I'm absolutely disgusted

[Thai-Samurai]

Armenia hasn't been fighting for independence for the last 400 years, nor did we lose our best men in Karabagh for this. Everyone knows the gov't is corrupt, but this is absolutely disgusting. The day we get independence they start to cannabalize their own country. The Diaspora's political strength needs to put some attention on Armenia's problems and use their political leverage on their countries to effect politics here. We're doing more damage to our country and people than the Turks could ever do right now. What happened to the old Dashnaks who would just kill people like these.

Armenia is never going to become a great country until we get rid of the sick xxxxing greedy minds that are ruling right now.

https://www.armenianow.com

[Thai-Samurai]

Eviction of Byuzand Street Familes

{This article proves the Mayor of Yerevan, the Prez. and the Court System is corrupt. Along w/ the private corporations who do not care about Human Rights}

http://armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&AID=1126&lng=eng&IID=1049

State Need”?: And what of the needs of Buzand Street families?
By Vahan Ishkhanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

News Analysis
With apparent disregard for a pending court order, a platoon of law enforcement estimated by observers to be about 40 strong, went into the home of Astghik Hovhannisyan last Friday and evicted the six-member family as it has dozens of others in what used to be the placid neighborhood of Buzand that has become Yerevan’s battleground for citizens’ rights.

Home isn’t what it used to be for Astghik Hovhannisyan

Children returned from school with no home to return to as members of the Republic of Armenia’s “Red Beret” special forces acted on orders traceable to powerful and politically-connected oligarchs who are buying up prime real estate at ghetto prices.

It is no longer news that families such as the Hovhannisyans are being displaced because they have become an inconvenience. Dozens have shared their fate since the first blade of urban renewal fell in the city center neighborhood this spring.

But what continues to make news and noise in the capital is the fact that the very bodies entrusted to uphold the law themselves flagrantly ignore it. To explain:

While Astghik Hovhannisyan’s chairs and cupboard and nightstands – the artifacts of more than 60 years at 17 Buzand Street were being carried out by hired-hands, an appeals court had not yet issued a ruling on the family’s complaint that a development company’s offer of compensation was not only unsuitable, but insufficient according to the law.

The Hovhannisyans lost their home because they did not agree to accept the $10,500 offered to get them to leave, by Vizkon Ltd. a development company under the direction of Gevorg Vardanyan, former Minister of Nature Protection.

Astghik’s father, 61-year-old Hrachik Hovhannisyan, has never known another home. Four of his family members have permanent registration at the address. According to a government decision reached to cover compensation for the current city-center redevolpment, relocation payment should be $3,500 per registered occupant. (In the case of the Hovhannisyans, $14,000.)

(Evictees have different status. Some of them are evicted from their own territory, some of them did not have time to privatize the territory and are also subject to eviction. And some are evicted from the territory in which they had lived for years and have registration. The two latter groups are called apartment users.)

The latest report of the Republic of Armenia’s Ombudsman Office criticizes the government decision: “It is well known that the territories of the capital that are declared “alienation zones” are territories mainly occupied by private apartments, and still during the Soviet times, the owners of these apartments registered in their apartments their relatives, friends, acquaintances, and also others, legal and unlicensed additional constructions were created – sometimes even bypassing limitations by often-unjustified Soviet laws, buildings were transferred from one to another with a purchase and sale agreement signed in an internal order. This way, these territories became extremely densely populated. For residents it was considered though not convenient but nevertheless a place to stay, a family did not consider themselves to be homeless.”

The Ombudsman concludes that one should have consider the rights of residents having all types of statuses no matter whether they are owners, have permanent or other registration.

The Hovhannisyans are a family having the status of registered, of whom by the government decision compensation can be received by those who have permanent registration. “We don’t need money, we told Vizkon, give us 40 square meters to live,” says Astghik.

