Armenia

Tuberculosis Dispensary, Abovian, Kotayk Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

When Nessuna over at di cavoli di re mentioned that she was going to be visiting some children at the Tuberculosis Dispensary in Abovian and asked if I would like to accompany her, I jumped at the chance to see inside the country’s main treatment center for the disease. I’m hoping that Nessuna will blog about her visit later, and when she does, I’ll change this post and quote from her, but until then, just to say that the problem of tuberculosis in Armenia is a real one.

The disease is pretty much linked to living conditions and poverty although it is believed that many more people carry the disease in a passive form.

Tuberculosis is one of the most deadly and common major infectious diseases today. As of 2004, 14.6 million people have active TB disease with nine million new cases of the disease and nearly two million deaths, [1] mostly in developing countries. However, developed countries are not spared the burden of tuberculosis. There is a rising number of people in the developed world who contract tuberculosis because they have compromised immune systems, typically as a result of immunosupressive drugs or HIV/AIDS. These people are at particular risk of tuberculosis infection and active tuberculosis disease.

Most of those infected (90%) have asymptomatic latent TB infection (LTBI). There is a 10% lifetime chance that LTBI will progress to TB disease which, if left untreated, will kill more than 50% of its victims. TB is one of the top four infectious killing diseases in the world: TB kills 1.7 million, and malaria kills 2-3 million.

HIV/AIDS, the neglect of TB control programs, and immigration have caused a resurgence of tuberculosis. Multiple drug resistant strains of TB (MDR-TB) and Extreme Drug-Resistance in Tuberculosis (XDR-TB) are emerging. The World Health Organization declared TB a global health emergency in 1993, and the Stop TB Partnership proposed a Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis which aims to save an additional 14 million lives between 2006 and 2015.

Unfortunately, nobody knows how many people fall victim to tuberculosis in Armenia, but there are very definite concerns, and not not least with regards to Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) TB. The French Wing of Medecins Sans Frontieres have responded to these fears by launching a programme to tackle the problem of MDR TB in Abovian and Yerevan since 2005.

MSF will also rehabilitate and re-equip special laboratories and ambulatory rooms in polyclinics situated in the Malatia-Sebastia ( Bangladesh ) and Shengavit districts of Yerevan as well as diagnostic departments in two tuberculosis dispensaries. A special department for the treatment of MDR Tuberculosis will be established jointly with the Ministry of Health in the Republican Tuberculosis Dispensary situated in Abovian.

Additionally, during this new four year programme that is scheduled to run until 2008, MSF will provide specialized training for medical personal. After construction and rehabilitation work is complete, MSF anticipates treating the first patients in February or March next year. Social and psychological support for patients and their families will also be provided as part of the programme.

According to the Ministry of Health there are 6,000 cases of Tuberculosis in Armenia but the actual number is thought to be much higher. As a result, Christian Ferrier, the current Head of Mission for MSF (France) says that a survey will also be conducted during 2005 to form a clearer picture of the problem.

[…]

“In resource-poor countries like Armenia it is impossible to cure people infected with multi-resistant tuberculosis. That is why we have decided to embark on the implementation of this program,” Ferrier told journalists present at the press conference.

Ishkan, Kharberd, Ararat Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2004

Today’s visit wasn’t the first time I’ve encountered TB in Armenia and it probably won’t be the last. In 2004 I took Edik Baghdasarian, Editor-in-Chief of Hetq Online, to meet one sufferer in Kharberd, a village situated literally a few minutes outside of Yerevan. At that time, Ishkan wanted his identity kept secret and so Edik used a pseudonym, but doctors at the Abovian dispensary found out and apparently threatened him for telling Hetq that drugs that should be available free of charge, as dictated by the law, were instead being sold to patients.

If I buy medicine it will cost me 4,000 drams a day. Just figure out how much that comes to per year. How am I supposed to pay for it? I had a beat up old car; I sold it. I’m missing one lung, and I only have half of the other one left. What should I do? I just have to bear it for a few months and then die,” Aram said, hopelessly. He also told us about what really goes on at the Abovyan T.B. Hospital . Even there, Aram was unable to get the medicine that was supposed to be his free of charge. “They would sign the medicine out in my name and then sell it to me. If only they had the conscience to charge me 400 drams instead of 800.”

