The Ramifications of a Resignation

Vahe H. Apelian 

Aside the political ramifications, President Armen Sarkissian’s resignation highlights a growing phenomenon, the lack of allegiance of high placed officials to the country they serve having sheltered their and their family's welfare elsewhere. We see the ramification of the trend in Lebanon where the governing, who also are the wealthier, remain indifferent to the plight of their countrymen but remain driven to safeguard their own interests. But what made Armen Sarkissian resignation stand out are the way he tendered his resignation and the reasons he gave for resighning.

Yesterday, PM Nikol Pashinyan in his televised response to reporters’ questions said that he knew of the president’s resignation a few hours before it became public because president Sarkissian had telephoned him about the matter. The PM noted that initially he was not sure whether the president wanted to discuss the matter of his resignation with him or he was letting him know that he is resigning. It turned out to be the latter.

It also turns out that President Sarkissian was out of the country when he informed the PM of his decision to resign.  Not only that, but President Armen Sarkissian had no plans to return to Armenia to thank those who advanced his candidacy and elected him as the president and  meet those with whom he toiled during the past four tumultuous years when the country went through the Velvet revolution, snap elections; faced the pandemic, endured the second Artsakh war, and is braving the  inevitable aftereffects of the war.

The President noted that the primary reason for his resignation is the Constitutional provisions that do not give him enough influence to make a difference. Quoting him: "The question may arise as to why the President failed to influence the political events that led us to the current national crisis. The reason is obvious again - the lack of appropriate tools ... - the Constitution. The roots of some of our potential problems are hidden in the current Basic Law." But, a recording is being circulated where Armen Sarkissian notes that the mandate for the president is clearly spelled out in the Constitution and he voiced no objection. He is a very intelligent man not to have known the constitutional provisions of the presidency he assumed in the parliamentarian system of governance.

it was President Serzh Sargsyan who recommended the candidacy of Armen Sarkissian for the presidency on January 19, 2018, almost three months before Sargsyan’s term as the president ended on April 9, 2018. Subsequently Sargsyan was elected as the PM of Armenia  on April 17, 2018, after having served the country as its president for the preceding 10 years, since April 9, 2008. Serzh Sargsyan thus became the first PM of the fourth republic. On December 6, 2015,  a constitutional referendum was held in Armenia and amendments were voted in the Constitution changing governance in Armenia from presidential to parliamentary system republic.

The first parliamentary National Assembly elected Armen Sarkissian as the president on March 2, 2018. His election as president was welcomed. 90 out of the 105 delegates of the National Assembly voted for him. He was inaugurated with great fanfare on 9 April 2018 in the Karen Demirchyan Complex in Yerevan.

President Armen Sarkissian exuded royalty and projected an image of being someone who gives no reason for reproach. But much like Prince Andrew claiming that he does not know how his image appears next to an underage girl with his arm around her waist in Jeffrey Epstein’s upscale townhouse in New York city; president Armen Sarkissian realizing the Constitutional constraint of his office, after having served under the same mandate for four years, does not sound convincing. 

His unexpected resignation may tarnish his image and give credence to the reports claiming that he is not or was not a citizen of Armenia, when he was elected as president, contrary to the dictate of the Constitution. Instead of the landlocked Armenia, President Sarkissian is alleged to be a citizen of a far distant dual-island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. His island citizenship makes him a British subject since at least 2013. 

His abrupt resignation will also muddle people’s perception of the image he projected as a person a few notches above the rest of the bare-knuckle players of politics in Armenia and as someone who can bring about order in the political chaos of Armenia and salvage it. “Can Armen Sarkissian save Armenia?” asked Kapil Komireddi in an article in  Spectator Worldon January 3, 2022, just three weeks before Sarkissian tended his resignation on January 23.

It was clear that his resignation did not concern the PM. Nikol Pashinyan avoided dwelling on it. But the political ramification of electing the next president became clear when the PM spelled what will be expected from the next president, a harmonious relationship between him as the PM, and the president of the National Assembly. The three top political leaders of Armenia, the Prime Minister, the President, and the President of the National Assembly, need to espouse a common vision for Armenia, PM Pachinyan emphatically noted.

The PM also noted that if the upcoming candidate as president is not elected the first time around, as he will need 75% of the votes of the National Assembly to be elected. The Civil Contract coalition has 2/3 votes and needs delegates from the opposition to vote for the candidate they will present. He noted that the Constitution makes a 2nd and even a 3rd tier provision, if the preceding fails and that the CC will have the votes to elect the next president of Armenia. 

