If you remember, a couple of months ago, I posted logged about the new U.S. embassy and the unfair and insulting labor practices that was and is going on there. Well here is a great piece from The Armenian Weekly's posting on Groong this week that is written by someone who was at the construction site and witnessed first hand what has been going on. A little bit long, but worth the read.

Feature: An Account of Travels and Teachings in Armenia
By Azad Merian

[The following is an account by Azad Merian from Ocala, FL who traveled to Armenia in July 2004 as a construction instructor to teach Armenians in Yerevan all phases of western construction methods. Merian is a retired general contractor originally from Detroit, MI who today builds custom-made bolt action rifles and stocks for those rifles.]

In March 2004, the Armenian Assembly of America, in conjunction with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Academy for Education Development (AED), announced openings for construction instructors to teach Armenians in Yerevan all phases of western construction methods.

These positions required applicants to be state-licensed contractors who also spoke Armenian. Ed Derbabian, an acquaintance in Detroit, MI, who was aware of my qualifications called and encouraged me to apply for one of these positions. With his moral support and confidence, I submitted my resume.

On July 1, I received a call from USAID in Washington notifying me that this 73-year old man had been selected as the instructor for carpentry, suspended drop ceilings, metal framing, and drywall trades. I excitedly accepted the position, and the arrangements were rapidly made for me to arrive in Yerevan on July 10, with my classes beginning on July 12. As a previous visitor to Armenia and Karabagh, I had an idea as far as what to expect of the classrooms. True to form, this building was in total disrepair and without toilet facilities.

The first morning of class, I stood before my students with patriotism to perform my duties, to the best of my ability, as an instructor from America. I introduced myself and could see and read the expression on the students faces--"He's just another Armenian-American here with a broom to revolutionize Armenia." I stood before them, knees trembling, hot flashes, and fear, awaiting help from above.

At that moment my Masonic background as an orator put me at ease. I said to them, 'I am unlike any man you have ever met, just give me an hour to prove this point. Don't look upon me as the enemy. You are all the ages of my sons and grandsons, and will be treated in the same manner. You will learn many trades to benefit you in the future.' From that moment on we were an army of one and acted accordingly.

My students were so eager to learn; they would arrive 30 minutes early every morning, conduct studies during smoke breaks, have lunch late, and remain two hours past the last bell. During three weeks of classroom studies, they built a wood frame construction home using western technology.

They installed suspended drop ceilings, erected metal frames, and installed sheetrock. They amazed themselves as well as the USAID directors in Yerevan. They were paid 36 cents per day for transportation and were provided with a free lunch.

They were so destitute and poverty stricken that each night they would wash and dry the only clothing they owned so that they would look fresh in the morning. They came from the hidden back streets, clustered with dilapidated apartments, places where the average tourist never ventures.

During my session, one of my students had the misfortune of losing his mother. He could not afford a proper funeral for his mother, so in lieu of flowers I made a donation so that he could bury his mother.

Reluctantly, he accepted the money. All of our students attended the funeral, again wearing the same clothing that they washed and dried every night.

The service was performed at the entrance of the high-rise apartment building, because they could not afford a church funeral.

On week four and five, we were sent to intern at the new US Embassy that is under construction. It is the largest US Embassy in the world to serve a country the size of Armenia. It is a bastion of defense, impenetrable against any attack. The embassy is being built by J.A. Jones Construction from North Carolina. The first employees were Turks; they received $7 per hour.

They were found incompetent and replaced by Armenians who received 50 cents per hour to work 10-hour shifts, six days a week. Punch your calculator with these numbers to see the profits that J.A. Jones Construction made. The student interns were paid 70 cents per hour by USAID and AED. Gone are the days that $5 supported a family for one month in Armenia.

The OSHA conditions at the embassy were horrifying. Seven port-a-johns were set up approximately 400 yards apart to serve 700 Armenians. They had not been pumped out and serviced in a month. There was only one sink provided to wash your hands.

The work site was scattered with debris, had poor lighting, there was a shortage of tools and material, and the temperature inside was 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Water was passed out to the workers twice a day, and the free lunch was not worthy to eat.

All of the windows were sealed with two-and-a-half inch bullet-proof glass, and covered with tape which kept sunlight and ventilation out.