[…]

After receiving his treatment at the hospital, Aram ’s condition improved. To pay for it, Aram sold his old car, and his sister sold her two piglets. Now they have no more money, and no possibility for further treatment. “When I receive treatment I feel better. If I continue it will help, but how can I continue?” Aram Martirosyan asked.

Now, Ishkan’s anonymity is unimportant because he died from the disease soon afterwards. The same year I also took a visiting academic from the Diaspora, Asbed Kotchikian, and RFE/RL’s Emil Danielyan to a run-down hostel in the Erebuni District of the Armenian capital where we ran into another sufferer. Emil wrote a story on the woman and even managed to get her medical treatment.

A single woman facing starvation in a rundown residential complex in Yerevan has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and hospitalized by medical authorities after they were alerted by RFE/RL.

Zarik Hakobian, 44, is one of several hundred low-income residents of a former factory hostel in the city’s southern Erebuni district reduced to a slum dwelling after years of government neglect and indifference. She shares its damp and disease-prone ground floor with about a dozen families mired in extreme poverty.

They said last week they have long suspected that Hakobian, a white-haired skeletal woman who looks much older, is suffering from TB. Their fears were borne out by doctors from a local policlinic who visited and examined her several days later, following an instruction from the health care department of the Yerevan municipality.

The head of the policlinic, Marieta Andreasian, told RFE/RL that Hakobian was taken to a special tuberculosis clinic in Abovian, a town north of Yerevan, early on Monday. She said all of the woman’s neighbors, among them small children, will now be checked for symptoms of the potentially deadly disease which has spread dramatically in Armenia in recent years.

Andreasian confirmed that poor living conditions and a lack of sanitation were the main cause of the TB infection. “Tuberculosis is a social disease that results from poverty,” she said.

For reasons still unknown, Zarik Hakobian didn’t stay long at the Abovian Dispensary and was back at the hostel a few days later. She died less than a month after that.

Zarik Hakobian, Erebuni, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2004

Still, to end on a brighter note, conditions at the Abovian TB Dispensary were not as bad as I was expecting and the children were being treated free of charge although parents were of course expected to supply food for their kids and to provide round the clock attention. However, this is unfortunately the norm for Armenia’s under-financed health sector.

Alagyaz, Aragatsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Earlier today Hasmik and I met with an amazing woman in Alagyaz. Actually, I met her for the first time last year when I made a surprise visit to the Kurdish Cultural Center in the village. There I discovered a Yezidi woman, Beritan, who almost single-handedly ran the center and had even opened a medical room given that the Armenian government had failed to do so. Apparently, the medical post is the only one to serve the population of 7 or 8 Yezidi and 11 Armenian villages nearby.

Interestingly, despite UNICEF telling me that there is now no problem with the immunization of children in Armenia, Beritan receives no assistance from the appropiate structures and has even had to supply vaccines on her own. She also takes upon herself the role of dentist, as one beautiful red-haired Yezidi girl illustrated today. She was a real trooper and didn’t cry once despite having many teeth pulled.

Alagyaz, Aragatsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Anyway, another interesting thing about Beritan is that in addition to running the cultural center and acting as the only doctor and dentist for nearly twenty Armenian and Yezidi villages close by is that she also served as a doctor for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Facinating woman, and Hasmik will have more on her in Hetq Online sometime in the future. Plus, of course, there will be more photos posted from Alagyaz later in the day.

Alagyaz, Aragatsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

© Beritan

State Medical University, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Nayaar? has posted an update on yesterday’s meeting held at Yerevan’s State Medical University (YSMU). The meeting was agreed upon by six representatives of Indian students in Armenia and YSMU’s Rector.

The attendance in the meeting turned out to be approximately 350 students. The students spoke among themselves first clarifying all what had been discussed with the rector earlier that day and on April 23rd.The dean arrived later, along with the pro-rector only to blame us of playing with her honesty. She spoke of what she did at that moment, telling us that she was stunned and could do nothing because the boy’s state was already out of reach. All I still want to ask her is why at that moement, didnot even stoop down for a second to check his pulse and ensure us standing around that he was alive.

It was meant to be attended by representatives of the mass media in Armenia, but only myself and two journalists from Haykakan Zhamanak and Aravot newspapers were there. However, I had to fight to be allowed in after YSMU showed no interest in recognizing my Hetq press pass. I rang Edik Baghdasarian and spoke loudly so I could be overheard about lodging a complaint with the Yerevan Press Club for refusing to allow me into what was agreed to be a press conference. This worked and I was finally allowed in.

