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