Will the election of the next president render an imperial parliamentary system? Or is it the new majority exercising its will, much like previously, in the presidential system of governance? Things to ponder as  the free and independent post-Armenia shapes itself.

 

 

 

 

Celebrate the U.S. 20th Century in Philately: 1900s (No. 1)

1900's: The Dawn of the Twentieth Century

Dawn of Twentieth Century:  Sixty percent of the Americans lived on farms or in small towns. Immigrants were arriving on the average 100 every hour. Railroads dominated land travel, but 1900 saw the first U.S. auto show and 1908 the first family transcontinental car trip. In 1908 Henry Ford made automobile more affordable with Model T. The Wright brothers stunned the world with their first airplane flight in 1903, and the game baseball grew up. 

President Roosevelt protect 148 million acres as national forests. The first daily comic  strip “Mutt and Jeff” in the San Francisco Chronicle. The Ash Can School brought realism in the art world.

Muckrakers exposed corruption; Ida Tabell attacked monopoly in the oil industry, and Upton Sinclair revealed shocking conditions in the meat industry. In 1908 the newly from NAACP promoted equal rights for African Americans.

New words: cheerleader, filmmaker, phony, psychoanalysis.

The 15 stamps depicting 1900s are the following: 

1. St. Louis World Fair:  The  Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 was also known as the St. Louis World’s Fair. American were already enjoying ice cream, but the ice cream cone was popularized in the fair.

2. The Crayola Crayon:  The first Crayola crayon was produced in 1903. It cost five cents and contained eight colors: brown, black, blue, red violet, orange, yellow, and green.

3. “The Great Train Robbery”: directed by Edwin S. Porter in 1903, was one of the first commercially successful story films. The box-office hit became part of the Western genre. 

4. Theodore Roosevelt: The 26^th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt promoted conservation, regulated business and earned the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the end of the Russo-Japanese War.

5. Model T Ford: The low priced 4-cylinder, 20-horsepower Model T Ford made the automobile affordable for the average American. One of the nicknames was Tin Lizzie.

6. Ash Can School: The painters of the Ash Can School portrayed the life and scenes around them. One of the most famous Ash Can paintings is Stage at Sharkey’s by George Bellows, at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

7. Kitty Hawk: On December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk North Carolina, the Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, achieved the first controlled powered flight in an airplane.

8. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906: prohibited the interstate sale of any adulterated or misbranded food or drug.

9. John Muir: Often referred to as a father of national parks, John Muir was a naturalist who championed the wilderness and its preservation. 

10. Ellis Island: was the nation’s principal immigrant station between 1892 and 1954. During the peak decades of 1900 – 1909, immigrants arrived on an average of 100 an hour. 

11. Robe House: Frank Loyd Wright is considered one of the nation’s most innovative architects The masterpieces of his early work, constructed in the Prairie House style, is the Ruble House in Chicago.

12. The First World Series: The championship games of 1903 are considered baseball’s first world series. Boston of the American League beat Pittsburg of the National League 5 games to 3 in a best-of-nine series.

13 Gibson Girl: Created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson , the Gibson Girl set the fashion for the ideal American woman at the turn of the century.

14. W.E.B. Dubois: an educator and author who promoted the cause of equality for all Americans. He helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

15. “Teddy” Bear: America’ “Teddy” bear was created in 1902. A curious depiction of President Roosevelt’s refusal to shoot a captured bear in Mississippi is said to have inspired its creation.

 Vahe H. Apelian

  -

 

 

 

 

 

Sylva Portoian: “YOUR BRAIN ‘IS NOT’ a BOX”

Vahe H. Apelian

 

I met and befriended Sylva Portoian a few years ago through Facebook. Throughout those years I conjured an image of her, as we usually do towards friends we befriended online but not met in person. I knew that she is a medical doctor who likes to “poet” and that she has authored twenty books of poetry in a relatively short span, since 2007. She has also been the winner of the Carnegie Poetry Prize, NY, U.S.A.

My curiosity got a better hold of me. Among the books, she has authored one particular book that caught my attention for two reasons: the title of the book and its cover picture. I thought that book, among the others, may likely validate or negate my mental image of her as a person who “thinks outside the box”. Anguished over the Armenian young men dying in the prime of their lives in defense of the homeland, she suggested having a sperm bank for men on the front line. She exhorted Armenian men to marry Armenians to replenish the loss of a generation.  The title of the book, for that matter, is “YOUR BRAIN ‘IS NOT’ a BOX”. As to the cover of the book, it depicts a woman against a background of gears, implying an active mind. Her book cover, Silva notes, is painted by the famous painter Vakhtang Sirunyan. 

