Entries for July 2004

Have you seen the Inchman? | July 29, 2004
Or maybe it's eenchman? Well, personally I'd like to see more stories like this. Apparently the inchman is an Armenian version of Big Foot. The story starts in 2001 when foot prints were found in the snow near Zorats Qarer...

The Armenian sex trade | July 29, 2004
HETQ Online has a series of reports on prostitution in Armenia. They include brief interviews with prostitutes, and details of the daily difficulty in their lives. Life and death in the Armenian sex trade The Armenian sex trade - 2...

HIV/AIDS growing in Armenia | July 29, 2004
Arminfo reports on the rise of HIV/AIDS in Armenia. Apparently Armenian men use an average of 2.36 condoms each annually. They got that figure by dividing the number of condoms imported annually into Armenia, 10.9 tons, or 2.181 million, by...

Good neighbours | July 29, 2004
This report would be laughable if it wasn't unfortunately a true statement of Armenian-Azeri relations. The Baku newspaper "Echo" "accuses" the Azeri ambassador to Uzbekistan Aydyn Azimbekov of good relations with Armenians. There are certain materials about Azimbekov's activities in...

Karabagh Election Battle | July 29, 2004
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting have a report from Karabagh on the elections there. Originally, there were ten candidates, but the field has now narrowed to five, after two were denied registration and three pulled out. Most observers...

Earthquake-proof housing gets shake-up | July 28, 2004
news@nature.com has a story about Mexican research into housing in poorer earthquake-prone countries. Earthquakes in rich countries such as the United States or Japan do not tend to cause huge numbers of casualties, because buildings are designed to withstand the...

Ashot Avagyan | July 28, 2004
In 2000 I travelled for the first time to Syunik, and the town of Sisian. There, I was privileged to meet Ashot Avagyan, an artist who takes his inspiration from the pre-historic rock art found at Ughtasar, high up in...

CAIA: A response | July 27, 2004
Misak Ohanian wrote to me today in response to my earlier post about the "coup" that had taken place at CAIA, the Centre for Armenian Information and Advice in London. Ohanian had run CAIA for 17 years but had been...

Kerry endorsed for president | July 27, 2004
ANCA have put out a press release endorsing John Kerry for President. This isn't surprising, as Kerry is certainly the most friendly to the Armenian cause. After the jump is the full press release:...

Coffee imports | July 27, 2004
Here is an all-too-common story, from ArmenPress. The company Royal Armenia imports coffee into Armenia, 9,000 tons annually of the stuff in the form of coffee beans. They have been complaining recently about a bias against them by customs guards...

Quote of the year: Paul Wolfowitz | July 27, 2004
This from HellenicNews.com (Via Groong): On July 14, 2002, Wolfowitz in a CNN Turkey interview stated: "I think a real test of whether a country is a democracy is how it treats its minorities. And actually it's one of the...

Kerry vows to recognize Armenian genocide | July 27, 2004
According to the Pasadena Star-News, John Kerry has vowed to recognize the Armenian genocide. It's not the first time we've heard this, and of course Bush said the same thing and then reneged on his promise. "I think we might...

The Armenians of Javakhk | July 26, 2004
Another photostory from Onnik Krikorian of HETQ Online. This time the theme is the The Armenians of Javakhk, in southern Georgia. One of the poorest parts of Georgia (and Georgia is usually rated with a lower per-capita income than Armenia),...

Green fury | July 26, 2004
The debate is hotting up about Yerevan's green spaces, and questionable developments going on. Arminfo reports that Armenia's greens demand punishment of officials. At his press conference, the representative of the Social Ecological Party of Armenia Armen Dovlatyan stated that...

Where politicians fail | July 26, 2004
ArmeniaNow.com reports on the successes being met by some Armenian artists and musicians in Turkey. The duduk maestro Djivan Gasparyan was apparently invited to Turkey during Soviet times, but only on the condition he change his surname. Naturally he declined....

Add to My Yahoo! | July 26, 2004
There is an easy, quick way to keep up to date on new posts at Blogrel. Use the RSS feed and My Yahoo! If you have any account at Yahoo! (from using their email, for example), you can now make...

CD: Poverty, Transition & Democracy | July 24, 2004
A Photo CD created by Onnik Krikorian and supported by the AGBU London Trust has been updated, and is available for free download (for educational and not-for-proft purposes). Onnik comes from the UK, and has lived and worked in Armenia...

Vienna meeting denied | July 23, 2004
Responding to reports from a Turkish newspaper that Turks and Armenians had gathered in Vienna and were exchanging documents about the genocide, Lavrenty Barseghian, the director of Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan has denied this, according to ArmenPress. "The reports about...

Ordway's farewell speach | July 23, 2004
US Ambassador John Ordway has made his farewell speech in Yerevan, at the end of his 3 year term. He has learnt Armenian (though to what degree is not mentioned). Daily Azg says "Only bad roads made ambassador's stay in...