Even when I was in, however, the same people on security detail again tried to find a problem with my press pass and reason to remove me from the premises, so this time I told them to ring the Ministry of Justice. That seemed to work, and all seemed to be going smoothly although it quickly became evident why YSMU didn’t want journalists in attendance in reality. The ambulance had been late contrary to other reports that have been circulating in the pro-government press, and I have it all recorded.

There are many more details about the meeting with journalists and the media that should be told, but that can be for a later article by Hetq Online’s Hasmik Hovhannisyan who will now be investigating the circumstances of Prashant Anchalia’s death and the events that followed it. For now, however, it has to be noted that YSMU’s Dean, Anna Sarkisyan, either looked shell-shocked and embattled because of the past week or the fact that she now has to account for herself in front of a bunch of students.

To be honest, it was hard to tell whether she was upset, angry or simply acting. She certainly behaved irrationally had to have the microphone taken away from her by the Pro Rector, a man synomous with provocation and confrontation, to avoid angering the students.

Nevertheless, all appeared to be going so smoothly until suddenly, the Pro Rector Yervandt Sahakyan turned and behaved in a way that was both totally unpredictable and unwarranted. After saying that the Rector was too busy to come now — despite agreeing upon the time and place for the meeting with students on Saturday as past of a last minute deal to get them off the streets — Sahakyan then asked journalists to leave from a meeting that the Rector had promised to allow the media to attend. Nanyaar? has more.

The students, when asked for the rector to come. They first replied by saying that she was in a very important meeting, next the pro-rector telling us that she would be there any moment. It was like they were making excuses for her delay. Finally the pro-rector tells us that the meeting will not take place if the Media person’s remain inside. For which the students reply that they want them to be there. What was their fear if nothing was there to hide? The media persons, including Onnik were asked to move out.

Students requested that we stay, and not least because that had what had been agreed upon. However, Sahakyan became confrontational and declared the meeting was over. Myself and the two other journalists left only to be surrounded by a group of men outside the meeting hall. Intimidating was the only word that could used to describe them, although Sahakyan now started to play the concerned and amiable official with the two female journalists. We can talk with him later, we’ll be allowed in later and why not sit in a room and drink coffee while we wait.

The journalists from the two other papers sttod their ground but were later moved into a private room. At one stage a large bulky many was physically pushing them into it, but not before I asked Sahakyan’s translator and right-hand man (pictured in the bottom photograph speaking) if YSMU was now breaking its agreement to allow representatives of the press to attend. He told me he was too busy and I said I’d take that as refusal to answer a very simple question. He responded that he reserved his right to take the fifth amendment of the constitution.

It’s a pity he doesn’t know which country he’s in and the fact that taking the fifth is usually reserved for court cases in the United States. Anyway, it quickly became obvious that the Rector of YSMU, Gohar Khalyan, had lied to both the students and the media. Incidently, Khalyan is the wife of the main owner of the H2 TV station — ironically absent from proceedings — and President Kocharian’s Head of Staff, Armen Gevorgyan (AKA Armenchik), is also one of H2 majority shareholders and it because of these links that Khalyan is believed to have been recently elected.

The Armenian Deck of 52 has more on Armenchik and it is the husband of the Rector’s business relationship with him that means that his wife can get away with pretty much anything she pleases.

According to “Iravunk,” the newly appointed chief of President Robert Kocharian’s staff, Armen Gevorgian, is one of those “gray cardinals.” The paper says Gevorgian already had “enormous shadowy influence” on Kocharian before the appointment. “Not only is he the main gate-keeper for information reaching the president, but also the individual who decides when one or another politician or official will get to talk to Robert Kocharian. He is also notorious for his extremely strict censorship of TV air. In addition, Armen Gevorgian controls numerous businesses and economic levers. Construction of luxury housing in central Yerevan, which has been accompanied by forced evictions of the local population, is mainly associated with his name.”

Anyway, once the charade was over and the Indian students walked out, YSMU rudely told us to get lost even though they had requested that we sit down in a private room, relax and drink coffee. One of the main people in what was effectively a thuggish security detail wore the pin of Prime Minister Andranik Markarian’s Republican Party. No surprise there as Yerevan’s State Universities are controlled by the main party member of the current coalition government. Incidently, Nessuna was present in the last dying stages of the meeting when journalists were evicted.

