National, International, Armenia, and Community News and Opinion

16 The Armenian Reporter | March 28, 2009
Armenia
Armenia is a homeland for the Assyrians
They preserve their
language, religion,
and traditions here
by Tatul Hakobyan
VERIN DVIN, Ararat province,
Armenia – On April 1 Assyrians
throughout the world celebrate the
New Year. The Assyrians have been
celebrating this holiday for centuries
and continue to do so today.
When the Euphrates and Tigris
overflow, the mighty god Marduk
fights and defeats Tiamat, the god
of the seas and waters. The Assyrians
lost their statehood over 26
centuries ago, but they have not
lost their traditions, language, and
the Christian religion they came to
adopt.
In Armenia very few people know
that they are living alongside one
of the oldest nations in the world,
the Assyrians. They were the first
to adopt Christianity in the world.
The largest Assyrian community
in Armenia is in Verin Dvin village,
which is 40 kilometers away from
Yerevan. When you walk through
the streets of Verin Dvin, it seems
as if you are in Assyria; everyone
speaks Assyrian.
In reality, the Assyrians lost
their statehood in 605 B.C. The
magnificent era of this Semitic
nation, scattered throughout the
world, is long past. Today they are
one of the nations in the world
deprived of a homeland. Until the
restoration of the Assyria of their
dreams, those Assyrians living in
Armenia consider this to be their
homeland.
Aida Lazaeva is the director of
Pushkin School in Verin Dvin. She
says that she is a representative
of the communist and democratic
generation. The surnames of the
Assyrians in Armenia mainly end
with “ev” or “ov,” which is specific
to Russian.
Students studying the Assyrian language in school. Photos: Tatul Hakobyan for
the Armenian Reporter.
“During the Soviet years they did
not talk about us and we had forgotten
who we were. We studied
in Russian schools, were educated
in the Russian spirit, and thought
that our homeland was the Soviet
Union. Only at the end of the 1980s
did the period of asking ‘who is who’
began. At that time we realized
that we were Assyrians, we lived
in Armenia, and Armenia was our
homeland. As a national minority,
we feel very good in Armenia; we
do not feel like foreigners here. We
have always been with our Armenian
brothers. If Assyrians move
from Armenia to Ukraine and Russia,
it is only because of social conditions,
just like the Armenians. We
will have our own homeland, but
until we do, Armenia is our homeland,”
says Ms. Lazareva.
According to the census at the
end of the Soviet Union in 1989,
the number of Assyrians in Armenia
was about 7,000. Today their
number is about 5,000. Apart from
in Verin Dvin, Assyrians also reside
in the Dimitrov village in Ararat
province, Arzni village in Kotayk
province, Nor Artagers village in
Armavir province, and Yerevan.
The Assyrians residing in Armenia
mainly came from the Urmia
region in neighboring Iran in the
1820s. Even today thousands of Assyrians
live in Urmia. The Assyrians
in Armenia maintain good contact
with them. There is also a large Assyrian
community in Mosul, Iraq.
However, the Assyrians in Armenia
have almost no contact with that
community.
Lyudmila Petrova is the head
of the Verin Dvin village. Just as in
the rest of the villages in the Ararat
valley, people here are occupied in
agriculture. Everything is ecologically
cleaner here, since the irrigation
water of Verin Dvin is potable
and comes from Garni. Apart from
that, the geographic location of the
village is favorable; frost is very
rare here.
“Verin Dvin is the largest Assyrian
community in Armenia. The number
of the residents of the village is
2,702, more than 2,000 of whom are
Assyrians. The rest are Armenians,
Germans, some Yezdis, and Russians,
who have married Assyrians.
We are free in terms of preserving
our national identity. We have not
felt any obstacles from Armenia’s
government or people. As the head
of the community I have to note
with pain, but at the same time I do
understand that there is no other
solution: yes the Assyrians do integrate,
they marry Armenians and
mix. The preservation of our national
identity seems to be at risk.
I say this with pain, but I am not
saying that mixed marriages end
in complaints and divorces. Strong
families are created. Maybe faith
plays a strong role. The traditions
of Armenians and Assyrians are
similar; they have been living side
by side for more than 200 years,”
says Mrs. Petrova.
Assyria used to be in the territory
of present-day Iraq. Every Assyrian
recalls with pain that during the recent
war in Iraq the Ashshurbanipal
Museum and library were ruined.
They were considered amongst the
oldest in the world and Assyrian
cultural heritage was almost entirely
destroyed and looted.
“I watched in pain how our historical
and cultural heritage was
being destroyed in Iraq. I sat in
front of the television with tears in
my eyes and watched how unique
pieces were being carried out of
Ashshurbanipal Museum,” says Ms.
Lazareva.
The school was established in
1968. Until the 1990s it was Russian.
Beginning in 1991 two tracks
were established at the school: Russian
and Armenian. There are 207
pupils in the Russian track, where
Assyrian and children from mixed
families study, and 82 pupils in the
Armenian track, where both Armenian
and Assyrian children attend.
“The teaching of the Assyrian
language has a sound basis in this
school and the Assyrian language
and literature are taught according
to the state curriculum. The schoolbooks
are published by state funds.
Assyrian is taught from grade one
to 11. Assyrian is also taught in the
Dimitrov and Arzni schools,” says
Ms. Lazaeva.
Together with other languages,
Levon Ter-Petrossian, the first
president of Armenia, also knew
Assyrian. Moreover, he was considered
one of the finest specialists
in Assyrian in the world. Did that
factor play a positive role in keeping
the Assyrians in Armenia at the
center of attention during the first
president’s administration?
