Turkey

I have a few thoughts about Turkey after all of these articles being written about the conference and EU admissions...

First, there have been a number of calls by Turks after the conference in Istanbul for Armenians to have a similiar conference in Yerevan to discuss ASALA and the terrorism of the 70s/early 80s. Um, why? Do they realize that nobody denies it, never has, and that the details are well known. Do they realize that although all loss of life is important, that for them to somehow equate the planned governmental elimination of an entire race to a small scale reactionary terrorist group killing 30 some odd diplomats is insulting? They also have been calling for the opening of the Armenian archives... they are just taking advantage of the ignorance of the subject in the west, and by saying Armenia should open the archives, leading people to believe they were closed to begin with. They never have been.

The other issue is Turkey wanting to get into the EU before it is qualified. Again, they repeat like a broken record it's because they are a Muslim country, but how will we ever know if that is what is causing so much resistance unless they become democratic FIRST? I mean, that we are celebrating a conference on the genocide 90 years after the fact taking place is quite ridiculous if you think about it.

Anyway, just wanted to get that off of my chest.

Re-Remond

I have noticed a funny tendency for shops and restaurants in Yerevan to remodel their stores, even though it had been remodeled a couple of years back and looks fine. Or a shop will rent a space that was remodeled completely and looks great, when a dump is available next door. It's just odd to me, especially in a country where resources are limited and a place is doing good business already.

Another funny thing I've experienced more and more is being asked directions. Now in the winter perhaps I blend in better, but in the summer I can be wearing shorts and flip-flops and get asked directions. I suspect these are not people from Yerevan - and that they think some Yerevantsis are dressing like that nowadays, but can't tell for sure.

Genocide Conference in Turkey

Alright folks, I spent hours sorting through countless articles on the conference in Istanbul and gathering up all the best tidbits in one place, so you can have a good idea of everything that was being said during and about the conference. Enjoy!

Conference: Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of the Empire

Rocky Walks

Each and every night Rocky (my dog) and I go on these long walks around the city. I have this same route that I do with him every single day - up Sayat Nova, over on Mashdots, down Amirian towards Republic Square, and up Abovian Street towards my house.

In this short distance it is AMAZING how often the scenery changes. I discovered today Salt Sac is gone... when did I miss this?

Ate at an amazing Indian restaurant (Tandoori) tonight. The service is great - but ever more interesting was seeing the owner/waiter interact with the locals in Armenian!!! The place was packed with a mix of foreigners and locals and does considerably well. Apparently it's been around for a while - yet it happened to be my first time visiting in my three years here.

Went to a wedding on Saturday. There may be no better business to be in than the wedding business. The ceremony started at a small church located very close to Opera. In the ten minutes I was there I saw four brides. One was leaving the Church after a short ceremony; one bride was entering the Church; another was waiting immediately outside the Church waiting her turn; while the final bride had come a few minutes earlier and therefore second in line to enter the Church... How long are Armenian weddings in the US these days?

Not much else to report. I'm loving the weather these days!

The Cube

Tonight was the debut of a new television show called The Cube. It's basically a copy of the American reality show Big Brother.

The show airs on both Armenia TV and TV5 channels owned by CS Media City (the company which Diaspora philanthropist Gerard Cafesdjian has a major share in.) It also airs 24/7 on Super System, which I believe is also owned by CS Media City. The Super System cable/satellite costs $200 plus $20/month. The majority of the channels are in Russian with a few in English.

A lot of money was spent on the set of The Cube, and all the cameras are shooting in High Definition.

Unfortunately, since a few of the players on the show are Russians, 90% of what you hear is not in Armenian. I thought it would've been more interesting if all the players were actual Armenians, a mix of both local and Diaspora Armenians.

Jehova's Witnesses

So when I asked who was at the door (without opening it), the reply in Armenian was "Jill", I want to discuss the bible with you. I assume Jill is an American who has learned Armenian. I assume her name and presence are intended to spark interest in locals. I asked if she came representing the Armenian Church. She said she came as a Jehova's witness. Despite the temptation to open the door and talk to them (there was someone with Jill), only in order to waste her time and keep her from other victims, I couldn't bring myself to do it. They had approached me and a friend once in the street as well a few years back. Uff, why don't they all go to China? There's a billion souls there for them!