The book is 173 pages long including the dedication, a list of her medical publications, select stanzas from her publications, a glossary of medical terms she used in her poetry, a list of her books, an index that lists “Title, first line, names & others”,  glossary of words of her creation, and other personal notes such as quotes from poets and writers. She presented her poems in eight parts, titling each part, such as “Do You Think Your Brain Is A Box?” for Part I and “Petite Poems Like Tiny Lilies, Like Childhood Rhymes” for Part VII. She noted that the income from her books will be donated to an Armenian orphanage, where her mother - Viva Partoian - was sheltered during the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

On social media, I have read Sylva passionately argue against religion. But her poetry exudes a true humanist and she comes across as a woman of faith in the goodness of people. I am reminded of the following two passages from the bible. The first being 1 Corinthian 13:13 “And now these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” The other is the following from Isaiah 41: 10 “Fear not, for I am with you.” I quoted these two passages because love and fearing not, permeate her poetry.

About love she wrote. I quote the following from her poetry titled, “The love ~ I Have, All and Whole”.

The love I have

I have it all

Deep till core.

I can give all

Never partial

Never half-half.

About fear she wrote, quoting a few lines from her poetry titled “I Feel No-One Should Have Fear”.

Why fear? If I have not committed any crime.

Why fear? If I am honest and clear of crime.

Why fear? If I am searching for justice to prevail.

Why fear? If I can make bread from grains

Why fear? If I have faith inside my cells.

I cannot say that I particularly like poetry. For example, Maya Angelo is mostly presented as an “an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist”, in that order. But I did not enjoy her poetry as much as her prose. I have enjoyed reading her two books in prose, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and  “The Heart of Woman”. But I cannot say that I have completed reading any one of her poetry books. But I enjoyed reading Sylva Portoian’s poems. They are easy to read conveying their unmistakable message peppered at times with medical terms. 

Her poetry is uplifting. It dwells on the better nature of man but does not absolve a person from the responsibility of nurturing its better nature. She advises the reader to “Take Care of Your Glial Cells”, and to deal with “Loneliness-Loveless, Searching Soulful ~Face”, “Internal Happiness. How Can We Keep It Safe?” and to “Train Your Brain To Feel Young Like a Deer Climbing Hills”, and many and many more such captivating poems and foremost, assume responsibility and “Never Blame Anyone”.

My impression is that she is not anti-religion but argues vehemently against those whom she envisions absolving themselves of personal responsibility and placing them squarely on God. I do not want to tread a minefield I am ill-prepared to navigate, religion. But is it not that God feeds the birds because birds cheerfully and tirelessly work all day long, hopping from one tree to the next, to make their substance? Are we not to "walk through the valley of the shadow of death" and not camp there, expecting to be rescued? I believe it is the self-reliance that drives her and that is what she vehemently argues for and not for being religious or because she is anti-religion... And by the same token, she claims, should drive her homeland Armenia as well, to be self-reliant in preserving itself.

From her prodigious literary output, it is not hard to surmise that she is a born poet. In her poetry titled “If I Don’t Poet”, she wrote:

If I don’t poet, my brain cells will sigh

Why should I allow my brain cells to cry?

Thus... I must poet, I must continue poeting.

If  “Your Brain 'Is Not' a Box”, what is then? Here is what she says. Do not worry, should you happen not to understand what nuclei, glial cell astrocytes, and dendrites are. She has a whole list of medical terms she uses, explained

Your Brain is Your Tree

Full of Green Leaves

Never Leave

Its nuclei

To  Cry

Dry

Sigh

Die.

Sylva Portoian, M.D., and her husband, who is a cardiac surgeon, retired recently after 50 years of active work. They are blessed with two grown-up sons who are accomplished medical professionals married to Armenians who also are accomplished medical professionals. They have two grandsons. No wonder Sylva says, “I live on the Armenian Highlands, At Dawn~At Dusk”.

As an added note.  “Don’t Lock Your Brain in a Box”, she titled one of her poems, Instead, Sylva poets:

Give chance

For Your Brain

To Breathe

Like your Lungs.

 

To Beat

Like your Heart

 

To sing

Like your

Vocal Cords

 

To Paint

Like your

Fingers

 

To Dance Like

Your

Legs

 

Never lock your Brain

In a Box.

Emperors, Tsars, and Commissars: The Commissars (No.4/4)

IN HINDSIGHT: I have reproduced excerpts from Dr. Antranig Chalabian’s booklet “Emperors, Tsars, and Commissars”. Second Edition, Michigan, 1988.

Soviet Socialist Republics in U.S.S.R.

