While the Diaspora and nationalist parties turn their attention to the rise of ultra-nationalism in Turkey, increasing racially motivated violence against Armenians and other nationalities in Russia continues to be ignored even by those parties that say they will protest the killing of Armenians anywhere.

“The Armenian youth can never put up with the terrorist acts against any Armenian in any country. The murders of Gourgen Margaryan and Hrant Dink tell us one thing: Turkey is still not ready for constructive dialogue with Armenia”, said Abraham Gasparyan, member of “Nikol Aghbalyan” youth union.

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

Welcome to another round up of posts from the Armenian blogosphere, and this week is another of those rare occasions — a number of bloggers dealing with the same theme. Interestingly, this week that theme was racism and xenophobia, both at home and abroad.

To start the ball rolling, on Friday there was a demonstration staged outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yerevan to protest the deaths of ethnic Armenians in Russia. Akhtamar at Armyouth has an interesting post detailing her thoughts in the aftermath of the demo.

It seems as though there is SOME hope after all in regards to the youth and trying to make some changes in Armenia. While I had received some indifferent attitudes from youth who were simply passersby and refused to sign the letter, there were these young activists who stayed up until 5am the day before to make these posters.

There are times when I think that the young Armenian population is so cynical and they feel as though they do not belong to this society. “Ahh, what does it matter if I litter this bag, it’s not MY street anyway.” Or “this country has no future, the only thing I can do is leave” – these are things I hear practically everyday from so many young people. And this is a rather prevalent attitude throughout the country.

Yet there is a flipside to this as well. A small, warm and increasing movement of interested young people is seeking to take their future into their own hands. These are some of the activists you see in these photos. They see that what is happening in their country is not right and they want to do something about it.

This IS the hope for Armenia.

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

As mentioned in the last post, there was another demonstration staged in Yerevan to protest racist attacks on ethnic Armenians in Russia. The action followed a similar intiative staged outside the Russian Embassy in June and recent tragic news that a 15-year-old fell victim to skinheads in Moscow at the weekend.

Coincidently, a press conference was also held in Yerevan this week on the same issue. Armenia Now has more.

A teenage boy has become the latest casualty in a long-running series of crimes against Armenians (and other non-Russians) perpetrated by organized gangs believed to be inspired by fascist ideology.

Narek Kocharyan, 15, was beaten and stabbed to death in the settlement of Ivanteyevka in the Moscow region last Saturday (November 11).

“We believe this is an offense of special severity, doubtlessly, a group crime racially motivated,” said Simon Tsaturyan, the lawyer representing the Union of Armenians of Russia in an interview to Radio Liberty. Tsaturyan said a scarf “with fascist symbols” was found at the crime scene.

The teenager’s death brings to at least 14 race-related deaths, of which 6 were Armenian.

[…]

“One can’t state directly that the organizer of such murders and cruelties is the state. But noticeably the killings are sponsored by some structures,” says Avetik Ishkhanyan, the chairman of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia.

Hranush Kharatyan, the head of the agency for ethnic minorities and religious issues under the government of the Republic of Armenia charges that Russian authorities tolerate racism.

“The atmosphere in Russia is heated up now. The disclosure of the killings is either avoided or delayed. It’s a part of a political program,” says Kharatyan. “I doubt if letters, whether closed or open, or the meetings will help, if Russia has decided to exterminate Armenians. Racism is a very serious problem and it will not suffice with Armenians alone.”

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Suarassy, Kashatagh Region, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh / Armenian-controlled Republic of Azerbaijan © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

Tom de Waal, Caucasus Editor of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) and author of Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War, just rang up on the road from Stepanakert to Yerevan to arrange meeting up for a drink tonight before he shoots off to Tbilisi tomorrow.

Anyway, Tom also wanted to tell me that my article written for IWPR on depopulation in the Kashatagh region has been reprinted in Karabakh’s Demo newspaper. I don’t know much about this paper apart from the fact that it’s Karabakh’s first and only independent newspaper.