Genocide Conference in Turkey

OK, it wasn't exactly called that, but folks, this last weekend saw the first conference in Turkey on the issue of the massacres of the Armenians during WWI. It is huge. After 90 years, Turks have defied two government attempts to block the event, and have openly, but quietly discussed what happened. Most if not all of the scholars must clearly know the truth of what happened. That the conference was held with riot police keeping back protesters, that 3 universities had agreed to host it, that the EU was pushing for free speech, that the Prime Minister was saying it must be allowed, that the Justice Minister who in May stopped the whole thing by saying the participants are traitors has turned around this time and said there was no reason it couldn't be held at a 3rd university are all big news.

This was a huge weekend on this issue - another massive hurdle has been overcome. These scholars stuck their necks out even as Orhan Pamuk is being tried for saying over 1,000,000 Armenians were killed... not even calling it genocide. This is Turkey changing and Turks leading the call. All the Armenian research, books, documents, lobbying, etc have contributed to it... the truth is out there waiting for a free democratic Turkey to simply recognize it...

Choco kids

I bought a box of cereal tonight, brought it home and noticed that there was Armenian writing on it.

Although it doesn't look like it was manufactured in Armenia (since more and more foreign products are showing up on supermarket shelves with Armenian writing on them ... an actual Armenian law) the packaging on this box says Assembled in Armenia (Culinary Distributors, District of Kotayk, Village Nor-Gehi.)

Cool ... H1 is showing Gangs of New York in Armenian tomorrow.

Gadling.com

I have to give Katy credit again for finding interesting new blog entries on Armenia! She posted a link to http://www.gadling.com on blogrel, and I've been following the observations of a visitor making his first trip to Armenia. He is enjoying his visit immensely and encouraging others to visit Armenia as well. Want to see Armenia again through fresh eyes? Here you go.

So independence day came and went. It was nice and relatively quiet in the day, and at night the streets were teeming with people. Just rivers of them all over. Always fun to see that. We skipped the concert in favor of sidewalk cafe people watching and conversation...

Cops & Work

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

To just get rid of them all and start fresh. Easier said than done? Well, Georgia reformed their police department with success (so far so good, though I'm sure not perfect) and I really hope we can do it soon. Mandatory seatbelts and cellphone use prohibited while driving in Georgia, LOL! Imagine Armenians following those rules.

Anyway, I've been working like a mad man! Thank God for home delivery. I think I'd be skinnified into nothing if food delivery didn't exist in this city. Check this out, you can buy groceries/produce online at Galaxy Supermarket. Never tried it, I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of okay stores in my neighbourhood.

I actually found an Armenian trip-hop group. What next? Any style Armenians aren't creating? Their music is actually an alternative mixture of trip-hop and mellow rock, with hints of funk, Middle Eastern and Armenian influences. They're actually a young couple, married, originally from the Mid East, with both parents a mixture of Armenian-Armenian and Lebanese-Armenian. Sadly, after studying here for a few years, they are moving abroad ... TODAY, with no real plans of returning :-(

I'm in the midst of mixing their tracks and mastering their debut album (I'm giving them a more commercial appeal.) A hectic project (owing to the conditions they worked in ... they have a very modest studio setup), but we're working on it, and they hope to get it released by the end of the year.

Another project I'm working on is one that I briefly once wrote about. It's this new kid I found writing soul songs in English with a great voice. We're working on his first single. Depending on how much positive feedback he gets, he might shoot a video as well.

On the weekend I head up to Vanadzor with a friend who had a concert at the recently built Charles Aznavour venue ... great place! After that we head over to a restaurant called Oasis. Great food! And many desserts I've never even seen in Yerevan.

Back to work, tight schedules, a lot of great projects coming up.

Yenokavan Canyon

A month or two ago I saw a Russian language magazine (Epebah) - with stunning pictures of a super-green canyon, with waterfalls and caves with Aztec looking cave carvings... but nobody I asked knew where it was apart from what the article said. "Near Ijevan". I finally went to these guys I know at Avarayr Adventure Tours, knowing that if anyone knew, they would. They did. So on Saturday we headed up, not knowing how hard or long the hike would be, how much of the stuff in the pictures we'd get to see. Well, leaving at the crack of dawn (7:30) and coming back at 10:15 pm, we got up there, found a guide, hiked around, had a picnic, were continually stunned by the beauty, and topped it all off with a great fish dinner on the shores of Lake Sevan.