1988

Then came Russia’s commissars, following the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, and a portion of the short-lived independent Armenian state in Transcaucasi came under Soviet rule, in November 1920.

Has the attitude of the Soviets towards Armenia and the Armenians changed during the past sixty-eight years? Do they see a role for a greater and stronger Armenia in an area which is inhabited by fanatically religious and basically anti-atheist Muslims? I am not so sure. The Soviets do not seem to be moving -or inclined to move – in that direction and are obviously heading  towards the same pitfalls as their predecessors. They have kept Armenia small and weak, thus strengthening their potential enemies in the south. Even the Armenian district of Mountainous Karabagh, once inhabited 93 percent by Armenians, is under Azerbaijan’s rule.

The Gamk (Will) Armenian daily in Paris, France, published an article  (see Hairenik daily, Boston, July 25, 1985, p. 7) entitled  “The Concerns of the Soviet Union – The Increase of the Moslem population poses a threat”, by Garo Ulupeyan. The writer considers the Moslem “a very serious danger” for the Soviet Union, because they constitute 18 percent of the country’s population and their relations with the authorities are far from being smooth or satisfactory.  Ulupeyan estimates that the Moslems of the U.S.S.R. (Union of  Soviet Socialist Republics) may be between 66 to 75 million by the year 2000, when the Russians, compared to the Moslems, a minority. This significant disparity may pose a threat to the Russian authorities, because the religious oriented Moslems cannot be trusted entirely, and they will provide 25 percent of the manpower for the Red Army. 

The Moslem peoples of the U.S.S.R. are geographically located at enormous distances from the Soviet administrative centers. The cultural amalgamation of white-Russian mentality and European way of life is virtually nonexistent in those areas. As to the ideological indoctrination of Marxist atheism, is had produced only superficial results on the traditional Moslem lifestyles o these peoples. 

As a student of history it is my deep conviction that the creation of a greater and stronger Armenia by the Soviet Union (other world powers have no access in its borders), with the acquisition of at least some of our lands, will serve the best interests of that country for the following reasons:

1. As long as Turks are Turks and they are living in Turkey, Armenians inhabiting the southern boarders of the Soviet Union have no choice but to seek Russian protection, irrespective of the kind of government which rules that country. This is a political affinity and has nothing to do with ideologies. Only deranged Armenian politicos  and pollical adventurers can think otherwise. 

2. In case of a world conflict, short of thermonuclear holocaust, the Soviet union is not vulnerable from the north (it is protected by natural barriers of the Arctic ocean). It is not vulnerable from the west  because it is protected by Russia’s “General Winter”, (Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler can attest to this) It is not vulnerable from the east because it is protected by the “Field Marshal” of Siberia. Russia will not be intimadted by technologically superior or weapons, because military superiority is not “Factor No. 1” in a war (the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and ….Little Lebanon have proven this.) Microscopic Malta in the Mediterranean Sea was bombarded by the German Luftwaffe all through the duration of the Second World War, but the proud Maltese did not capitulate.

The Soviet Union, however, is vulnerable on two other fronts: from within and from the south.  The Soviet Union is vulnerable from within because of its leaders have thus far overlooked one seemingly insignificant aspect of human nature, that man is greedy, he wants more , and more.

Antranig Chalabian

Russia is vulnerable from the south, not because of the climate is warmer there and the enemy can cross its southern borders more easily, but because in the south it is bordered by numerous Muslim peoples (Turks, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Persians, Afghans, Turkmens, Uzbecks, Tajiks, Pakistanis, etc…) And the roots of Islam run much deeper in the hearts and minds of those peoples, than do the roots of Leninism.  The adversaries of communism in the west know this, of course, and sooner or later will exploit the religious sentiments of those peoples, as they are now doing in Afghanistan. Soviet soldiers of Moslem origin who were dispatched there to fight the rebels, actually defected to the rebel side, including a Soviet Moslem General. Those Red Army units of Moslem origin were replaced by non-Moslem Soviet soldiers. In conclusion, the south is the Soviet Union’s Achilles’ Heel.

If the Soviet Union cannot trust the Red Army units coming from Azerbaijan, Afhanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbeckistan, and Tajikistan for the defense of its most strategic and vulnerable southern borders, then God help Russia. The Crimean Tatars, already proved their unfaithfulness to the Soviet Union during World War II. They were deported to Siberia. 

A golden rule of ruling subjected peoples is dividing them and not strengthening or uniting them. If Armenia stays  small and weak and Turkey one day joins hands with its brothers and cousins in the east, then Russia will be in great trouble. Armies cannot fight ideas or religious sentiments. Once the masses go crazy, nothing helps. Lenin tried to win over the friendship of Kemal Ataturk by ceding to Turkey the Armenian border provinces of Kars, Ardahan, Artvin, only to find out, a few years later, that he was fooled by the crafty Turk !