If the 700 Armenian workers were prisoners of war, the Geneva Convention and International Law would have intervened, rectified this inhumanity to man, chastised America, and put the contractor on notice. These workmen were all enduring hunger, 15-20 pounds under weight, and in need of clothing and medical attention. They prayed each day for America and the Diaspora to be their patron saint.

With one week remaining, I invited and insisted that my students and their family members be present at my hotel for a farewell banquet in their honor. These people never ate a meal away from home, their children had never tasted a Coca Cola, and they had never been seated and served a meal by a waiter.

One could see the pleasure that the 50 people were experiencing from the expressions on their faces. For seven hours we dined, danced, made merry, and they never showed how forlorn they were.

Each student rose, with tears flowing, and gave a farewell address to me. In turn, I saluted my students and their families with sincerity, fondness, and humility.

After the banquet I gave the 11 students each a plastic shopping bag filled with my 14 changes of new clothing, my personal hand tools, books, cigarettes, and my remaining cash. I divided it 11 ways and returned to America with $10 in my pocket.

The next morning at the embassy the students gave me a special welcome and thanked me for the dinner and the gifts. They all knew in five days Azad would return to America. Each remaining day was like being on death row with the execution scheduled on Friday at 4:00 pm.

That last week our brigade bonded with everlasting brotherhood. They were admired by all the Armenian workers and foremen because of their talents.

Friday morning, our last day together, the students and I had a meeting regarding future employment with J.A. Jones Construction Company. They knew I had a meeting at 3:00 pm with Superintendent Tipton to discuss this matter.

At 3:00 pm sharp in Mr. Tipton's trailer office, he told me that he was pleased with my students and asked how many were seeking employment. I replied, "in all due respect, only two. The others wish to determine a pay scale with you." His eyes squinted, his cheeks rose upward, and he snarled, "How dare your lazy Armenians want to discuss a pay rate." Instantly the "Delray Detroit" instinct lurched me across his desk, my left hand went for his throat with an oncoming right fist to his white teeth.

Instantly thoughts were flashing through my head, and I stopped short realizing that this man wants me to act like this; he is goading me to explode like a car bomb to substantiate his views of my Armenian people.

I told myself, don't strike him; I will embarrass my beloved America, USAID, and myself. It was a finger on his Adam's apple that made him turn pale. With rhetoric, I assaulted him and his company for their incompetence, and the indifference they displayed toward Armenians.

He confessed to not being aware of the low wages and miserable conditions the workmen were enduring. I told Mr. Tipton that his company was far too behind schedule to quit using these Armenian workers.

I returned to my students, we hugged, and gave a sobbing farewell to one another. We began as an army of one, and finished as a brigade of brothers that will succeed in the future.

I accomplished the mission that USAID and the Armenian Assembly sent me to perform in Armenia.

Turkification… The way out

Immigration is a common occurrence these days throughout the world. People looking for a better life, willing to do whatever they have to leaving their economically deprived country of origin in hopes of security in the West.

One of the ways Armenians from Artsakh migrate to the West is via political asylum. And who better to qualify than a child from a mixed marriage, the father being Armenian and the mother Turkish, who can not live in Azerbaijan or Armenia/Artsakh in fear of religious prosecution.

The question comes as to if the birth certificate that the asylum seeker has is in fact accurate, reflecting accurately if the mother is in fact Turkish or not? I for one know of a woman who paid the licensing office official for a birth certificate to change her mother’s name to an Azeri Turkish name so she could gain asylum in Germany. Though I know personally of one case, knowing the Armenian mother, I have heard of many other such cases.

The woman working at the licensing office in Martuni has been said to be selling birth certificates for years now. The going rate is $150, a small price to pay for economic stability which not only gives you a chance to a better life, but also housing and a monthly allowance for you to survive off of from the government that grants you asylum.

And who is the woman at the licensing office? She is the wife of someone who lost his life in the war. A woman who had to have a degree in law to get the job and paid $700 for a degree that she did not attend one day at the university to earn. She will sell you any kind of license you want. Need a birth certificate for a child that you didn’t give birth to, but purchased from someone to refelct you as the birth mother? No problem.

Turkification in Artsakh for asylum seekers is common and if you ask me, is again us doing what the Turks could only dream of doing to us, emptying out our country of families.

