Georgia
Well tomorrow will make it a full week in Georgia, and I've had a lot of time to absorb and observe. It's been quite cool. Aside from a trip up to Kazbeki, it's been Tblisi the whole time.
Kazbeki is a small mountain town along the Georgian Military Highway en route to Russia. It is in a bowl of impressive mountains, with a cool monastery and then the lone peak of Kazbeki Mountain which forms the actual border with Russia. In the village we stayed at Vano's house (he's Georgian) and he told us about the village church which he said his Italian (either grandfather or grandfather's grandfather) ancestor designed... he said it was an Armenian Church on the silk road and that a few years ago the inscriptions were erased and removed. It was a rather nice little church for a small village and when I checked it out all the inscriptions were indeed removed, and it really wasn't clear to me if some carved inscriptions laying around were old or new or what... but in any case I'll put the pictures online when I'm back. He also told us about a UFO he saw in Tblisi and many other strange things, so.....
Alright, now here are a bunch of random thoughts from the past few days.
-Many old churches are being rebuilt all over - from scratch or whatever is left. They are very religious here compared to Armenia and plus these are making the city more interesting. All the work is very well done.
-Electricity and gas cuts are normal. Long cuts can occur, and do.
-People dress much more like the west here, and their hair and such as well is much more normal. They look much better than in Armenia :-( But the Georgians we spoke to said it happened pretty much in the past 2 years, so there is hope! :-)
-Again getting around in Armenian as much as possible is fun. Quite interesting to test peoples levels of comprehension. Many don't speak any at all, some speak a tiny bit, some understand but don't speak, and some are just plain fluent... including an Azeri guy we met yesterday who was very nice to us. Most people seem to want to emphasize that differences don't matter, and overall I think they mean it except that there is a very real pressure to be Georgian first and last, and I don't think the next generation will have virtually any non-Armenians speaking Armenian. Times have changed, populations are more mixed, and Georgian is the lingua franca, Russian is not very prevalent at all.
-Prices do seem to be higher for most things, though not vastly.
-Drug use seems to be much more prevalent, from marijuana to heroin. There are a fair number of used needles laying around, and people do ask if you smoke pot. There is a popular Georgian movie in the theatres now about a group of Georgians who go to Karabakh to buy pot.
And as a transitory ending, tomorrow we're off to Western Armenia. As the map was spread out at a Turkish restaurant, a young Turk came over and asked if we are going to Turkey and if he could answer any questions. We just asked what he recommended and such and at one point he said he was from Kayseri (Gessaria). When I said two of us at the table had a grandparent from there, he looked at us both, and then didn't say anything...
Kazbeki is a small mountain town along the Georgian Military Highway en route to Russia. It is in a bowl of impressive mountains, with a cool monastery and then the lone peak of Kazbeki Mountain which forms the actual border with Russia. In the village we stayed at Vano's house (he's Georgian) and he told us about the village church which he said his Italian (either grandfather or grandfather's grandfather) ancestor designed... he said it was an Armenian Church on the silk road and that a few years ago the inscriptions were erased and removed. It was a rather nice little church for a small village and when I checked it out all the inscriptions were indeed removed, and it really wasn't clear to me if some carved inscriptions laying around were old or new or what... but in any case I'll put the pictures online when I'm back. He also told us about a UFO he saw in Tblisi and many other strange things, so.....
Alright, now here are a bunch of random thoughts from the past few days.
-Many old churches are being rebuilt all over - from scratch or whatever is left. They are very religious here compared to Armenia and plus these are making the city more interesting. All the work is very well done.
-Electricity and gas cuts are normal. Long cuts can occur, and do.