Initially, Vizkon offered to pay $7,000, representing two residents. A court ruled that they must pay for a third ($10,500). The Hovhannisyans also wanted compensation for a fourth, eight-year old David Hovhannisyan. Vizkon refused and court ruled in favor of the developers. The Hovhannisyans appealed.

While the Hovhannisyans waited with empty hopes (the court has not ruled in favor of residents even one time) a decision from the cassation court, bailiffs emptied their home.

For Hrachik Hovhannisyan, a few hours of tense standoff and subsequent display of force, rewrote his history.

Crying, his sister-in-law advised: “Hrachik jan, forget that you were born here.”


The family was evicted and walls destroyed, while a court order was still pending

After the eviction, bailiffs refused to allow Hrachik to return inside for a change of clothes. Only after long persuasions Astghik and her mother were allowed to go inside and take their documents. But in the turmoil they failed to find all their belongings which according to them they kept in a bag (gold, and $2,000 they had borrowed).

While the bailiffs took the property out, a demolition squad had torn down the walls of the house, the roof and dislocated the windows for the house to become uninhabitable.

The order under which they have been evicted is designed to accommodate “state needs”.

By that definition, the state “needs” a district of elite buildings that will never fall into the budget of the Hovhannisyans or their neighbors, while turning profits for oligarchs who enjoy the privilege of power and the protection of a judiciary that has proven unsympathetic to the “needs” of common citizens.

“We have been pressured for a year for state needs,” says 32-year-old Astghik crying. “We will go out and sit in the street, we don’t know how to escape from these beasts, simply we don’t know. We don’t have a tent to hide in.”

Finally:

While the Hovhannisyans things were being removed, news came that the court had suspended the eviction, however the bailiffs continued to take the property out. In their haste to finish the job, plates were broken and the cupboard damaged.

Half an hour after a loaded truck drove off and the bailiffs went away, a lawyer brought a letter of the appeals court chairman addressed to Tigran Tadevosyan, head of the Yerevan Police Department’s Bailiff’s Office Eviction and Population Division informing the latter that the court decision had not come into legal effect, meaning that the eviction had to be stopped, and demanding the return of the order that was given for eviction.

Later, workers told the Hovhannisyans that the Vizkon managers had given them “a good working over” for not razing the house to the ground at the time of the eviction and left an opportunity for the Hovhannisyans to return there. During another eviction on the same street, workers had ruined the house so much that the residents could not live there and live near the ruins (click here for the previous article).

Tuesday (October 4) a lawyer for Vizkon visited the Hovhannisyans and expressed his bosses’ threats that if they did not leave the place in two days their house would be leveled with a bulldozer with the assistance of the “Red Berets”. The lawyer, apparently embarrassed by his duty, refused to answer ArmeniaNow's questions.

The Hovhannisyans returned to their apartment – emptied, and with a wall knocked down and the windows destroyed. The children have gone to live with relatives. Other residents repaired the windows and brought a folding bed and live in what is left of 17 Buzand . . .


The family was evicted and walls destroyed, while a court order was still pending

[Thai-Samurai]

Mafia taking over property

{Here the mayor is pretty much letting private interests purchase whatever they want because he will make some money from it.}

http://armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&AID=1124&lng=eng&IID=1049

Rebuilding Confidence: Echmiadzin residents ponder mayor election in light of city property controversy
By Gayane Mkrtchyan
ArmeniaNow reporter


Some fear that the Komitas monument may be obstructed

Echmiadzin will elect a new mayor on October 16 and campaign passions have recently focused on issues that have a physical, social and spiritual impact on the community.
As the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the town is considered by locals and Diaspora as a “second capital” of sorts – and therefore holding special significance.

It is its sacred place as home of the Holy See that gives Echmiadizin unique recognition, but it is simply its place as “home” to some 65,000 people, that give these voters reasons to worry over recent changes in its makeup.

Specifically, over the past five years, 10 buildings of cultural significance have been privatized, amid allegations that municipal authorities have profited from the sales.