GEORGIAN, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS DO NOT GO TO SUSPICIOUS CONCERT HALL

Rustavi-2 TV, Tbilisi
23 Oct 04


(Presenter) Let's now return to the incident at the Achara Music Hall (in Tbilisi). As we have already reported, everything was ready in this concert hall for the arrival of (Georgian President) Mikheil Saakashvili and (Armenian President) Robert Kocharyan when the security service discovered a sniper rifle and a Kalashnikov sub-machine-gun.

In the end, the two presidents did not attend the concert. (Passage omitted)

Last week there was a story on ArmeniaNow.com about Joshua Haglund’s family who visited Armenia looking for answers to Josh’s murder.

For those that don’t remember, Joshua Haglund was stabbed to death May 17 near his Yerevan apartment.

Joshua Haglund arrived in Armenia in September, 2003 as part of a United States State Department program. He was a teacher at Brusov State Linguistics University and was scheduled to leave Armenia later in the week in which he was killed.

He was gay, and many here have speculated that Joshua Haglund’s death was a “hate crime” in a society of low-tolerance for “alternative lifestyles”.

The picture which appeared with the story made me remember of an unusual scene in Armenia that I witnessed.

I had gone to the park between the Opera and the Music Conservatory to observe from a distance the May 14th demonstration at the manuscript library and see what was going on around it in terms of police intervention.

As I was sitting in the park watching the red hat forces gather and their commanders sitting at the café in the park waiting for something to happen, I noticed a couple who were walking hand in hand.

The couple was not the usual couple you see in Armenia. It is not unusual to see men arm in arm, but this couple were not arm in arm, but holding hands, one dragging the other along, both were giggling.

For someone who grew up in California and having been to West Hollywood quite a few times, this couple resembled those I’ve seen there.

They walked into the park at around 5:22pm (I took a picture of the demonstrating crowd that just passed before they entered the park, which recorded the time). They sat at the bench next to the bench I was sitting at and they were looking at me.

Though I was busy looking in the direction of the demonstration, I did notice that the red hat forces had taken notice of the couple, who while sitting were still holding hands.

After about 5 minutes, the couple got up, again holding hands, with the larger of the two of them leading on the other almost in a dragging fashion. They walked off disappeared.

When the recent ArmeniaNow story appeared, the picture of Josh Haglund’s brother on the left (wearing a mustard color shirt), looked very much like the larger man I saw in the park who was leading by the hand what I would say could have been a native.

Could I have seen Josh 3 days before he was killed? If it was, he sure did make a scene in the park with lots of red hat police around.

For those interested in knowing my internet surfing habits, I wanted to share with you them.

My surf starts with checking e-mail account. While they open (sometimes very slowly due to my slow connection), I open www.groong.org and read news stories from the Armenian world between mails.

Depending on what I read and receive, I open www.blogger.com and post stories that are of interest to me and reflect what effect my world and enhance what I write about.

To wind down, I visit www.healthyescape.com, which is a great site that I recommend to everyone to visit at least once a week to view the picture of the week and stories that reflect the positive side of life.

When I log out of my e-mail, I read top news stories of interest from Yahoo. Sometimes if the story really interests me a great deal, I visit the message board linked to the story to see what other people think and even post a comment myself.

Usually once a week, I do an internet search with the name of someone from my past to see if I can locate their e-mail address, I send them off a message to see how they are doing. Sometimes I get an answer back, sometimes the message comes back undelivered and sometimes there is just no answer.

Our court date went as scheduled. Though I’ve been in court a few times in my life in America, the Armenian/Artsakh court experience is unique. One thing I noticed right off the bat was that they don’t swear in the witnesses, having them swear an oath to tell the truth.

Anyway, after hearing both sides and within a matter of a half hour, it was decided that I would not be charged with a fine and will only pay what I had offered them in the first place and what I found was fair.

In short, the head of the pension fund stated that my accountant had asked him if it was possible to defer pension payments until we had an income. He said that he thought we were not work yet and had no one working for us at the time when she asked. When I was given the opportunity to ask him questions, I asked how he concluded that we had no one working for us? I asked him if we had no one working for us, were we expected to pay something to the pension fund? He said no we would not be. I then asked that does it then make sense to him that my accountant would come and ask him if we could defer payment? Before he could answer, I asked him that by her asking for his permission to defer payment was that not a clear indication that we did have people working for us? He didn't know how to answer the question.