Setting up an independent newspaper for Nagorny Karabakh has long been a dream of Gegam Bagdasarian, head of the Stepanakert Press Club. Now it’s happened, and Bagdasarian is editor-in-chief of a twice-monthly paper called Demo.

The idea behind it was to create a newspaper that is not beholden to the authorities or any opposition movement, but is a voice for the public at large - hence the title Demo, as in “democracy”. The paper’s 16 pages are in Armenian and Russian.

“Every citizen should have the chance to know what is actually happening in his motherland and not just from one source but from several,” explained Bagdasarian. “We intend to become a really independent source.”

Founding an independent newspaper is a very delicate project in a society which emerged from a devastating conflict ten years ago. Until now there has only been one main newspaper, the government publication Azat Artsakh.

Bagdasarian says he is well aware of the sensitivities. “We understand what a responsible mission we are undertaking, as there is virtually no precedent in the Armenian information space,” he said. “Demo is trying to become a free publication in the classic sense, meaning it depends only on the reader. We are not forcing our views on anyone. When we have a free market, the reader himself can choose what reason and conscience dictate.”

Karabakh president Arkady Gukasian, himself a former journalist, told IWPR last month that he welcomed the project. “A free press is a sign of the formation of civil society,” Gukasian said. “We are now facing the biggest challenge - helping democracy to take root here.”

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Global Voices has a digest of posts and comments about the treatment of ethnic Georgians in Russia following the recent spy scandal in Tbilisi and the blockade of Georgia — and indirectly Armenia — by Russia.

Blogger Sukhumi has been following the coverage of the persecution of Georgians in Russia (previous Global Voices posts are here and here). He writes (RUS):

On the TV channel “Imedi” I saw a demonstration in St. Petersburg against the persecution of Georgians. To my delight, I caught sight of my friend Valiko. I am very grateful that, unafraid of the consequences, she took to the streets and made her stand as a citizen. It’s in times like this that you learn who is a real person, and who is just an empty shell.

But most of the news is bad. It seems even sport is becoming politicised. The ‘Kremlin Cup’ tennis tournament, Sukhumi writes, has just been won by ethnic Georgian Anna Chakvetadze - in the face of a crowd shouting taunts like “Georgians go to Georgia!”. And another Georgian sports star has fled Russia:

Yesterday Elena Gedevanishvili returned to Tbilisi. She is a Georgian figure-skater, trained in Moscow, who has won sixth place at the Winter Olympics. Her parents were deported from Russia on the first plane; Elena herself went [first] to Vienna, where she won some big competition…

Of course, racism in Russia is not just confined to Georgians. As the Global Voices digest points out it concerns everyone from the South Caucasus and Central Asia, including Armenians. The Global Voices post is here.

Eurasianet covers Georgia’s local elections in the aftermath of the Russian Spy Scandal that has seen Moscow “punish” Tbilisi by closing the border between the two countries and persecute Georgian citizens in the country. Ironically, and to add to the damage that the blockade might cause Armenia, some of those citizens might be ethnic Armenians from Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti region.

Voters cast ballots for local government officials throughout Georgia on October 5, following an appeal from Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for a show of “unity” against harsh Russian sanctions.

[…]

Georgians’ sense of optimism will be put to the test in the coming months, as Russia is employing all means at its disposal to inflict economic pain on Tbilisi. Moscow’s latest move was to announce on October 5 that quotas for residency or work permits for Georgian citizens would be suspended.

Speaking to journalists in televised remarks on October 5, Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS) Deputy Director Mikhail Tyurkin said that after “carefully” examining Russia’s labor market, the FMS had determined that there is no further need for Georgians to receive residency or work permits. Tyurkin added that although many Georgians claim to be in Russia for work or study programs, they are actually “criminals.” In separate remarks, spokesperson Denis Soldatikov put the number of such individuals at “one out of every 100″ Georgians, Russian media outlets reported.