It is these very phenomena that are likely to influence voting, as many residents say they are unhappy with the way Mayor Hrachik Abgaryan has used his position. (Abgaryan has been in office since 2002, and is one of only two mayors Echmiadzin has had since independence, 1991.)

“The two mayors did nothing for Echmiadzin,” says Hamlet Nahatakyan, director of Echmiadzin’s Nersisyan gymnasium. “On the contrary, they sold as much as they could. They don’t have any steady work of which they could be proud. Unauthorized and tasteless buildings, which destroy the architectural appearance of the town, rise up from day to day.”

Along with new buildings there are also rumors about new territories for sale. During the last months the territory near the monument to Komitas in the square of the town and the hall of Music School N 2 were sold.

Voters say they don’t know don’t know whom to elect and whom to trust.

Four candidates, including ex-mayor Yervand Aghvanyan are in the running. Abgaryan is not up for reelection.

Among contenders for the job is Susanna Harutyunyan, who lost her job ¬as a department head at city hall in a dispute with Abgaryan. (Last week Harutyunyan scheduled a TV appearance inviting voters to call in and discuss issues. During the 30 minutes for which the program was scheduled, the electricity in Echmiadzin went out and came back on immediately after the program’s conclusion.)

“At the time when I raised my voice against the sale of libraries, no one was punished. Had it been stopped, the building of the local history museum, the hall of music school N 2, the territory near the monument to Komitas in the square would not have been sold today, but I promise to the residents of Echmiadzin that I will bring everything back to the town,” says Harutyunyan.

Deputy Mayor Artashes Baghdasaryan denies Harutyunyan’s accusation that those buildings were sold.

“The hall of the music school has not been sold. At this moment, it is being restored through the municipality’s efforts. And we indeed received an offer regarding the territory in the vicinity of the Komitas monument, which we rejected. We even discussed the matter with the intellectuals of the town. The area of the monument is inviolable,” he says.

Last year Abgaryan officially told ArmeniaNow the museum of local history was not being sold. Some time later, however, the building was sold.

One mayoral candidate, Yervand Aghvanyan, who was the mayor of Echmiadzin FROM 1996 TO 2002, and city council chairman before that says: “What is happening in Echmiadzin today is only part of the events happening in this country. All this rather should be realized at the top starting from the president.”

According to Harutyunyan, the yards of buildings are sold for little money, children are deprived of playing grounds, the sidewalks in the streets are being taken over.

The deputy mayor says that the mayor’s office simply provides territory where people set up their small businesses. The territories are provided without breaking the town-planning norms.

The part in front of the town’s central department store situated close to the square is surrounded by thick concrete walls today.

Baghdasaryan explains that the territory in front of the department store is an illegally seized territory. It was provided to the owner by a government decision. The mayor’s office has not given its consent till today.

A new two-storied facility is being built in the whole part of the yard of the town’s school N3.

Only eight of Echmiadzin’s 16 kindergartens remain. Deputy Mayor Baghdasaryan said that some of them had been sold still under the previous mayor. Only six of the eight libraries remain.

“We only want to see good yards, have asphalted streets, be protected. Little time remains before the elections, but people still cannot find their bearings. What should these authorities do to make people trust them again,” Nahatakyan says.

Despite the property issues, Armenian Center for National and International Studies Director of Research, political analyst Stepan Safaryan, predicts that local elections in Echmiadzin will pass rather passively.

“Echmiadzin is one of the specific regions of Armenia and everyone knows whose territory it is (referring, without naming Manvel Grigoryan, widely considered the primary “oligarch” of the city),” he says. “I think that 70 percent of voters will not go to the polls in local elections as they do not trust local authorities and feel disgruntled.”

He thinks that only 30 percent will participate, of whom 15 percent will vote “against all” and the remaining 15 percent will be people voting under the influence of administrative resource.

