Armenian News

THE KHOHANOTZ: A VEGAN GUIDE TO ARMENIAN LENT
By Liana Aghajanian
ianyan magazine
Feb 22 2010

For some, the 40 days of Lent, in which Christians abstain from
any and all animal products is a time of spiritual reflection and
cleansing. For others, including many of those who make up a new
generation of Armenians, it's a 40 day challenge to see if discipline
and self control over power one's desire to get on the kebab train.

Whether your reason is religious or dietary or even just for fun,
forgoing meat, dairy, eggs might be a bit of a struggle - or at least,
that's the way it looks on the surface. Armenian cooking is so rich
in vegetables and flavor, that not only does it do well without meat,
it even tastes better. Shocking right? I know. Here's a short guide
to help expand your palate to the wonderful meatless world of food.

Lentils Already a staple in Armenian diets, this filling legume
can be used as a substitute for meat in dolma, rice dishes and even
ground up and flavored with spices to make chee koufte (or kufta),
a dish that is usually prepared with lamb or ground beef.

Tofu

Tofu is an amazingly versatile component of any vegetarian and vegan
diet. It lends itself perfectly to Armenian cuisine, by its ability
to be cubed, friend, shredded and baked. Tempeh, which is also made
from soybeans has not only a firmer texture, but contains higher
protein and fiber when compared to tofu. Tempeh, which originated
from Indonesia, is ideal for stew type dishes, otherwise known as
"khoresht" in Persian cooking.

Quinoa If you're tired of eating rice and want to spice up your dishes,
quinoa is a pleasant and fulfilling substitute. High in fiber and iron,
it is also gluten-free, it can be prepared in a rice cooker.

Here is a great recipe involving black beans

Milkless Milk You might have a hard time during lent if you're a fan
of milk, but not as hard as you think. When you're in the mood for hot
chocolate, cereal or baking, soy milk is the most popular alternative
to cow's milk, but you also have options in almond milk, grain milk
as well as rice milk. Not only do get the added benefit if trying new
flavors, you can try them if you're lactose intolerant or watching
your cholesterol, as almond or grain milk do not contain either.

Butter Armenians love butter. Butter in the morning, butter in pastries
- you name it, and we put butter in it. Because it is such an essential
part of breakfast, butter perhaps might be the hardest food to give up
during Lent. As an alternative, peanut butter, almond butter as well
as sunflower butter can be used, but I urge you to try Earth Balance,
which is made from natural vegetable oils.

Pine Nuts In addition tofu, pine nuts are another alternative for use
in dolma as well as salads. Chances are you have probably tasted pine
nuts in sweet dishes like baklava or lady fingers, but this edible
seed is a great addition to savory snacks as well.

Mushrooms In addition to tofu, mushrooms are a great replacement
"meat." They can also be easily used in stews, sandwiches, omelets
(made with egg replaces of course) and also be filled with spinach
and soy cheese for a delicious mushroom turn over.

Soy Cheese Don't believe what you hear - soy cheese is actually
very good.

Although you can definitely taste the difference between regular and
soy, it will satisfy your cheese craving and perhaps win you over far
after Lent is over. If you're in the U.S., some of the best brands
of soy cheese include Vegan Gourmet, Trader Joe's sliced soy cheese
alternative and Tofutti (which also sells a great ice cream). If
you're desperately missing Feta and feeling creative, you can make
it yourself using tofu.

Although this list is definitely an incomplete one, it's a great place
to start. If you're not doing Lent for religious reasons or to prove
to yourself that you can, at least do it for animal welfare. Recipes,
suggestions and conversation welcome.

IWPR Report

RUSSIA GAS PRICE HIKE SHOCKS ARMENIANS
Feb 24 2010
Already hit by recession, people fear pain from massive price rise.
By Naira Melkumyan in Yerevan

The company that has a monopoly on selling Russian gas to Armenia has warned

it will raise prices for ordinary consumers by 40 per cent in April, sparking anger in

the country.