When the judge asked if I had anything else to add, I told him that I have a recording of Ura that states that the pension fund did in fact know we had people working for us and that they agreed to allow us to defer payment. The judge said that it would not be necessary and rendered his decision, which the head of the Martuni pension fund said he was happy with.

So the pension fund case was settled in my favor and though it was a little bit of a disruption in my life, it gave me insight in how the legal system works.

One thing I am wondering is that now that it settled in my favor, will the main office in Stepanagert ask why I was forgiven of the penalty? And when they find out, will Henrik be relieved of his duty as the head of the fund in Stepanakert said he would be for doing what he did?

I went to Ura’s funeral today. There were so many people there.

I learned that Ura was 52 years old. He went to his mother’s house on the weekend, where for whatever reason, he started to sweat, laid down to rest and when his mother came to check on him, he was dead.

It turns out that Ura is related to my fiancé on her father’s side. He was a second cousin.

Ura’s wife is the one in the family that is related to some very corrupt people in high places, one being Mavrik Ghukasyan, the prosecutor general, who attended the funeral.

Anyway, Ura has been laid to rest and as someone told me today, he will have to now answer to a higher power, who will determine where he will go next.

Last week it was reported to me that on weekends, a group of fisherman from Stepanagert were coming to my lake and on Saturday nights, casting nets, and then collecting them on Sunday mornings before my guard would wake.

I was not sure if this was fully accurate information, nor did I know if my guard could also be involved, as casting nets that yield 100 kilos of fish would be time consuming and it would be very difficult, but not impossible that the guard was not involved (since this has happened in the past, though this guard does not seem like the type).

On Saturday night, my driver, Vahe and I, dressed in black with night-vision scopes, paid a visit to the lake to see if there were any overnight campers?

We arrived at 11pm to the lake, coming in on the back road with our headlights turned off. We walked in the dark for a kilometer, which felt like 5 kilometers, as when you can only see as far ahead of you and the IR laser illuminator will project (it was overcast and we had no starlight to help illuminate further), things are slow going so it take much longer to cover the distance.

We came across a couple of parked cars, which we spotted 30 meters ahead of us. My driver who is former Babayan special forces person, went on alone to see if there was anyone in the car and to get the license plate numbers.

We returned to our jeep and decided that we would come back at 5am, before the sun started to rise so we could get into place and observe the lake to see if any nets were being removed?

At 4am, I got a wake-up call from my driver, who came by at 4:30. We headed to the lake, once again parking the jeep and walking in. I had decided that instead of hiding in the surrounding green space, we would take up a position in the gate house, which is located high above the lake and has a clear view of everything.

We had to pass the cars in order to get to the gate house and had a couple of choices in how to do this. One was to walk along the side of a steep embankment, which would not be impossible for some trained special forces guy like my driver, but for me, could very easily end in my falling and being injured. The other option was to walk quietly passed the cars which had the sleeping fisherman inside.

We chose the safer, but in a big way, more difficult route of walking past the fisherman’s cars and did so separately. My driver went first, since he has more experience than I do in such operations (crossing over into Azerbaijan many times) and passed without being noticed, giving me the signal to proceed. I crossed, but being that I’m not trained, I was detected by one of the fishermen, who by the time he got out of the car, I got off the road before he could fix where the sound was coming from.

We took up our position in the gate house and waited. I was not all that cold but even if it was, the layers of clothes I was wearing made for a very cozy wait.

Sunrise was beautiful and it’s really interesting to watch how even before the sun peeks out, comes a very faint rose color, which really lights up everything and it would have been impossible to cross the bridge and have the cover of darkness to hide under.

Once the sun came up, the fishermen got to work. A couple of them made their way down to the shore and started a fire. One started down and then got into the squatting passion to relieve himself and did this for the longest time. He then made his way down to join his friends.

We watched them for an hour and after it was clear that they were not going to take a net out of the water, we stripped off our black outer layer and made our way down to them.

They were fishing with poles and were actually catching fish. I didn’t do any talking so they would not suspect me to be anything other than a local. My driver proceeded to ask about fishing and if they allow people to cast nets?

