Armenia: Portraits of Survival and Hope

251 Pages·2003·5.08 MB·English

by  Donald E. Miller

Armenia

Armenia
PORTRAITS OF SURVIVAL AND HOPE
Donald E. Miller
Lorna Touryan Miller
Photographs by Jerry Berndt
University of California Press Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2003 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Donald E. (Donald Earl), 1946–
Armenia : portraits of survival and hope /
DonaldE.Miller, Lorna Touryan Miller ; photo-
graphs by Jerry Berndt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-520-23492-8
1. Armenia (Republic)—History—1920–1991.
2. Armenia (Republic)—History—1991–.
3. Nagorno–Karabakh Conflict, 1988–1994.
4. Armenians—Azerbaijan. I. Miller, Lorna
Touryan. II. Berndt, Jerry. III. Title.
DK687.M59 2003
947.56'08—dc21 2003000596
Manufactured in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997)
(Permanence of Paper).8
To our two children,
Shont and Arpi

Plates follow page 84
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Massive Destruction
The 1988 Earthquake 13
2 Random Violence
Pogroms in Azerbaijan 37
3 Fighting for Survival
Contents
The War of Independence in Nagorno-Karabakh 61
4 Surviving the Winter
Paying the Price for Independence 97
5 “We Live with Hope”
Reflections on Conditions in Armenia 137
6 Concluding Reflections
The Meaning of Being Human 153
Epilogue
Ten Years after Independence 161
Appendix 1: Research Methodology 171
Appendix 2: Interview Guide 176
Appendix 3: Interviewees 185
Bibliography 189
Index 193

Acknowledgments
We had just finished writing Survivors: An Oral History of the Arme-
nian Genocidewhen we received a telephone call from Steve Ferguson,
a program officer with Fieldstead and Company. He asked us if we would
like to expand our research into the contemporary period of Armenian
history.The Republic of Armenia had become independent of the for-
mer Soviet Union in 1991 and was facing enormous political and eco-
nomic challenges. Ferguson’s employers, Howard and Roberta Ahman-
son, were aware of the humanitarian work of Baroness Caroline Cox, a
member of British Parliament who had made numerous trips to Arme-
nia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and they were interested in funding a re-
search project that would document the struggle for survival by this Chris-
tian nation.
Lorna and I assumed that when Survivorswas completed, we would
move on to other work more closely aligned with our day-to-day jobs.
I had just begun a large research project on rapidly growing nonmain-
line churches, and Lorna was launching a major health-care project for
children in Pasadena; it scarcely seemed like a good time to take on an-
ix