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<\/p>\nA great sense of responsibility, courage, ability to overcome force majeure situations, the ability to plan your work in advance. These are the important principles that guide Public TV Company of Armenia journalist Tigran Danielyan when working in war zones.<\/p>\n
Speaking frankly, he says that a journalist\u2019s work in conflict zones turns into a game with destiny, and you never know how it will end. All the same, he\u2019s crazy about journalism and prefers to work in these conflict areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet you\u2019re running from a German military base to the Romanian base, a USB key in your hand, because the internet is faster there, so that you can send your video\u2026 only a journalist will do that, because at the time of running, anything can happen to him,\u201d says the journalist, recalling his days in Afghanistan in 2012, when he went to produce a reportage on the Armenian peacekeepers for the Armenian army\u2019s 20th anniversary.<\/p>\n
He remembers when the TV station told him that he had to go to Afghanistan, he first refused, then later agreed, and reached the place with the heaviest fighting, Kunduz, where Armenian peacekeepers were stationed. <\/p>\n
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He left for three days, but he spent nine days in the war zone. They reached Kunduz from Uzbekistan by military aircraft. Before arriving in Kunduz, he spent two days in Mazar-i-Sharif as a result of bombing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time I didn\u2019t understand the full responsibility I had. I remember they gave me a bulletproof vest and a helmet, we went by car. The soldiers tell me, \u2019If they suddenly shoot and something happens to us, throw yourself out of the car, into the ditches dug in the road.\u2019 I jokingly replied, \u2018Boys, it took 15 minutes for you to barely get me in the car with this outfit, how fast am I going to be able to get out? I have to say, I\u2019m terribly sorry, please don\u2019t shoot, I\u2019m going to throw myself in the ditch?\u2019 I remember all this humorously now, but we were in real danger,\u201d recalls Tigran.<\/p>\n
He confesses: Afghanistan for him was not only a risk, but also an adventure \u2014 until the moment he witnessed an explosion a few meters away.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear an explosion and you\u2019re told, a man exploded\u2026 slowly you understand the gravity of the situation; in this sense you have to be very realistic. Journalists who work in conflict zones must bear exclusive responsibility,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
He shares his own journalistic geography: Afghanistan, Cannes Film Festival, a filming at Keeping Up with the Kardashians<\/em>, the Syrian war, and here he stops for a moment.<\/p>\n \u201cOne day I have to decide in terms of choosing a clearer direction, and now I can definitely say, I choose the second: to cover conflict zones such as Syria, Aleppo. Human destinies interest me the most,\u201d says the journalist.<\/p>\n Tigran went to Syria for the first time in 2016. He went to Damascus. His second visit was in March and April of this year. He first went to Aleppo then Latakia, then Kessab. He filmed the documentary The Fight for War and Peace<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n To go to Syria, he first had to go to Beirut by plane, then take a taxi to Syria.<\/p>\n \u201cI get off the plane and an hour later, the Beiruti Armenian taxi driver is waiting for me; there are other passengers in the car besides me. We go to Aleppo through villages on a terribly bad road. I\u2019m delighted because I\u2019m going to go do the journalist\u2019s work that I\u2019ve dreamed of, that I\u2019ve waited for, that which is mine,\u201d recounts Tigran.<\/p>\n At the Lebanon-Syria border, the Armenian journalist is banned entry. He is told he doesn\u2019t have special permission to film.<\/p>\n \u201cIn such situations you need to act quickly. I immediately took into account the fact that the Syrians are reckoning with the Russians, and I decided to do a trick to mislead them. I began to talk very loudly in Russian, almost shouting, that right away I\u2019m going to call the Russian troops, even Putin\u2026 They got all mixed up and began to quickly solve my problems, though they didn\u2019t have the right. I had also bought small Syrian and Russian flags and fastened them to my clothes. They felt a Russian air [about me] though my passport was Armenian, and I crossed the border,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Tigran shares his first impressions of Syria: on the other side of the border, was a walking war, burnt cars, burnt and destroyed houses\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cAt every checkpoint, there are bribe-taking soldiers. They stop the car about 30 times, after the tenth time it becomes normal. After 11 hours we reach Aleppo, where it seemed there were spirits coming out of the destroyed buildings. The beautiful huge white buildings destroyed, torn clothes everywhere. I\u2019m heading to the neighborhood of detached houses, where only a few bombs have fallen. Armenians also live there. I am greeted by Armenia\u2019s consul, Tigran Gevorgyan, who today is the only diplomat from another country in Aleppo. All the diplomatic missions in Aleppo are closed. They take me to a hotel,\u201d he recounts.