After some very good answers in favor of my guard being very strict in enforcing the rules and even taking on army personnel who come to blow up land mines we were convinced that these guys were not casing nets. They talked about hearing a car at night on the back road that probably got stuck and the passengers passed their cars shortly there after. They asked when we came, which my driver said at sunrise. We excused ourselves, made our way back to where we left the bag with our clothes and walked off to our jeep and drove back to Martuni, where I went straight to bed and slept until 6pm.

Now I can’t say that net fishing has not recently happened by a group from Stepanagert, but will say that we will be more careful on the weekends was to who is coming and going, just in case.

Once again, I may have killed someone. I’m not sure how old Ura was (his oldest son is 23), but on the eve of trial, he had a heart attack and died.

Last year, my account came to an agreement without my prior approval to delay the payment of our pension fund contributions for our employees at the stone factory, until we had an income, since all I was doing I was paying out of my pocket and had not yet seen any kind of income.

When I learned of this deal a few months later, I asked my accountant if it was legal to do this and added that I really didn't have a problem paying out $54 more a month if it was not.

My accountant assured me that everything was on the up and up, being that she had the approval from Henrik, the head of the pension fund in Martuni and his assistant Ura.

The stone factory because of technical problems in one of our main cutting machines, didn't see a profit until recently and in that time never was there mention of the pension fund debt, of which I didn't even think about since that is the job of my accountant to deal with.

This summer, I got a call from Henrik at the pension fund, telling me that we were being audited by the main office in Stepanagert and in an hour someone would be coming to inspect our books. I called my accountant to inform her that she would have visitors from the pension fund and to allow them to inspect the books.

I later got a call from my accountant telling she had good new and bad news. The good news is that since she had paid all the employees other taxes (income and so on), and that our books did reflect that we did owe the pension fund. They understood that we did not intentionally conceal what we had to pay, so no criminal charge would be filed against me. The bad news was we have been fined for not paying into the pension fund for our employees at the stone factory in the amount 50% of the amount owed.

I asked my accountant how this happened and she reminded me if the deal she had struck with Henrik and Ura, but said that when they struck that deal, they neglected to tell her that she was not to pay any taxes now and when we had our profit, to report everything at that time and pay all the taxes. Of course if that was what the deal was suppose to be, I would have never agreed to it. When the pension fund and the tax office compared figures, they didn't balance and for that reason we were audited.

My accountant asked me what we should do? I told her that due to the deal that Henrik and Ura agreed to, advising us that it was legitimate, now my name has a black mark on it for not paying into the pension fund and though the few hundred dollars I would have to pay as a fine was not a big deal to me, my good reputation was on the line for playing within the rules of the law (which is something I'm known for demanding from everyone) was not something I would jeopardize. For this reason, she should inform the pension fund that we are disputing their finding and if they can’t reverse their decision, they should take us to court were I will attempt to defend my reputation.

My accountant and I met with the people at the pension fund on July 5th, who said that it was out of their hands and if we had anything complaining to do, we need to see the head of the pension fund in Stepanagert.

My accountant and I took a trip to Stepanagert and visited with the head of the pension fund (I can’t remember his name right now), who I explained what had happened. He told me that if in fact what I said is true, he would have to fire those that misadvised us, as what they allegedly did was criminal, but said that he does not believe they would admit to anything. I told him he should not be so sure, as they had already told me they had done just what I was telling him a few days earlier.

A few weeks ago, I ran into the Martuni judge while visiting the mayor, who informed me that I was being sued by the pension fund and I needed to come by the court to pick up and sign for the papers. With the judge, we drove to the court house, were I received the papers and set a trial date for the 18th (today).

To prepare for the trial, I consulted with my soon to be mother-in-law, who is the Deputy Minister of Justice in Artsakh, as to my defense and to make sure what I planned to do was legal?

My plan was to present my case, and to have my accountant recall what had happened in terms of the original deal with Henrik and Ura. I would then question Ura and one other person from the pension fund who my accountant and I met with on July 5th, concentrating on his statement to us agreeing that he had said it was okay not to pay now, but adding that he had never thought to have to tell my accountant that she needed to conceal everything in terms of paying taxes until we were ready to pay. Of course I felt that there was a good chance that Ura would deny he had ever said this, to which according to Artsakh law and in criminal cases (which what Ura and Henrik did was criminal), I could present into evidence a recording I made on July 5th of the meeting that reflects in Ura’s own words that he said what I've stated above.

