Unless there are any breaking news stories or events before 2007 is upon us, Oneworld Multimedia would like to wish all of its readers a Happy New Year. And while we reflect upon the year that’s passed and look forward to the next, RFE/RL’s journalists detail what they consider to be the main events of 2006. See you all again in 2007.

Last week I received an email from Asbed Bedrossian, the administrator of the Armenian News Network - Groong, about the recent death of 20-year-old Canadian-Armenian and her Syrian-Armenian relative from gas carbon monoxide poisoning in Yerevan. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first death of an Armenian from the Diaspora under such circumstances here, and just as tragically, dozens of others fall victim to what appear to be needless deaths each year.

For some, the reason is simply poverty, but for others it’s down to poor quality imported heaters and a lack of oversight during installation or inadequate ventilation. Interestingly, the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) touched upon these fatalities, the reason behind them, and the official response in an article, Armenia’s Inert Gas Service, last year.

Anyway, here’s the letter as forwarded to me by Asbed.

This an article about a tragic accident took the life of a young Armenian-Canadian girl, Seda Zarifian, Canadian citizen, and her cousin Vahan, a Syrian citizen, whose bodies were discovered on Friday, December 22 2006, around evening time poisoned by gas.

Her name and last name is SEDA ZARIFIAN, born in Canada 1986.

She was a student in Yerevan Conservatory Institute from Vancouver, BC, living in a rental apartment in Yerevan (on Apovian 21 building).

Seta first visited Armenia in year 2005 with CYMA (Canadian Youth Mission to Armenia) a project sponsored by the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church since 1993. In her hometown she was one of the vibrant and promising members of the choir of St. Vartan Armenian Apostolic Church of BC.

She became student in August of this year with a lot of enthusiasm and dreams. She just celebrated her 20th birth date.

Through this article we request the Yerevan authorities to take this matter very seriously and enforce landlords, when renting units or apartments to foreign students, to furnish the apartments with reliable heating system and other living furniture, accurate and dependable ventilation, fire exits, emergency ladders, smoke and specially gas alarm sensor or devices.

I believe the Yerevan authority must take in consideration the mandatory safety standards as priority, and from now on hold all landlords accountable, for the sake of our students or visitors and avoid in future tragedies like this.

Every human being is valuable individual for us, whether in Armenia or in Diaspora. And everyone must be accountable for her/his unforgivable actions and negligence.

We appreciate if you publish this article in your News Paper.

We all will remember her joyful smile.

God bless Seta’s and Vahan’s souls.

With respect.
A very concerned Armenian.

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The BBC reports that Saddam Hussein has finally been executed. To be honest, I had totally forgotten about him. Hard to say whether this is good or bad, but it’s ironic to read what Bush had to say about Hussein’s death. Right, democracy and executions. Not.

“It is a testament to the Iraqi people’s resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial.

“It is an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself, and be an ally in the War on Terror.”

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The Associated Press reports that there has been another arrest in what the National Security Service (NSS) allege was a plot to overthrow the Government. The news follows the earlier arrest of Lebanese-Armenian Zhirayr Sefilyan and local associate Vardan Malkhasyan.

Vaan Aronian was arrested at his home in the village of Lusatar in western Armenia, where security officers found weapons and ammunition including guns, grenade launchers and a shoulder-fired missile launcher, the National Security Service said in a statement.

It said the detention was linked to a probe that led to the arrest earlier this month of Zhirair Sefilian, a Lebanese citizen who heads the Association of Armenian Volunteers, and another activist of the group, Vadan Malkhasian.

The two are accused of plotting a coup, making public demands for the government’s ouster, and possessing illegal weapons — charges they have denied. A court in mid-December ordered them to be held in jail for two months as the investigation continues.

Members of the Association of Armenian Volunteers have said the arrests were part of an attempt by the authorities to stifle dissent in the run-up to parliamentary elections next year.

Looks like the parliamentary elections are going to be nothing short of interesting this time round. How interesting we’re only beginning to see, I suspect. Anyway, RFE/RL also carries the story.

Well, some good news for a change. While pro-democracy groups and the rest of us worry about the conduct of next May’s Parliamentary Elections, it seems as though we’re fretting over nothing. Today, for example, RFE/RL reports that the head of the Central Election Commission, Garegin Azarian, has ruled out the very idea of electoral fraud.

Unlike most other former Soviet Republics based on a system of corruption and nepotism, the Caucasian Armenian leopard is going to change it’s spots, Hoorah! Okay, so I’m being sarcastic. I don’t quite believe the news until I actually see it next year.

Garegin Azarian pointed to the enactment of fresh amendments to the Electoral Code and the CEC’s plans to put in place a computerized network which he said will allow for a more transparent and quicker counting and tabulation of votes.

The Armenian authorities say the amendments passed by the National Assembly this week will complicate ballot box stuffing and other forms of fraud that were commonplace during the previous parliamentary and presidential elections. In particular, voters will now have to put marked ballots into special envelops before casting them. Another amendment gives more rights to the proxies of election candidates as well as observers and journalists covering polling.

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Via iArarat, AP reports that Turkey is actually defending the rights of one of its citizens. Simple enough, but wait — the citizen is of Armenian descent and his rights were apparently violated in another neighbouring country — Azerbaijan.

ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey has asked its close ally Azerbaijan for information on the alleged mistreatment and expelling of a Turkish musician who is of Armenian descent, a Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday.

Murat Bedikyan — a pianist with Eurovision song contest winner Sertap Erener’s band — accused officials in Azerbaijan of mistreating him and unfairly ousting him from the country on arrival for a concert Dec. 19, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Bedikyan was forced to return to Istanbul and could not join his band. He insisted he was singled out and mistreated despite his Turkish citizenship, because he is a member of Turkey’s minority Armenian community.