[Thai-Samurai]

Swampification of Sevan

{Lake Sevan needs to be raised 6 meters or else it's going to turn into a swamp. Some of the southern parts already is. There's a really nice hotel I forgot what it's called built right at the water's edge. The article states that the gov't will refund these investments who have built below the water line. Which is ridiculous, the gov't can't even afford to replace the bulbs at street lights that don't work. The people who built the hotel should've asked what the ecological situation of Sevan is like.}

http://armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&AID=1125&lng=eng&IID=1049

Rising Interests: Welcomed increase in water level recorded at Lake Sevan
By Suren Deheryan
ArmeniaNow reporter

Lake Sevan, the xxxel in Armenia’s crown of nature, is on the rise, to the delight of ecologists, nature lovers and the thousands whose livelihoods are connected with fishing.
Having suffered 70 years of artificial drainage, this year, the water level of Sevan (one of the highest fresh water lakes in the world) is higher than in decades, raised by 1 meter, 33 centimeters over the past three years.

Over the past three years, measures have been implemented to reduce drainage and get the vital lake’s capacity back to previous levels, but the past years' increase is unprecedented. It’s current level of 1,898.22 meters is the highest in more than 20 years, when 200 million cubic meters of water were annually pumped into the lake through the Arpa-Sevan tunnel.

For a decade beginning in 1991, vast drainage (for energy and agricultural purposes) took some 6.1 billion cubic meters of water out of Lake Sevan – twice as much as in the previous decade – reaching a critical point of 1,896.46 meters in 2001.

Though the tide of drainage has been turned, the lake is still the equivalent height of a seven-story building lower than in 1933 (when water from Sevan was first used for hydroelectricity).

Each centimeter’s rise means new hope for the reanimation of the lake’s ecosystem.

The change in current water lines, easily seen by even casual visitors to the lake, reflect actions taken within the “Complex Program on the Rehabilitation of the Sevan’s Ecosystem” which was developed as part of the law “On Lake Sevan” adopted by the National Assembly in 2001. Since that year, water drainage from Lake Sevan reduced at least twice – down to about 150 million cubic meters a year.

The rehabilitation program envisages raising the level of the lake by 6 meters within 30 years at the expense of minimal drainages (20 centimeters every year), thus taking it to the level of 1,904 meters above sea-level – a height it has not seen since 1957.

Scientists say it is at this level that the lake’s endangered ecosystem will finally recover.

Already “endangered”, and potentially creating a separate ecological problem, however, are some 450 hectares of shore that have been submerged by the water’s rise. Nearly half of that territory is man-made forests that, if left under water, might turn the shallows into swamp.

“In the shores of the Sevan that are situated on a plain, even in the case of a 5-centimeter rise in the lake’s level, vast territories submerge. In some places today water has covered 100-120-meter-long offshore parts,” says the head forester of Sevan National Park Suren Aghajanyan.

According to a government decision, stage-by-stage work on the cleaning of the offshore areas began on September 15. During the next two months an area of 92 hectares is to be cleaned of trees and bushes, for which the state has allocated 47.1 million drams (about $107,000).




According to Aghanjanyan, some 50 hectares have already been cleared. “In some places it seems that we pull the trees already from a swamp, the smell was so bad,” Aghajanyan told ArmeniaNow. “There are places where bushes already are submerged under water and I have no idea how to clean them.”

Chairwoman of the NGO “For Sustainable Development” and Armenia’s Minister of Nature Protection in 1993-94 Karine Danielyan claims that the rise in the lake’s level should have been accompanied by preparatory works.

“But it was not done in due time, and in fact they just begin these works,” says Danielyan. “Of course, it is good that this work is done at least today, however those territories had to be cleaned beforehand so as to prevent a single tree from submerging under water. Now it will be difficult to clean, but even in these conditions one should get down to business as quickly as possible.”

Tourist to this summer’s Lake Sevan, were surprised when they went to the lakeside and saw that the beaches they had chosen as their favorite spots in the previous summer, this year simply disappeared.