<\/p>\n Tigran is greeted by a hotel with its lights off living its daily life in war-ravaged Aleppo. The journalist\u2019s worry on how he can charge his devices dissipates when he discovers that the lights turn on for three hours every day at 9 p.m.<\/p>\n \u201cThey turn on the generators operating with the hotel\u2019s oil. The world could turn upside-down, but every day I had to be at the hotel at nine o\u2019clock, so that I could charge my equipment. And then I\u2019d quickly go back to filming. Also impressive for me was the Arabic breakfast offered at the restaurant of a warring country, with its wonderful flavor and aroma,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n In war-ravaged Aleppo, Tigran didn\u2019t wear a bulletproof vest or helmet.<\/p>\n \u201cYou go to someone\u2019s house to do an interview. He talks to you wearing his usual shirt, but you go with a helmet and vest \u2014 that\u2019s so humiliating. Instead, the driver who drove me around in Aleppo had a gun in the car, so that in case of danger, he could protect both himself and us,\u201d recalls the journalist.<\/p>\n Tigran spent 10 days in Syria. He says you must always be careful, but courage is half the work. <\/p>\n \u201cWe did some filming at night, which was prohibited in the city and very dangerous. The bombs are constantly falling on the city, and you don\u2019t know where they will fall at that moment and if you won\u2019t be right there. When we went to Latakia, there was a place where the terrorists and the soldiers exchanged POWs, it was a very dangerous place, and we passed through there. This means being extremely careful, but bold,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He advises journalists working in war zones to be an adventurer, but within reason. Before going to film, picture the product as well as possible: at most imagine what strong points you need and how to get them. According to him, all this saves time, and helps the camera operator and the other members of the team act quickly. He doesn\u2019t rule out force majeure, but he is certain that, all the same, you need to proceed with a plan. <\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be ready for any situation. I knew that if something happened, I need to quickly call our consulate, quickly inform any international agency. That is, to go only for the sake of going, to reach, for example, the frontline, do a beautiful stand-up\u2026 no, it\u2019s not like that. We have to understand why, after all, we\u2019re doing all this. I\u2019m doing it for my family because they, like others, are ordinary citizens for whom television continues to be the main source of information. And we have to show what\u2019s there, without excessive patriotism, more accurately.\u201d<\/p>\n Another of Tigran\u2019s pieces of advice is to save the information you collect, your material on several drives, and if the internet connection is strong where you are, also on iCloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox, and have card readers. He remembers how when he returned from Afghanistan, the Uzbeks took his video footage, but he accepted this quite calmly, since he had already sent the video material electronically.<\/p>\n \u201cI always have glue and a screwdriver because anything can happen. Most importantly \u2014 never save money on good shoes, have suitable, all-terrain shoes, a comfortable backpack. Also, water, a small towel, liquid detergent, and if it\u2019s the East, sunblock. Have money, and keep it in different places. If you have to pay, for example, 100 dollars, don\u2019t take out all your money, just the 100. Find reliable connections until reaching your destination. At hotels, pay attention to foreigners, who often follow us in such places,\u201d enumerates Tigran.<\/p>\n He advises his colleagues to substitute the word \u201cenemy\u201d with \u201copponent\u201d and not to sow enmity.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m crazy for my profession, I love it a lot, and I want so much to go back again, with great pleasure. There\u2019s so much there to cover, human destinies first of all,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He knows that to go to conflict zones you need to set aside emotions, which interfere with working properly.<\/p>\n Gayane Mkrtchyan<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A great sense of responsibility, courage, ability to overcome force majeure situations, the ability to plan your work in advance. These are the important principles that guide Public TV Company of Armenia journalist Tigran Danielyan when working in war zones. Speaking frankly, he says that a journalist\u2019s work in conflict zones turns into a game Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crossroads"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/5\/4209\/34588286244_5f568814c6_z.jpg\")
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