In March 1921, a treaty was signed in Moscow between Nationalist Turkey headed by Mustafa Kamal, and the Soviet Union. The treaty set the postwar boundaries between the two countries. In November of the same year, a treaty was signed in Kars, between the Transcaucasian republics (Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan) and Turkey. During both of these conferences, Stalin, then Commissar of the Nationalities of the Soviet Union, favored Tatar interests and subjected the Armenian province s of Mountainous Karabagh and Nakhichevan  to Azerbaijani rule, thus further weakening Armenia.  

Cartoonist Dikran Ajemian in Beirut, Lebanon

The Byzantine emperors made mistakes and they paid dearly for them. Russia’s tsars, in their turn, were incapable of seeing their southern borders were inhabited not by White Russians but by potentially dangerous Turkis peoples. In the face of of that danger, instead of creating a great and autonomous Armenian state to divide and weaken those peoples, they aspired for an Armenia without Armenians, thus strengthening and uniting their own enemies ! It is not unconceivable that world leaders often lack foresight and political farsightedness, as well as the ability to comprehend the facts or anticipate the future. 

Will the present-day Soviet rulers of glasnost and perestroika (openness and restructuring) be able to see the important role a greater and stronger Armenia can play in the political network of religious minded peoples on the southern borders of their empire? It remains to be seen. Their predecessors failed to do that and that is why the 3,000 years old Armenian nation, Russia’s natural and dependable ally in the south, was reduced to a mere one million people by 1922, by our and their natural enemies.

Links

Links for the previous sections

The booklet: (No.1/4)

https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/09/in-hindsight-emperors-tzars-and.html

The Emperors: (No. 2/4)

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/09/in-hindsight-emperors-no-2.html

The Tars: (No. 3/4)

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2022/01/emperors-tsars-and-commissars-tsars-no3.html

Emperors, Tsars, and Commisars: The Tsars (No.3)

IN HINDSIGHT: I reproduced Excerpts from Dr. Antranig Chalabian’s booklet “Emperors, Tsars, and Commissars”. Second Edition, Michigan, 1988.

The Greek emperors had been unable to assess the importance of a strong Armenian kingdom for the defense of their eastern borders and had paid the price ! Russian tsars followed the same footsteps of the Byzantine emperors by trying to convert Armenia into a Russian province, even if need be without Armenians ! Their majesties were forgetting that the southern border of their empire was inhabited by potentially dangerous Moslem peoples who aspired to unite under the banner of the Turkish sultan -The Pan Turanian movement – and that a greater and stronger Armenia would divide and separate those peoples, instead of uniting and strengthening them.

The Armenian for centuries looked upon the Russian court as the only power in the area capable of liberating them from the unbearable Turkish yoke and granting them autonomy, but to no avail.  “Rus kerin piti ga” (Uncle Russia will come) was uttered by the Armenian peasants and intellectual alike, generation after generation with the devout hope and sincere expectation.

Peter the Great (1672-1725) was inclined to help the Armenians but was pre-occupied with the “Northern Question” (conflict with the Swedes).  During the Russo-Persian war of 1827, the Armenian bishop  (later catholicos) Nerses Ashtaraketsi led a group of over a thousand volunteers to fight on the side of tsar’s armies against the Persians. During the aftermath of victory, when the bishop raised the question of autonomy for Armenia to General Paskevich, commander of the Russian armies, he was banished to Bessarabia !

One of the most notorious advocates of an Armenia without Armenians was Tsar Nicholas II and his viceroys in Tiblisi, Varantzov-Dashkov and the Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaevich Romanov. According to the renown Armenian historian Leo (Arakel Babakhandian), it was Tsar Nicholas II’s ambassador in Istanbul, Nelidov, who had allegedly toll Sultan Abdul Hamid II, “Massacrez, Votre Majeste, massacrez !” (Massacre, Your Majesty, massacre [the Armenians].) And Sultan Abdul Hamid, one of the most bloodthirsty tyrants in history, gave the order, in the fall of 1895, to his faithful subjects in the name of God, to break into Armenian homes with their swords and hatchets, and kill any Armenian on sight. The death toll was 300,000 innocent victims.

Sultan Abdul Hamid II would not have dared take such a step without the connivance of Tsar Nicholas II and the Christian powers of Europe.

