InternationalFrom earthquake theories to plane crashes, the art of spreading rumors in Armenia
Published: Saturday December 06, 2008 in Living in Armenia
Yerevan - Twenty years ago this year, Armenia was rocked by a devastating earthquake. Somehow it made no sense. It was almost impossible to understand why it happened. Nature had reared its ugly head and beat down upon us so ferociously, that to give it any scientific explanation would have been to minimize the magnitude of the destruction. Once the shock wore off, rumors quickly began to circulate. The word on the street was that the earthquake was caused by the Soviets by means of an underground nuclear explosion. They said that Soviet authorities wanted to punish Armenia for the Karabakh movement. Even though this theory is outrightly discounted by seismologists who say that an explosion could not have caused the earthquake, it remains part of the Armenian collective consciousness.
Twenty years on, rumors continue. Alvaro Antonyan, director of the National Seismic Protection Service of Armenia at a press conference in Yerevan had to publicly quell fears that a strong earthquake in Yerevan was imminent. A few days ago, a "specialist" from the National Academy of Sciences went on television and said that according to the information of their radon-measuring stations, the level of radon gas on the earth's crust was above the normal range. This, he had said, is considered to be one of the early warning signs of seismic tremors. Mr. Antonyan said that they monitor more than 20 radon-measuring stations throughout the republic and that they were all within normal ranges. He told reporters that it is impossible to foresee an earthquake. "We can only assess the current seismic danger at best," he told reporters. He went on to say that earthquakes are connected with processes which take place hundreds of kilometers below the earth's surface and have practically no connection with atmospheric temperature.
Every year for the past eight years, I hear rumors right around this time that say another big one is going to hit. At this time of year, every year, a dense, heavy fog descends upon the country. I know, I have been stranded at the airport many times because of this recurring fog. Twenty years ago on December 7, 1988, it was a very foggy day. It never fails, every December, you can hear whispers of impending disaster.
When Armavia Flight 967 (Armenia's national carrier) plummeted into the Black Sea on May 3, 2006, on a routine flight to the resort town of Sochi killing all 113 passengers on board, the country once again was thrust into mourning. Disbelief and then outrage slowly crept in. Rumors began to swirl that the crash was not a result of bad weather, mechanical failure, or human error, but because of an exchange of gunfire on board. The story is that Aram Petrosyan, son of Karlos Petrosyan, the former head of the National Security Service, who was on board with some fellow thugs, got into an argument and shot at a passenger. For days and weeks following the tragedy, as one body after another was transported back home for burial, the rumors were relentless. A friend of mine said, "Did you hear? They are not returning the body of one of the flight attendants because it has a gunshot wound and that would only confirm what authorities have been denying. We all know it's true."
According to the findings of the Inter-State Aviation Committee it was a combination of pilot error and poor weather conditions. It seems when tragedy hits Armenia, authorities lose all ability to assuage fears of its people. It is indeed a sad indicator that people do not trust their own government. This is what leads to unreasonable thought processes, gossip, and the very active rumor mill.
Following contentious presidential elections earlier this year, mass demonstrations were taking place daily at Liberty Square in downtown Yerevan. On March 1, as government forces tried to clear the square of protestors, riots broke out lasting well into the next day. As a result 10 people died. I do not doubt that every Armenian heart in the country bled that day. We couldn't afford to lose any more, but we did and this time at our own hands. Amidst the chaos and instability in the following days, news began spreading that the actual death toll was much higher than the official numbers being released by Armenian authorities. There was so much uncertainty those first few days and we were in such shock that most of us didn't realize how fast the rumors had spread. They weren't saying that only a few more died, they had begun talking about numbers closer to 200 people. We are a small nation. It would have been impossible for authorities, even if they wanted to, to play with the numbers and keep all the families and friends of the allegedly deceased from speaking out. Rumors included bodies being found thrown off bridges, found in the forests - and all of these were people who were allegedly killed by government forces.
On a lighter note, a few years ago rumors were circulating that Armenia had exported over 3,000 tons of bananas to the Bahamas and about 90 tons to Georgia. Curious, bananas obviously don't grow in Armenia. But these figures were cited by Armenia's State Council on Statistics. Everyone was talking about bananas. As it turns out an Armenian firm had exported some 60 kilos of banana oil to the Bahamas from approximately 750 tons of bananas imported on a temporary basis for reprocessing purposes. There you go.
The one rumor that affected me most acutely was the story of the scorpion and the bride. We had just moved to Armenia. Construction on the massive Sourb Krikor Lusavoritch Church in the heart of Yerevan had just been completed. Armenia was celebrating the 1700th anniversary of Christianity. Religious leaders, including Pope John Paul II were in Armenia for the celebrations and consecration of the newly constructed church. However, residents of Yerevan didn't take to the church. They found it cold and barren, felt it was a misappropriation of funds considering the living conditions of people right across the country. Why did we need a church when most families were going without the basic necessities of life including drinking water, heating, shelter, they asked. I recall the day my young daughter came home from school in a fluster and said she had heard the most horrific tale. A young bride standing at the altar with her groom, just married, had collapsed on the cold marble floor of the church and died. The rumor was that a scorpion, hidden among the many layers of tulle and veil had bit the young woman, killing her instantly. I was horrified but questioned the truth of the story; yet my daughter's eyes were full of so much conviction that I told her it was indeed a tragedy. That week the rumor spread like wildfire and everyone was talking about it. Of course, it never happened. The reason for starting that rumor I'll leave to the imagination, but I suspect after that most brides checked to make sure there were no hiding scorpions in their wedding dresses.
