by David Zenian
WASHINGTON, DC - Early on the morning of February 12, 1993, a delegation headed by Rep. Joe Kennedy II (D-MA) and Armenian Assembly Board of Trustees President Carolyn Mugar, along with 58 members of the Moscow-based international press corps, arrived by special charter in Yerevan, Armenia for a 36-hour visit. The Armenian Assembly organized the trip at Congressman Kennedy's request so that he could get better acquainted with the situation in Armenia. The Congressman wanted to help raise international awareness of the hardships the Armenian people are suffering due to the blockades imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey.
"It was absolutely incredible. It was a most eerie feeling - no food, no fuel, no electricity, no running water and no telephones in what was once a thriving metropolis," Rep. Kennedy commented on the group's arrival in the middle of the night in Yerevan. "Armenia's hardships are tragic," Kennedy said, "but they are even worse, because they are man-made." The Congressman discussed the blockades, the urgent need for humanitarian assistance, and the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict during an hour-long meeting with Republic of Armenia (ROA) President Levon Ter-Petrossian.
During a joint Kennedy/Ter-Petrossian press conference after their meeting, Kennedy said that to end the suffering in Armenia it is necessary to end the blockades and to allow wheat and fuel to be shipped into the country, as well as to find a resolution to the conflict over the disputed Karabagh region. "We can help solve Armenia's problems in the short-term by ensuring that the blockades are lifted," said Kennedy. He pledged to follow up on Turkish President Turgut Ozal's pledges to allow the shipment of humanitarian relief supplies to Armenia through Turkey. Both men pointed out the need for more active mediation of the conflict by the international community.
In addition to the delegation's meetings with government officials, the Assembly's Yerevan office organized visits for them to a retirement home and an orphanage in Nork, where the elderly and the children are hardly able to get out of their beds because of the sub-freezing indoor temperatures.
Kennedy was visibly moved, commenting, "The children's teeth were chattering it was so bitterly cold inside the orphanage." Earlier in the day, the group had visited the Genocide Memorial, where the eternal flame has been extinguished for lack of gas.
"It is surreal in nature" was the Congressman's summation on his visit to an apartment building, where the frozen pipes had burst and were seeping raw sewage into the inhabited apartments. There was only one toilet operating among the four 14-story apartment buildings the group visited. The tour also included a stop at Malatya Hospital, where Kennedy presented several hundred pounds of medicines brought over by the delegation, which had been donated by Project Hope.
On the way to the Hospital, the Congressman was able to observe the devastation that has been visited upon Yerevan's parks and tree-lined streets as Armenians have foraged for wood to burn in homemade stoves. It is estimated that more than one million trees have been cut down or damaged. No source of wood is overlooked - telephone poles and railroad ties have also been scavenged for firewood.
Over lunch, the delegation met with members of the U.S. Embassy, Peace Corps volunteers stationed in Armenia, and representatives of a number of non-governmental organizations and private voluntary agencies.
Later in the day, the delegation visited a shelter for refugees who had fled Baku, where they participated in the distribution of food parcels provided by the American Red Cross. Archbishop Karekin Nersissian of St. Sarkis Church also met with the group to discuss the educational programs that have been organized for the city's youth since all schools have been closed for the winter due to the lack of fuel.
In summing up the visit, Kennedy said, "Lives are at stake. People are suffering and dying. Without our help, it will continue." He pledged to continue to press Turkey to open humanitarian access corridors. "We have to test that commitment. We have to put together an aid shipment to come through Turkey and see whether or not their word is good."
