Entries for December 2004

Christmas | December 24, 2004
I'm off for the Christmas holidays, so no posting for a few days at least. I want to wish all of you a very happy holiday season. Being an odar myself, I found this page from the website of the...

Unluckiest Village in Armenia | December 24, 2004
Continuing with the theme of hardship at Christmas, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting shares this article about the village of Vanand in Armavir marz. Drinking water is worth more than gold here. Ohanes Margarian, a 40-year-old villager, told...

Frozen to death | December 24, 2004
It's sad to bring up this topic on the eve of the holiday season, but HETQ Online has a story about the homeless of Armenia. Aram, homeless himself, is a kind of liaison between the homeless and the outside world....

Immigration and Return | December 22, 2004
HETQ Online has a photostory entitled "Immigration and Return": It's a series of photographs taken by Zaven Khachikyan during stays in Switzerland and the Russian region of Krasnodar. It's a touching series of pictures of Armenians in their different environments....

Donating a computer? | December 22, 2004
The company I work for has 5 iMacs which we no longer need. I thought of donating these to Armenian schools or a charity that can find a home for them. Does anyone know who can help with this? There's...

Armenians in Iran | December 21, 2004
This blog gives an extract about Armenians in Iran. It is taken from a book entitled A Concise History of the Armenian People by George A. Bournoutian. There are some other books about Armenian history from the UCLA Armenian History...

Will they, won't they? | December 20, 2004
A typical newsday in Armenia-world relations: CHIRAC: TURKEY WILL NEED TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN KILLINGS DURING ENTRY TALKS US SAYS IT ACKNOWLEDGES ARMENIAN TRADGEDY ABDULLAH GUL CONSIDERS THAT ISSUES OF OPENING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER AND RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE NOT INCLUDED...

Dark side of a dream | December 19, 2004
The BBC's Jonny Dymond (who normally reports from Istanbul and Ankara) has ventured to the east of the country to bring us this look into Turkey's EU bid. Kars is a miserable place. Once it was rich; its broad boulevards...

Deti Picasso | December 16, 2004
This Armenian group based in Moscow comes highly recommended. Deti Picasso: Vocalist Gaya Arutiunian sings songs in Russian and Armenian, astounding the public with the feeling and expression of her performance. Ancient Armenian chants blend with new forms of guitar...

Shameless self-promotion | December 15, 2004
It's time for a little shameless self-promotion. Well, promotion of the Blogrel shop, where you can purchase the 2005 Armenia Wall Calendar and other goodies such as mugs, t-shirts, and so on. The photos were taken by me in my...

Thessaloniki | December 15, 2004
I'll be travelling through Thessaloniki in northern Greece in May and had heard that there was a sizeable Armenian community there. If anyone has been there or knows anything about the community please let me know. I'd be interested to...

Deepening isolation | December 15, 2004
The International Herald Tribune has this follow-on article about Armenia by Susan Sachs, who wrote the previous piece about Armenia's youth. It talks about the "deepening isolation" of Armenia, and lists the closure of the Georgia-Russia border, the successful completion...

Vodka Lemon | December 13, 2004
My father went to see the film Vodka Lemon (2003) in London last week. I hadn't heard about it, or at least it hasn't reached Tokyo yet. Apart from the fact that this film is set in a small village...

Defrauded update: George Najarian wins | December 11, 2004
For background see here and here: RFE/RL report that George Najarian, an Armenian-American who claims he has been defrauded out of property in Yerevan, has won a court case he brought against prosecutors who had refused to press formal charges...

Armenians to swap places? | December 09, 2004
The New York Times (free registration required) has an article about young Armenians who contemplate leaving their country. "We can fit in anywhere," she said. "The only place we can't is Armenia." He is one of those nostalgic for an...

Defrauded update: back to trial | December 08, 2004
According to this report from RFE/RL, the diaspora couple who had claimed that they had been defrauded by their local associate (posted last week on Blogrel), are seeking to have the case re-opened....

Armenian church attacked in Mosul | December 08, 2004
Sadly, an Armenian and Chaldean church have been attacked in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Smoke billowed from one of the northern city's Armenian churches and one of its oldest Chaldean churches was ablaze and a wall shattered. Luckily,...

Genocide on Broadway | December 07, 2004
A play about the Armenian Genocide is to debut on Broadway, reports Asbarez (Via Pacific News Service) Armenian-Americans will be doubly compelled to see this play. On a purely human level, the audience must grapple with the complexity of how...

Armenian Hospital Museum opens in Istanbul | December 06, 2004
TurkishPress.com reports on the opening in Istanbul of the Surp Pirgic Armenian Hospital Museum. Attended by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Erdogan, who inaugurated the Yedikule Surp Pirgic Armenian Hospital Museum which was renovated by the Armenian Foundation, said...

Agarak and the pipeline | December 04, 2004
Construction of the gas pipeline between Iran and Armenia has started in Agarak, situated on the border. (This comes as Iran and Armenia sign an agreement on a 3rd power line between the two countries.) There is an interesting article...

Blogrel makes the news | December 04, 2004
ArmeniaNow.com lead story this week is about Blogrel. And you read it here first......