During World War I (1914-1918), the Russian armies attached Turkey and occupied historic Armenia up to Erzincan. The Armenian Genocide meanwhile was in full swing. Tsar Nicholas II personally visited Tbilisi in 1916. Catholicos Gevorg Y of Etchmiadzin paid a courtesy visit to Tsar Nicholas II and pleaded for an autonomous Armenian state under Russia’s protection.  The answer was negative. Russia;s tsars were not only reluctant to creat an autonomous Armenian state that would break the chain of Turkic peoples inhabiting the southern boarders of their empire, but they also vehemently opposed all attempts of Armenian liberation by General Antranik and his freedom fighters, between 1890 and 1920.

Links for the previous sections

The booklet: (No. 1/4)

https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/09/in-hindsight-emperors-tzars-and.html

The Emperors: (No. 2/4)

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/09/in-hindsight-emperors-no-2.html

The Comissars: (No. 4/4)

https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2022/01/emperors-tsars-and-commissars.html

Printing a U.S. Cent and a 1000 Lebanese Liras

Vahe H. Apelian

Lebanese Bank Notes No Longer in Circulation 

The least denomination in the U.S. is the lowly 1-cent Lincoln penny. In Lebanon, it is 1000LL. The latest exchange rate of the Lebanese Lira (LL) against the standard bearer,  the almighty Green Buck, although the $ may not be so mighty anymore - is 33,600 LL. 

According to Wikipedia, seigniorage is the “the profit made by a government by issuing currency, especially the difference between the face value of coins and their production costs.”

Not all currencies make a profit to the government, be it the United States. The cost of paper, colors, metals and labor add to the cost for  printing a bank note or minting a coin. According to a more recent report in Coinnews.net, dated February 7, 2020, by Mike Unser, “in 2019, to make, administer and distribute the 1-cent coin eased to 1.99 cents form 2.06 cents.” It means that it costs twice its face value to print a lincoln penny.  Printing 5-cents is costly too. It costs 7.53 cents to mint a nickel (5 cents). 

It is no wonder that our northern neighbor Canada ceased minting penny in 2019. Bills have been introduced in the U.S. congress to phase out minting the costly penny but to no avail. Let us face it. The “lowly penny” evokes sentimental feelings. I bet many of us have picked a penny and set it aside or in a jar. I have. Penny has its honored place in the American culture and language. There are well-known sayings that reference the penny, such as “penny saved is penny earned”, “penny-wise, pound-foolish. It appears that the costly penny will remain with us for the foreseeable future,  although "untold billions are parked in collection jars and other dark, forgotten places."

50-Piasters, 1952

There is the other side of the coin as well. The metal in the coin may be worth more than the nominal value of the coin itself. Such was the case for the Lebanese 50-cents in the hey days of Lebanon. Sometimes in the 1960’s the 50 piasters disappeared from circulation in Lebanon. It turned out that its silver content was for more valuable than its trading face value. Lebanon being Lebanon, it would not surprise me a bit that those in the higher up bought all the available 50-piasters from the banks at their face value and had them processed for their far more expensive silver content. It even would not surprise me that Lebanese officials, being Lebanese officials, had the government continue on minting the silver containing 50-piasters while they hoarded the minted coins, until the government ran of its silver stock and legislation was passed to have the composition of the 50-piasters changed.

After the news, or should I say after the rumors became widely known. What Lebanese government official in his right mind would have alerted the people?  I too kept the few silver-containing 50-piasters I laid my hands on. They surely felt different in the pocket. They were heavier than the 50 piasters that replaced them. I do not know what happened to my few silver-containing 50 piasters. Recently I checked online about them and found out that they are available for purchase for those to whom the silver-containing 50-piasters evoke memories of the bygone days in Lebanon. But its expensive In a good condition each is retailed up to $40 U.S. dollars. 

I was told that the lowest Lebanese Lira denomination nowadays is 1000 LL. At the current market exchange, it means that 1000 LL is worth around 3 cents. It would not be farfetched to envision that it costs the Lebanese government more than 3 cents to print a 1000 LL bank note.  Why print a 1000 LL then? By the same token it costs more for the U.S. Government to  continue on minting the 1 cent.

There was a time when a 25-piaster coin is all you needed to secure a seating in the circulating taxicabs in the city, and 50-piaster coin to have a tasty manaesh from the baker across the American University of Beirut. Around 3500 LL (around 1000$) is what the student needed to meet the American University of Beirut tuition cost in my days. 

The 50-Lebanese piasters are now worthless. So are the circulating bank notes in my days such as 1, 5, 10, 50 or 100 LL. But should  a person have kept them in mint conditions, they may fetch a hefty price on ebay. In mint conditions, as noted, a 50 piasters may fetch up to $40.