What happened after they made the media leave is the following. After about 15 minutes, the guy was who translating, come back saying the rector won’t come down because the media is standing behind the door, which does not count as leaving. Bullshit, the media was not standing behind the door, the media was pushed in a separate room and was hold there. And by the way, the rector did promise a press conference with media present. She broke her promise, yesterday, TWICE.

Anyway, YSMU effectively lied to the students and those media representatives that could be bothered to attend, but it has to be said that it was at least a fascinating insight into the workings of the main State Univerisites in Armenia. Simply put, they are draconian, undemocratic and intimidating structures, and I’d even go so far as to say this is reason enough for all international and Diasporan organizations to cut off any financial support immediately. This University reeks of Soviet era repression.

State Medical University, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Nanyaar? has posted excerpts from an Indian news report now that the body of Prashant Anchalia, the Indian student who died last week in Yerevan, has arrived back home. It’s a relatively short piece so I’m including it in full.

Body arrives from Armenia

Statesman News Service

SILIGURI, April 23: Shell-shocked family members received the body of Prashant Anchalia, who died on Thursday after apparently falling from the sixth floor of the Yerevan State Medical University’s hostel in Armenia, at Bagdogra airport around 1.30 pm today.

A pall of gloom descended on the town as Prashant’s body reached his residence at Church Road here from Bagdogra airport. A large number of people had gathered outside the residence of the Anchalias to bid adieu to Prashant, whom they used to know as a brilliant student, who he died in mysterious circumstances in Armenia.

Incidently, Hetq Online journalist Hasmik Hovhannisyan tells me that she’s heard reports that Anchalia’s relatives have already protested outside the Armenian Embassy in India.

Puja Goel, who too hails from Siliguri and studies at YSMU in Armenia, and Abhishek, Prashant’s friend, accompanied the body as it reached Siliguri from Armenia, via New Delhi.

The duo was so shocked with the death of their friend that they could not even speak to the media. Later in the evening, they narrated the entire incident, and the lackadaisical attitude of the YSMU authorities, to the victim’s family members. The grief-stricken family members of Prashant, after hearing the duo, alleged that Prashant was murdered.

“We demand a high-level inquiry into the circumstances that led to Prashant’s death,” Mr Pankaj Anchalia, the victim’s elder brother, said. Puja and Abhishek, eyewitnesses of the incident, alleged that they wanted to give their friend first aid but policemen and the medical department dean of YSMU, Ms Anna Sargsayn, didn’t allow them, saying that they must wait for an ambulance.

The ambulance arrived in 50 minutes without any doctor, the necessary medicine and oxygen. The Indian students approached the YSMU’s newly appointed rector, Mr Gohar Kjalyan, but the latter insulted them, instead of offering help.

Mr Pankaj Anchalia said what they heard from Puja and Abhishek was unfortunate. “Either the CBI or the Interpol should probe the incident,” he demanded. Mr Anchalia also lashed out at the Prime Minister’s Office for not responding to their fax message.

“The Government of India should have helped us bring the body from Armenia. But they did not. Had the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr Somnath Chatterjee, not intervened, the body would not have reached Siliguri today,” he said. “Mr Somnath Chatterjee had contacted the Indian amabassador in Armenia, Mrs Reena Pandey, and instructed her to extend all possible help to us. He also sent his condolences to us,” Mr Anchalia added.

Zarchka at Life Around Me also has more on yesterday’s peaceful protest by Indian and other foreign students here.

Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

By LoonyMoony

Just a quick note on the Indians protest still going on. On Saturday the students walked to Republic square to hold a peaceful demonstration there. The Police and Red Berets were again there and looked pretty much tired. They were really surprised by the persistence of the Indians and other international students in attendance.

The Indian students said that they will stay here until evening, and if necessary would be back tomorrow, the day after that and every day until the rector resigns although they seemed less confident than two days ago, as well as slightly confused and disorganized. Now, on the question of what they will do then if it doesn’t work,” their response is that they don’t know. “We’ll see,” is the most frequent reply.

However, many students prefered to stay in their rooms instead of coming out to protest. Perhaps they had lost hope.

