By Giorgos Christides Thessaloniki, Greece

It took less than five minutes for both Panagiotis Kostas and his wife, Olga Psaridou, to lose their jobs. That was the length of Tuesday’s announcement by a government spokesperson that Greece’s state broadcaster, ERT, would be shut down at midnight.

The couple, who have one child, are both ERT journalists.

Ms Psaridou, 42, is a news anchor and Mr Kostas, 49, the editor-in-chief of the news programme at ERT’s third channel, ET3.

“We are in a state of shock. And we are mad with anger that this could be the way it all ends. I have been working for 17 years for ERT and my wife for 15,” Mr Kostas says.

The couple are among the approximately 2,700 employees who have been laid off by ERT.

The decision, which is intended to placate Greece’s international lenders and demonstrate the decisiveness of the government to move ahead with reforms, shocked not only ERT employees, but the entire nation.

As Giorgos Toulas, a veteran radio producer at ERT, wrote in an article for the magazine Parallaxi: “This morning, the alarm clock woke me up as it has always done for 25 years. I went to work, but ERT was no longer there. The building was locked, the internet access suspended, telephones dead.

“ERT’s radio had been on the air since 1938. It was not silenced during the German occupation or the military junta. But it was last night”.

‘Easy target’

The leading party in the governing coalition, the conservative New Democracy (ND), insists that ERT was a rotten apple, suffering from chronic mismanagement, lack of transparency and waste.

According to government sources, among the many sins of ERT was that not a single employee had been hired transparently or on merit.

A completely new ERT, expected to be up and running by the end of summer, is supposed to operate with a third of the staff and half the operating cost. The government promises to model it on the BBC, Italy’s RAI and the Germany’s ZDF.

Even ERT employees concur that the broadcaster had a questionable past, being used for political appointments and offering exorbitant pay to a few handpicked reporters, executives and advisers.

Mr Kostas, however, says that these were the exception.

“My [monthly] net salary as an editor-in-chief with one child and 17 years of service is 1,440 euros [£1,220; $1,910]. My wife’s is 1,350 euros. We are just an easy target,” he adds.

‘No other option’

Not everyone is unhappy with how things turned out.

Pashos Mandravelis, a prominent columnist for the conservative newspaper Kathimerini and a vocal critic of ERT, says the government made the right decision.

“There was no other option. Every time any restructuring was attempted, ERT unions rebelled. They made the untenable demand of not a single lay-off.”

“In a country devastated by the crisis and suffering from such unemployment rates, this was impossible,” he explains.

ERT’s critics recall the failed attempt by the former government of the socialist Pasok party to restructure the broadcaster.

The plan floundered because of hostility from unions. Now, it is the basis of the new bill restructuring the broadcaster, tabled by New Democracy.

Mr Mandravelis says it is paramount that the new state broadcaster is well-run, transparent and independent.

ERT reporters also admit that streamlining the broadcaster was a necessity.

One point that both ERT’s critics and supporters agree on is that the same government that has pledged to rebuild the broadcaster contributed to its problems.

“ERT has become worse in the past year. Both in terms of dependence on the government and of staffing choices”, says Mr Mandravelis.

Mr Kostas says it was the government that gave a TV programme to the daughter of a former ND minister “with a salary of 3,500 euros a month”.

‘Bipartisan committee’

Elias Mossialos, a professor of health policy at the London School of Economics, was the minister of state who in 2011 presented the Pasok-led government’s plan to reorganise Greece’s public service broadcasters.

He also says the current government had already “had one year to reform ERT and did nothing”.

“ERT should be made fully independent, its staff evaluated by a third-party organisation, and the restructuring must be supervised by a bipartisan committee – not by the same minister who appointed a constituent of his to ERT or gave a TV programme to an ND politician’s daughter.”

However, the deputy minister who oversaw ERT and announced its closure, Simos Kedikoglou, insists his “hands were tied”.

“The culture of unionism meant that ERT even ignored my direct orders to refer employees facing serious charges to disciplinary boards,” he says.

He also dismisses claims of ND nepotism and any responsibility for the broadcaster’s appointments.

“This is how ERT used to work,” he says. “This will not be the case with the new ERT. And besides, it was only a handful of people, whom I did not personally appoint. ERT had its own management and the country is ruled by a three-party coalition.

‘Last bastion’

Developments at ERT bode ill for Greece’s journalists in general – perhaps the only professionals who are even less popular than its politicians

“Employment in the public sector was the last bastion for journalists. The [private sector] has collapsed as advertising revenue has plummeted,” says Makis Voitsidis, the head of the Journalists’ Union in northern Greece.

According to union leaders, unemployment among journalists currently stands at 50%. Most Greek media companies face tremendous financial challenges and have implemented massive job and salary cuts.

Under these conditions, Mr Kostas fears the worst.

“We are being kicked out on the street, at a time when the job market for journalists is simply dead.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is meeting with a handful of anti-government protesters after a night of violent clashes in central Istanbu, the Voice of America reports.

But as a delegation of 11 students, academics and artists met Mr. Erdogan, some protesters at Istanbul’s Gezi Park and civic associations rejected the talks, saying the group had been handpicked by the government.

Turkish riot police on Wednesday cleared protesters from Istanbul’s central square, following a night of clashes.

The police operation follows nearly two weeks of demonstrations in Taksim Square that began when protesters were determined to stop authorities from tearing up Gezi Park next to the square for a new building.

“I think, we should order the historians to study the Iranian archives. That means that they can take all the materials concerning the Genocide out,” Mohammad Raiesi, Iranian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia said speaking about the possible opening of the archives about the Armenian Genocide.