“Do you see the trees sticking up from under the water. My cottages used to stand between these trees, and farther there was a summer-house,” Razmik Mkhitaryan says. “Now these trees are 50 meters away from the shore.”

Mkhitaryan, 65, is one of the dozen entrepreneurs who are engaged in a beach business at the lakeside, letting out cottages and summer-houses. Many of the beach businessmen had to relocate their makeshift cabins several times farther from the shore as water was rising. And some of them have no room to retreat anymore.

“At first, we placed our cottages at the shore. Holiday-makers like it when they can open the window and admire the view of the lake. But who could imagine the water would rise so high? It is the third year that cottages are taken far from the rising water, while water keeps rising, overtaking the cottages,” says Mkhitaryan.

It is predicted that, eventually, nearly 30 kilometers of highway near Sevan will be retaken by Lake Sevan, along with properties built when the big body of water was in decline.


Razmik’s former beach

“The government will compensate those individuals or companies that have licensed capital constructions on the level below 1,908 meters,” says First Deputy Minister of Nature Protection Simon Papyan.

According to Danielyan, any capital construction that was built at a level below 1,908 meters is considered illegal, since the program on the restoration of the Sevan’s level existed still during the Soviet times.

“Perhaps there are official permissions for them, however according to all laws those structures are illegal. And it is not the state that must compensate these individuals, but those who allowed such constructions,” Danielyan says.

On September 1, the Government of Armenia approved the draining of an additional 30 million cubic meters (on top of this year’s 120 million allocation). Environmentalists charged that top officials were trying to protect their self interests as owners of private and commercial property built below the legal line.

The reply of the deputy minister is as follows: “There is a strategic decision for the purpose of raising the level of Lake Sevan which was made by the government, and we will be guided by this decision in our further activities.” (Inferring that the government needs to be able to control the level by which the lake rises each year.)

Head of the Environmental Department at the Gegharkunik Governor’s Office Hambartsum Hambartsumyan says that nothing must obstruct the rise in the lake’s level.

“Even if the government has no funds for cleaning the areas, villagers will readily and for free uproot the trees and will use them as firewood. Let them only permit it,” says Hambartsumyan.

Kim Sargsyan, 66, a resident of the village of Chkalovka, was a fisherman in the past, and now he is a cattle-breeder, sitting on a rock on the way to the village, waiting for cows to return from pastures. Looking at Lake Sevan, Kim says:

“Let it rise to become more beautiful!”

The place where Kim was waiting for his cows is said to have been under water in 1940. Today the water is 700 meters away. But getting closer . . .

[Thai-Samurai]

Another article on Sevan by Hetq.am

http://hetq.am/eng/ecology/0510-sevan.html

[Thai-Samurai]

Rich companies do whatever they want

http://hetq.am/eng/society/0510-flash.html

Flash's Good Reputation is in Danger

[October 3, 2005]

Ararat Tsovyan feeds his family by repairing eyeglasses. His shop at 15 Pushkin Street was demolished on government orders, as part of the work on Hyusisayin (Northern) Avenue. He was given the dram equivalent of US$ 8200 as compensation, as well as the right to rent a 20-square-meter property adjacent to 15a Pushkin, in order to open another shop.

The decision (no. 2320-A, dated 01.12.2003) of Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharyan allowed Tsovyan to receive a ten-year lease for 20 sq. m. of property adjacent to 15a Pushkin. He followed procedure and signed a contract to rent the property and received the lease after which he obtained permission to start building, designed the project plan, agreed it with authorities and began construction. "During construction, some people approached my builders a number of times and said, 'Don't build it in vain. If it's in Flash's way, it'll be torn down anyway," said Tsovyan.

The property allocated to Tsovyan is also adjacent to 19,Pushkin a building which now belongs to Flash ltd. The company bought the building after offering compensation to its residents, demolished it, and is now constructing a new building for Armcapbank, which it owns.