Media

Around two hundred people gathered on the Republic Square in the center of Yerevan and yet no representatives of the mass media were interested in what was going on there. Some expressed the opinion they were absent because didn’t know about the event. However, they were very well informed. They just didn’t care.

Well, in fact some journalists were there. There’s probably no need to mention Onnik as he came to the demonstration even earlier than most of the Indians, but there was a a journalist from Armenian National TV’s Haylur who was just passing by with a cameraman and stopped for five minutes.

A freelance photographer was there for some time as well, along with a Turkish journalist from “Zaman.” He had already interviewed the Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian and found himself on the Square by chance.

Zaman journalist, Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Of course, he did not miss the opportunity to get another story for his newspaper. Ridiculous. The article will probably come out on Monday, April 24. Meanwhile, some of the Indians believe that as soon as the body will reach India (at 3 am on Sunday) all the main Indian media outlets will report on it and that hopefully it will reach their government who will push the Indian Embassy in Armenia to care more about Indian student issues.

Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

The students are disappointed with their embassy as much as with the University Administration. In fact, an Indian newspaper writes that the parents of Prashant Anchali, the dead guy, have written to the Indian President and Prime Minister asking them to intervene.

Indian students’ thoughts on the University administration

I kept asking the students what they meant when they said that the dean did not allow them to touch Prashant to provide the emergency aid to him while he was alive. “Why did you obey her?” I asked. “She said that you are not supposed to touch a person in this condition. If you touch him and something happens you will be responsible for his death,” they replied.

Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Well, the students were shocked, horrified, confused, and perhaps this is the reason why they did not try to at least stop the bleeding. However, the students are of the opinion that she is not that good doctor and she didn’t know what to do herself. Perhaps she was scared of doing something wrong. By the way, her nickname among students is “Paracetamol,” because it is her favourite medicine for every illness.

As for the rector I got the impression that she is pretty well known and infamous among the Armenians. “She is too young to be a rector. Her husband is mafia and that’s why she got her position” is what locals told the Indians and they agreed.

Supporters

I was glad to see many Armenians supporting the Indians today. People would stop and read what was written on the posters the Indians were holding. “Our friend’s soul is crying and demands justice,” “We are against the University administration and not the Armenian nation…”

Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Although the majority of Armenians weren’t optimistic that they could achieve their objectives, they at least advised the students to carry on. Perhaps they will manage to change people’s mentality here.

There was also an Armenian woman who gathered local kids around her and told them the story of what happened emotionally and full of anger, although she pretty much exaggerated.

And when an Iranian woman passed the demonstration with an Iranian man and an American Armenian it started raining heavily. However, the Indian students did not move even then and the woman came back with a box. The students found several umbrellas in it.

Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Some passerbys who asked why the students were protesting became really furious and suggested that the students go and hang or burn the rector. It was up to them to choose. There were even supporters among the Police. More precisely, I found two.

What the students achieved

The pro rector came to the demonstrators in the evening and told them to choose six people to send them to the Medical University to talk to the rector. They returned in three hours. This time Gohar Kyalyan, the rector had apologized 10 times (I remembered my kindergarten), and gave them a letter signed by her own hand.

Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

It was addressed to the dead guy’s family, but was a common piece of paper saying how everybody loved him, what a great specialist he would have become, how sorry the institute was for his death, and that they will do their best to investigate the case fully. There was also an offer to gather in the Uni on Tuesday at 4:00 pm to to hold some kind of press conference.

Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

After reading the letter and discussing this, the Indian students dispersed at around 9 pm, but only after saying how grateful they were to all those Armenians and others who had come to support them. Well fellows, we are still here to support you. Hope it will help.

Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Abovian Street, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

By Nessuna

It is 4:00 at night, but I cannot sleep. It has been a long day too; I was participating at the demonstration organized by foreign students of the medical university of Armenia. Onnik, Zarchka, Hasmik and maybe a couple of more people were the only other Armenians who were there. However there was a large crowd of about 200-250 foreign students sitting in the middle of Republican square for seven solid hours.

Of course the police was there too. They actually sounded a bit too sympathetic convincing us to go home because it was cold.

State Medical University, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

It was raining heavily, but it seemed as though nothing could stop those young people to get their message to public – they wanted people guilty of medical negligence to be punished and for the rector of the university Gohar Khalyan resigned. At the end of the day at around 10:00 p.m. we had a letter from the rector expressing her condolences and her promise to give a press-conference on Tuesday, April 25.

