Entries for August 2004

The Olympic Dream | August 31, 2004
Hrach at Azad-hye.com laments the lack of medals won by the Armenian Olympic team. From the opening ceremony it was clear that the Armenian team was lacking motivation. The men were wearing dark soviet style gruesome customs, while there was...

Armenia & Karabagh : The aftermath | August 30, 2004
Paul Mellor is a British photographer who travelled to Karabagh to take some startling images. An exhibition of these images were shown recently in the UK, and are now part of an exhibition in Massachusetts. The Milford Daily News reports...

The Last Armenian village in Turkey | August 28, 2004
CNN International ran a story today titled 'Armenian homecoming' about the village of Vakifli Koyu in southeastern Turkey near Musa Dagh. The story was about the visit of descendants of Armenian villagers from around the world. Vakifli Koyu has been...

Economic rights | August 27, 2004
The relationship of business and government in Armenia has come under increasing scrutiny. Businesses complain of a lack of consistency in dealings with government bodies. Bribery and connections still count for a lot. HETQ Online reports on the problems still...

The Software Industry | August 27, 2004
Amongst a good crop of new articles, HETQ Online has an article on the software industry in Armenia. In 1990s the experience of the most successful exporters - India, Ireland, and Israel - greatly inspired the developing and less developed...

US troops for Baku? | August 25, 2004
There are two seperate reports about rumours that the US will redeploy troops to Azerbaijan. First, Eurasianet.org has this report: News that the United States plans a massive redeployment of its armed forces has Azerbaijanis wondering whether their country will...

Armenian Journalist Beaten For Filming Luxury Villas | August 25, 2004
It seems the rich of Armenia don't want anyone to see their wealth. RFE/RL reports that journalist Mkhitar Khachatrian was beaten up in Tsaghkadzor after taking pictures of the house of Armen Yeritsian, deputy chief of the national police....

Law-abiding police | August 24, 2004
Georgian traffic police have been fired, reports the International Herald Tribune. Georgian driving rules might be recorded like this: Always be first. Always regard a two-lane highway as a three-lane highway, keeping in mind that the middle lane, an imaginary...

Nonny Hogrogian | August 24, 2004
Nonny Hogrogian is an award-winning illustrator of children's books from New York. She was twice winner of the Caldecott medals in 1966 and 1972. Much of her illustrations are for books of Armenian fairy tales. Nonny Hogrogian was born on...

Mayreni Publishing | August 23, 2004
Mayreni Publishing is a small publisher based in California and specializing in books with an Armenian theme. They have a new cookbook by Barbara Ghazarian called Simply Armenian: Naturally Healthy Ethnic Cooking Made Easy. The book has recipes for choreg,...

Opposition to restart protests? | August 23, 2004
Following the disintegration of opposition protests after April, Liberal-progressive party leader Hovhannes Hovahnnisian has announced that his party is in consultation with other opposition parties to begin serious operations and make a serious application for implementation of the change of...

Armenian mom | August 23, 2004
This is not really a newsworthy story, but this joke about an Armenian mom made me laugh out loud, so I'll share: ARMENIAN MOM...

Japanese student arrested 'spying' for Armenia | August 22, 2004
Several reports mention that a Japanese student was arrested in Baku on suspicion of spying for Armenia. He was taking pictures near the Intourist hotel. Apparently his only crime was to be a student of Yerevan State University. He has...

Pan-Armenian cultural festival | August 22, 2004
ArmeniaNow.com has a good roundup of the Pan-Armenian cultural festival. The first Pan-Armenian cultural festival started last Sunday with ceremonies in Freedom Square, where 1,500 artists from 15 countries were greeted with applause while they walked down a red carpet....

Armenian House | August 20, 2004
armenianhouse.org is a website which describes itself as is an electronic library featuring a huge collection of documents on Armenian literature, history, religion and anything else Armenia-related. There are texts in Armenian, Russian, and English. Recent additions seem mainly Genocide-related,...

AGBU to open Yerevan school | August 19, 2004
The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) has announced plans to open a new school in Yerevan, the "Melkonian educational center". The school will reportedly cater for up to 200 students from around the world. Young diasporans can learn language, culture,...

On the telephone | August 19, 2004
The representatives of the Armenian government and Armentel have been meeting in London since August 9th, reports Haykakan Zhamanak (Via Groong). At issue is Armentel's monopoly on Armenian telecommunications, now voided by the Armenian government. In relations with ArmenTel, the...

Unemployment at 30%? | August 18, 2004
Another story from RFE/RL, this time on the unemployment rate in Yerevan. According to a survey by the EU-sponsored Armenian-European Policy and Legal Advice Center (AEPLAC) unemployment in Yerevan is three times higher than official figures, although it is in...

Ex-Minister's son avoids jail | August 18, 2004
RFE/RL reports on the trial of Hayk Aramian, son of former Minister for Urban Development Ara Aramian. He has been on trial for shooting three men in a Yerevan cafe in March. Hayk Aramian, 24, was convicted of deliberately opening...