Flash ltd. is one of Armenia's largest importers of petroleum products. According to the data of the Competition Conservation Commission, Flash is in second place among petroleum product importers, providing 25-28% of the diesel available in Armenia. Barsegh Beglaryan is the founder and president of Flash. More than 1/4 of the petroleum market belongs to this company and it has more than 200 employees. Besides this, Flash is the main shareholder in the Nairit chemical plant. Barsegh Beglaryan, who also owns Flash, has started doing business in Nagorno-Karabakh as well.


On March 10, 2005, equipment belonging Flash ltd. was used to demolish Tsovyan's half-built shop. "They tore it down, used some of the material to build toilets for their laborers, and took the rest away in broad daylight," said Tsovyan.

Flash offered a different description of what had happened - "We didn't tear down his shop, the office of the mayor did. When we were tearing down the building in order to build another one, Samvel Danielyan, the head architect of Yerevan, was present, as were the heads of two City Hall departments [he couldn't remember which departments] and two policemen. The City Hall representatives said that Tsovyan's shop had to be torn down too, because the mayor had taken a wrong decision in this regard - architecturally speaking, such land allocation is unsound - besides which the shop was not in accordance with the blueprints. So, it was the mayor's office that tore it down, not Flash. It's just that City Hall asked for our excavator, and we provided it, which is why the pictures show Flash equipment being used," said Moushegh Elchyan, vice-president of Flash ltd., "Now Tsovyan can come and build his shop, we don't want his land at all, but we will cause problems, because we don't like that structure."

Contrary to Elchyan's assurances that they don't want Tsovyan's land, it turned out that the atrium of the future bank had already been built there, and a parking lot is planned below it. Elchyan claimed that after the shop was demolished, the mayor's office asked Flash to help Tsovyan in order to keep things quiet, since it was in Flash's best interests as well to keep that land free.


"If Tsovyan's shop had indeed strayed from the original blueprints, then he should have been by fined or warned by City Hall or the State Department of Construction and told to bring things back to plan. But that was not the case. I've conducted a legal investigation at the mayor's office and discovered that Tsovyan had the necessary documents to build his shop and that it was not torn down by City Hall," said Karen Mejlumyan, Tsovyan's lawyer.

Flash ltd. insists that Tsovyan's shop was torn down on the orders of head architect Samvel Danielyan as well as two heads of department at City Hall, and in their presence. In reply to a written query, G. Khangeldyan, the head of the Department of Construction and Land Supervision at City Hall, said that the mayor's office had not ordered the demolition of Tsovyan's shop. Besides this, an investigation by the prosecutors' offices in the Central and Nork-Marash municipalities also proved that City Hall could have no legal basis to order the demolition of that shop. One can assume the following based on all this - either Flash vice-president Elchyan has committed slander against the high-ranking City Hall officials or head architect Danielyan has abused his position by deeming that legally constructed structure to be "architecturally unsound", just to serve Flash's interests. In the abundance of illegal and "architecturally unsound" structures in Yerevan, the head architect picked this legal half-built shop. It is a point of interest as to whether the head architect was authorized to declare the mayor Zakharyan's judgment wrong and verbally overrule a written decision, or whether the mayor would tolerate such impertinence if it did not serve the interests of Flash ltd.

Tsovyan awaits the decision of the Prosecutor General. A decision has to be taken as to whether to file a criminal case or dismiss the charges. In case of dismissal, Tsovyan is preparing to appeal the case to a superior body or the court of review.

"Flash had offered Tsovyan land in a different location, or a compensatory sum of money, but he refused. Now we offer nothing. City Hall tore it down, let City Hall compensate his loss," insisted Elchyan. He is probably trying not contadict Flash's slogan- "Our good reputation is our dearest capital."