Rise of the Dram | July 23, 2004
RFE/RL in this week's Armenia report reports on Armenian newspapers' coverage of the rise of the Dram against the Dollar, apparently without reason. "The groundless strengthening of the Armenian national currency, the dram, is a negative phenomenon," former Prime Minister...

From Armenia to Truckee | July 22, 2004
Azad McIver died July 13th in Truckee, Nevada, at the age of 95. This obituary caught my eye, since Azad was born in Harpoot, on October 12th 1908. At age 6, McIver fled her homeland under her 10-year-old sister's wing...

Millenium Challenges | July 22, 2004
Here's a blog-style website from the US State Department, with minutes from a meeting yesterday between Colin Powell and the Millennium Challenge Corporation Board of Directors. Chief Executive Officer Paul Applegarth, talking about the MCCs operations: I'll give you a...

Waiting in pain | July 22, 2004
The Guardian newspaper ran this story yesterday. It's a story from the other side, about the Azeri MIAs. When the open warfare that claimed 25,000 lives and uprooted 600,000 Azeris was at its peak, Ikhtiyar was 18 and serving in...

Haidouks | July 21, 2004
Groong has a story by Ruth Bedavian about the House-Museum of Poet-writer Avetik Isahakyan in Yerevan. Isahakyan's House Museum is filled with memorabilia from his long and illustrious life. Display case after display case yields artifacts, photos, news clippings and...

A discussion on Genocide | July 21, 2004
Anadolu Agency reports on a conference going on in Vienna: Turks And Armenians Exchange Documents To Discuss So-called Genocide Claims I was approached about a month ago by someone wanting me to blog about this and hoping to get Armenians...

Little Armenia | July 20, 2004
Impearls, which put together the Greater Armenia last month has a follow up in the form of a Little Armenia post. There's probably nothing here that anyone familiar with Armenian history doesn't know (and how many Armenians aren't familiar with...

The big brother | July 20, 2004
According to a survey conducted by the The Armenian Center for National and International Studies, 54% of Armenians think that Russia contributes more to Armenia's economic growth than any other country. The survey was called "The Trends of Economic Growth...

Vardavar | July 19, 2004
The third Sunday of July every year is Vardavar, the Armenian festival where all except the elderly throw water at each other. HETQ Online has a photostory called 'A Pagan Vardavar'. There are some wonderful pictures of the festival held...

Unexploded ordinance | July 18, 2004
HETQ Online reports on the tragedy caused by unexploded ordinance (UXO) in Karabagh. Is there anything you can say to console a father who loses a son ten years after the war? The war that he fought and won? When...

A murder with no murderer | July 18, 2004
Continuing on the subject of crime and violence, ArmeniaNow.com has an article this week about the Joshua Haglund case. You may remember the violent murder of Haglund, an American who was teaching English in Yerevan. The fact that Haglund was...

Beating indictment | July 16, 2004
Panarmenian.net reports that that Armenian Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Colonel General Mikayel Harutyunian's son Arsen, 30, had beaten US citizen David Backer, 29. This apparently happened at Yerevan cafe. Two of the Americans female companions were also beaten. This...

Rural wireless access | July 16, 2004
I came across this article on how wireless internet access has been set up in rural Nepal. The few rural internet access projects, such as the Armenian School Connectivity Program run by Project Harmony might want to look into these...

Armenian Women | July 15, 2004
The Womens' Resource Center, Kanayq Hayots, is celebrating its 1st anniversary. Kanayq Hayots Women's Resource Center, based on the campus of Yerevan State University, in Armenia, is celebrating the Center's first anniversary of operation with the unveiling of its E-Center...

Exodus | July 12, 2004
Armenia's official population is something like 3 million, but it's an open secret that the real population is more like 1.5 million. The difference is made by up the new Diaspora, those who are working abroad in Russia or other...

Coup d'etat in London | July 12, 2004
There is an interesting thread over at hyeforum.com about the Centre for Armenian Information and Advice (CAIA) in London, Hayashen. Apparently there has been a "coup" of sorts, in which four members of the seven member board arrived at the...

Learning Armenian in Japan | July 12, 2004
I've never posted anything about myself except perhaps a link to my sustainable tourism project, Zangezur Ashkhar. However, I thought it would be worth posting about my Armenian language class here in Tokyo. Yes, you read that correctly, you can...

AGBU London Lecture Series | July 09, 2004
Onnik Krikorian gave a lecture in London recently on the subject of social vulnerability and poverty in Armenia. He presented his CD-based photo project to the audience. Poverty reduction seems to be a hot topic now, the condition of some...

