The sentence is misleading since it strongly implies that there is only one HIV testing facility in the capital (although it technically doesn’t say so).

I consulted my friend who used to be the Tuberculosis Program Director of International Red Cross in Yerevan (they were doing a lot of AIDS work too), and he wrote literally this:
“Testavorman kentronner kan bolor marzkentronnerum yev yerevani hamarya bolor poliklinikanerum, hivandanocnerum, laboratorianerum yev iharke AIDS kentronum… Anti-retroviral buzhum’ hnaravor dardzav 2004-05-ic. 2006-ic nuynisk kalanavayreri hivandnaocum 3-4 hogi anvchar buzhvum er. Global Fund’ finansavorel er 5 tarva tsragir.”

Please correct it. Thanks.

However, the services offered are less advanced. Georgia announced the introduction of 3G services in 2005, for example, whereas VivaCell announced that plans to introduce them at the end of last year. I’m not sure if they have yet, however.

Anyway, Georgia’s Magticom had just under a million subscribers as of the end of last year, Geocell had 1.3 million and Beeline had over 200,000 making around 2.5 million in total. In Azerbaijan, the number of subscribers is 4.4 million.

Indeed, the situation has changed drastically since 2006 when mobile phone penetration was 40 percent in Azerbaijan, 42 percent in Georgia, and 27 percent in Armenia.

Anyway, I’ll change that for the final edit. On that, I’m off to Tbilisi tomorrow so will not be sending this as planned today so feel free to make any further comments such as that one. Comments are still moderated in the post-election period, however, so if your comment doesn’t show up, it will when I return on Monday.

Incidentally, the point about Internet penetration stands with Azerbaijan having 12.3 percent, Georgia 7.1 percent and Armenia (5.9 percent).

Vivacell claims over 1 million subscribers and Armentel over 500,000 which means at least 50% of the population now have mobile phones.

At least eight have died in the bloody political unrest that followed disputed elections in the small Caucasus republic. The EU has offered to mediate.

The violence began on the weekend, when Armenian police reacted violently to ongoing protests in response to the presidential election on Feb. 19. Some 15,000 protesters took to the streets, demonstrating against alleged government vote-rigging.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3163780,00.html

Incidentally, DW, AFP, AP, BBC and Reuters have people here and didn’t file from abroad. Their estimate is in line with mine and others who were also there.

Interestingly, while I consider the Russian media unreliable, Interfax says “up to 10,000.”

The protesters moved to an area adjacent to the embassies of France and Italy, where up to 10,000 people rallied. Police reported that, by the evening, the situation had become uncontrollable and the crowd had started looting nearby government institutions and private shops, setting cars ablaze in the process.

http://www.armeniandiaspora.com/archive/128955.html

Basically, with all the credible Western news sources put the figure around 10,000 plus or minus, I think I’ll use “10-15,000.”

Incidentally, I noticed that I initially used “about 10,000.” I’ll change that for the final version.

Actually, it says “at least 5,000″ so a middle figure of 10,000 is probably ok. Nevertheless, 10-15,000 seems ok as the maximum reliable estimate.

The crowd of at least 5,000 opposition supporters massed in an area near the mayor’s office shouting “Levon, Levon !” and “Victory !” after a 10-day sit-in was broken up by baton-wielding police in the early hours.

http://in.reuters.com/article/asiaCompanyAndMarkets/idINL0153930520080301?sp=true

Anyway, the problem is that the figures from pro-opposition sources are very inaccurate and significantly inflated. This is probably to paint a picture of something on the scale of the Orange or Rose Revolutions.

However, as one foreign journalist who was there for Ukraine pointed out to me, the opposition never had the critical mass. They needed at least 100,000, but never got more than “tens of thousands” i.e. an average of 20-30,000.

They never achieved the critical mass — the magical 100,000. The BBC also mentions this point.

His supporters had set up a tent camp on Yerevan’s Freedom Square, which had become the focus for mass rallies involving tens of thousands of people every day.

The scene was reminiscent of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, although on a much smaller scale.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7273713.stm

The violence began early Saturday when riot police cleared a central square in front of Yerevan’s opera house where protesters had been camped since the presidential election won by Kocharian’s ally, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.

Between 6,000 and 8,000 demonstrators quickly regrouped in another square.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gYxkxdT9Nppgb3X9mF5kpzJQ3m8g

Anyway, the middle figure of 10,000 seems the most accurate with most reliable sources stating that the number reduced by the end to 2-3,000 and then a few dozen.

The standoff ended at around 4 a.m. local time after the top opposition leader, Levon Ter-Petrosian, urged his supporters to go home, citing the state of emergency imposed by Kocharian. “I do not want any victims and clashes between police and innocent people. That is why I am asking you to leave,” Ter-Petrosian said in a message read out to more than 2,000 people that barricaded themselves outside the Yerevan mayor’s office.

