Writing for Eurasianet, RFE/RL’s Emil Danielyan says that reports of avian bird flu in neighboring Turkey is causing some alarm in Armenia. In recent days, the Armenian government has already announced that it is introducing emergency measures to prevent the risk of the infection emerging here.

President Robert Kocharian held an emergency meeting with senior government officials on January 9 following last week’s death of three Turkish children from a village located less than 60 kilometers from the Armenian border. The children reportedly died after playing with chickens infected with the H5N1 virus. It was the first case of the disease transmitted from birds to humans outside of East Asia. Turkish health authorities have since confirmed at least 14 bird flu cases, most of them in the country’s eastern regions close to Armenia.

The Armenian government already set up an inter-ministerial task force in November in response to similar outbreaks of the disease in Russia, Turkey and Eastern Europe late last year. The potential for a grave crisis in Turkey has led the task force to step up its activities. Its deputy chief, Grigor Baghian, is holding news briefings on a virtually daily basis to inform Armenians about steps taken by the government and to give relevant advice. “In terms of avian influenza prophylactics, we are doing everything that is being done around the world,” he assured reporters on January 11.

Although the border with Turkey has been closed for well over a decade because of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, most realize that this is not reason enough for complacency. There is still trade with Turkey via Iran and Georgia — both of which also face the risk of the virus spreading and have open borders with Armenia.

The virus can also be easily transmitted by migrating wild birds. Hunting for the birds is now illegal in Armenia, and villagers have been urged to notify the authorities about any bird carcass or sick bird found. The government has set aside 50 million drams ($110,000) for vaccination of poultry in rural areas. Also, Armenian medical officials have been instructed to examine every person arriving from Turkey, while veterinary teams have been deployed at border crossings to spray disinfectant on all vehicles entering Armenia from Georgia and Iran. In addition, the Armenian authorities have broadened a partial ban on imports of poultry products that was imposed last October.

In contrast, however, Georgia is spending $1.5 million on preventative measures “including the publication of books outlining preventive measures “in plain language” and the preparation of lessons on avian flu for school children.” Meanwhile, as reported on this blog earlier in the week, the European Union is not taking any chances and will ban the import of untreated feathers as well as poultry from Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The U.S. Embassy has already issued a warning to its citizens living in Armenia to stay away from live poultry farms, and residents of all three republics in the South Caucasus now have to undergo medical checkups when visiting southern Russia.