More tourists so far in 2004 | July 09, 2004
Government statistics have revealed a 10% increase in foreign tourists so far in 2004, according to ArmeniaLiberty.org. Still, at 33,000 in the first quarter the number is still very low. And ethnic Armenians are believed to be the vast majority...

The state of democracy in Armenia | July 09, 2004
Armenian analyst Emil Danielyan (also editor of the site http://www.armenialiberty.org. ) took part in a radio broadcast on Wednesday on Radio Free Europe. The subject of the discussion was human rights in Armenia, and the state of democracy. Groong has...

Armenia invited to build new nuclear plant | July 09, 2004
Interfax has this story about the IAEA inviting Armenia to build a new nuclear plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has developed two plans for advancing Armenia's energy sector through 2020, one of which includes building a new nuclear...

Birthright Armenia | July 09, 2004
I was impressed when I first heard about Birthright Armenia. It's purpose is to bring young diasporans to Armenia for several months to see the "homeland" and get involved with various projects. It makes the experience that much easier, and...

Armenian wines make their debut | July 08, 2004
Well, this is not strictly true, but the Winston-Salem Journal reports that local entrepreneur Edgar Vardanian is importing Armenian wines in North Carolina. Most of his imports are wines made from native Armenian grapes rarely seen in this country. His...

Third World in Azerbaijan | July 08, 2004
There's an interesting story in the Journal of Third World Studies (Via Groong) on the blight in Azerbaijan. Oil wealth and open borders notwithstanding, Azerbaijan is painted as a gloomy place. The Karabagh conflict is not the focus of this...

Karabakh up for discussion | July 07, 2004
There are quite a few reports about on the upcoming talks in Moscow between the Armenian and Russian foreign ministers. The main point for discussion will be Karabagh. The Zaman paper from Turkey reports that Armenian Foreign Affairs Minister Vartan...

Freedom rings for Armenia | July 07, 2004
Garin Hovannisian muses in this piece on U-Wire about the 4th of July holiday and a freedom that might have been in Armenia. I believe strongly however, that a sense of, or want for freedom is fundamental to human nature....

Armenians under Saddam | July 07, 2004
OK, this is not a site I would normally read or link to, but I'll try and be objective about this. Truth News has a story about the survival of the Armenian community in Iraq under Saddam. The ethnic Armenian...

Ararat wins top honours | July 06, 2004
Atom Egoyan's "Ararat" won the top prize at the Golden Apricot Film Festival in Yerevan, reports Canada's CBC. Unfortunately it cost $15 million to make, but brought in only $2.7 million in worldwide box office receipts....

The shortest joke | July 06, 2004
Question: What's the shortest joke? Answer: Communism. That's one of the old Soviet-era jokes in this article over at the Moscow Times. It seems that many of the jokes then revolved around ethnic stereotypes (as they do everywhere). Now they...

Yezidi Wedding | July 06, 2004
Is it Yezidi, Yazidi? Apparently the name comes the city of Yazd in Iran, now famous for its Zorostrian fire temple. I was lucky enough to visit Yazd a few years back, and visited the fire temple with its flame...

An Armenian in America | July 05, 2004
The New Republic has reprinted an article from 1921 by Armenian-American Aghavnie Yeghenian. In it, he laments the reaction by the major powers to the genocide; indifference or treachery. These sentiments seem vivid still, and could so easily be applied...

Waking up the neighbours | July 05, 2004
This article on HETQ Online shows a common conflict, that of neighbourhood residents and nightclub owners. Residents of a buikding off of Tumanyan Street in central Yerevan have been struggling for months with the noise and disruption cause by what...

The Orchards of Dalma | July 02, 2004
The Greens Union of Armenia are appealing for help to preserve the "Orchards of Dalma", situated in Yerevan. They claim that the government has illegally changed the use of the land so that it can built upon. The US embassy...

High Tech growth | July 02, 2004
The Armenian Chamber of Commerce has presented an award to Monterey Design Systems for its contribution to the growth of Armenia's high-tech industry. July 01, 2004 06:02 PM US Eastern Timezone Monterey Design Systems has hired its 50th employee in...

Greater Armenia | July 02, 2004
Impearls has a detailed post about Greater Armenia (Via The Argus). It's an 'all you ever wanted to know about historical Armenia but were afraid to ask'. These are the headings: Introduction The Arab Conquest Recovery and Independence The Arabs...

"Golden Apricot" Film Festival starts in Yerevan | July 01, 2004
A new film festival (Via Groong)has opened in Yerevan, the "Golden Apricot" Film Festival which is being staged for the first time. There are 63 films for the festival, which will begin with Roman Balayan's film, "The Night is Bright."...

Competition in the mobile phone market? | July 01, 2004
Will Armenia's mobile phone market, until now heavily controlled, be opened up to increased competition? ArmenPress reports (Via Groong) that the government hopes to open the mobile phone market to competition with initially one competitor for Armentel. This follows talks...