According to Reuters news agency, most of the crowd headed away from the square but a group of around 60 people refused to go home and set fire to abandoned police vehicles. Some of them accused the former Armenian president of being a traitor. Gunshots in downtown Yerevan could be heard after that.

http://www.armtown.com/news/en/rfe/20080302/200803024/

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Eight people died in clashes between police and opposition supporters that led the president to declare a sweeping, 20-day state of emergency, officials said Sunday.

Police fired in the air and let off tear gas to break up Saturday’s gathering of some 15,000 protestors upset over alleged fraud in the Feb. 19 presidential election. On Sunday, troops and armored vehicles patrolled the main streets of Armenia’s capital.

[…]

President Robert Kocharian declared the state of emergency Saturday night. After the announcement, a few thousand people remained in the streets, some holding peaceful vigils. By morning, some streets were littered with the hulks of burned cars and troops carrying assault rifles and wearing bullet-proof vests stood on street corners.

http://www.lifeinarmenia.com/2008/03/02/associated-press-8-dead-in-clashes-in-armenia/

Well, very few of my remarks referred to real typos (nowadays, it’s an accepted PC form to call every spelling and even grammatical mistake a “typo” :)). Your second and third sentences, for example, are still incorrectly/awkwardly structured. Don’t take my word for it, consult a language specialist.

Artsashes, I am not disputing the need for editing, but more that this is something that will be done tomorrow.

Anyway, about the numbers of people on the Myasnikyan square. I was following in almost real time through blogs (many of them in Russian); some of the bloggers were eye-witnesses, with various political affiliations. All were reporting that the square was filling up through the afternoon and evening; my impression was that all that commotion was more than about 10,000 people.

As I’ve said, 10-15,000 people.

Later, I read several eyewitness accounts of journalists, and they were estimating at around 100,000.

I’d like to see those reports although I strongly disagree with the figures. Ter-Petrossian never managed to rally even close to 100,000 people throughout the entire election period. Certainly, on 1 March during the day, the crowd by the French Embassy was estimated at 10-15,000 and as I could move very freely in between the people who were not even standing shoulder to shoulder, I’ll need more reliable sources of information before I change that figure.

So, there should be enough Western media sources out there (and I’m sorry, Armenian and Russian sources cannot be considered accurate)/ Please post links. I’m more than willing to consider a revision of the figures based on credible alternative figures given the less than scientific nature of calculating crowd sizes. Nevertheless, such sources I’ve seen are using “thousands” or “several thousand” and definitely not anything close to 100,000.

This is in line with the estimates of myself and others who were there (Reuters, AFP, BBC, NYT etc).

Thanks.

Anyway, about the numbers of people on the Myasnikyan square. I was following in almost real time through blogs (many of them in Russian); some of the bloggers were eye-witnesses, with various political affiliations. All were reporting that the square was filling up through the afternoon and evening; my impression was that all that commotion was more than about 10,000 people. Later, I read several eyewitness accounts of journalists, and they were estimating at around 100,000. For example, this one, by Russian paper Kommersant (this report actually confirmed different bloggers’ accounts of events and was NOT really pro-LTP or pro-SS):
http://kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=862757

Anyway, looking at the sources you cited, I am not sure what to believe. RFE/RL, for example, together with mentioning of “thousands”, reported “more than 10,000″ too:
“An RFE/RL correspondent at the scene did not see any demonstrators carrying weapons and reported that security forces fired tracer bullets in the air for more than 40 minutes in an apparent bid to scare away more than 10,000 people barricaded there at that time.”
http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2008/03/8D6FD2D9-C798-4BF4-8307-1F434344FFC9.asp

If you were there in person throughout the night tell me what is your estimate of the crowd at its peak. I would trust your estimation abilities more than those of others since you are quite experienced in covering demonstrations.

It’s the topics, issues, disputes with numbers I’m concerned and want to deal with. As I said, this is a quick first edit I’m opening up to discussion and debate before a final proper edit.

Still, thanks for the time you spent and some points taken, especially about remittances and use of the word “overseas.” I’ll change that to abroad etc.

A few other responses, though.

About 10,000 opposition supporters assembled close to the French Embassy later in the day…

ALL different sources, pro-whoever, reported a number much bigger than 10000.

What figures are you saying they used? Basically, objective observers do not use figures of more than 10-15,000. There were not more.

Even RFE/RL, for example, simply said “thousands” rather than “several thousand” or “tens of thousands.” Interestingly, RFE/RL’s figures are very politically worded in support of Ter-Petrossian.

http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2008/03/80827946-7CEB-474F-8E8D-B4A4B4012A8A.asp

http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2008/03/3623EA9C-98D2-4DCA-9113-3072E07677F3.asp

Basically, the crowd was a lot smaller than the opposition claim (they simply inflate the numbers in attendance at rallies by anywhere between 4-15 times).