If you ask me, that was not enough, and I really think the rector has got to go. The students did not look very happy too, but let’s see what is going to happen on Tuesday.

When I showed up at the back-yard of the Medical University today at 12:00, the crowd was just forming. The students agreed to gather there to decide on the further plan of action. The day when a student at the Medical University Prashant Anchalia died they wanted an explanation from the rector, Gohar Khalyan, as to why medical treatment was not provided to their friend.

That’s when she literally showed them a finger and called Indian girls prostitutes.

Later, when she was asked to apologize for her behavior, she said she did not do anything wrong, but if they want her to apologize she will do so. Sounds more like a big favor than an apology, really.

Apparently, her husband, Samvel Mayrapetyan, a big oligarch, is the owner of h2 TV channel, so she thinks she can get away with everything. When the students threatened they would boycott classes and eventually go back to India (hey, if nothing else, it means loosing 800 of your foreign students who pay tuition fees to the university), according to some, she made a comment “I am scared of no foreign dogs.”

At some point, when we were sitting on the benches and talking, the vice-rector of the Medical University walked towards the crowd of Indians students which was growing larger. By the way, he was the only official to approach the crowd during the whole day. “Just come inside the hall, you don’t need to gather here,” he said. “There was supposed to be a concert there, but I cancelled it for you. We can talk, you know.”

He sounded scared, I would say. Students showed no inclination of going inside.

“We organized everything so quickly and neatly (meaning sending the body to India), and you didn’t even thank us for that. Why do you have to see bad things only?” he continued.

“Maybe because there are more bad things that good ones,” I suggested. “Are you an Armenian?” he sounded surprised. “Yes, I am. And I am very ashamed of how my fellow citizens behaved,” I replied.

“Are you a student?”

“No.”

“Can I talk to you one on one later?”

“Sure,” I answered, “but that does not mean I cannot talk now.”

“What do you want exactly,” he asked the group of students.

“For the rector to resign,” I could not help saying.

“You keep quiet,” he snapped at me. “Do not talk now. You are not even a student of the Medical University.”

“Are you going to tell me when to talk and when to keep silent?! I am a citizen of Armenia, and I have a right to talk.”

He certainly could not object to that, so instead tried to convince the crowd to keep things quiet and go inside. The students were not impressed by his speech anyway, so he left, only to come back later with something more impressive. “It is clear to me now that it is not really the Indians’ fault. It is Armenians who provoke them. People are using you, don’t be a tool in other people’s hands,” he went on addressing the crowd.

To the question as why the few Armenians that were there need to provoke Indians to boycott the administration of the university, however, he did not answer.

Syrian Student, State Medical University, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

State Medical University, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

He ignored all my other questions as well, and showed no further interest in talking to me one-on-one anymore. I can understand the vice-rector being scared, as surely as I can understand students being furious, but what I can’t comprehend is the logic of some Armenian guys who Hasmik and I talked to after the demonstration. Apparently, they were wondering what was going on and Hasmik was telling them the story.

“You don’t love Armenia?” they asked her.

“If you punish your children when they do something wrong, it’s not because you don’t love them, is it?”

I was jealous of Hasmik managing to keep the tone of her voice down.
The guys went on talking without making much sense. At some point Hasmik looked at me and shrugged her shoulders, and I have to be honest and say that I heard this before. Demonstrations like this spoil the image of our country and achieve little. But, hey, this is the only way to achieve things, and maybe the image of the country does need to be spoiled a bit. Then again I don’t believe anything spoils the image of the country more than falsified elections.

If tomorrow an Armenian guy falls from the sixth floor of a building, I strongly doubt that his friends would be happy with ambulance being there 45 minutes later with no oxygen. Why is it so hard to understand then, that it is your civic duty to be in the streets next to Indian students, protesting? Why is that we Armenians are so good at talking, but when it comes to action nobody does anything?

Abovian Street, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

State Medical University, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Yesterday at 12 noon, Indian students gathered at Yerevan State Medical University to consider their plan of action after the death of a fellow coursemate and alleged racism from YSMU’s rector. What started as a trickle soon turned into a few hundred although by their own admission some Indian students did not attend. Afew foreign students were also in attendance, but not many. Insignificant in the larger group of Indian students, in fact.