Aghavni Yeghiazaryan

{The bold areas shows how work and politics works in Armenia. Some guy says something, they send you somewhere else, they ignore you for awhile then send you somewhere else. Their all idiots, and looking after their own pocket. Then the courts take forever, then the judge gets bribed, then you get denied. The someone says something else, then the other person says something else. And nothing ever works out for the little guy.}

[Thai-Samurai]

{Here is another example of how stupid people can be. This mayor actually thought he was helping out.}

http://armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&CID=1290&IID=1045&AID=1106

Burying History: Scientists say Syunik region sites are being destroyed, instead of preserved
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

A joint Armenian-American-British archeological expedition has found another example of the destruction of ancient Armenian monuments. This time, though, it is neither in Georgia nor in Azerbaijan (where monuments and churches have been destroyed), but in the Syunik marz of Armenia.

Scientists fear that sites such as this one in Syunik are being lost to negligence or disregard

In the village of Shaghat, 22 kilometers from the town of Sisian, the archeologists from the Institute for Archeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, University of Michigan and the Sheffield University in England discovered a rich archeological material while at a test excavation in 2004. The detailed examination of the finding was planned for 2005.

But when the expedition returned to the village it found the 1 hectare territory totally ruined by bulldozers.

“The smallest piece of clay or stone of archeological interest is very important to us, so can you imagine what it means turning a hectare of territory upside down,” says archeologist, Professor Susan Alxxxx, regretfully pointing out to the pieces of decorated vase of Bronze Age that has narrowly escaped the bulldozer.

Numerous monuments with cultural layers typical of different ages were found during the excavations on a territory of approximately 5 square kilometers in Shaghat and neighboring Balak.

“We are especially interested in the discovered settlements of Middle Bronze Age,” says senior scientist Mkrtych Zardaryan from the Institute for Archeology and Ethnography of the NAS. “There are many tombs that have been preserved from those times, but this is the only settlement until now discovered in the Middle East,”

But rather than a fertile ground from which scientists might embellish history of the region, the site is being turned into a cemetery.

Shaghat village head Hovik Mkhitaryan turned the tractors loose on the property to clear it for a graveyard, because the land in shifting in the village’s old one. (Some charge, too, that the sudden interest in creating a new cemetery comes suspiciously close to election time, when the village head might need to curry favor among voters.)

“I addressed the government for allotting land under the new cemetery. I have not done anything illegal. Moreover, I have suffered damages myself – who should pay for the fuel for my car?” says Mkhitaryan.{wow what an idiot.}

According to Mkhitaryan he has proper permission by the government of RA. But the map, reduced several times on the submitted document, does not show the ruined territory at all.

According to Hrahat Hakobjanyan, representative of the Syunik regional Service for Preservation of Historical Monuments, the Shaghat case happened due to a lack of proper mapping of monuments.

Karen Tunyan, head of the Sisian regional branch of State Cadastre said new maps have been received only two weeks ago including “territories under state protection” highlighted with green.

“But the lack of indication on the map also has no justification, for the head of the village is responsible for being aware of each stone in his community; besides the head of the village himself used to dig here and there with a spade in his hand in search of treasures, like all the rest of the village. That is to say, they knew clearly there were old settlements in the territory,” says Hakobjanyan.

Syunik has long been known as a region rich in ancient historical remains, including a citadels settlement from the time of fifth-century Prince Andovk Syuni.

“The northern slope and the foot of Shaghat are constantly destroyed by the residents; time after time people decide to find the treasures of Prince Andovk Syuni. People must understand that these old settlements and the castle are more precious than the imaginary treasures,” says Mkrtych Zardaryan.

According to him the Shaghat case is one among hundreds.

An Armenian-French archeological expedition making excavations in the Inner Godedzor ancient settlement in the village of Angeghakot 13 kilometers from Sisian also has problems since part of the ancient settlement territory is a stone mining area.

“We learnt about the ancient settlement in 2003 when the cultural layers were destroyed during mining. Fortunately, our expedition was working in the neighborhood. The test excavations showed that we deal with an interesting settlement of late Copper and Stone Age,” says senior scientist of the Institute for Archeology and Ethnography of the RA NAS Pavel Avetisyan.