-People dress much more like the west here, and their hair and such as well is much more normal. They look much better than in Armenia :-( But the Georgians we spoke to said it happened pretty much in the past 2 years, so there is hope! :-)
-Again getting around in Armenian as much as possible is fun. Quite interesting to test peoples levels of comprehension. Many don't speak any at all, some speak a tiny bit, some understand but don't speak, and some are just plain fluent... including an Azeri guy we met yesterday who was very nice to us. Most people seem to want to emphasize that differences don't matter, and overall I think they mean it except that there is a very real pressure to be Georgian first and last, and I don't think the next generation will have virtually any non-Armenians speaking Armenian. Times have changed, populations are more mixed, and Georgian is the lingua franca, Russian is not very prevalent at all.
-Prices do seem to be higher for most things, though not vastly.
-Drug use seems to be much more prevalent, from marijuana to heroin. There are a fair number of used needles laying around, and people do ask if you smoke pot. There is a popular Georgian movie in the theatres now about a group of Georgians who go to Karabakh to buy pot.
And as a transitory ending, tomorrow we're off to Western Armenia. As the map was spread out at a Turkish restaurant, a young Turk came over and asked if we are going to Turkey and if he could answer any questions. We just asked what he recommended and such and at one point he said he was from Kayseri (Gessaria). When I said two of us at the table had a grandparent from there, he looked at us both, and then didn't say anything...
posted by Raffi K. at 7:55 PM
8 Comments:
> he looked at us both, and then didn't say anything...
I may be wrong, but I have the feeling maybe the armenian past in anatolia is simply off the radar screen of modern turkish people. One explanation for this guy's reaction is that a sensitive subject has been broached, but another might be that it's a non-issue for this guy. He hasn't heard the background information that would enable him to interpret that your folks came from his town. He doesn't know the same history you do, simply hasn't heard the news. I was in Turkey 3 weeks some years ago. I'm ethnically part armenian and freely told everybody that and what towns my grandparents came from. Their reaction was, well, sort of reactionless. I didn't get the feeling they felt guilt, interest, or understanding. Or anything. It was just, "Oh." Like your guy. Maybe this guy clammed up because he thought he might be looking at somebody whose great grandfather his great grandfather killed, but maybe because the conversation had reached unfamiliar ground. You might be able to tell me you're sure that's not it in this case, but I sure encountered that dead zone reaction when in Turkey.
Or maybe he thought that your grand grandfather killed his grand grand father. It is not new that Turks think that Armenian killed them, this is what they are told from childhood. That's why they dont like us apart from Karabakh war.
When you ask them " If we killed you then why we dont live there anymore" they just reply " because you left". After a little bit of deligate reasoning they realise that , yeah you have a point there, but then they prefer not to talk further.
What's the name of that film Raffi, it would be interesting to watch. Partly the reason that karabakh is picked is because it is a hard to go zone. People like shooting moves on countries that not that many people know of, Americans even creat such country hybrids.
another reason can be it's a campaign tool to discredit Karabakh.
True, I had little experience communicating with Turks, but I belive they are sort of people who like to tell you about their country and wonder about foreigners. So I assume if a portugese or even georgian tells me that his parents were from Yerevan, I would not just say Oh...end of the conversation. The natural response to that is Oh Really??? what did they do where they lived, why did they leave etc,. or have you been there too?
On the other hand I had similar experience. There is a young turkish lady attending series of conferences were I go to. Although I am not representing Armenia there, every single soul knows that I am Armenian, except a few americans probably who never care. So one evening we happened to sit around the same table with various eurapean nationals. There was a frenchman between us (apparently of jewish origin) who quite intentionally mentioned her turkishness and me being armenian. At that point the young lady expressed amazement, saying she did not know I was Armenian. I never could figure out if it was real amazement and the young generation doesnt really know much, unable to identify us by last names and does not care who are armenians, or it was her way out of the situation that was not comfortable for her.
They are very religios and at the same time western and at the same time drug freaks?
Strange people...
maybe the drugs are making them religious
believe me far very far from religious.
The movie was called "Trip to Karabakh"... I'll let everyone know if I ever get to see it.
Post a Comment
<< Home