The Vice-Rector (pictured below), however, did materialize and tried to forbid me from taking photographs. He also accused me of provoking the Indian Students, and asked me what country I was from. Probably he thought I was from the Middle East or something because he threatened to make a complaint to my Embassy. He soon shut up after I told him I was from England, but what was most evident was how a lack of media attention made guys such as him feel powerful and arrogant.

Interestingly, the Indian students said that they would support me in my work, especially as Hasmik and I were the only journalists properly covering this story. It was obvious that those in positions of authority rely on a weak media and civil society to get away with their own misconduct.

And really, apart from a few pieces of coverage of last week’s protest outside Parliament, the media has failed to do its job in Armenia. Hetq’s Hasmik Hovannisian and I were the only journalists to cover yesterday’s event with the exception of a film crew from state-controlled H1 and a photographer from Photolure. However, they stayed for only about 30 minutes when the Indian students organized a sit-in in Yerevan’s main Republic Square. By chance, a photojournalist from Turkey’s Zaman newspaper was also there.

Otherwise, no other media covered the event — a mass sit-in in the heart of the Armenian capital that lasted until 9-9.30pm. Still, a few bloggers were there. In addition to Indian blogger Nanyaar?, Zarchka from Life Around Me was there, as was Nessuna and a new blogger on my site, Loony Moony. They’ll post some accounts later, so perhaps in the case of this Indian protest, bloggers performed the role of citizen journalists while the rest of the media failed to perform its role.

Incidently, no other bloggers from Armenia appeared to be there although Garo (AKA Christian Garbis) from Notes from Hairenik did come down for a bit. Unfortunately, I missed the march of students to where the Indian student’s body was, but Nanyaar? captured that here. Great pictures, and again testimony to the fact that the so-called Armenian media is impotent and apathetic. Blogging in Armenia comes of age.

State Medical University, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

State Medical University, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Nanyaar? has posted an open letter from Indian students in Armenia detailing the events that led up to last week’s protest outside of Parliament and yesterday’s sit-in at Yerevan’s Republic Square.

This is to hereby inform that a tragic incidence of an Indian national’s death has taken place on April 20, 2006 at 1:00 pm in Yerevan Armenia .Which to eyewitnesses appears to be due to medical negligence. There were 4 eyewitnesses of Indian nationality and six witnesses of Armenian nationality and three witnesses of Syrian nationality. According to all Indian and Syrian national witnesses, the demised was alive and communicating, requesting help for at least 45 minutes and breathing his last. All the witnesses affirm that the ambulatory service arrived too late to help him in any form whatsoever. Following this unfortunate incident all Indian students demanded clarification for the Rector (equivalent to Vice Chancellor) but were given no satisfactory explanation.

Nayaar? also posts a list of demands from Indian students to the Armenian authorities. To be honest, I don’t think anyone can take exception to them, and if they are granted it can only be good for democracy in Armenia. It’s also nice to see that the students are also calling to account the representatives of their own government.

1. All explanations and clarifications should be given in written form

2. Satisfactory action to be taken against the responsible people

3. Apology by rector in written form for her misconduct

4. Explanations by embassy in written form for their misconduct

5. Provision for a medical store, dispensary with a qualified doctor & well equipped ambulatory service for 24hrs

If only Armenian youth, and citizens in general, could learn from this.

Indian Students Protesting outside Parliament, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

When Hetq Online contributor Hasmik Hovhannisyan and I met to discuss a first collaboration on a project of interest to both of us — Indians in Armenia — I don’t think that neither of us supposed that we’d be at a demonstration outside the Armenian National Assembly a month later. Indeed, it was probably as much a shock to Hasmik when she demonstration as is it was to me upon returning from Berd to find Garo (AKA Christian Garbis) from Notes from Hairenik icq-ing me the news.

The Artyom Reader has more on the circumstances behind the students death, as does RFE/RL. However, what has prompted this protest is the inefficiency of the Armenian emergency services, the beahviour of the police, and the attitude of Yerevan State Medical University’s Rector to all of these events. As a result, Hetq Online today published Hasmik’s report on yesterday’s demonstration by Indian students three days ahead of deadline.

I happened upon a huge crowd of Indian students walking up the Baghramyan Street. I thought it was one of their national holidays; they are always accompanied by processions and music. Well, I thought, the procession would be a great part of a new project, Indians in Armenia, that Hetq photographer Onnik Krikorian and I have launched recently.

