OpEd Articles
Louis Sullivan
Housing designer in the Johnathan Hay Centre that provided a "culturally specific living" for laborers and migrants from the countryside.
Yerevan’s Furry Friends
There is the impression that there is a trend taking over potential pet owners. To elaborate more on this statement, it means that if you plan on purchasing a dog, it has to function as a statement piece. This means you would have to get a tiny dog breed, such as a Pomeranian for it to be deemed "cute". Otherwise, you would have to own a Doberman, Rottweiler, or a Pitbull, which are all breeds known for their intimidating strength and aggression, thus adding to one's personal image. It might shock one to know how many dog owners do not do the proper research on the dog breed prior to purchasing their pet. For example, there are those who own Huskies. They were originally bred for sled pulling purposes, meaning that these dogs were made for cold temperatures. Put them in Armenia's climate or any other climate that can soar to hot temperatures and you have a problem on your hands. Although Huskies are capable of adapting to the climate they are in, they require extra care and attention once the heat sores. It is to this extent that people are willing to go to in order to secure a certain image.
Walking along the streets of Yerevan, there is something else that stands out aside from the impressive architecture. The amount of stray dogs is ridiculous. On any street you turn, you are guaranteed to run into at least one dog. These dogs do not have shelters and proper access to food or water. They are not groomed and they certainly do not have anyone to call their own. To say that these dogs face mistreatment is to say the least. Even though there are people who try to feed these dogs every once in a while and give them a pet or two as they walk past, there are those who do not fit into this category.
Housing designer in the Johnathan Hay Centre that provided a "culturally specific living" for laborers and migrants from the countryside.
Take a walk through Northern Avenue and you will find a man who is the owner of one Dalmatian and two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. He puts bow headbands on them and Mickey Mouse ears charging people money to take pictures with the dogs. He will lay out different items on a bench and command the dogs to bring the said items to him. If they are not subject to these activities, you can find them sitting in a statue-like pose at any given time. They are not allowed to lay down, for if they do, they will have their owner’s wrath to face. Walk down a bit and you will find a man selling puppies. Five of them are crammed into a tiny square cage stacked upon each other. Onlookers gather in a crowd and find the sight they are witnessing “adorable”. Such acts are despicable.
Dogs who do not have tags on their ears mean that they do not have their shots. Not having their shots makes them prone to aggressive behavior as well as rabies - a disease that is as fatal as it is contagious. Upon acting out, there are people who throw objects at dogs, such as rocks, brooms and even chairs. The lack of education regarding street dogs is disheartening.
These examples are not brought up in vain. Instead of purchasing dogs for status purposes, why not adopt street dogs? Dogs are not statement pieces, nor should they be your “moneymaker”. They are living, breathing creatures who feel the same way any human can feel.
In short, educate yourself before purchasing a dog. Educate yourself about their needs and what the breed presents of itself. Keep in mind that abusing street dogs is not okay and that will only make their behavior more aggressive. What’s frustrating is the expectations that people have for street dogs. These dogs get abused, are on the daily hunt for food and water, have matted fur and are ridden with fleas. Put a human in the same situation and I highly doubt you would expect a calmer approach. Street dogs are not any less deserving of the love and simple human decency that you can offer to your Pomeranian or Rottweiler. I strongly advise against putting money in someone’s pocket for using an animal of any kind to provide human pleasure like the man who can be found on Northern Avenue
Arpina Melikyan
Photo taken by Arpina Melikyan
Photo taken by Arpina Melikyan
Louis Sullivan
Housing designer in the Johnathan Hay Centre that provided a "culturally specific living" for laborers and migrants from the countryside.
Discrimination Against People With Disabilities and Women in Armenia
There are many reasons, however, the main ones are parenting, education and community. I’m a disabled man living in Armenia for two years, and in these two years, I have been discriminated against so many times, from the bank manager to the waitress.
In Armenia, a lot of people with disabilities and women suffer from discrimination. The question, however, is why does the society in Armenia discriminate against those people and women?
Housing designer in the Johnathan Hay Centre that provided a "culturally specific living" for laborers and migrants from the countryside.
The first problem is that in Armenia, a lot of parents are ashamed of their children with disabilities and when the child grows up, he or she will be ashamed of themselves, especially girls. And then that child doesn’t want to go out, because they are ashamed of themselves. Therefore, the Armenian society does not know\understand how to communicate with people with disabilities, because most Armenian people are not well educated. Moreover, the Armenian community must be able to be more open-minded, about those people. Also, in Armenia, lots of men think that women need to be only in the kitchen. These problems once again come from parenting. The child sees how the father behaves with the mother and thinks it is right to behave that way. The kid grows up, remembers how his father did it and does the same thing.
The second problem is that even if parents do a great job, the kid might get into a community where the parenting was not well done. Therefore, the kid might learn stuff, that the parents don’t want the kid to learn like the discrimination against the people with disabilities is not right. The person should fit into the community.
The third main problem is education. Even if the parents are not educated, the child still has a chance to become a great person through educating himself, however, the problem in Armenia is that kids many times are inspired by their parents. He or she thinks why should I be educated if my mom or my dad was not?
Areg Barseghyan
Photo taken by Heghinar Melkom Melkumian
Louis Sullivan
Housing designer in the Johnathan Hay Centre that provided a "culturally specific living" for laborers and migrants from the countryside.