Armrosgazprom, a Russian-Armenian joint venture, has sought permission for the

increase from the official regulator and also wants to raise the gas price for

businesses by 20 per cent. It is expected to be approved.

With Armenia still struggling to haul itself out of recession - the economy contracted

by 14.4 per cent in 2009 - the proposals could severely harm the economy, as well

as ordinary gas users, observers say.

"This is just insane. My husband has an unpredictable salary because of the crisis.

I don't work, and such a rise would seriously hit us in the pocket, and then a massive

increase in prices would follow. What would we live on?" asked Rita Sargsyan,

a 55-year-old Yerevan resident, reflecting a widely held view here.

Armrosgazprom said the price of gas will rise from April 1 to 136 drams (35 US cents)

per cubic metre from the current 96 drams. The increase follows a decision by

Gazprom, the Russian energy giant that owns 80 per cent of Armrosgazprom, to hike

prices for

gas exported to Armenia by 17 per cent from the beginning of April.

Lusine Harutiunyan, spokeswoman for the energy ministry, said Armrosgazprom had

the right to raise prices and the government could do nothing to stop it, since it was

only a minority shareholder.

Experts said the price rise would immediately lead to increases for electricity, transport

and consumer goods, especially since three water companies have already indicated

that they want to raise their tariffs by around two-thirds.

"Considering the increase in unemployment in the country, which in 2009 was already

ten per cent, and the fall in the rate of economic growth, a gas price rise will directly

impact on a significant part of the population," Abgar Yeghoyan, head of the Union for

the Protection of Consumer Rights, said.

The budget for this year includes no provision for increases in pensions, unemployment

benefits or anything else that could compensate for the price rise.

"When we raised this question during discussion of the 2010 budget, the government

said that they were concerned by the question of inflation, but it is already clear that the

price rise for gas as the main energy source will lead to increases in the prices of other

products," said Artsvik Minasyan, a deputy in parliament from the opposition

Dashnaktsutyun party.

"The government must propose salary and pension increases, or at least work out a

mechanism of subsidies."

The government has said it is concerned by the price increases, however, and promised

to work out measures to limit their impact.

"The question of prices is permanently at the centre of the government's attention and

it is preparing a package of measures aimed at controlling inflation," Prime Minister

Tigran Sargsyan told parliament.

But he later said he was not considering subsidising gas prices from the budget to help

keep bills low.

"I have not considered this, and I advise everyone against it. I am not a supporter of that,"

he said.

According to Vazgen Khachikyan, head of the state social security service at the ministry

of labour and social affairs, the effect of the gas price alone - without any associated rise

in electricity cost - would add one per cent to inflation.

But he said that between 2007 and 2010 pensions almost doubled, at a time when

inflation did not come close to that rate.

Last year, the state pension and unemployment benefit were 70 and 55 dollars a month

respectively.

The government is forecasting that prices will rise by four per cent and, according to

Vardan Bostandjyan, deputy head of parliament's economic committee, it is unlikely that

there will any increase in pensions before next year.

The International Monetary Fund, which is currently lending to Armenia, forecasts inflation

of six per cent this year.

The fact that gas prices are rising twice as much for consumers as for companies has

angered consumer rights groups.

"We want to understand why, when the Russians raise prices by 17 per cent, the

Armenian company increases prices for companies by 20 per cent and for people

by 40 per cent," said Armen Harutiunyan, the state ombudsman.

Armrosgazprom said that the steeper increases for private users was a reflection of

the higher cost of providing them with gas.

It also said that it was not seeking to profit from the price rises, and was reacting to a

20 per cent contraction in the market caused by the financial crisis, which had resulted

in it ending the year with a loss.

But, despite the explanations, its price rise caused public figures to question the

wisdom of Armenia's dependence on Russia for gas supplies.

Vahan Khachatryan, a representative of the opposition Armenian National Congress,

said that if Armenia had more diversified supplies, it could resist such a dramatic price

increase.

"Today Russia has a monopoly. Eighty per cent of the gas we use comes from there

but we also have a pipeline from Iran, which is hardly used," he said.