I could go on and on about the details of the place, but I won't. There are lots of pictures and additional details on the Yenokavan Canyon page of Armeniapedia.org which I just put up. I highly recommend anyone who likes to hike make it a part of their trip to Armenia. There is a campground set up in the canyon, and a local group will carry all the food and drinks you need, provide the camping gear, cook, and even set up a sauna by the river, for about $20 a night. You'll just love it.

Blockbusterig

I've known about this DVD rental store on Issahakian street for about 2 years now, but never stepped in - since I rarely rent movies. I finally went in and was blown away by the selection! I didn't think so many movies existed in the country. 400 drams a day - which is just a bit under a dollar. It's on the block between the Cascades and Baghramian, near the Carwash, underground - but I didn't notice any sign above it. Most of the jackets are in Russian unfortunately, but more of the movies have the English soundtrack as well. Luckily we're beyond the days of video, or I'm sure there would be virtually no selection in English.

So now I'm going to watch Oceans 12... and forget about my slow internet troubles.

New Shenqs of Downtown Yerevan

So there are 10+ new residential buildings being built in my neighbourhood right now, and another 5 or more which were recently completed. I used to look out my window and see a village like setting, right smack in the middle of downtown Yerevan. Sadly those residents were thrown out and what is now to become Northern Avenue started taking its ugly shape (ugly cause although the idea is beautiful ... the new buildings are ugly in my opinion.)

Now, over the past year I’ve been looking at how these buildings are being built; which builders were using cheap materials; and which ones were doing better jobs.

The Russians are building one across from my building doing a great job.

Then there are the locals right next to them, which have literally taken about 6 months to build an underground garage.

In the meantime, on Toumanyan Street, Dodi Gago built the frame of his 12 floor Dodishenq in the same time.

(I remember when my dad was here earlier this year, he would sit by the window for hours, constantly yelling, “Move it ... you coconuts!” I swear that voice still echoes in my head.)

(In the pic on the left you can see Dodi’s shenq in the back.)



Although I now have a basic understanding of how buildings are built, I just don’t understand this concept. (Someone PLEASE shed some light if you know what is happening in this picture.)

I’m guessing it’s the support they need to put up to build on top of later. But how many trees were cut down for this? Why is it that all the other buildings that were built have used steel supports? Who knows, maybe they’re building a barn.

Ethiopian Invasion?

I had dinner with some distant Ethiopian-Armenian relatives, including Edina and her folks on Sunday night (Hi Hampo! :-). Her folks had organized a trip for about a dozen people to visit Armenia, including some other Ethiopian Armenians. Most were on their first trip ever to Armenia. Her mom Marie was the big force behind the first (and so far only) Ethiopian Armenian reunion which was held in LA a few years ago. I was here and bummed to miss it. Anyway, after they raved about Armenia a bit, Marie asked me to guess what they'd been thinking - and somehow I just knew that they were thinking of doing another reunion here in Armenia. I was quite happy to hear my guess was right! So although it is still only in the idea stage, and not for 2 years even if it does happen, the prospect really has me feeling pretty good. I thought it was only fair to warn the country to prepare for such a thing...

For those that don't know, there was a solid Armenian community in Ethiopia for a long time, which grew to a respectable (never huge) size after the genocide. When the communists took over in the 70s, the Armenians by and large left wherever they could go. LA and Australia were big destinations, and so was Canada, but England, Germany, France, Italy and other places got their share as well.

Rediscovering Armenia copies...

You can now get copies of Rediscovering Armenia, along with other books, t-shirts, music and other random items delivered to you straight from Armenia :-)

Check out www.disc.am

(incidentally, the books will not appear for visitors logging in from Armenia)

Harsanik

My old friend Emil Sanamyan got married on Friday at Gandzasar Monastery in Karabakh. Him and his beautiful bride came from Washington, D.C. and the guests came from all over the world. It's great to see this trend of coming to Armenia to get married grow. The setting is so beautiful (that is why I chose this photo, despite it being a bit blurred), the guests all have such a great time, and so many new people are exposed to Armenia. Going all the way to Karabakh for a one day visit though I must say is tiring. I always prefer to break it up - though for a group this big there is nowhere to stay along the way.