Diplomat also noted that he visits Tsitsernakaberd every year on April 24. “Genocide is a crime committed against the humanity, but it is not acceptable for us. It’s sad that such crimes are still being committed today, just like in Syria, where there are thousands of victims there,” ambassador Raiesi noted and added, “We are against any murder.”

George Aghjayan for the Armenian Weekly

I recently returned from my fourth trip to Western Armenia in the last 18 months. These journeys are emotionally draining. I am not sure I could make these trips alone; it is critical to have good people, good friends, with you. Fortunately, that was the case for me again this time.

There are several reasons for subjecting myself to the difficult experience. Some are easier to put in words than others—like visiting my grandparents’ villages and doing field research for my demographic studies. In this article, I attempt to convey some of my experiences from the trip—as it helped me better understand my motivations.

Our first full day in Van jolted me emotionally in an unexpected way. After visiting the Van fortress, Varagavank, and Garmravank, we were returning to the hotel when I requested making a detour to a place I had visited once before, 17 years ago, on my very first trip to Western Armenia.

The village of Artemid was at one time a thriving village of Armenians dating back to the pre-Christian era. When I visited the village in 1996, the ruined church was being used as a barn, and a cemetery with some Armenian inscriptions remained. On that day in 1996, I saw two recently dug up graves, and could clearly see the jaw bone of one of the deceased. Turkish soldiers who had taken a keen interest in why I was photographing such things made my experience even more unpleasant.

This time, there was no cemetery. In the 17 years since I was last there, a road had been built right through the middle of it leading to new apartment buildings on the hillside. None of the gravestones with Armenian inscriptions remained.

It was raining now and my friends and I slogged through thick mud in search of any evidence: a faint cross here…squared stones there that may mark graves. As the rain came down, I took off my hat and let it wash over me. My friend asked, “Are you ok brother?” Truthfully, I was not.

We went back to the church and found that it had been “renovated” in 2007. It now looked more like a military bunker than a church. Again, I was not ok.

Why? It is not like the church had previously been extraordinary or the cemetery had been in pristine condition. Yet, something that I had not fully understood was starting to percolate in my mind. Earlier that day, when visiting Garmravank, my friend had noted that a new hole had appeared at the entrance since he had been there only six months prior–likely by treasure seekers still searching.

Two days later, we were in Chunkush and my companion from all four trips, Khatchig Mouradian, was struck the same way I had been struck in Artemid. The wall of the Catholic church there, already in ruins, had collapsed almost entirely since last May when we saw it last. For months, Khatchig had a photograph of himself at this scenic location on his Facebook page, and now what had already been in ruins was more so—and it was jarring.

Two days later still, we once again visited my grandfather’s village of Sakrat. In this village remains one lone wall from the church, the archway where the altar once stood. This was my third time in Sakrat, and as I stand before the altar my first thoughts are always that on that spot my grandfather was baptized 100 years ago. This year, after Garmravank…after Artemid…after Chunkush, I thanked the man who now owns the property for preserving that archway and told him I will be back.

When we had been in Varagavank, the caretaker had indicated that there had been significant damage from the earthquake. I had not understood just how much until I returned home and compared my photographs to those on the internet taken by others.

So yes, little by little, with the passing of time, our heritage is being destroyed, either purposely or by nature. It would be simplistic to say that I go to document these precious monuments to our existence on our lands before they are all gone. It is more than that. I do think there is a message there for the people currently living in these areas. It is important for them to know that we still are attached to the land and the culture. We will return again and again. We are grateful when our heritage is preserved and held in proper reverence, like Varagavank, and we will take note when they are not, like Garmravank and Artemid.

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—A U.S. energy company announced on Wednesday that it is close to buying three big hydroelectric stations generating a considerable part of Armenia’s electricity.

The New York-based ContourGlobal said it is engaged in “advanced negotiations” with the Armenian government over the takeover of the plants built along the fast-flowing Vorotan river in the southeastern Syunik province.

“While commercial terms are still being finalized the purchase price will be very significant and all of the funds will be sourced from outside of Armenia using a combination of ContourGlobal’s own resources and those of prestigious international financial institutions,” it said in a statement. They include the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank Group division, according to the statement.

“In addition to the full purchase price, ContourGlobal will be committing to invest further in a major overhaul of the main generating equipment at the power plants,” added the company. “This investment is urgently needed given the age of the plants and the under investment in recent years.”

Constructed in the 1970s and 1980s, the Vorotan Complex cascade is the largest power-generating facility still owned by the Armenian state. With an operational capacity of over 400 megawatts, it is nearly as powerful as the Metsamor nuclear plant that accounts for roughly 40 percent of Armenian electricity production.

The Soviet-era hydroelectric plants were supposed to be refurbished with 51 million euros ($66 million) in loans that were provided by a German development bank to Armenia in 2010. Officials said at the time that the modernization will be complete by 2015.

The Armenian Ministry of Energy declined to comment on their possible takeover by ContourGlobal. The Vorotan Complex management also declined a comment when contacted by RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Energy Minister Armen Movsisian did not deny the plants’ impending privatization when he was confronted by opposition lawmakers in the Armenian parliament on Wednesday.

ContourGlobal operates 33 power plants in 17 countries around the world. Its operational revenues exceeded $1 billion in 2011.

In recent weeks the Vorotan cascade has been at the center of media speculation resulting from ongoing Russian-Armenian negotiations over the price of Russian natural delivered to Armenia. There have been suggestions that Yerevan is ready to grant Russia’s Gazprom giant control over the facility in return for a 30 percent price discount. Energy Minister Movsisian has dismissed this speculation.