Archeologists from the Maison de l'Orient at Lyon University and the Institute for Archeology and Ethnography of the RA NAS found ceramics belonging to the Obeyid culture of the 5th millennium here.

According to Avetisyan the close ties between historic Armenia and Mesopotamia and Syria are proved for the first time by material facts, although it has been mentioned in historical documents for many times.

The upper layer of the ancient settlement has disclosed for the first a settlement of late Eneolithic era that has served as grounds for the creation and the development of Kura-Arax culture in these territories.

“The Kura-Arax culture is a huge cultural phenomenon of early Bronze Age of 4-3 millennia BC typical to northern and sout Caucasus. Until today its origins and hotbed of formation were not found,” says Avetisyan.

Archeologists are concerned that these and other important archeology sites are being carelessly destroyed.

“We have appealed to all proper bodies, the case is in the marz prosecutor's office, but the stone mine works day and night,” says Avetisyan. “This is a state crime before everybody’s eyes."

Michigan University professor John Cherry who has worked in Greece, Turkey, Italy and other countries, says it is too bad that the Armenians show such disregard for the riches of their own past.

“As far as I know, they try to develop the tourism industry here and such monuments are the best means to do that. Syunik is almost not studied and is very rich in historical monuments,” Cherry says. “If it continues this way many ancient settlements may be destroyed without being studied.”

[hyedgha15]

You ask where are the Tashnags of the past. Thats exactly it the PAST. We have forgotten who we are, and so have forgotten what we have done and accomplished. With all the bashing that goes on these days, you see everyone has been turned off by what a couple of ignorant people say or do. The tashnags of the past might be dead but they are not forgotten as long as I am concerned. Their sacrafice is highly respected as well, it is up to us the youth to come together and read the same book the same way, not upisde down or turn pages with out finishing it first. Armenian will change, the people will change, we will change, but it is up to us to make sure that change is for good and not for worse. Remember the past, after all you like it or not we are a Heghapoghagan people, we do revolt, and this is when we have done our best, that is what got our freedom in the first place. Revolution is the only way, find a common language with action and attacks, not by political means. Even the Catholicos said
"Violence is Evil.....but sometimes is necessary to restore justice"
-His Holiness Aram I Catholicos of The Great House of Cilicia

[Anonymouse]

This is beyond political labels. Tashnag, Ramgavar, whatever, they are all phucking asswholes as far as I'm concerned and phuck all of them. Every last one of those politician phucks need to be tied up and covered with fire ants and then hanged.

This is similar to a June ruling in America regarding Eminent Domain, in Kelo vs The City of New London. Eminent Domain is the worst form of property theft the state engages in, and this is true for all governments. These people are simply thrown asunder for not accepting government fiat to move out? Phuck the government. Democracy, blah blah blah, the people rule, blah blah voting, blah blah blah. When will people phucking realize that the government is not ever run by the people, no matter where? The differences are in degrees.

And people wonder why Armenia is a shyt hole, why it is experiencing a population implosion, why Armenians are marrying odars abroad, why people are emigrating. It's because of the politico-mafioso-government criminals that rule that country. It's because of a government that for all the blather of "Azat ankakh Hayastan" is still trapped in its vainglory of love of State, which no doubt is left from its 70+ years of Soviet rule.

Either way, this is horrible news. Even the lawyer who tried to represent the families was jailed by the government. What kind of stupid country is that? At this rate, Armenia won't exist in a century. And it certainly helps prove the adage true that with supposed friends like this, who needs enemies like Turks?

[axel]

realize that the government is not ever run by the people, no matter where?

You would probably enjoy reading this (if you haven't already)

why Armenians are marrying odars abroad...
...It's because of the politico-mafioso-government criminals that rule that country

This is a bit of an exaggeration...