Who can possibly dispute to the contrary that those were the days in Lebanon?  Quoting from the popular song of the 1960’s, the generation of my day in their youth dared to sing in Lebanon.....

We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way

 

 

 

 

 

«Զարթօնք» Վէպին Հերոսները

Վահէ Յ. Աբէլեան

 

«Զարթօնք» վէպին հեղինակ Մալխասը մահացաւ1962-ին Պէյրութի մէջ երբ շրջանի մը համար՝ Ամերիկային Լիբանան եկած էր աշխատանքային այցելութեան համար։ Հետեւաբար այդ տարին էր որ հանդիպած եղած եմ իրեն քանի որ շրջան մը մնաց հօրս բանեցուցած պանդոկը – Հոթել Լիւքս։ Իսկ ես արդէն իր գրած քառահատոր վէպը կարդացած էի։ Եթէ գիրքին չորս հատորներուն ընթերցումս մէկ անգամ էր, եթէ ոչ աւելի, բայց վստահաբար անոր կարգ հը հատուածները  կարդացած էի քանի մը անգամ՝ ինչպէս Վարդանին «կրակի մկրտութիւնը»,  պայթումը որուն հետեւանքով Վարդանը այլանդակուեցաւ բայց մնաց իր առաքելութեանը վրայ որպէս Լեւոն եւ ապա Լեւոնին եւ Սօնային ամուսնութիւնը երբ զանքակները կը ղողանչէին աւետելու Հայաստանի անկախութիւնը բայց ամուսնութիւնէն անմիջապէս ետք ուժասպառ Լեւոնը կը մահանար։ 

Քանի մը սերունդ այդ վէպով հաբշտակուած մնաց։ Անբնական չէր որ երկուղածութիւնս մեծ եղաւ երբ ծնողքս զիս ծանօթացուց վէպի հեղինակին։ Մալխասին եւ ծնողքիս բարեկամութիւնը մտերիմ եղած ըլլալ կը պատկերացնեմ մտապատկերիս մէջ, մանաւանդ մօրս հետ։ Այդպէս ալ կը վկայէ Մալխասին ծնողքիս նուիրած լուսանկարը հետեւալ արձանագրութեամբ՝ «Սիրելի Զուարթին ....Յովհաննէսին, Սիրով Մալխաս»։ Այդ լուսանկարը նուիրեցի Project Save-ին։ իսկ տպաւորութիւններուս մասին նախապէս անդրադարձած եմ պլակիս մէջ,  «Զարթօնք»ին Անգլերան թարգմանութեանը առթիւ։

Մալխասը 85 տարեկան էր երբ մահացաւ։ Բայց իմ պատանեկան տպաւորութիւններս առոյք մարդու մըն  են։  Այսօր ստացած հեռաձայնը հաստատեց որ տպաւորութիւններս ճիշդ եղած են։ Հաճելի անակնկալ մը եղաւ ինծի հեռաաձայն ստանալ Աբգար Միրաքեանէն։ Նախապէս չենք խօսած։ Աբգարը հետեւալը պատմեց։ Պանդոկին մօտ, կեդրոնական Պէյրութի մէջ, ընդհանրապէս կերպասի եւ կերպասեղէնի առընջութեամբ վաճառքի շուկայ մը կար որ կը կոչուէր Սուք Էլ Սըրսօք։ Վաճառատեղերը միայն խանութներ չէին։ Անոց կողքին Կային նաւ կրպակներ։ Այդ կրպակներէն մէկուն աշխատած է Աբգարը իր պատանեկութեան։ Մալխասը յաճախ կրպակին տիրոջը այցելութեան եկած է, միասնաբար սուրճ խմելու համար, տրուած ըլլալով մտերիմ բարեկամներ դարձած են։ 

Աբգարը եւ ես սերդնակից ենք։ «Զարթօնք»ը կլանած եղած է նաեւ զինք։ Վստահաբար ինծմէ աւելի համարձակ, թերեւս անոր համար որ քանի մը տարիներ ինծմէ տարեց է, հարց տուած է Մալխասին որ արդի՞ոք Թոփալ Սատանան՝Կարօ Սասունիին մտապատկերով եղած է, իսկ Առիւծը Գեւոն՝ Ապաղանաց Մակարին. հապա վարդան-Լեւո՞նը՝ Արամ Մանուկեանին մտապատկերով։ Մալխասին տուած բացատրութիւնը երիտսարդութեան սեմին գտնուող Աբգարին ինծի համար նորութիւն մը եղաւ եւ վեր՚ջ տուաւ իմ պարբերական եւ պատեհ առիթներու մտմտուքներուս թէ որո՞նց մտապատկերներով Մալխասը կրնար ստեղած ըլլալ  «Զարթօնք»ին հերոսները։