One other thing that should be noted is that the other person from the pension fund who was present at that meeting said in an attempt to comfort me is that what I did was not that bad because we paid income tax, adding that if we had concealed the income tax and been caught, then I would have been facing criminal charges. Ura in the recording and what I’ve stated above suggests that he was expecting me to conceal everything, which like the other man present at the meeting stated is criminal.

This morning I woke up and readied for trial. I put my secret weapon in my pocket (the recording) and headed to court. On the way I told my driver what the case was about and the strategy I will use. My driver asked if I was talking about Ura, the guy whose wife is the head of the Martuni region finance office? I said yes. He told me that during the night, Ura had a heart attack and died.

I was a little taken back by this and on the one hand I thought that if it was going to happen, it’s better that it happened before the trial, as if I had to use the recording to prove that he had misled the court and presented false testimony under oath, he could have had his heart attack in court and then everyone in Martuni would have been talking about how I killed Ura.

The court date has been postponed until the 21st. I now have to once again consult with my future mother-in-law about if we can use this recording as Ura’s testimony since he is no longer alive to be present? The Martuni judge told me today when I asked if it was possible that I can’t because I have to have a basis and reason to present it. I told him the man that could present evidence of my innocence is dead and all we have left is a recording of him. Let’s see what the mother-in-law who happens to be the top legal expert in Artsakh will have to say about this?

And you may be asking yourself why the first line in my log I state “Once again…”? Well it seems that those people who do bad things to me and have one gram of respect for me, always have heart problems that could have resulted due to me defending what is right. In the states, I had a business dispute and in the course of defending my rights and winning a large settlement, one of the witnesses we were deposing I caught in a lie (in depositions by law, my attorney does the questioning, but I'm allowed to him post-it notes with questions to ask) and when she could not answer the question without incriminating herself and saw where they questioning was leading, she started to have heart palpitation and had to rushed to an emergency room, later being hospitalized for a 6 days. During that same case, one of my attorneys committed an act of malpractice, to which I sued him in pro per (meaning I didn't use an attorney and represented myself), and while doing so, he had a heart attack and decided to settle the case out of court soon there after in my favor and I heard later on at the young age of 50, gave up practicing law. In the case of the late Mesrop Srpazan, while investigating Kocharian’s controller and preparing an article with our findings, Edik Baghdarasyan of HETQ contacted Mesrop Srpazan’s office in NY to arrange for an interview when Srpazan returned to Armenia, to which Srpazan knew he was to give an interview based on the recording I had made in 1999 and probably just a matter of bad timing, he had a heart attack and died.

Tomorrow they will be laying Ura’s rest and though he put my reputation on the line, as a person he was not a bad guy. For that reason, since I knew him, I will attend and pay my respects to his wife and children at his funeral.


Also see: http://aramanoogian.blogspot.com/2004/10/i-went-to-uras-funeral-today.html and  http://aramanoogian.blogspot.com/2004/10/our-court-date-went-as-scheduled.html

Sell off 14,000 hectares of state reserve lands to pay for local infrastructure facilities, health and education? Next time they need money, what will they sell off? Though the article does not say, are these green zones with trees and vegetation that produce oxygen?

ARMAVIR PROVINCES TO RAISE $23 MILLION FROM LAND SALE

ArmenPress
Oct 14 2004

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS: State subsidies to the province of Armavir rose from 29 million Armenians drams in 1998 to 142 million drams in 2004, which, according to the province's governor, Albert Heroyan, is an apt illustration of real economic growth. Another indication of the robust economic growth, according to the governor, is a significant increase in teachers' wages which have risen to 30,000 drams (approximately $60).

Heroyan said the sale of some 14,000 hectares of formerly state reserve lands in the province will bring some $23 million to the provincial budget.. He said more than 1,000 hectares of that land was already auctioned and the raised proceeds, according to the law, will go for improvement of local infrastructure facilities, health and education sectors.

The governor also said many families that had chosen to leave the provinces are now coming back. "We are planning to build three blocks of apartments for them," he said.