Beritan, Alagyaz
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