Մալխասին տուած բացատրութիւնը եղած է հետեւաելը՝ որ վէպին հերոսները ներկայացուցած են խորհուրդներ։ Թոփալ Սատանան եւ Առիւծ Գեւոն մարմնաւորած են յեղափոխութիւնը, Վարդան-Լեւոնը՝ անկախութիւնը, իսկ Սօնան՝ Հայաստանը։ Երբ յետնդարձ ակնարկով կը վերյիշեմ յիսուն եւ աւելի տարիներ առաջ կարդացած վէպս, կը պատկերացնեմ որ իրապէս այդ խորհուրդները եղած են վէպին հերոսները։ Երիտասարդուհի, գեղեցիկ եւ շփացած Սօնան-Հայաստանը նախ իր կեանքը փոձեց տեսնել Ռուս բարձրաստիճան սպային հետ եւ տարուեցաւ անոր շրջապատով եւ ապա ամբողջութեամբ յեղաշրջեցաւ եւ դարձաւ իր երկրին խնամակալը։ Խոհուն երիտսարդ Վարդան-Անկախութիւնը այլ հեռանկար ունէր եւ մնաց այդ առաքելութեանը հետամուտ մինչեւ իր մահը։ իսկ թոփալ Սատանան եւ Առիւծ Գեւոն-Յեղափոխոթիւնը իրենց պարզութեանը մէջ, առանց գանգատի, ջահակիրները էին իրենց կոչումին։ Վէպին աւարտին իւրքանչիւրը ունեցաւ իր լիութիւնը։ Վարդան-Լեւոն-Անկախութիւնը ամոււսնութեամբ միացան՝ հոգածոյ քոյր մը դարձած իր երբեմնի սիրուհիին Սօնա-Հայաստանը եւ անոր անխախութեան ձտգող Սօնա-Հայաստանին երբեմնի սէրը։ իսկ Թոփալ Սատանան-ԱռիւծԳեւո-Յեղափոխութիւնը աւետեց այդ միացումը՝ զանգակներուն ղողանչումը վերագրելով այդ ամուսնութեան, Ազատ եւ Անկախ Հայաստանին ծնունդին՝ որն էր նաեւ վէպին երկու գլխաւոր հերոսներուն ամուսնութիւնը։  

Տակաւին քանի մը օր առաջ Ֆէյսպուքին վրայ Իվան Արտհալտճեանը հարց կուտր որ եթէ Մալխասին «Ապրումներ» գիրքը երկհատոր է։ Որքան որ կը յիշեմ ան  մէկ հատոր է։ Անհամբեր սպասած եմ այդ գիրքին ակնկալելով որ հոն պիտի կարդայի «Զարթօմք»-ն հերոսներուն բացայայտնումը։ Այդպէս բան չկար։ Մալխասը նաւե հեղինակն է «Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւնը» գիրքին՝ հրատարակուած 1931-ին, կուսակցութեան քառասուն ամեակին առթիւ։ Այդ գիրքին մէջ կայ ամբողջ բաժին մը «Ապրումներ» վերնագրով։  ՀԹերեւս «Ապրումներ» որպէս գիրք (1956) այդ հատորէն է ընդհանրապէս բայց ընդարձակուած։ Աբգար Միրաքեան կը յիշէ նաեւ հետեւեալ երկու  հատորները՝  «Լուսադեմին» եւ «Արեւագալը»:

“Զարթօնք» լոյս գրուած է 1933-ին, երբ արդէն «Ապրումները» գրուած էր, եւ հրատարակուեցաւ անոր յաջորդող քանի մը սերունդերուն համար որոնց պատանեկութիւնը անցաւ իրենց ծնողական տուններուն մէջ ուր չկար ոչ հեռաձայն եւ ոչ ալ հեռատեսիլ։ Կար ընթերցանութիւնը։ Կար հայ օրաթերթին մէջ առօրեայ ընթերցանութեան համար կտրոն որ կը հաւաքուէր օր, օր կազմելու համար որպէս գիրք մը։ Կը կասկածիմ որ ներկայ սերունդը պիտի ապրի «Զարթօնք» վէպը այնպէս ինչպէս այդ սերունդները, թէեեւ կարդայ «Զարթօնք» վէպին Անգլերէն լարգմանութիւնը՝ այլ «դարք, այլ բարք»։ (http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2017/03/zartonk-awakening.html)

1956, Պէյրութ