“The only thing left for me to do is forget about my Armenian citizenship. What else can I do? I’m afraid that my son will commit suicide. He is 23 years old, he is working on five scientific projects, but our country doesn’t want smart people,” says Mrs. Lusik crying. On June 28, she and her friends and relatives, as well as some intellectuals, were standing in front of the President’s citizen admission and letters department so they could stand up for the rights of Mrs. Lusik’s son.
For over 15 days, the Brutyan family from Etchmiadzin has been doing everything possible in order for their son to continue his P.H.D. at the Law and Philosophy Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. But the family still doesn’t understand why their son was accepted to continue his P.H.D. studies and then was omitted because “his space is empty”.
Karo Brutyan (born in 1982) graduated from the law department of the Yerevan State University with straight A’s and took the P.H.D. exams to get accepted at the Law and Philosophy Institute of the National Academy of Sciences. He got an A and B on his two exams, but the final grade was a B.
The following is stated in the #6 decision of the June 13 session of the Science council of the Philosophy and Law Institute:
“Since Karo Brutyan passed his P.H.D. exams well, we must:
a. petition the National Academy of Sciences presidency to accept him
b. confirm candidate of juridical sciences H. M. Stepanyan as the student’s director on scientific projects”
According to the Brutyan family, the Law and Philosophy Institute has congratulated their son Karo Brutyan on the occasion of his admission. However, two days later, the Brutyans got a call: “Your son’s place has been taken.” Mrs. Lusik says that the person who called was speaking on behalf of Vigen Sargsyan, who is the adviser to the President of Armenia.
“We have been fighting for this for the past 15 days. We asked for help from Tigran Torosyan, Hranush Hakobyan, Levon Mkrtchyan. Nobody is sending us a written response. Levon Mkrtchyan told us that ‘he can’t do anything because that’s Vigen Sargsyan’s job’”, said Mrs. Lusik.
The National Academy of Sciences gave the Brutyans copies of Karo Brutyan’s examination sheet and the admission statement, but they refused to give the so-called “26th form”.
“They’ve been influenced because the workers at the NAS are good people and they wanted to see our son get accepted.”
K. Brutyan’s relatives were supposed to meet with presidential adviser V. Sargsyan at 1:00 p.m. on June 28; alas, Sargsyan didn’t show up. The person who informed the family about the appointment was head of the presidential surveillance team Vahram Barseghyan with whom the family had met the day before that.
After waiting for V. Sargysan in vain, we went to the second building of the president’s administration where they informed us that Vigen Sargsyan would make his final decision in ten minutes and that we would be able to get the answer from the citizen admission and letters department. With the purpose of getting the letter/response and by consent of the Brutyans, I called the department (with the number given by the police officer) and I heard the following from a young secretary on the phone: “Wait”.
“How long do we have to wait, 30 minutes, one hour, five hours?”
The “generous secretary” said:
“As long as it takes. Do you think we’re sitting here with nothing to do?”
I told the secretary that I’m a journalist and I also have a lot to do and that the famiy has been waiting since 1:00 p.m. (at the time it was 4:00 p.m.), the secretary said that she doesn’t know what to do. After a while, a woman came out and tried to find out who the journalist was. She told me in a nice way that “the answer will be ready at 5:30 p.m.” The letter/response was ready at the promised time.
“In respone to the letter sent on June 27, 2006, we inform you that the administration of the President of Armenia is not competent to solve the issue that you have brought up. I think it’s necessary to inform you that the other similar letters that you sent on June 16, 2006 and June 26, 2006 have been sent again to the Ministry of Education and Sciences on June 23, 2006 and June 26, 2006 respectively and you may get the answer at the ministry.”
The letter was signed by head of the mentioned department Aida Asatryan.
The Brutyans were supposed to be at the ministry early in the morning of June 29, but the family doesn’t think that it will get a response here. After all, according to the Brutyans, the Minister of Education and Sciences has already told them: “I can’t help you with anything because that’s Vigen Sargsyan’s job.”
June 30 is the last day for army enlistment
The military registration and enlistment office has already called the Brutyans. If Karo Brutyan’s P.H.D. admission issue isn’t solved, he must go to the army; otherwise, he will be considered a criminal.
“He shouldn’t have taken the exams. They should have failed him and he could go to the army. But this was really a blow. If that’s the way they treat their citizens, then I no longer want to be a citizen of Armenia,” says Mrs. Lusik crying.
P.S. I wasn’t able to contact Vigen Sargsyan, whose name is mentioned several times in this article. I will try to listen to the other side of the story in order to get objective answers and not present any further accusations.