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  • Armenia: Some Syrian Refugees Want to Leave

    EurasiaNet.org
    May 1 2014


    Armenia: Some Syrian Refugees Want to Leave

    May 1, 2014 - 2:31pm, by Marianna Grigoryan


    Drawn to their ancestral homeland to escape a civil war, many Syrian
    Armenians are finding life under Mount Ararat not as peaceful as
    expected. (Photo: Anahit Hayrapetyan)

    The mayhem and indiscriminate violence that define Syria's civil war
    could not crush their entrepreneurial spirit: yet for some
    Syrian-Armenian refugees, the shakedown practices that are part of
    Armenia's economic environment are more than they can bear.

    Multiple Syrian-Armenian newcomers who started new ventures in Armenia
    in recent months complain that the hassles they encounter on a regular
    basis are so bad, they are considering seeking a new country to call
    home.

    Armenian government representatives, eager to see Diaspora Armenians
    return to their ancestral homeland, are downplaying problems. Yet, in
    interviews with EurasiaNet.org, 12 Syrian-Armenian refugees from
    Syria's largest city, Aleppo, offered a laundry list of complaints
    about doing business in Armenia: the alleged use of physical attacks
    and threats by customers when differences arise; the need for family
    or personal connections; the 20-percent Value Added Tax, and a lack of
    economic "prospects," were among the many problems cited.

    Twenty-four-year-old Krist Brutian lost vision in his left eye after a
    brutal beating on December 28, 2013, in his family's Yerevan
    auto-parts store. The beating reportedly came at the hands of
    disgruntled customers wielding iron bars. A disagreement over the
    price for spare car parts caused the incident. They came with 30
    people carrying iron bars and said nothing but 'Kill them!'" Brutian
    recounted. His 60-year-old father, Armenak, and brother, Manuk, were
    badly injured as well. Seven individuals were charged, but the case
    was dropped after the two sides supposedly reconciled.

    Doctors claim they can partially restore Brutian's vision, but his
    bitterness over the attack lingers. "The feeling that you are a
    stranger here never leaves us," he claimed. "The attitude towards us
    is completely different [from what we expected]. We are very
    disappointed."

    Since 2012, according to Armenia's Ministry of Diaspora, some 16,000
    Syrian-Armenians have arrived in Armenia as refugees. To welcome them,
    officials have promised help with finding jobs, apartments, food and
    low-cost business loans.

    But those programs do not appear sufficient to satisfy a large number
    of new arrivals, many of whom are coming from a city with a pre-war
    population (over 2.9 million) nearly the same size as Armenia (over 3
    million). According to the government, 5,000 Syrian-Armenian refugees
    to date have "left Armenia for various reasons."

    Michel Sarkoian, another auto-parts storeowner from Aleppo, says he is
    surprised by "the morals and manners common in Armenia." He claimed
    that locals in the village of Ptghunk, 11 kilometers outside of
    Yerevan, where his store is located, have demanded that he give
    expensive parts for free to so-called "good fellows," the term used
    for followers of thieves-in-law, or organized-crime groups. After he
    refused the demands, he said, threats at gunpoint began.

    One customer, after not receiving a refund for an item Sarkoian
    alleges was not purchased at his store, returned with a friend
    carrying a sub-machine gun "and then tried to run me over with his
    car," Sarkoian alleged.

    "We've escaped gunfire and shootings to find shelter in Armenia and
    now they are threatening us here," he complained. The police are
    investigating.

    The head of the government-run working group handling Syrian-Armenian
    concerns, Firdus Zakarian, chief of staff of the Ministry of Diaspora,
    admitted that violence has occurred against Syrian refugees, but
    claimed that the problem is not "acute."

    "Such incidents can happen with everyone. There is no discrimination
    here," said Zakarian. "We are doing everything we can to support
    Syrian Armenians."

    The main issue, he said, is employment. Armenia's official
    unemployment rate stands at 16 percent, but is estimated to be much
    higher. With an average monthly salary of just 160,000 drams ($386.6),
    most Armenians rely on remittances from friends and family abroad to
    make ends meet.

    Tamar Yeranosian, another Aleppo native whose freight-weighing
    business there was destroyed during the war, claims that high rents
    and taxes (20-percent on income and sales, among others) have forced
    him to close two businesses in Yerevan since 2012.

    "At first, we opened a restaurant here, but closed it six months later
    and opened a children's apparel store. We failed to profit from these
    businesses, as after paying fees and taxes we were left empty-handed,
    and we don't know how we are going to live now," Yeranosian said.

    In response, the government simply stresses its support for the refugees.

    Ironically, in its 2014 ranking of the ease of doing business in 189
    countries, the World Bank ranked Armenia above France, noting
    improvements for both paying taxes and starting a business.

    Many Syrian-Armenians link their business difficulties to their status
    as outsiders. Locals in this predominantly Christian country often
    confuse them with Muslim Iranians, and refuse rental agreements or
    other business transactions because of these erroneous assumptions,
    community members claim.

    Such allegations come as no surprise for Nelly Haroian, a specialist
    at the Yerevan-based Ayg psychological center, which has surveyed
    Syrian-Armenians. "We are a very self-focused, homogeneous nation,"
    Haroian commented. "There are basically no foreigners among us and
    these differences cause aggression among many [Armenians]."

    With one-third of Armenia's population living in poverty, the fact
    that "many Syrian-Armenians have much better living conditions ... also
    causes anger among locals," Haroian said.

    Iranian-Armenians and other Diaspora groups have complained of similar problems.

    Not all Syrian-Armenians, however, have encountered hardship. The
    Jabakhchurians, who moved to Yerevan in 2012, opened a fast-food
    restaurant last year, and say that their life in Armenia is not all
    bad. "You just have to be a little patient," said Kaystak
    Jabakhchurian. "The income here is much smaller compared to Aleppo,
    but you just have to work."

    Remembering Syria's pre-war stability, the past appears rose-colored
    to many of these Syrian-Armenians. "We had no problems with any
    [other] people," asserted an unemployed Zhirair Helvajian. "We were
    more loved and respected than local Muslims."

    Like others, Helvajian regrets coming to Armenia, but refugee Shant
    Khayalian emphasizes the need to focus on the positive. Although now a
    taxi driver, who has "to work all day," he describes himself as
    "happy" that he "got an opportunity" for a second chance "in this
    life."

    Editor's note:
    Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based in Yerevan and editor
    of MediaLab.am.

    http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68332


    From: Baghdasarian
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