What a peculiar and exciting weekend!
Friday evening started out heavy with lots of work still left on my desk. I was invited to attend a social at the BAA (British Alumni Association). This is an association of locals who have either studied or held some kind of training in the UK. They are young professionals who hold senior positions in banks, government and international agencies. This week, they had invited special guests, their counterparts from TURKEY. That’s right! We (3 diasporans and 25 locals) listened to what these two Turks had to say. One of them was a journalist who writes for the Turkish Daily news and the other works for the British Council. They were in Yerevan for the first time and were going to work out some collaborative cultural project. I think one of the projects deals with publishing a book about all Armenians who played an influential role in Republican Turkey. Interesting no?
The evening went on with conversations about border, Karabagh, Iraq, Kurds, Cyprus and yes, Genocide. As a diasporan Armenian, I must admit, it was truly refreshing being able to carry on a conversation with an intelligent Turk who was open to discussion and was willing to debate the matter. Living in Armenia has made me look at almost all the complexes I have as an Armenia much differently. At 2 a.m., I was having khorovadz, aragh and laughs with a Turk...
Saturday was spontaneous. Got up late (since the kids are away in Montreal), decided to have a bite on Hrabarag with Sylvie. Went to vernissage and spent the money I didn’t have (it was well worth it)! We bumped into the 2 Turks. Helped them out to pick CDs. They liked Roupen Haghvertian and Datevig Jazz. We were invited to Garo’s new restaurant. He makes a killer “mante”. The place was really cool! it had a section that was set for an art gallery, another section for tea with low tables and lots of candles (very lounge atmosphere). The restaurant part was very nice. There was free food, drinks and lots and lots of people. Most of the loggers were there too.
We then walked to Gevorkyan to get in some of Vahan Arzruni’s live music. Walked to Vienna cafe on Republic square (some people wanted good desert). I was then able to convince the group to go dancing... Monte had 9 people, Cheers had 5 (including the DJ), Astral (Greek night) had another fight happening... we gave up. On the way home we decided to check out an old hang out, Relax dance club. It was surprisingly happening. The music was good and we ended up enjoying ourselves UNTIL... until they played a Turkish pop song. We were upset that in Armenia, we were being forced to dance and laugh and have a good time on Turkish music. We gave the manager a peace of our minds and decided to leave.
I guess we are still bound by our complexes with the Genocide and even innocent sound of Turkish music throws us back almost a century... when will this chapter find closure?
Today was relaxing – had lunch with Sam and Peouz, did some Russian homework, watched a video at home, called Lara in Montreal and wrote this log.
Friday evening started out heavy with lots of work still left on my desk. I was invited to attend a social at the BAA (British Alumni Association). This is an association of locals who have either studied or held some kind of training in the UK. They are young professionals who hold senior positions in banks, government and international agencies. This week, they had invited special guests, their counterparts from TURKEY. That’s right! We (3 diasporans and 25 locals) listened to what these two Turks had to say. One of them was a journalist who writes for the Turkish Daily news and the other works for the British Council. They were in Yerevan for the first time and were going to work out some collaborative cultural project. I think one of the projects deals with publishing a book about all Armenians who played an influential role in Republican Turkey. Interesting no?
The evening went on with conversations about border, Karabagh, Iraq, Kurds, Cyprus and yes, Genocide. As a diasporan Armenian, I must admit, it was truly refreshing being able to carry on a conversation with an intelligent Turk who was open to discussion and was willing to debate the matter. Living in Armenia has made me look at almost all the complexes I have as an Armenia much differently. At 2 a.m., I was having khorovadz, aragh and laughs with a Turk...
Saturday was spontaneous. Got up late (since the kids are away in Montreal), decided to have a bite on Hrabarag with Sylvie. Went to vernissage and spent the money I didn’t have (it was well worth it)! We bumped into the 2 Turks. Helped them out to pick CDs. They liked Roupen Haghvertian and Datevig Jazz. We were invited to Garo’s new restaurant. He makes a killer “mante”. The place was really cool! it had a section that was set for an art gallery, another section for tea with low tables and lots of candles (very lounge atmosphere). The restaurant part was very nice. There was free food, drinks and lots and lots of people. Most of the loggers were there too.
We then walked to Gevorkyan to get in some of Vahan Arzruni’s live music. Walked to Vienna cafe on Republic square (some people wanted good desert). I was then able to convince the group to go dancing... Monte had 9 people, Cheers had 5 (including the DJ), Astral (Greek night) had another fight happening... we gave up. On the way home we decided to check out an old hang out, Relax dance club. It was surprisingly happening. The music was good and we ended up enjoying ourselves UNTIL... until they played a Turkish pop song. We were upset that in Armenia, we were being forced to dance and laugh and have a good time on Turkish music. We gave the manager a peace of our minds and decided to leave.
I guess we are still bound by our complexes with the Genocide and even innocent sound of Turkish music throws us back almost a century... when will this chapter find closure?
Today was relaxing – had lunch with Sam and Peouz, did some Russian homework, watched a video at home, called Lara in Montreal and wrote this log.
posted by Raffi N at 3:32 AM
<< Home