“We did not feel any special attention,
but we were proud that the
first president’s dissertation was
about Assyrian,” says the director
of the school.
It is evident that the second and
third presidents of Armenia have
not paid special attention to the Assyrian
community, since the Verin
Dvin School would not otherwise
be in such a neglected and dangerous
condition. There is hope that in
2010 the school will be renovated
through state funds.
In Verin Dvin people are trilingual:
Assyrian, Russian, and Armenian.
It is true that the Armenian
population of the village does not
speak Assyrian very well, but they
understand it.
Simon Avidishoev’s family does
not differentiate and speaks in all
three languages in Verin Dvin. “My
wife is Assyrian and my son’s wife
is Armenian. My ancestors and I
were born here and lived with Armenians,”
he says.
Mr. Avdishoev’s apartment is adjacent
to the Assyrian church and
he guards the church, which was
constructed in 1828. “When our ancestors
came they first constructed
this church. Armenians also attend
this church,” he says.
There is no Armenian Church
in Verin Dvin, but the Armenian
residents of the village do not complain
as they freely attend both of
the Assyrian churches of the village.
Moreover, the residents of neighboring
Nerkin Dvin, which is composed
of only Armenians, also attend
Assyrian churches, where liturgy
is conducted in Assyrian. The
fact that both the Assyrians and
Armenians are Christians is an important
guarantor of their friendly
neighboring relations. f
iCON Communications launches next-generation Internet service
n Continued from page
the potential,” he explains. Mr. Kablanian
came away with the understanding
that WiMAX would be the
most optimal technology to use in
Armenia. “We looked at who could
provide financing because this is a
very heavy capital investment and
we started trying to raise money beginning
of last year. We found one
very good strategic investor. This is
their business; they deploy WiMAX
throughout the rest of the world,
and they’re very much interested in
deploying their capital and expertise
in Armenia, so it was a perfect
match to what we wanted to accomplish.
They are genuinely interested
in developing the country and
the region, so they have the same
strategic vision. They looked at our
business case and they became convinced
that this is a good place to
work and generate income. So there
is money to be made. We are very
optimistic,” Mr. Kablanian said.
iCON Communications’ strategic
partner is VTEL Holdings, a Dubaibased
multinational holding company
specializing in telecommunication
networks. This partnership
has allowed iCON to accelerate the
rollout of its WiMAX network in Yerevan
and the rest of the country.
According to the company’s press
release, Khaled Al-Amayreh, vice
president CEE/CIS for VTEL holdings
and President of iCON Communications,
said, “We are thrilled
Adam Kablanian and Tigran Sarkisian.
to invest in and become part of the
growing focus on technology in Armenia.
We believe that VTEL’s experience
in launching wireless-based
businesses, combined with the
strength of iCON’s seasoned management
team and in-depth knowledge
of the local market, will have
a positive impact on the quality of
Internet-based communications in
Armenia.”
Present at the launch ceremonies
of iCON in Yerevan, Armenia’s
Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian,
according to ArmNews said: “Wireless
Internet in Armenia became
a reality. Moreover, in this sphere
there is competition and we are
sure that this competition will become
stronger, and as a result, we
the citizens will benefit, since we
will have the opportunity to use
quality services. This is one of the
most important achievements in
the sphere of modern technologies,
due to which, auspicious conditions
will be established for developing
business. I want to thank the
investors, who believed that one
can run a profitable business and
register achievements in Armenia.
And I am sure that their example
will be followed by other investors
as well.”
Indeed, the CEO of iCON believes
that prices for Internet service will
become more competitive. Currently
there are two existing IP
trunk lines (physical lines) that
take all Internet traffic from Armenia
to the rest of the world. Those
lines run through Georgia, under
the Black Sea and then on to Europe.
“I know that a third company
will be operational this year, which
will create competition and the
price will be competitive. So I think
in the next two years, with our entrance
[into the market] and others,
the prices will steadily decrease,”
Mr. Kablanian said. iCON connects
to the broader Internet backbone
via these two trunk lines (Armentel
and Fibernet).
The company estimates 80 percent
of people in Armenia using the
Internet are currently using dial-up.
“My mission and the measure of our
success will be converting those
who use dial up to wireless Internet,”
Mr. Kablanian says.
While they acknowledge that
their service is priced slightly
higher than Beeline’s, it is still
cheaper than other Internet providers.
The need, according to the
company’s CEO first and foremost
is fast and reliable Internet. “We
have come up with the best balance
for feature, performance,
and price,” he said. iCON now has
Internet coverage in 80 percent
of Yerevan. “We want to enhance
Armenians’ experience with the
Internet. Thereby we looked at all
the barriers to see what we could
remove to make it cost efficient
for the home user,” he said. The
company doesn’t charge for the
modem; the connection fee has
been significantly reduced to
10,000 AMD (other companies
charge two to three times more
for connection fees); and customers
get unlimited usage.
The company also plans to launch
Voice-over-IP (VoIP) services in
the coming months, and has been
granted 50,000 nationwide phone
numbers by the Public Service Regulatory
Commission of Armenia.
“Our corporate philosophy is to leverage
global standards of technical
performance, customer service,
and competitive pricing to become
the connecting force between Armenians
of all ages and the global
community” Mr. Kablanian explained.
The company promises to not
only provide state of the art technology
in Internet connectivity, but
also first-rate customer service. f
connect:
www.icon.am