Building Irregularities | August 17, 2004
Arminfo (Via Groong) reports on 867 illegal constructions projects recorded by the Department for Town Development and Land Control of Yerevan Municipality of Armenia. This is in contrast to just 72 the same time last year. He said that the...

Diaspora-Armenia relations | August 16, 2004
This is a subject that has interested me for a while: Diaspora-Armenia relations. It's something that tells an odar like me a lot about the Armenian people. Armenianow.com have a story about ethnographer Hrak Varjapetian who moved with his family...

Posts | August 15, 2004
Sorry about the lack of posts in the last week. I am recuperating from a muscle injury and hope to resume posting in the next few days....

Armenian Teens a Touchpoint for L.A. Immigrant Issues | August 12, 2004
I haven't been posting in the last few days as I've had a very painful pulled muscle, but I got this link from a friend, and thought it was worth sharing. NPR (National Public Radio) in the US had a...

Khorovats Street | August 08, 2004
I'm amazed it took this long for someone to write about Proshyan Street, otherwise known as Khorovats street. Well, ArmeniaNow.com has devoted an article to the Yerevan street where hungry Yerevantsi go to have the widest selection of Khorovats restaurants....

Los Armenios | August 08, 2004
HETQ Online has a photostory on the Armenians of Los Angeles. In the eighties Armenians from Armenia joined the mix in even greater number and created probably the only true-to-life postmodern Armenian ghetto in the world and in the most...

The Pontic Greeks | August 08, 2004
Pontic Greeks still live in Armenia. They are not from modern Greece, but descendants of Greeks from Pontus, the Greek name for the area of Asia Minor bordering the Black Sea, who lived in what is now the Black Sea...

Currency fluctuations | August 06, 2004
The continuing strengthening of the Dram versus the Dollar is being blamed on speculators, and could hurt the economy, according to an article in Eurasianet.org. Some economists now suggest Armenia is suffering from a form of "Dutch disease" in which...

Armenia's ethnic minorities facing difficulties in preserving culture | August 06, 2004
Armenia's ethnic minorities make up something like 3% of the population, and according to this report, they are facing difficulties in preserving their culture. The Armenian government is currently elaborating a number of concepts to preserve the cultural originality of...

Azeri Official Yearns For Armenia's Conquest | August 05, 2004
Armenia will cease to exist as an independent state and its territory will be incorporated into Azerbaijan over the next three decades, a senior Azerbaijani military official was quoted Wednesday as saying, raising anti-Armenian bellicose rhetoric in Baku to new...

Crime figures up | August 05, 2004
RFE/RL has a report on the rising crime figures. Armenian Police admit that they were diverted from the task of tackling crime by the opposition protests in the spring. According to official statistics cited by the deputy chief of Armenia's...

The Alleged conference | August 05, 2004
Score Turkey 1, Armenia 1. Turkey denies the Genocide, while Armenia denies the conference. I'm referring to the Genocide conference that is alleged to have taken place in Vienna. It was subsequently denied that anyone from Armenia had gone to...

Christians leaving Iraq | August 04, 2004
Motherjones.com comments on the fact that Christians have been leaving Iraq for years. This is certain to increase in the wake of the blasts last Sunday. Among the Iraqi-Christians who have emigrated, some have settled in neighboring countries like Syria,...

Armenian art on the walls of Jerusalem | August 04, 2004
Haaretz reports on a new mural made of Armenian tiles in the heart fo Jerusalem. A huge mural made of Armenian tiles featuring the sea, animals, plants, trees and Noah's ark will be dedicated next week at 14 Koresh St.,...

Photo presentation | August 03, 2004
I gave a sideshow presentation about Armenia to members of a travel and outdoor sports club here in Tokyo. It was interesting: an odar talking to odars about Armenia. I started by explaining the region, and some of the history,...

Latest victims of Bush? | August 03, 2004
The California Courier has an commentary entitled "Latest Victims of Bush Administration's War in Iraq". It puts the blame partially on the shoulders of Bush and the "neo-cons" (neo conservatives) that make up much of his administration. Last Sunday, for...

A prelude to war? | August 02, 2004
RFE/RL reports on the continuing bellicose words from the Azeri government on the issue of Karabagh. Any country whose territory is occupied but which fails to prepare for a war of reconquest should be regarded as "criminal." The Azeri side...

Iran to install wind turbines in Armenia | August 02, 2004
This from the Tehran Times. Iran will install wind turbines in Armenia for the generation of electricity. "Wind farms are usually built on small scale and low capacity. The Armenian wind farm would comprise four units with total capacity of...

Bomb blasts Armenian church in Iraq | August 02, 2004
BBC News reports that several churches have been attacked in Iraq, including an Armenian church in the Baghdad district of Karada. At least 10 people have been killed and 38 injured in a coordinated attack that hit 5 churches across...