Turkey had formally requested information on Bedikyan’s allegations from Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, according to a Turkish Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without prior authorization. A similar request had been made with the Azerbaijani Embassy in Ankara, the official said.

The full story is here.

Seems like online petitions in Armenian circles are becoming all the rage now. Via Bekaisa, for example, come another one after petitions to protest depopulation in the Kashatagh region and traffic accidents in Yerevan. This time, however, it’s a little bit different and is one of the few examples of dissident voices going online to demand change in Armenia.

The undersigned are intellectuals who have been subjected to political persecution in post-Soviet Armenia. Herewith, we would like to deliver our message to the communities of Armenia and Diaspora, national institutions, cultural organizations, political parties and state bodies, human rights organizations, writers’ unions around the world, as well as the democratic nations which have diplomatic relations with the Republic of Armenia (RA):

1) Armenia is one of those post-Soviet independent republics where tyranny keeps hardening tending to transform into dictatorship. The organized persecution of intellectuals, who dare expose and criticize the ruling junta’s criminal offenses and its large-scale theft of the national wealth, intensifies day after day.

2) The persecution is instructed by the self-declared ruling clan in active cooperation with various state and non-state institutions, including the National Security Administration, the RA Police, Yerevan’s municipal council, the RA Prosecutor’s Office, the Justice Ministry.

[…]

7) This is a time when the cornerstones of the motherland are laid for future generations, and the activities of such an irresponsible and immoral regime and the organizations supporting it may lead to irreversible consequences. Realizing the paramount importance of building a prosperous motherland and the urgency of preserving the achieved independence today, we address:

a) The Armenians all over the world to attend to the protection of free speech in the Republic of Armenia, as well as the Diaspora.

[..]

The petition is here, although I have to admit that I cringe everytime Armenians use the words “intellectuals” and “junta.” How can you take anyone or anything seriously with such pretentious words? However, the underlying message is clear, and it’s interesting to see musicians such as Gor Mkhitaryan sign this [symbolic] call to arms.

Artur, New Year’s Day, Specialized Children’s Home, Kharberd, Ararat Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2002

Via Tirami Su, Mikael Kazaryan of mkdotam and photoblog.am has a post about festivities recently held at the Specialized Children’s Home in Nor Kharberd on the outskirts of Yerevan. The post is in Russian, perhaps the lingua franca for local bloggers and forum participants in Armenia, but it’s probably about time to have some cyrillic on my site even if I have to feed it into an online translation service to understand.

о Харбердском детдомe // отчет

Дорогие друзья, в это воскресение, как и было сказано, кукольный театр поехал в Харбердский дет.дом, в котором проживают дети с умственными отклонениями. Сразу же должен сказать, что дет.дом оставил на меня очень светлое впечатление. В помещениях было светло, тепло и уютно. Детишки были нормально одеты, умыты и вообще чувствовалось, что за ними ухаживают, о них заботятся и любят. Кукольный театр отыграл “Три поросенка”, после представления Дед Мороз и Снегурочка пообщались с детьми: дети почитали стихи, попели песни, потанцевали, потом Дед Мороз загадывал загадки, а Снегурочка подсказывала отгадки, потому что вопросы были не по зубам даже взрослым. Не знаю какие грибы ел Дед Мороз когда придумывал эти загадки. В конце Дед Мороз и Снегурочка раздали ребяткам по пакетику “Снеговик” из Гранд Кенди и укатили в свой кукАльный театр. После чего мы (я, Андрон, Лекс, и Нелли (журн.из Аравота с которой все и началось)) пообщались с Ирой, которая уже 6 лет работает в Харбердском дет.доме и сейчас является старшей воспитательницей. В результате общения было в частности узнано, что в Харбердском дет.доме находится около 250 детей. На представлении было около 100 это обусловленно тем, что часть детей является лежачими больными и часть детей находится в таком состоянии, что они бы ни поняли ничего из происходящего (как эти множества пересекаются я не знаю). Было отмечено также, что подобные представления и прочие довольно частое явление, особенно под Новый Год и 1 июня (день защиты детей). Какой-то факультет филармонии каждый год приезжает туда с представлениями. Часто детей вывозят в город на представления в разные театры. Так же есть какие-то спонсоры, которые оплачивают вывоз детей на Севан летом. За это лето 70 детей отдохнули на Севане.

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A1 Plus reports that 2007 will be the year of swine. With parliamentary elections coming up in May, no kidding. Meanwhile, it also reports that Charles Aznavour was voted International Man of the Year by 593 citizens randomly called to take part in a poll. Man of the Year inside Armenia was none other than MP, oligarch, pseudo-philanthropist and feudal lord with regal ambitions, Gagik Tsarukian (AKA Dodi Gago).

As it’s technically 25 December as I type this, Oneworld Multimedia wishes all its readers a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year. Of course, Christmas is celebrated on 6 January here, but for those of you out there celebrating it today, I hope it’s a good one.

Homeless, Chamber Music Hall, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2005

Following on from running into a dead homeless person lying in the middle of the street on the way to kindergarten with my son last week, I ran into one that was thankfully breathing today. Actually, I’ve seen Samuel around my area for the past year now. Somewhat ironically, during the summer, he’s about the only person in this part of town that can be seen actually reading something in the nearby park now destroyed and infested by two tasteless cafes.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my previous post, many homeless don’t seem to want to go to the government-run homeless shelter situated in a really stupid and inaccessible place on or actually just outside the city limits. In most normal cities, homeless shelters are situated where the problem is most acute, especially when the police and social services don’t lift a finger to transport potential beneficiaries there.

Regardless, probably doesn’t matter as Samuel says he doesn’t need to go there. It’s not so cold yet and only his feet are freezing. That should make him feel better when his toes are amputated later, then.

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