Life in Armenia

[Mos]

Re: Life in Armenia

They live in the same medieval world that you live in.

ah right, since I don't have the same values as a ultra-liberal, secularist, I'm living in a medieval world...

[Haykakan]

Re: Life in Armenia

Nah man your living in the muslim world.

ah right, since I don't have the same values as a ultra-liberal, secularist, I'm living in a medieval world...

[Artashes]

Re: Life in Armenia

What sort of medieval world do these people live in?

Aleta says she has no complaints ...her husband respects her, listens to her opinions, and she can even leave the house on her own and buy the clothes she wants.

19 year-old Astghik ...could only leave the house with her father's permission. "I've had six abortions. Once I drank some medicine and had complications".

VERIN GETASHEN: VILLAGE WOMEN NOW VOICE THEIR CONCERNS RE: MALE/FEMALE DIVIDE
Mariam Mughdusyan

http://hetq.am/eng/articles/21614/verin-getashen-village-women-now-voice-their-concerns-re-male/female-divide.html

14:37, December 17, 2012

A crowd had gathered in the mayor's office of the Gegharkouniq village
of Verin Getashen.

When they found out that I was a reporter, one resident exclaimed,
"Write about the potatoes. We grow them but can't sell them. We're
living on potatoes and animal raising her. Today, they banned meat,
tomorrow potatoes..."

It's true. The village lives on the growing of potatoes and farming
in general. Residents say that in recent years, say residents,
potato farming has become less and less profitable. They point to
big business as the culprit.

Residents told me that in the past they would grow their crops and
sell the produce here and there. Now, with the advent of large-scale
farming, with MPs and other officials owning thousands of acres of
land, the little guys are being squeezed out of the market.

Village financial advisor Mourad Mouradyan argues that there is no
local planning. It's everyone for themselves. Villagers grow potatoes
and then sell them to resellers at 50-60 AMD per kilo. The resellers
turn around and sell the crop to end-line consumers for 150.

Mouradyan says the lot of villagers is getting increasingly hard and
that hunger stalks Armenia's rural communities.

"My poor daughter-in-law had to grow potatoes while she was pregnant,
just to have a bit of money. Today, the crop isn't being sold. The
common people are to be pitied."

Village residents complain that the Ministry of Agriculture implements
projects to improve the crop but has nothing to offer in terms of
selling it.

When I tell Mourad that I came across some nice houses in the village,
the financial advisor argues that it's because so many young people
have left for seasonal work in Russia. When they return to Verin
Getashen they use the money to renovate.

Mourad's sons also travel every year to Russia for work, mainly
in construction.

Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told me that he liked
President Sargsyan's foreign policy because it fostered good ties
with Russia. Sargsyan's domestic policy, according to the villager,
was non-existent.

"If it wasn't for the Russians, we'd starve. We are big backers
of Putin and Medvedev. Those who feed and keep us, they are our
presidents," he said.

The official population of the village is 5,026 but Municipal Chief of
Staff Martin Mkhitaryan says the real figure is more like 4,000. Local
residents confess that less than that actually live in the village.

Mouradyan told me that 1,400 left for seasonal work in 2011 and the
figure rose to 1,800 this year. He said that some find work abroad
and then come back to take their families as well.

You won't see many men in the village during the summer - it's mostly
women, children and the elderly.

"Young men get married and bring their wives home for their parents
to take care of. The new husbands leave a month or so after getting
married. They'll come home once a year for the holidays and then
they'll go back," explained Mouradyan.

One woman I met, I'll call her Aleta, said her husband had been away
for years working abroad. She cannot leave and visit him since she
has the responsibility of taking care of his parents.

Aleta says she has no complaints - her husband respects her, listens
to her opinions, and she can even leave the house on her own and buy
the clothes she wants. That's a big luxury for some village women.

Astghik is the 19 year-old daughter of Seda. Like most of the young
girls in the village she doesn't work and didn't continue her education
after finishing high school. She spends her time watching TV serials
in the village cultural center.

The day I visited the village, there was a wedding. Astghik could
only leave the house with her father's permission.

