A really disturbing experience that I have never had. We were driving along the road where Sedrak Zatikian, son of Vahan Zatikian who ran the Malatia Sebastia district until he died, was shot. The whole road was a mess, cars were everywhere, the police were shouting at us to turn around.

What is most upsetting is the innocent mother of 3 who was killed by a stray bullet whilst walking past. I really hope something can be done to help her family. It could have been anyone.

Please forgive me for not posting regularly, I am now at the epicentre of the reason this blog exists, the place we talk about, gossip about, report about, and complain about : Armenia.

I will try not to bore you with the usual “change is slow but its happening” kinda stuff but just a couple of observations - entirely shallow I admit:

Yerevan has become far more cosmopolitan, it is not unsually to see Chinese, Russian, Spanish, British and whoever else tourists walking the streets - Local men have finally lost the obsession with black, and it is much more comfortable to walk around and not feel like a circus act amidst the black sweaters and shirts.

There are new garbage bins everywhere in the centre of the city ( literally every corner) some work needs to be done because they keep falling apart! - but it’s good that we don’t have to walk for hours with rubbish in hand.

The city is a dusty, windy construction site, Northern Avenue looks much better than I expected - very modern and once its all done it’ll be great.

The fountains at the metro station near the Republic Square have finally been put into operation again - something I’d always wanted to see, they look great.

Generally, as someone commented, there is no better place for an Armenian ( and other!) to be than in Armenia. What more can I say?!

Following a string of deadly attacks on Armenians, another was added to the list last night when an Armenian citizen living in Moscow, was shot in a south district last night. Another Armenian who was with him was also injured, as a result of gunfire.

This is really worrying, it comes around a week after another Armenian was stabbed in Russia , and previously a number of stabbings in the last 3 months give definite cause for concern - including an Armenian being mutilated on a passenger train. I think it has gone past the point where the authorities can say the attacks are not race related, it is time for them to face up and begin tackling an increasing problem.

A quick roundabout of entertainment news for this fortnight…

Firstly it’s been an interesting week for me. Together with the new 4 piece RnB act, HAYQ, we have developed the first online release of an Armenian single - it’s the infamous “Qami Pchi” and you can get it from www.starmenia.eu which is a new entertainment news portal I have set up. You simply sign up, pay by paypal and a link to download the track is sent to you. Simple!

The group are also planning on a new release but its as yet unconfirmed but I will update you as soon as anything new is clear.- but the group are still topping the Armenian charts with the song.

On June 20th, the world renowned Vienna Boys Choir will be giving a one off performance in Yerevan, at Aram Khatchatrian concert hall. I am not a confessed fan of choral music but I am aware of this choir because we used to sell a lot of their CD’s at a store where I once worked.

Also three major Armenian popstars Shushan Petrosyan, Hasmik Karapetyan and Tigran Petrosyan will be touring Syria between 14th and 21st of June. I would urge Armenians in Syria to go and experience some of Armenia’s best pop music offerings.

Other than this, it’s been a relatively quiet week in showbiz…but the next time I report from this I’ll be in Yerevan, so hopefully we’ll get some photos

The title explains it all, and unfortunately that’s about all I can tell you ! The meeting was held for over 4 hours, and the two Presidents ( both with very, very stern expressions!) emerged from the meeting room. The Azeri journalists bombarded Kocharyan with questions, and he answered that due to agreements not to discuss matters with the press he was unable to comment. The journalists did not even bother asking Aliyev when he emerged, after a bodyguard made one shaking head movement.

So it looks like we will have to wait a while longer before any reports appear about the state of the discussion, but personally I am not hopeful that this would have heeded any result. After all it does seem to have hit a deadlock over the last couple of years, and I believe that something major needs to change ( perhaps a change of leadership on either side? ) before any serious progress is reached. What is important is that Artsakh is currently a relatively stable and emerging nation.

Armenia liberty reports:

You may remember a while back when 2 bodies were found in a resevoir in Nagorno Karabagh, and they had been clearly beaten and killed. 3 youths were questioned and a videotaped confession was recorded by one of the youths, Razmik Sargsian, aged 20. He claims that the confession was made a a result of hours of torture and threats of rape, he also claims that Armenia’s chief Prosecutor personally punched him in the face.

The three youths have been sentenced to life in prison for the charges. I do not know the details of this case, but the previous Ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan has stated publicly that there is clear evidence of torture and such allegations should have been treated far more seriously. The defence is convinced that the youths are innocent, and that the murder was commited by higher members of the military structure in Karabagh.

An interesting statistic is also brought forward, it is now statistically more likely for an Armenian conscript to get killed or injured by one of his own than an enemy attack. This is both worrying and shameful. I hope that the true perpatrators of this crime are eventually brought to justice. Although we can currently only hope.

Ok, so Armenia now has a new speaker of the National Assembly. Tigran Torosyan, replaces the resigned Artur Baghdasaryan. Torosyan is a member of the majority party HHK headed by Andranik Markaryan, Prime Minister- closely affiliated with the Kocharyan team. It is clear that this election has been personally approved by Kocharyan and I personally think it was an obvious step that was just waiting to happen. The position of Speaker, technically is a highly important figure but in Armenia’s case Torosyan has been appointed to keep the peace and quiet, it seems to me.

Full Story Here