I also had the opportunity to visit a small village in Karabakh with one of the guests at the wedding who has an ancestral home and relatives there. It is so different an experience to actually have a tie to this specific part of Armenia... an actual house you can say is yours. Along the way we got to see some of the progress along the North-South Highway the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund is building. It seems to be making some decent progress, though it is hard to believe it will finish next year as projected. This Thanksgiving's Telethon will raise money for work in Martakert area apparently... I'm quite curious to find out the actual details of this development project. Unfortunately I didn't have much chance to wander around Stepanakert or Shushi on this trip, but I saw a lot of those back in May and they are definitely looking better and better (especially Shushi with all the new roads and sidewalks which Stepanakert has had for years).

Well, I'm tired from a few days on bumpy, windy roads, so that's all I'll bore you with for now.

Starbucks anyone?

For those who miss your cafe mochas, caramel machiatos, and other starbucks drinks... well you no longer need to. Take a walk over to the corner of Terian and Moscovian and you will find a small kiosk named 'Gapas'. Gapas sells most Starbucks drinks and gets its ingredients from an American Armenian who apparently owned or worked at a Starbucks. Mornings no longer seems so bleak!

Flood Support

If I heard correctly we are donating $200,000 to the USA for the New Orleans (and surrounding areas) catastrophe.

The interesting thing I noticed was ... the first 50 or so countries (collected in a list on CNN.com) that were offering to help out in any way possible included both Armenia and Azerbaijan, but not our neighbours up north, Georgia, the so-called democratic country Mr. Bush recently visited, danced like a monkey to their music, and praised last years revolution. And with all the help the USA is contributing to Georgia's progression? ... sad.

Dili and Diners

Instead of taking a break at the peak of Yerevan heat, my friends and I finally had some free time from tourists last week, and we decided to take a really short vacation.

A toss up between Jermuk and Dilijan ...

I visited Jermuk a few weeks back and I couldn't believe my eyes. Loads of people, new hotels (with better architecture than the new crap you see in Yerevan), beautiful gardens, etc. But since I love Tavush province so much I convinced my group to go to Dilijan instead.

Although there are no real hotels operating in Dilijan anymore, there are quite a number of families that have transformed their homes into bed and breakfasts. Anyway, we ended up staying at the once prestigious Composer's Resort. HAHA!

We stayed in a cottage which has accommodated Saryan, Khatchatrian and the controversial Dimitri Shostakovich.

When we first entered the cottage I walked into the washroom and the first thing I saw was a frog trying to climb the wall. Seconds later a mouse ran through my legs, trying to run away from my aunt. The spiders and snails came later.

I expected so much from Dilijan, but sadly realized that the once popular lil' Switzerland of Armenia has become a ghost town. There are lots of restaurants and hotels which have not opened their doors in ages. Dilijan has SO much potential, but ... with time. (Jermuk and Tzaghkadzor seem to be priority for development right now.)

Anyway, my getaway wasn't much of a break, seeing that we were living in a zoo; the food we got at the resort was most probably worse than military food; and a great fall I took on my last day.

DINERS! I haven't talked about new places in a while.

Sharm El Café is at the corner of Sayat Nova and Teryan, next to the beautiful new Astral Café ... (what are we at? 15 cafés by the Opera?) The café has a Thai chef cooking some 'pretty okay' Thai food outside. They also have nergile to smoke (if you are one of those nergile smoking "dzev tapoghs".)

Tonight, I went to the opening of a new Middle Eastern restaurant called Abu Hagop on Khanjian Street. Very good food ... probably even better than Nury on Teryan and tired Lagonid on Nalbandian. The owners are a family from Aleppo (they've got two popular Abu Hagops there), and they also have non-cooked foods which you can keep in your freezer, then cook yourself of course. Quite a few "celebrities" were at the cute opening. For anyone who wants to check it out it's located across from the tacky Hin Hrom/Old Rome restaurant on Khanjian, next to 2X2 Disco Club.

The picture is of Parz Lich by Dilijan

Cool

The heat wave finally broke in the past week - it's actually rained a couple of times, and things have cooled down significantly.

School began on Sept 1 as well, so all the little kids are back in their school uniforms.

Fall is coming...