I was told that artificial abortions are common place in the village,
frequently performed at home.

"I've had six abortions. Once I drank some medicine and had
complications. My life was barely saved. I had to have the abortion.

They raised a ruckus because I wasn't giving birth to a son,"
says Ankin.

Seda complains that women work like men but that they get no respect.

It's not right. We work just like them. When they return, we get all
the blame because certain things in the home aren't to their liking."

Village women told me that in years past, they couldn't even think
about such issues, let alone express them as they do today.

"This morning my husband and I went to the cattle shed to look after
the animals. When we returned home, he told e to fix him breakfast. It
only took me ten minutes to change and cook him something. He got
angry and left without eating. But we both work. He has feet and
hands. Why can't he fix a meal once and awhile?" recounts Asya.

As we were conversing, her husband Viken enters the house. He hears
what Asya is saying and hits the roof. We quickly change the topic of
conversation to the weather. (I dare not tell him that I am a reporter,
just a friend of so and so)

Viken sits by the stove and all at once remembers the incident of the
late breakfast. He picks up a file by the stove and throws it at his
wife, hitting her in the eye.

P.S. For a long time after witnessing this, I couldn't write a thing.

But as I left the village Asya told me, "Write what you saw. Let them
understand that one day women will say enough is enough. I might not
see that day, but it will surely come."

(The names of local residents have been changed for obvious reasons)

All the posts below (whether they had merit or not) changed and redirected from the --- glaring --- assault , and all that means.
We ,as a nation have many pressing issues of great import, while simultaneously many pressures from all sides.
I don't think it can be done without diaspora and those that remain coming together in a more "tuned" flow.
I think we as a people that women's legitimate complaint --- AND ASSAULT.
How do we come together on such a simple understanding?
Could any man have just stood around and watched another man through --- A FILE --- at a women???
The world is full of such stories, the world is full of DISTGUSTING stories.
Artashes

[londontsi]

Re: Life in Armenia

in the newly released study, Armenia has improved 24 places in the global corruption perception index

We have moved from 129 in the world to 105
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results

This is like saying instead of being up to our waist in shi.t we are up to our knees in shi.t

[Artashes]

Re: Life in Armenia

This is like saying instead of being up to our waist in shi.t we are up to our knees in shi.t

A funny analysis . Also some truth to it.
Having had to wade threw chest high shxt, striving to get to knee deep shxt on my way to getting out of shxt, I can tell you of my satisfaction of arriving at the knee deep level and how it inspired me to keep driving towards the ankle deep level.
When I got to the ankle deep level, I thought to myself -- your heading in the right direction -- keep trucking.
Artashes

[Eddo211]

Re: Life in Armenia

lol guys

[Artashes]

Re: Life in Armenia

lol guys

Yes, Londontsi and I were talking shxt.

[londontsi]

Re: Life in Armenia

Yes, Londontsi and I were talking shxt.

Not if you are a mathematician !!!

[Artashes]

Re: Life in Armenia

Not if you are a mathematician !!!

First Yoda, and now you.
I stand corrected.
I do think we are headed in the right direction though.
If the numbers would have gotten bigger instead of smaller that would've been shxtty(I did the math).
Artashes

[Haykakan]

Re: Life in Armenia

Here is another discusting story. It is not in Armenia but is clearly the result of hetamnatsutiun.


Indian Rape Victim Commits Suicide After Police Pressure to Marry Attacker








In India, a 17-year-old girl who was gang-raped has committed suicide after being pressured by police to drop the case and marry one of her attackers. The girl’s death comes amidst growing national outrage over a spate of gang rapes ignored by India’s police, including one on a public bus in Delhi. On Thursday, protests against rape in India continued nationwide.


Protester: "It is completely sad on the part of the government actually, since they are doing nothing about the innumerable rape incidents which are happening around us. And the crass comments that are being passed, especially by family members from respected MLAs (legislators), and they themselves being representatives of political parties, is unacceptable, and we’re completely infuriated."

According to India’s national crime registry, one woman is raped every 20 minutes in India.