The FMS has reportedly created a special department to track Georgians living in the country. Talks are also underway between Moscow and the Belarussian government about suspending visa-free travel for Georgian citizens from Belarus to Russia.

[…]

According to the Central Election Commission, turnout in Tbilisi stood at 28.81 percent as of 5 pm local time. No reports were available from outside the capital. Polls were scheduled to remain open until 8 pm local time. Official results from the election were not expected to be released until October 6.

In Tbilisi, many voters maintained that the spy scandal didn’t influenced their vote. “[The crisis with Russia] did not make a difference to me. Why should it?” commented pensioner Mamuka Khukhia after casting his ballot for the ruling National Movement Party at a polling station in downtown Tbilisi. “We are a proud people and we have our opinion and that is how we are going to live.”

The election has been promoted as a test of the Saakashvili government’s commitment to democracy. While election officials reported a relatively smooth process with minor hitches, some local observers and opposition members charged that irregularities with voter lists, among other issues, were widespread.

The full news item is here, and Civil Georgia will no doubt have constant updates over the next day or two.

Ditsmayri, Kashatagh Region, Armenian-controlled Republic of Azerbaijan — Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / IWPR

Following on from my recent return visit to Lachin, the strategic main artery connecting Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh, and an article for Eurasianet on depopulation in the disputed Kashatagh region, the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) has published another. Again, it’s on attempts to populate the region with Armenian settlers and the recent exodus of those that did move to the territory with the promise of new homes, land, livestock and social benefits.

The local residents of Suarassy seem oblivious to the hidden danger as they herd cattle down a road known to have been mined during the Armenian-Azerbaijani war of the early Nineties. Despite the mangled military lorry rusting in a ditch to one side, none of their cows have so far detonated seven anti-tank mines still believed to be buried underneath, so they reckon the road is safe.

Less than a metre away is forest and grazing land laden with at least 900 anti-personnel landmines. Yura Sharamanian, operations officer for the HALO Trust, compares the minefield to Cambodia and says that the British de-mining charity considers Lachin to be the most mine-infested region in Karabakh and surrounding regions, which were fought over during the 1991-4 war.

Although considered by the international community to be occupied Azerbaijani land, this territory is now marked on Armenian maps as Kashatagh. Also including the formerly Azerbaijani regions of Kubatly and Zangelan as well as Lachin itself, Kashatagh stretches down to the Iranian border in the south.

This strip of land between Armenia and Karabakh is one of the key points in dispute in the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. And it is also home to a few thousand hardy Armenian settlers who have moved here since the 1994 ceasefire.

However, it is not just the danger of landmines that threatens the existence of new settlements in the Kashatagh region. Although a 2005 census put the official population of Kashatagh at 9,800 Armenians, with 2,200 residing in the town of Lachin, the actual figure is now believed to be around fifty per cent less.

The full article accompanied by photographs is here. The article is one of three from an IWPR special on Karabakh. The other two are here and here. Some of my photographs from Lachin and Kashatagh 2000-03 can be found online here.

Suarassy, Kashatagh Region, Armenian controlled Republic of Azerbaijan / Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / Eurasianet 2006

Eurasianet has published my article on the demographic crisis in and around Lachin, the strategic main artery connecting the Republic of Armenia with the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. The article is part of an ongoing project documenting life in the region and follows an article written in 2001 for Transitions Online that I blogged about here. Anyway, this new article is just one of at least two that should surface in the near future.

Over the past 14 years, Lachin has been reshaped by the ebb and flow of humanity. In May 1992, during the height of the Karabakh conflict, Armenian forces captured Lachin. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Typical of most military operations against towns and villages during the war, buildings were razed and entire populations forced to flee. Accordingly, at least 20,000 Azerbaijanis and Kurds evacuated the area when Armenian forces approached the town.