Iranian gas started to arrive in Armenia in 2008, but it sends less than three million

cubic metres a day, while Russia sends an average of more than double that.

Harutiunyan, the energy ministry spokeswoman, said, "Of course the opposition gives

this problem a political subtext, but the situation is different. Russia as our strategic

partner for many years has sold us gas at a discount. We were receiving 1,000 cubic

metres of gas for 110 dollars when Europe was paying 300 dollars."

Naira Melkumyan is a freelance reporter.


IWPR Report

ARMENIA QUAKE VICTIMS STILL HOMELESS
Two decades on, president intervenes to speed up promised accommodation.
By Yeranuhi Soghoyan in Gyumri and Ani Harutyunyan in Yerevan

Armenians still homeless from the huge earthquake of 1988 were appalled when they

first heard that promises they would finally be housed last year were going to be broken.

But then they saw the condition of the buildings intended for them, and were relieved.

According to officials and local people, some of the blocks were not properly built. Critics

also said that there were insufficient quantities to house all those who needed homes.

Eventually, just a week before the New Year deadline for the residents to move in,

President Serzh Sargsyan intervened and demanded an improvement in the standard

of the flats' interiors and facilities.

The head of Sargsyan's administration, Karen Karapetyan, held a meeting on

February 19 to check on construction progress, and spoke to all the regional governors

as well as the director of Glendale Hills, a private building company criticised for its work.

Karapetyan stressed that the government would try to find ways to stop problems repeating

themselves, including improved oversight of building work.

The earthquake, which struck Armenia on December 7, 1988, shattered houses across

the whole north of the then-Soviet republic, destroying 17 per cent of all the living space

in the country. In Leninakan - now called Gyumri - more than 20,000 flats were destroyed,

along with 11,000 private houses and 120 administrative buildings.

More than half a million people were left homeless, of whom 7,000 still lack accommodation

after more than two decades but the government has promised that all will have homes by

2013. Of the total, 4,200 are in Gyumri and whole chunks of the city are still made up of

domiks - old shipping containers turned into temporary accommodation that has become

permanent.

A key part of the rehousing scheme was the Mush-2 complex being built by Glendale Hills,

but it was not finished by the end of the year as promised.

"To be honest, I would be scared to live in such a house. How solid can a building be that

was built in the winter? A builder told us that the paint is coming off the walls, and they have

to paint them again and again," said Susanna Gevorgyan, one of the Gyumri residents

waiting for a flat.

At the moment, the building site in the Mush-2 district has around 20 four-storey buildings,

but some of them are still lacking windows and roofs. There was no road until the president

announced he intended to visit late last year, when one was built in just ten days.

The deputy head of the state construction control agency of the construction ministry,

Artashes Sargsyan, confirmed the houses had been built in a hurry.

"The builders were forced to heat the apartments with wood stoves round the clock so

the plaster dried. There were cases when the laminate was put directly onto the wet walls.

Now all these deficiencies are being corrected," he said.

His agency has taken all the building projects under its own control to alleviate the problems

that local people blame on Glendale Hills for employing inexperienced builders.

"I have a university degree, but I was unemployed," said Albert Vahanyan, justifying why he

took work at the building site despite having no experience.

"They just asked me if I can paint walls, and I said I could, and they gave me a job. There

were lots of people like me, who don't know anything about building, there. None of us

knew that you can't paint directly onto concrete."

President Sargsyan was furious when he visited the Mush-2 district building site on

December 23. He said all the problems caused by shoddy building work had to be sorted

out, and the flats had to be provided with heating and other facilities.

A spokesman for Glendale Hills acknowledged mistakes had been made, and said it was

possible IWPR's informant had been hired without the correct checks having been made

of his qualifications.

"As far as this one individual is concerned, maybe he was not a specialist. There were

errors in the interior decoration so the company is paying to put them right. And as for those

individuals who oversaw the interior decoration work in which mistakes were discovered,

they have been moved to different jobs," he said.

Sargsyan told officials to make sure the improvements were made by May 15, but the

would-be residents are not too hopeful, saying they have learned not to put too much trust

in government promises.