They claim more than 100,000 just as they claim 100-500,000 at Liberty Square. This is simply not true.

Those of us there on 1 March who are not linked to either side put the number at 10-15,000. Actually, that’s my estimate. Others put it at 10,000 with Reuters reporting even less:

The crowd of at least 5,000 opposition supporters massed in an area near the mayor’s office after a 10-day sit-in was broken up by baton-wielding police in the early hours. Later, sporadic shooting erupted from the area.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/02/2177301.htm

However, if you can provide me with links to the figures you say were out there, I’ll consider them, but please, no A1 Plus or any local Armenian publication. None of them can be trusted on this matter.

Overgeneralization. A lot of people (not all) from those sections, like my parents-pensioners, have been getting whatever care policlinics can provide absolutely free of charge for years (the specific case of that “no payments expected” policlinic is the one next to Chamber Music House, #4 policlinic. I myself go there in the summers, and neither GP nor a cardiologist ever hinted on illegal payments).

I didn’t say that everyone is hit by informal payments, but it is widespread and more common than not. Anyway, I think “as a result a sizable percentage of the population instead resorts to self- or home-treatment.” is enough to indicate that.

However, it is interesting to consider that most Armenians accept the system and so rather than a doctor or nurse demand a payment, they merely hand one over (the rates are known among the population).

Perhaps mention of the family doctor / general practitioner pilot? Don’t know, it’s not commonplace yet, I think, although the model should reduce informal payments and needless referral to narrow specialists because they can make money from operations.

New indicators concerning the country’s Lake Sevan have been added to address concerns with lowering water levels.

I missed that! For several recent years, it has been increasing. What happened?

Okay, point taken, the indicators were added because of concerns with water levels lowering and they seem to have worked and the situation is now reversing.

http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&IID=1143&CID=2362&AID=2383&lng=arm

*
As one of the oldest nations in the world, Armenia occupies a fraction of its ancestral lands.

“Nation”, in its correct usage, means “a group of people with common attributes, etc.”. You mean “a country” or “a state”.

*
[…]

New indicators concerning the country’s Lake Sevan have been added to address concerns with lowering water levels.

I missed that! For several recent years, it has been increasing. What happened?

*
[…]

*
About 10,000 opposition supporters assembled close to the French Embassy later in the day…

ALL different sources, pro-whoever, reported a number much bigger than 10000.

*
[…]

*
Even though some sections of the population are entitled to free treatment, a system of informal payments exists…

Overgeneralization. A lot of people (not all) from those sections, like my parents-pensioners, have been getting whatever care policlinics can provide absolutely free of charge for years (the specific case of that “no payments expected” policlinic is the one next to Chamber Music House, #4 policlinic. I myself go there in the summers, and neither GP nor a cardiologist ever hinted on illegal payments).

*
[…]

*
Despite a record of strong economic growth, underpinned by remittances from the large overseas Armenian diaspora, 34 percent of the population lived below the national poverty line in 2007.

All analysts constantly mention that the biggest share of remittances is not from “overseas”, i.e. the US but from “overland”, i.e. Russia.

*
[…]

As for Internet connection and the duff conflict intro, I’ve put in the bits from the original country guide already online as I really shouldn’t have taken them out.

They’ll need some editing too, but I’ll do that tomorrow. As for other stuff like the environment, yeah, I’ll think about that tomorrow.

Thanks again.

Perhaps something about the uranium deal should be mentioned?

Under “Conflict” something’s missing in the first sentence–it doesn’t make sense as written.

About Internet, although Internet access isn’t prohibited, the costs are too high for the great majority of people–worth a mention?

Otherwise, please do consider the following:

“Poltics”, paragraph 5, revise as this?: “The election held on 19 February 2008 was _initially_ considered”

“Politics”, paragraph 10: Please think about this a little more. Here’s the actual statements from the original vs. final OSCE reports–note that the “mostly” now goes only with pre-election and voting hours, whereas the initial statement was more general:

Original statement: “The 19 February presidential election in the Republic of Armenia was administered mostly in line with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards.”

Final statement: “While the 2008 presidential election mostly met OSCE commitments and international
standards in the pre-election period and during voting hours, serious challenges to some commitments did emerge, especially after election day.”

In diplo-speak, it really is a significant backtrack, so I don’t think that it is correct for you to write “still maintains”–I think that you have to reflect the change they made more directly than that.

This was a depressing thing to read!!

It will be finalized on Thursday.

So, if there’s anything you think should be added or whatever, leave a comment. In particular, there’s precious little information on MDG progress in Armenia so if anyone has any info on that I’d be obliged. I’ll drop an email to the UN, but I suspect they’ll just direct me to their official MDG Armenia page.

Interesting to note, however, that the MCA money has preoccupied almost everyone here rather than the MDGs.