Armenians remained in possession of the Lachin corridor, renamed Kashatagh, and several other Azerbaijani territories after the signing of a Karabakh cease-fire in 1994. Shortly thereafter, Armenia implemented a resettlement policy. Robert Matevosian, head of the department of resettlement for the region, says that the first Armenian arrivals came to the region out of a sense of patriotism. These territories, “regardless of the consideration of diplomats, must be inhabited by Armenians,” he says.

The official line is that most of the Lachin corridor’s new residents are refugees and internally displaced persons. The situation on the ground, however, suggests otherwise. It seems many of the new arrivals were socially vulnerable families from towns and cities such as Yerevan, Sisian, Jermuk and Gyumri in Armenia proper, as well as from Karabakh itself. They appear to have been recruited to relocate with promises of land, livestock and social benefits.

Gagik Kosakian, deputy governor of the region, has no choice but to stick to the official line. But he does admit that others came as well. “There are those specialists that couldn’t find work in their chosen profession in Armenia who also come here to find employment,” he says from his run-down and cramped office in downtown Lachin, which Armenians have renamed Berdzor.

[…]

The Lachin corridor covers some 3,000 square kilometers and stretches from just below Kelbajar in the north to the Iranian border in the south. Yet, while Lachin’s pre-war [Azerbaijani] population stood at well over 67,000, Kosakian puts the number of [Armenian] settlers in the entire region (that also includes the former Azerbaijani regions of Qubatli and Zangelan) at 9,800 people, including 2,200 living in the town of Lachin itself.

Unofficial estimates, however, put the number far lower.

Because of poor social conditions, as well as a lack of investment and the recent transfer of the regional budget from Armenia to the Karabakh territorial government, both officials and activists in Lachin say that many families are leaving. Indeed, while the region’s population was estimated at 15,000 in 2002, there are concerns that out-migration is now reaching epidemic proportions. Sources within the local administration estimated the population to be in the 5,000-6,000 range in 2006.

The full Eurasianet article can be read here, while some of the images I’ve shot in Lachin 2000-2003 are here.

Samuel Kocharian, AGAPE Children’s Home, Berdzor (Lachin), Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2002

The Armenian News Network — Groong has just published another one of my interviews conducted in Lachin two weeks ago. The interview is one in a series for articles that will be published by Eurasianet and the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR).

On that, I’ve heard the Eurasianet article on the apparent out-migration of recent settlers in the territory between Armenia and Karabakh will go out this week. Anyway, this interview is with the Director of the AGAPE Children’s Home in Lachin.

OK: The Deputy Governor told me yesterday that there are 9,800 people living in Kashatagh with about 2,200 in Berdzor.

SK: There’s about 5,000 people, but the Deputy Governor can’t do anything other than quote official figures.

OK: Why are people leaving?

SK: Because of terrible social conditions, and this process has accelerated in the past 2-3 years. It started in 2003, but it became worse in 2004.

OK: Don’t the authorities care about the situation in the villages?

SK: Personally I think that the Karabakh authorities have no real understanding of the importance of this region. The local administration should present all our issues and problems to Stepanakert, but we don’t know what they are doing.

The interview can be read online here, and some of the photos I’ve taken in Lachin and surrounding villages are linked to here.

Berdzor (Lachin), Kashatagh Region (Armenian-controlled Republic of Azerbaijan) © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2001-2003

In addition to work on the Specialized Children’s Home in Nor Kharberd, one of the largest photographic projects I’ve spent many years on has been settlement in the disputed territory sandwiched between Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. Although recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, the area is under Armenian control and serves as part of the buffer zone around the disputed mainly Armenian inhabited territory of Nagorno Karabakh.

In particular, the area around Lachin, now renamed Berdzor, is considered to be strategically vital for linking Armenia with Karabakh. Interestingly, the town used to be capital of the short-lived Autonomous Oblast of Red Kurdistan in the 1920s, but is now the administrative center of territory that stretches from the New Shahumian (Kelbajar) region in the north through Zangelan to the Iranian border.