"Under the Soviet regime, the disaster area was supposed to be restored in two years,

but everything got mixed up. One system replaced another, and it was impossible to move

money from one to the other," said Flora Sargsyan, who works for Armenian Caritas, a

non-governmental organisation.

She was a schoolteacher at the time of the disaster, which killed at least 25,000 people,

and now helps provide food and clothing to poor families.

"Children have been born in these domiks and have suffered from various diseases

because they are living in dangerous and polluted accommodation, and the problem is

not being solved. My neighbour, for example, was given a flat but was forced to return to

the domik. Such cases are frequent. Getting a flat does not mean the problem is solved,

since these people have nowhere to work," Sargsyan said.

One domik resident, 67-year-old Eva, who asked that her surname not be used, has lived

in her makeshift home for 21 years together with her son and daughter. When they moved

into the domik, they considered it a step up from the temporary accommodation they had,

but they have grown tired of it.

In September 2001, the government gave them a 3,000 US dollars certificate with which

to buy a flat, but it was not enough, so they decided to repair the domik and make it more

comfortable. The money allowed them to connect it to the gas, water and the sewerage

systems and they have lived there ever since.

Residents of other regions have also failed to get their new homes. Some 182 residents

of the village of Akhuryan in the Shirak region have been waiting for 20 years, and were

initially angry that the delays in Gyumri would stop them getting new homes.

"We were dissatisfied at first when we heard that Glendale Hills would not start the houses

for the homeless in Arkhuryan parallel with its work in Gyumri, and that the project would now

only be started in May this year," said Artsrun Igityan, the head of the local administration.

"However when we found out about the defects in the flats in the Mush-2 block, we were

glad that they cancelled the project."

Meanwhile, Vahan Tumasyan, head of the Shirak Centre non-governmental organisation,

has appealed to the government to investigate the Mush-2 district buildings' ability to

withstand another earthquake. He said that, in meetings with construction workers, he was

told that poor materials had been used, and called for an expert examination to put potential

residents' minds at risk.

Glendale Hills denied there was any risk to the buildings from earthquakes. ArmSeisShin,

a prominent Armenian company that assesses earthquake risk, said in a statement to IWPR

it had examined the buildings and concluded they were capable of withstanding an earthquake

as strong as the one that caused the initial devastation.

"Worries about the buildings' ability to withstand earthquakes have no foundation. This work

was done impeccably. The building site will be open to journalists for a day at the end of

February. They can come, film, take photographs, and see with their own eyes how the

construction has been done," the Glendale Hills spokesman said.

Yeranuhi Soghoyan is a correspondent from the Hetq newspaper. Ani Harutyunyan also

contributed to this article.

JERUSALEM PATRIARCH IS HONORED BY CATHOLICOS KAREKIN II AND THE

REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA, WITH "ST. MESROB MASHDOTS MEDAL"
Noyan Tapan
Feb 23, 2010

JERUSALEM, FEBRUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. His Holiness
Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians,
traveled to Jerusalem on Monday, February 15, where he presented
His Beatitude Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, the Armenian Patriarch of
Jerusalem, with the "Medal of St. Mesrob Mashdots".

According to the report of Primate of the US Eastern Diocese,
accompanying His Holiness were Archbishop Navasart Kjoyan, Primate
of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese in Yerevan, Armenia, and Bishop
Arshak Khachatrian, Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese, and
Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, the Diocesan Legate, were invited by His
Holiness Karekin II to attend the presentation ceremony as members of
the Brotherhood of St. James of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Armenian President Serge Sargsian issued the medal to Patriarch
Torkom on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Patriarch's
enthronement, and in recognition of his lifetime devotion to, and
leadership of, the Armenian Church and nation.

"We have come to this Holy City in order to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of the enthronement of His Beatitude Archbishop Torkom
Manoogian as the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, and to honor his
91st birthday," His Holiness Karekin II said. Concluding his remarks,
he reflected on the need to pray together for peace in this region
and in the world.