But as soon as I approached, it became clear that the crowd gathering at the National Assembly building was not celebrating a festival at all; it looked more like a demonstration.

“What’s the gathering about?” I asked one of the students, expecting to hear some common Armenian university problem. ]

[…]

[…] a third year student at the Medical University, 21- year-old Prashant Anchalia fell out of a sixth floor window in Building #7 of the Zeytun Student Dormitory. How and why he fell are not yet clear. The students who rushed to him found him lying on the ground covered with blood, screaming in pain. They called an ambulance and their dean’s office.

Dean Anna Sarkisyan arrived fifteen minutes later. Although she is a doctor, she made no attempt to provide emergency aid to the student, and even forbade the other students to touch him or take him to hospital in a taxi, rather than wait for the ambulance, which was slow to arrive. Instead, she ordered them to wait for the police to get there.

The Police arrived and took some witnesses to the Kanaker Police Station for questioning.

The ambulance arrived some 45-50 minutes after the call. According to the students, it was in very poor condition and had no medical equipment, not even an oxygen mask.

On the way to the hospital, Prashant Anchalia died.

The students went to the Medical University and asked to meet with the rector, seeking an explanation for why their friend had been treated so negligently. The response of the newly- appointed rector, Gohar Kialyan, came as a shock. Out of the blue, she referred to Indian girls as prostitutes, and showed the students the middle fingers of both her hands, a gesture whose meaning is well known to even five-year old kids.

And this goes to the heart of the matter, I think. That the ambulance service was late is bad enough, but the arrogance and disregard for someone’s life is outrageous. The attitude of the police and others passing by is just the icing on the cake. In a nutshell, it sums up everything that is wrong with Armenia.

Several hundred students marched to the National Assembly, shouting, “Help, President!” and “We Want Justice!” They were immediately surrounded by the police, who forbade the students to move to the Presidential Palace, faces frozen in dumb indifference.

“Man, I was supposed to go get my tooth fixed today,” one of them yawned, as he glanced significantly at the pavement. All the police cared about was not letting the people cross the line between the pavement and the street. I tried to find compassion in anybody’s eyes, but in vain.

“What you want exactly? Tell me,” said a policeman, apparently of some high rank, not even bothering to wipe the ironical expression off his face.

“We demand that the rector resign.”

“Justice.”

“Let them act like human beings, not like nationalists.”

“If it had been an Armenian lying there, would he have been treated the same way?”

I heard it from all sides. They would ask and answer this question a hundred times within several hours, to the politicians who appeared from time to time, to the journalists, among whom there was no one from the National TV.

As sad as it sounds, others were sympathetic, but realistic in Armenian terms at least. On the other hand, the Indian students were impressive and I hope that young Armenians can learn a lesson or two. In my opinion, regardless of what some Armenians might think, I reckon that the Indians can force the Rector to resign. It will be even sooner if Armenians come out in support rather than remain stuck with the mentality of vochinch.

An elderly passer-by read their posters, which said in Armenian, “We do not need her apology, we need justice!” “Shame on the rector!” “The rector must resign!” Learning the story behind them, she said, “My dears, what you are doing makes no sense. She won’t go—don’t you know who her husband is?”

A young man shrugged his shoulders and said, “Guys, this kind of thing happens all the time. You’re not going to accomplish anything.”

[…]

Red berets appeared at the building of the Parliament, surrounding the crowd that was already surrounded by the police. As if the Indian students there were dangerous criminals.

A man in civilian clothes standing with the police looked at the crowd with frank surprise and asked, “There are more than a billion of them now, right? What they are fighting for, one more, one less?”

The one cause for optimism in the whole situation was that there were also few compassionate Armenians there – two young girls, two students from YSU who were with the Indians all that time and an old woman who, when she heard story, knelt down to the Indian girls, hugged them, and began to cry.

Hasmik’s full article can be read in English here, and in Armenian here.

Incidently Hasmik, great article. A pity that the first in our project had to be to cover such a distressing event, but one that is symbolic of many of the issues that need to be addressed in Armenia. Unfortunately, apart from Garo at Notes from Hairenik and Artyom at iArarat.com, the Armenian blogosphere remains silent which perhaps indicates that the issues are not just internal to Armenia. They also extend to most of the Diaspora.

Indian Students Protesting outside Parliament, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006