In 2001 I wrote an article on settlement in the Kashatagh region for Transitions Online, the Gemini News Service, and The Armenian Weekly.

The daily van that departs for Lachin from Yerevan should make the trip in five hours, but, driving at a snail’s pace, it takes seven. The landscape is scenic but the journey arduous, and the road itself says much about the region’s recent history. After passing the border where Armenia theoretically ends, the road is immaculately asphalted, but rubble from the war still lies strewn across the landscape. Further on, wires strung across the valley, originally intended to prevent low-flying helicopters from evading radar detection, still remain.

On the outskirts of Lachin, a recently constructed church belies the fact that this town, now renamed Berdzor, was once inhabited by at least 20,000 Azeris and Kurds. During the war, both sides pursued tactics designed to prevent inhabitants from returning to their homes, and the destruction unleashed on Lachin was considerable. Houses are being rebuilt however, but this time for approximately 3,000 Armenians relocated in an effort to repopulate the region.

The aim is to increase the population of the unrecognized republic from under 150,000 in 1994 to 300,000 by 2010. Given the size of Karabakh, it is hard to imagine that the plan does not also include towns such as Lachin that lie outside Karabakh proper, in the buffer zone connecting the enclave to Armenia. Moreover, while the official line suggests that those relocating to Karabakh and elsewhere are Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan, the reality on the ground suggests otherwise.

[…]

Zoric Irkoyan, for one, is not a refugee. Arriving six years ago from Yerevan, he openly admits that most of those inhabiting the disputed territory are from Armenia and that few refugees have joined the resettlement program. “Not many came because they were used to their life in Baku and Sumgait [in Azerbaijan],” explains Irkoyan. “Many now feel safer in Armenia, and like a million other Armenians, some have left for Russia.”

Not surprising, perhaps. What Irkoyan, his wife and two young daughters have come to is a simple, virtually unfurnished shack. Chickens run free in the yard outside, while a hole in the ground serves as the toilet for the entire family. Cooking is on a simple electric stove that just about manages to boil oriental coffee in 15 minutes, and water collects every morning in the makeshift sink assembled outside.

[…]

And for some, the conditions are too hard. Another family invites us in. Their living conditions are the worst I have seen anywhere. They have decided enough is enough and have since moved their seven children to Lachin as the winter set in. Another family from the 13 who originally came here has also left.

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By Nessuna

When a friend of mine who has been studying in Moscow for the last few years visited Yerevan last summer, she didn’t remove her hat so as to prevent her skin from getting darker under the sun. Many times she personally witnessed racial intolerance, and at times brutal violence, aimed at at anyone with dark skin person in Moscow. At Yerevan’s Zvartnots aiport, coffins “arriving” from Moscow has been a usual sight for some time already.

Even so, the last month has seen an unprecedented increase in the number of racially motivated violence crimes on the streets of Russia. Apparently, there’s a reason for this, as Andrew Osborn writes in an article published by The Independent:

April 20, Hitler’s birthday, is always a time of increased tension in Russia since skinheads have promised to mark the occasion “by killing African or Asian people”. The human rights group Sova said that last year alone, citizens from at least 24 different countries were attacked [on different dates] and that the method rarely varied.

As Osborne states, if Russia “was the country to make “the most appalling sacrifices to defeat Nazi Germany 60 years ago” nowadays it is the country where “skinhead culture has taken hold like nowhere else”.

Forty-four people were killed in racially motivated murders last year, more than double the previous year, human rights activists say, and in many cases the perpetrators were young, white, bomber jacket-clad skinheads shouting neo-Nazi or nationalist slogans. They rarely shoot their victims, preferring to stab them repeatedly or beat them to death with chains or knuckle-dusters. And the odds are always stacked in their favour because they hunt in packs of at least three and pick the most vulnerable targets. Their ranks seem only to swell, from about a dozen in the early 1990s to up to 60,000 today.

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