My Homeland Struggle

At age 63, Kohar Aklyan now resides in Hollywood, California. She was born in Armenia in the year of 1942. She used to teach at a university at Armenia. Today, she is retired and enjoys reading a lot of Armenian books and poetry. She has a variety of books and has read all of them. She also enjoys having company, such as friends from her apartment complex. She hopes to become more in touch with her Armenian roots and have more friends that share her interests in Armenian literature.

During communism in Armenia, religion was not practiced freely. There was no spiritual freedom. Going to church and praying was not allowed. People used to believe in God but were afraid to express themselves.

The government censored everything from the news to TV. There was no freedom of speech. People should have been able to express themselves by free speeches and free deeds, but the government did not allow them. People were supposed to say things that the political party wanted to hear. Everything that was shown or said on TV should have served the purpose of communism. The newspapers were biased, since there was no free expression and they only wrote about whatever the communist party wanted. There was no free expression in the newspapers. Also, on TV, you could not express yourself freely. So many things were not allowed. Everything was under control!

The police were very brutal and had unfriendly manners. They could have shown some understanding or mercy, even if the person was guilty, but they were very hard and harsh. They used to beat the defendant until death at times, sometimes they even used axes. People used to bribe the officials in order to avoid punishment. Even some innocent people who were caught by the police were treated brutally by them. To avoid punishment those people used to sell all their belongings, all their properties to the officials. There was no moral treatment, and there was no conduct. Unfortunately, people were getting arrested with no probable cause, especially during Stalin's era and after that, for a long time. There was a sick belief. If people, neighbors for instance, told that such a person is against the government, the police will come and take that person to jail without convicting him. Police would come in during the middle of the night during Stalin's reign, take that person away, and then exile him to Siberia. People didn't even know what their guilt was. So many times we were called to the police station for investigation. They would ask questions about their neighbors; if they were involved in any political /criminal acts. We always denied their accusations, but they said that person will be punished weather or not you cooperate with us. The policemen were paying too much attention to peoples lies. Many innocent people passed away in exiles for no reason at all. Every Armenian knows that. From 1949 until 1953, which was the death of Stalin, thousands of Armenian families were destroyed.

Unfortunately, the trials were biased. Most of the judges did not have high education, and they all accepted bribes. There was no justice because there was bribery. The same judge could lessen a punishment, or could have sent the person to jail if he was previously bribed. People used to complain to the Supreme Court, but all the same, those judges at the Supreme Court were also bribed. The witnesses were scared to express themselves from the fear of retaliation.

The prison guards were also bribed. They used to get money to treat their inmates well; otherwise they would beat them or something. The prison guards used to take money, food, and cigarettes from the inmates. Legally they were not supposed to do that, but in fact, all the prison guards used to take bribes. By law, torture was not legal, but unfortunately, whoever was jailed was not able to come out of jail as a normal human being. They would torture them mentally, physically, and morally. The prison guards were also bribed. They used to get money to treat their inmates well; otherwise they would beat them or something.

Elections were a formality. People used to go for election in order not to be punished. Every candidate that was assigned used to get 99.9% of the votes. This was pre-arranged and not real. People did not have the freedom to select their candidates. There was only one candidate and every one was supposed to vote for him. It was very funny, since there were not multiple candidates to choose from. People did not know anything about that candidate, like what kind of education he has, what judgment he has, what his plans are, etcetera.

Armenia, during the Soviet regime, had many leaders. The person who led the country was the leader of the communist party of that republic. Those communist leaders did very little for their people. Some names are Zahrubian, Kochinain, Haroutunian, and many others. Only one person among these was the chairman of the communist party of Armenia, and that was Garen Demirjian, who was in control from 1985 until 1991. During his time, art, education, and sports industries boomed. He had a new airport built, many sports arenas and factories were built, and thousands and thousands of buildings were constructed. He took Armenians to the top of everything. People used to love and adore him, because during his reign, the people of Armenia ascended to the top.

Education was a must during the communism era. Every kid had to attend school. Almost no kid was left at home or thrown out of the schools. During communism, education was mandatory, and most of the people graduated from schools. After graduation, people attended universities. Any kid who left school was followed and brought back to school. The communists forced their children to go to school. No kid should be left on the streets!

By law, women were equal to men. But, the Armenian culture gives more priority to the males. The father was the head of the family, and used to take care of educating his children. But in the workplace, men and women were equal.

During communism, everybody had a job. They were not allowed to stay at home. But, the good jobs were given to those people who had good connections. It's not how qualified you are, it's who you know and who you bribe. They paid little attention to the people that were knowledgeable and hard working. Yes, there were some people that got their jobs legally, but the illegal workers were more. However, the communists were smart. After a while, they were hiring people who were knowledgeable, genius, and hard working, because they knew these people would run the country. However, they still hired people who had good connections in the government.

However, the black market was making the most success during this time. It mostly boomed. Maybe they lost very little money, but for the most part they made money. Almost everything was bought and sold through the black market.

Your neighbor, your friend, your beloved person who you had dinner with, who praised you, loved you, and pretended to be your closest friend, when the time came, he used to call us "aghpar" (stupid guy). The local Armenians used to call the immigrant Armenians " aghpar," and that hurt me a lot, because 1946, my father took his entire family to immigrate to Armenia, because of his love for Armenia, and so that we can have a good Armenian education, become Armenian nationalists, and love our land. However, the local Armenians used to call us "aghpars." This was acknowledged by President Levon Ter-Petrissian in 1993. He apologized to the immigrant Armenians by calling them "aghpars." He said there is no difference between immigrant Armenians and local Armenians.

Interviewed by Rafi Orphali