The Fine Line Between Living Humans
to Numbers in Reports
to Numbers in Reports
There was no official information from the Prime Minister's office for a few hours regarding the accident. A few hours after the accident, Deputy Chief of Prime Minister's Staff Taron Chakhoyan wrote on Facebook that some political media and individuals were manipulating the news about a road accident by directly tying it to Pashinyan. He said that Pashinyan did not drive, and according to Armenian Police, the accident involved a "Toyota" police vehicle. Chakhoyan failed to mention that the Toyota was part of the prime minister's escort.
On April 26, a 29-year-old pregnant woman was run over on a pedestrian crossing by one of the vehicles escorting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to a meeting. Within hours, the news that Sona Mnatsakanyan and her unborn child died from the accident flooded various platforms. Some Facebook users mourned Mnatsakanyan’s untimely death by sharing her husband's post. Some shared their thoughts and feelings about the accident. Some politicians started using Mnatsakanyan’s death and that of her unborn child to further their political agenda.
An unknown source released muted CCTV camera footage showing the moment Mnatsakanyan was struck by the escorting police vehicle (I will not provide a link to this footage out of respect for the deceased). The video claimed that the accident happened because Mnatsakanyan stepped back instead of continuing to cross the street. This claim opened up various heated discussions and debates online. Amongst all this controversy, the question "Why was a pedestrian crossing the street when a high-speed motorcade was passing?" became trivial.
Twenty-four hours later, Chakhoyan shared another Facebook status in a question-and-answer format. He said that the prime minister was about 100-150 behind the scene when the accident happened, unaware of the incident. Once he noticed the girl's body lying on the ground, he gave orders to call an ambulance.
Twenty-four hours later, Chakhoyan shared another Facebook status in a question-and-answer format. He said that the prime minister was about 100-150 behind the scene when the accident happened, unaware of the incident. Once he noticed the girl's body lying on the ground, he gave orders to call an ambulance.
Heghinar Melkom Melkomian
Why didn't the car that struck the young woman stop? Chakhoyan says that according to internationally accepted regulations, motorcades transporting heads of countries should not stop, even when accidents occur. The movement of motorcades is regulated through the Procedure for the safe movement of convoys and special vehicle escorts, where there is no mention of road accidents that would cover this specific case. In May 2019, Pashinyan presented "100 facts about new Armenia" at a press conference. Part of fact 91 mentions that the motorcade transporting the Armenian Prime Minister yields the right of way to pedestrians on pedestrian crossings. While the CCTV camera shows the car striking Mnatsakanyan and continuing driving at a very high speed, according to the defender of the vehicle's driver that was involved in the accident, the driver did not flee the accident scene and stopped the car after 30-40 meters.
On April 26, during a protest in downtown Yerevan, referring to the accident, opposition politician Ishkhan Saghatelyan said that the Prime Minister was not only a traitor but a murderer, a symbol of defeat and death. At the end of her Facebook post, another opposition public figure, Naira Zohrabyan, wrote, "How is it possible to drink the blood of so many 18 and 19-year-olds." Essentially, both opposition politicians connected Mnatsakanyan's death to the defeat of the 2020 Artsakh war and, by doing so, tried to manipulate the emotions of the masses. Zohrabyan went on to edit her entire post after learning that Mnatsakanyan was not a teenager. The power of the post was in the context, the association, and not in the death of the young woman.
In the few days following Mnatsakanyan's death, the unfortunate event has been analyzed through different lenses. Here's another one - In 2020, Armenia was one step behind Georgia with its highest road crash fatality rate. With an annual total of 4016 road crashes, Armenia's road crash fatality rate stands at 11.74 persons per 100,000 population in the Eastern Partnership and European Union-27 region.
In the few days following Mnatsakanyan's death, the unfortunate event has been analyzed through different lenses. Here's another one - In 2020, Armenia was one step behind Georgia with its highest road crash fatality rate. With an annual total of 4016 road crashes, Armenia's road crash fatality rate stands at 11.74 persons per 100,000 population in the Eastern Partnership and European Union-27 region.
In an interview with Aravot.am, Sona Mnatsakanyan's grieving father asked that his daughter's death not be politicized. Having different opinions and discussing an issue using various angles and lenses, even a political one, can lead to great outcomes. However, to this day, no one is raising the issue of the grave driving conditions in Armenia. Drivers, public transport users, pedestrians, everyone is complaining about the horrific driving conditions and the statistics are backing these claims, but this conversation is not reaching the agendas of decision-makers and implementers.
Suppose for a moment we ignore the fact that one of the vehicles escorting the Prime Minister hit Mnatsakanyan. In this case, she becomes yet another one of the thousands of victims of road accidents in Armenia. Unfortunately, the huge number of accidents in Armenia do not afford us the choice to only use the narrow lenses of contextualization. And while context is the essence of the story, in the case of road accidents, context is necessary for juridical reasons only.
Mnatsakanyan and her family deserve a free and fair investigation into the events that lead to her untimely and tragic death. However, her death made it into the news only because it was indirectly linked to the Prime Minister. The deaths of the 348 people who lost their lives to road accidents in 2020 merely became statistics. And if we are unwilling to allow the lives and deaths of so many people to become merely useless statistics, all relevant bodies and decision-makers should immediately put the issue of road accidents at the top of their agenda and ensure that the roads are safe for people, regardless of who crossing the latter and who is driving.
