George Kasabyan’s life is very interesting. He was born in Aleppo, then got an education of engineer, worked as an aircraft designer then he moved to Canada, got a new specialization and worked there as computer programmer. Mr. George is a very self-confident person. Probably the first two phases of his life taught him to be like this. Now Mr. Kasabyan permanently lives in Armenia and creates. He is a sculptor. The six years that he spent in Armenia were full of adventures. He could find his place neither in aviation field nor in business. But he understood that the chaos of Armenia was a good place for creation. “I always clearly know what I want to do”, -he says. Mr. George is involved in arts only, but he has taken steps in business too. We started our conversation from airplanes and rockets, but spoke about other things too.
– After numerous trials at the beginning of 60s in Syria we could use the first rocket in that region. At that time neither Lebanon, nor Jordan and Syria didn’t know what a rocket was. I was 20 in 1962. Rocket science was in its development stage then, this was just after the flight of Gagarin. My rocket was small, but it could pass a three kilometer distance. The purpose of that was to use the rocket with military purposes. The Syrian army wasn’t experienced in rockets. They had to start everything from zero. But I left this field as soon as the war started, because I don’t believe in military power, I am a democrat.
– Can you return to your first profession if you want and make Armenian rockets?
– Yes, but when I came here in 1999 and got acquainted with Armenian scientists and academicians in that field I understood that it would be very difficult for me here. I was a Diasporan Armenian for them, but those people were brought up in Soviet Union regime. Everything was confidential for them, they didn’t want to make contact or give any information.
– But why? We were an independent country already.
– The soviet character still existed in them. Everyone wanted to apply their knowledge in narrow environments and often said: “our work is authorial”. It has already been a long time that people don’t believe in authorial works. Work must be carried out collectively, then after reaching a result you can already reach the point when you can make it authorial. I printed different articles from the Internet to show them that it was already 15 years that there was no secret any more and that they hadn’t done anything new in the passed 15 years. Then I founded a scientific research center and bought different facilities from different institutions. There was no need in those kinds of facilities, because no one believed in IT development here and those institutions were closed. I could bring specialists and give them high salaries for their work. We made good scientific works, but there was a problem. Eastern people don’t know what team work means. Armenians can’t look at each other and bear each other’s presence. This is the reason why I stopped doing that. I had invested much money in that work, but a couple of years later I said that I didn’t need anything and left that behind. Everyone was interested only in money. Those people were very good physicians, mathematicians and scientists, but they were individualists; they didn’t know how to work in practice. They are not familiar with the way of working. If the work had to be done step-by-step, everyone wanted to make the final step already. But this is impossible in science.
– What kind of purposes did those scientific works have?
– The purpose was to get energy from the Sun. There were Sun scientific institutions in the Soviet Union that did some work. Of course this is important. Now all Western countries spend billions of dollars to get “clear energy”. Now big oil companies change their strategies and look for new sources of energy.
– Don’t you think that it would be better for Armenia to develop in this scientific direction?
– Armenia is too young and is inexperienced. Now people at least have an experience of ten years, now they know how to play by Western rules. And this game is very deep in meaning. I am non-partisan and I don’t advocate any political party. But I know one thing for sure: we must make our authorities and leaders like this country. Please don’t think that I am speaking like a foreigner. We have never been interested who the president and prime-minister is in Canada, because people don’t change anything in their lives by changing a president. That is why we always like leaders and their orders are “absolute” for us. Here there is hate towards leaders, even when they are not elected yet. Why? I don’t know. Probably people are very impatient here.
– Is this why you decided to dedicate yourself to arts?
– Yes, I was a very famous sculptor in Canada. My works were shown in a lot of galleries. Three of my big masterpieces were placed on the streets of the city. I am financially secured. As soon as I came to Armenia I bought a factory, which is used as an arts center now.
– So why didn’t this factory work?
– Because the ex government had made a unilateral agreement with Iran. I.e. Iran could bring and sell everything here but Armenia couldn’t export anything to Iran. I brought new facilities from Canada to make plastic things here and to get new materials, which are used to furnish car salons now. I bought the factory, but then I didn’t want to exploit it because after working for two weeks we would cover the domestic demand only. We also couldn’t export the product to other countries because of transport problems.
– But anyway you want to live here, don’t you?
– Yes, this is a very good country. When the globalization problems started all the rules of international policy changed. Now you can’t discuss issues from your individual point of view, but only from the point of view of the region and territory as a whole. Now Armenia must do its best to prepare good generations for the future and follow the Western world. We must learn how to live with our neighbors in peace and protect our self-confidence at the same time. Business is different than emotions. When a woman loses her husband, she must understand that her life is not finished and that she must still live. We are very clever and emotional people, but we can’t think logically. Emotions always kill the logic. We will become a good country when we learn how to respect each other.
– People are probably disrespectful because they see that the authorities don’t care about them.
– People that used to be poor, now think that money is the strongest power. That is right, it is power, but it is not that much strong. If you are not courteous, you are nothing. Names of rich people are not remembered and kept by people, but names of artists -are. The fillings of current rich people are connected with this moment of present, but not with the future. Those people that live for the future are distinguished among the others. There is no free territory in the city, there are buildings everywhere. I think this is a result of fright.
– Why fright?
– We lived like slaves for twenty centuries. This mentality makes us build houses close to each other. All we want is to sit next to each other in order to feel stronger. This psychological character influences our behavior. Why do they build buildings just close to the other one? There is much territory; they can build a little bit far from the other one. This is a result of fright.
– Weren’t your children disappointed to come and live in Armenia?
– During the first several years they were dissatisfied, because there was discrimination. When people saw that we were foreigners, they asked more money from us at shops and at cafes. “If they are from abroad, they have much money”, – this psychology always exists here. Taxi drivers asked me to pay one thousand dram more. Why? If Armenians don’t help each other, other people will not help them either. This is the reason that a lot of Diaspora Armenians don’t come back. My daughter studied at the French University of Armenia for two years, but later she understood that there was no need for that. Here to found a university is like to found a gas station or café. Students think that they study at a good university, but they don’t know that these diplomas are authorized neither by the RA government nor by foreign governments. Universities are like companies that make money. Even the American University of Armenia that operates here for ten years is going to be authorized only in 2008. That is why my daughter left for the US to get a good education there. Generally we like our children very much and spend all our money for the needs of our children. I appreciate that. Businessmen use this for their own purposes; they know that Armenians pay money to take care of their children.
– Would you agree to be a minister of culture or education if you were suggested?
– My purpose is to make people wake up. We must learn not to throw a stone at officials. If you throw much stone at them, they can’t work any more. I don’t care about whether the president is good or bad , he must do his work. The RA president’s car goes in the street and some police cars follow and escort them. Why? Because he knows that people will throw stones at him, he is scared, that is why he protects himself. In Canada the prime minister may walk in the street in jeans and only one body guard may keep his company. We must not keep a totalitarian system under the artificial cover of democracy, but rather we must become real democrats. When I came to Armenia first, most of the people were dressed in black. But it is not so now. Our ideas must become brighter like those colors. People must think about what they can change in their lives. There are certain civil problems. Everyone creates their own environment. One wants to live without the Sun, another one can’t live without it…We must not walk in the place. The world has many different colors.