There have been cases of bird deaths in almost all the Marzes of Armenia. According to Mr. Baghyan, these cases were registered mainly in Syunik and Ararat, however, the chief veterinarian of Armenia guarantees that the deaths were not due to bird flu. All the cases are being examined in laboratories. “These are simple cases of regular plague”, said Mr. Baghyan. Although, during our interview with us yesterday, Mr. Baghyan said that not all the cases are examined yet, he however, said, there is no need to worry, and that everything is done properly. Mr. Baghyan, totally trusts the accuracy of our lab examinations. He advised us to trust as well. Moreover, all means are undertaken to make sure the bird flu doesn’t spread in Armenia. According to the chief veterinarian of Armenia, starting from August of last year, it was forbidden to import goods that were suspicious from Turkey to Armenia; all the custom points were strictly supervised and no goods exported from Turkey have been confiscated thus far. “You won’t find any goods like that imported from Turkey in the Armenian market. At least I don’t know of a case like that, do you?” pledges Mr. Baghyan. Mr. Baghyan connects the distrust of the society with the Brazilian turkeys that are sold in the Armenian market. “You see, the word ‘turkey’ in English also means the bird turkey, and when people see the word ‘turkey’ they think the product is from Turkey,” says Mr. Baghyan, surprised at people’s ignorance and people are surprised at how the Brazilian turkeys get here. Mr. Baghyan says, “They come from America by sea to the Poti harbor.” Thus, Mr. Baghyan is sure that everything is OK in Georgia, just like in Armenia. Meanwhile Mr. Baghyan considers that it is a dilettante by parties to announce that there is bird flu in Armenia. “Armenia does not have appropriate labs to determine cases of bird flu and no one has the right to come out with this announcement,” says Mr. Baghyan. Thus, it means that if we are not able to test that virus presumably we won’t be able to assure that there is no bird flu in Armenia. Therefore, the chief veterinarian’s announcement that there are no cases of bird flu is dilettante as well.
No one is naive
Our businessmen who produce bird products recommend the journalists to chew food prepared by eggs while walking on the streets. “Please make a sandwich with eggs and eat while walking so that the people see there is no bird flu. You actually communicate with us, you know the truth, but people don’t. We don’t have any bird flu here”, says the president of “Max Concern” Khachik Manukyan. According to him the rumors about bird flu have not affected their product turnout at all. “We had a very good sale of our products last year and sales were perfect in December”, says Mr. Manukyan. According to Mr. Manukyan, bird flu is only a reason to keep Turkey away from entering the European Union. At any rate, he assures that they have undertaken all the necessary means to exclude the bird flu virus in Armenia. “Things that the Georgians are doing right now, such as washing cars, have been done by us since October, although we never spoke about it publicly,” says Mr. Manukyan and adds, that “Max Concern” will keep importing bird products from Georgia this year.
Customs officers notify…
Yesterday the RA Customs State Committee published the list of those products that are temporarily forbidden to import from Turkey to Armenia. The list includes the following products:
Domestic birds, which include domestic hens (gallus domesticus), ducks, geese, turkeys, and pheasants.
Other live birds.
Bird meat and meat products, that is, hens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pheasants, both frozen and cooled condition.
Meat and meat products-in salt, dried, smoked, as well as, food flour made of meat or meat products.
Bird eggs with shell, fresh, canned or boiled.
Bird eggs without shell, and eggs yolks, fresh, dried, steamed, or boiled, frozen, or canned, with sugar or sweet substances or without those.
Food products with organic origin not mentioned or included in other places.
Birds with or feathers or other parts with feathers, feathers cleaned or elaborated, dust of feathers.
Sausages and analogous products made of meat or blood and products made on the bases of those.
Ready or canned other products made of meat or blood and products made on the basis of those.
Macaroni products hydrated or dehydrated made of meat or other products- spaghetti, macaroni, noodles, yeast balls, ravioli, cannelloni, as well as kus- kus.
Bread, pastries, biscuits, cakes, and other wheat made products, as well as confectionery products made with or without cocoa, wafers, rice paper, and similar products.
Yeast (active and inactive), other uni-cell funguses, powders made for baking bread.
Products made for making sauces, and ready sauces, taste assortments, and variety of spices, pepper powders and capers.
Soups and bouillon, homogenate products.
Ice-cream and other ice made products made with or without cocoa.
Products not mentioned in other places.
Flour with large and fine grains made of meat or meat products, fish products, lobster, shrimp, and other sea food products.
Products for feeding animals.
Bird skin or other parts of birds covered with feathers or down, feathers, feather items, items made of those.
Sheets made of bird feathers, mats, sofa cushions, made of rubber or plastic, covered or uncovered.
According to the RA Customs State Committee, 719.800 domestic birds (animals) were imported into Armenia within the year 2005 from Ukraine, Iran, Hungary, Germany, and Czech Republic. During the same period 15,407 tons of bird meat and bird products were imported from the US, Brazil, UAE, Canada, Dominican Republic, Georgia, France, and Argentina. 32,000 domestic birds (animals) were exported to Russia and Georgia from Armenia; 680.400 incubation and 12 million eggs with shells were exported to Georgia.