly fifteen Turkish youngsters in Armenia, Gyumri. We have lots of interesting ideas which we will realize for sure.

We were in Turkey during the historical period when the protocol was signed between Armenia and Turkey. World famous TV channels as well as Turkish ones were following us. The Turkish organizers had some problems. They were called “betrayers”, there were negative articles about them in the newspapers. Later BBC, CNN, and all national and local TV channels finally reached us. They took interview, recorded everything, positive articles appeared everywhere.

The project was really useful and effective and I am sure those kind of projects will help and increase the percentage of our bright future with Turkey.
I should mention how sad the departure day was. All Turks came to say good-bye. Everybody was crying. We didn’t want to leave. We felt at home. We had a wonderful time. We reached our aims and we broke the stereotypes.
So this much about my crazy trip to Turkey.

P. S. The trip back home was also full of adventures. We got to Tbilisi and learnt that there was no train and no mini-bus to Gyumri. We stayed at our friend’s place and enjoyed Tbilisi by night.

Nelli Minasyan is a 21-year-old student and a participant in the English Club at the American Corner in Gyumri, Armenia.

November 2, 2009

Armenia and Turkey signed an agreement in Zurich last month which is supposed to lead to the opening of the border between these countries. The border has been closed since 1993 at a time when Armenia and Azerbaijan were involved in intense fighting over Nogorno-Karabakh (a territory awarded to Azerbaijan by the Soviets in 1922 though mainly populated by Armenians.) Armenia won the battle. Then Nogorno-Karabakh declared its independence. Today only Armenia recognizes the sovereignty of Nogorno-Karabakh. Turkey and Azerbaijan are Muslim allies and Turkey closed its border in support of Azerbaijan. (Because the US does not recognize Nogorno-Karabakh, as Peace Corps volunteers, we are not allowed to go there.)

Gyumri is very close to the Turkish border. From any high spot we can see Turkey to the west. The border is currently patrolled by Russian troops who have a large base in Gyumri. (Closing the base will have an economic impact on Gyumri.) There is a major road linking Gyumri and Turkey which has not been maintained for years, and there is a railroad line, also not maintained. So if the border is opened the immediate impact will be slight. Currently in order to enter Turkey, we have to go north to Georgia and southwest into Turkey.

I have asked many people about how they feel about the border opening. 95% of the people in the Gyumri area are opposed to it for all the following reasons:

My host family is very upset. Their feeling is that what the Muslim Turks did to the Christian Armenians (from 1915-1917 1.5 million Armenians were massacred) must be recognized by the Turks. The agreement does not call for an apology. (I cannot imagine what the world would be like if Germany did not apologize for the Holocaust.) When the Turks drove the Armenians out of Turkey they also destroyed most of their churches and graves. I’ve met a few Armenians who have gone on pilgrimages to these areas, most notably Ani. I can also tell that my host family is afraid of the unknown.

One woman is concerned that Turkish men will enter the country and “steal” the young girls, which seems highly unlikely given the family-centered structure here. She does not like Turkish men, though she doesn’t know any.

One NGO (non-profit) working in human trafficking thinks that the border opening will increase the trafficking, and that it will be more difficult to control this activity. Currently most girls involved in trafficking end up in Turkey or the UAE.

There have been some protests in Yerevan about this agreement. But it appears that the consensus there is that this is a good thing. In all the rural areas though, after talking to volunteers, the consensus seems to be that it is a bad thing.

The nearest city across the border from Gyumri is Kars. I asked about the potential for trade with that area. The woman I was talking to told me that the area bordering Armenia is largely Kurdish and for that reason the Turkish government has largely ignored it. She told me that this area is even more depressed than where I am now.

A few people who own shops and go to Istanbul, Turkey to buy goods for their shops are excited because it will significantly cut down on their expenses. Armenian people pay a premium for their “Made in Turkey” products because of transportation costs which Georgians are able to exact given the closed border. These include clothing, shoes, curtains/drapes, cloth and inexpensive plastic household items. You can buy better quality for less money at Wal-Mart in the States. (Interestingly, there is a shoe manufacturer in Gyumri who makes high quality shoes for the German market, though you cannot buy them here.)

I’ve read several reports mentioning that the Yerevan oligarchy who control imports into the country have been very opposed to this agreement. Considering the corruption and control that they have of politicians (through financing campaigns and bribes) I’m surprised that the agreement was signed.

One of Armenia’s most important trading partners is Iran, which borders on the south. Iran supplies gas to Armenia, though the Russian owners (oligarchs again), restricted the dimension of the pipeline to ensure that only enough gas gets in to supply Armenia, and not enough so that they could sell any excess to Georgia. Russia and Georgia have major issues. Iran also supplies significant food products, mostly fruits and vegetables.

I have heard from the shop-owners buying in Turkey and from people who have traveled there, that Turks they talk to on the streets are positive about the border opening. Their concern with apologizing is that the country might then have to pay reparations, and that they were not personally involved; it happened 90 years ago. (Turkey is trying to become a member of the European Union. And one of their conditions for membership is that they apologize. Many European countries had to apologize for their role in the Holocaust, so this makes sense to them. The US Congress, led by the US Armenian diaspora, has condemned Turkey for the genocide, but our presidents have refused to do so, including Obama, because Turkey is a major military ally.)

Personally I think the border opening will benefit both countries significantly, though not in the near-term as there is a lot of animosity between the two populations. Also the infrastructure to allow easy trade is not in place. Armenia has changed from a primarily industrial country to a primarily agricultural one and I think that the closed borders, lack of access to raw goods and energy supplies, and lack of access to markets have been the primary reasons.

The agreement has to be ratified by both countries’ parliaments, and that has not happened. The talk was that the border would open in two months. I’m not holding my breath.