The head of the notoriously corrupt Passport and Visa agency (OVIR) was sacked today in the latest bout of corruption swilling attempts by Tigran Sarksians newly formed cabinet.

Having had dealings with this ridiculous agency myself, to say I’m happy is an understatement. Let’s see what happens, though. I personally have had to pay bribes, be ridiculed, and harassed by this one guy at OVIR, who I Hope next time I visit, will have left, and taken his huge gigantic gut with him….Let’s hope!

I had been wondering why the Armenian state ( public) tv broadcast has been so appalling recently. Programming has taken a huge turn for the worse. Although this season has seen some (poor) attempts at targetting diasporan programming, a language learning programme and history lectures, for example, all of these are very low budget and often painful to view.

It seems viewers in Armenia are getting an even worse deal:

This is an excerpt from tommorows schedule. As you can see its a patchwork of Haylur and imported serials.

The public television had been making gains recently with a number of in house productions in entertainment, soap opera, and feature film. I wonder if this years budget has been mishandled, or whether they spent too much on those fire blowers for Sirusho at Eurovision…so we all have to endure bad tv for a year?

On a serious note though, I have heard rumours that there are big changes planned at h1. Lets hope. Meanwhile, I’m missing that serial…..

The first regional supermarket opened in Armenia today. ‘Star’ supermarket is a chain of large and medium sized supermarkets. Pretty much the standard fare we are used to in the ‘West’. Whilst it is yet to fully saturate the Yerevan market, it is exciting to see the first one open outside of the capital, in Hrazdan.

It is 1800 metres square, and is pretty much a hypermarket. Selling everything from electricals to food. I personally went to visit the first Star hypermarket in Yerevan last year and I can safely say it was a great experience. Special offers, easy going friendly staff, great atmosphere. You’d hardly remember you were in Yerevan until you step outside and get confronted by the dust and smell of kebab floating through the air…

Ok, seriously, I wonder, is the Armenian grocery sector ready for this? With most people purchasing their food from small retailers, won’t this completely kill their trade as the supermarkets begin to buy in bulk and knock these small retailers away?

I know this happens everywhere, particularly here in the UK, with our supermarkets now taking over our local stores and rebranding them, but our retail sector can cope, here we have other options..in Armenia, this might be a disaster. Still, the fact remains the shiny stores and bright lights will attract the consumer.

It remains to be seen how this will develop. The chain is part owned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and development, and the chain hosts loyalty card schemes, as well as other familiar western retail practices.

Here’s a picture from Armenia now, of the one I visited in Yerevan.

The European Court of Human Rights today ordered the Armenian Government to pay A1 Plus’ parent company 30,000 Euros in damages after their case was heard of late.

A1 Plus, a once pro opposition ( or more unbiased, depending on who you ask ) television channel was effectively banned from the airwaves 6 years ago after changes were made to the law on tv and radio. A1 plus has been participating in tenders for a number of years and has yet to win one.

It is unclear what this will behold for the tv company itself, but this gives strong weight A1plus’ long established view that they were effectively forced off the air for political reasons, pro government sources claim their tender bids were not of a high enough standard to compete.

Considering today we have one tv channel owned by a businessman who sits and talks to you all day about how great he is, one channel that seems to show nothing but adverts for cars in between an occsional Russian show, and one channel that does nothing but rebroadast another channel - I am unsure what A1plus’s tender proposal must have been. Only a blank screen 24 hours a day could be worse - or perhaps better, these days?

I noticed a blog over on Cilicia discussing a repatriate’s fears that tourism numbers may well dwindle this year due to fears for safety following the unrest recently, surging prices, and the fact that simply the “novelty” may have worn off. I plan to be in Armenia of course and the work I do there depends greatly on young Armenian diasporans visiting. I have no figures but I am worried. I just thought I’d see what our readers think, a few thoughts:

4 Years ago I paid £268 for a flight from London To Yerevan via Prague. That same flight is now costing £440. Whilst the rest of the world seems to be getting cheaper to visit, Armenia increases.

There is a fear amongst people too regarding what happened in Armenia after the elections, but this often comes from people who are ’slightly’ in tune with the situation, telling those who aren’t in tune at all.

I know I’m generalising here but from my experience few young Armenian diasporans take an active interest in the everyday situation in Armenia, be that political, social, economic, whatever. Those who do, are usually slightly older, and may have read something ’somewhere’ that said ’something’ happened in Armenia, and it was bad.. result :

“Don’t go to Armenia this year, it’s dangerous, people got killed”

Young diasporan says, “what happened?”

“I don’t know exactly, but people died”

“Ok, Greece it is then..”

Bye bye tourism profits, bye bye Armenia’s reputable image…bye bye dream of Armenia being a meeting place for any Armenian, anywhere.

Ok, I’m being extreme, but it’s scary…no?

We are so quick to judge ourselves as Armenians, and even quicker to judge what is our 16 year old republic, without realising that we damage it by doing so.

Sorry if I seem self righteous, I am as guilty of doing that as the next person, I’m just making the observation.

After a hectic Semi final, Sirusho , singing DerHova’s “Qele Qele” has now qualified for her place in the Eurovision final. Obviously she knows every Armenian ( and his dog ) is with her…there seemed to be a problem with Sirusho’s vocals tonight. Sirusho is one of few Armenian acts who will almost ALWAYS sing live at any oppurtunity. Her vocals sounded harsh and it seemed as though she had a throat infection and was straining to make her performance heard. Either way, I cant imagine I’d want the whole of the Armenian race’s pride on my shoulders.. so I wish her health and may God be with her on Saturday.

Things in Lebanon are not back to normal yet and seems with possible failure in Doha talks, Tensions will increase. But what has it to do with Armenians?

An adviser to prime minister Siniora has told to Voice of Lebanon Radio Program: “The Armenians want “rights” in Lebanon.. while they have only crumbs in Armenia”
Obviously elements in the Government which is backed by United states are angry with the way, Armenian have sided in the political scene of Lebanon.
more…

I found the above titled article on the Hetq website. This touched a nerve with me as someone who looks to perhaps begin a future in Armenia. It really is a testimony to how the goodwill of people can be abused anywhere in the world, but how Armenia’s “system” can leave us all disillusioned. I am not one to focus on negatives, but I just hope this can make us all think a little. The hunger for money, greed, excess and status seems to have reached epic proportions in Armenia these days, especially since many can now “just” afford to show off, it seems that more people are inclined to do it. I speak as someone who has sometimes felt compelled to do this myself. Why is it in Armenia, suddenly the make and model of my mobile phone becomes important? Why is it always necessary to assert authority wherever I go? Maybe it’s a weakness in me, or Armenians in general, or maybe we just all get pulled into the way things are these days in Armenia. Either way, it is ridiculous, and it has to stop. I quote the article from here forward:

“Today I am sad. Thirteen years ago I decided to leave France, my third homeland, and relocate to Armenia, with the intention to invest in the fatherland, which I did by creating the Le Cafe de Paris. I invested my time, energy, health and resources, so that our little Parisian cafe could illuminate Abovyan Street.
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Over time the Cafe has become a favorite place to do business, meet friends and just relax. However my little dream has turned into an unending nightmare. Not wishing to delve into my personal problems, I’d just like to simple note that due to my faith, perhaps misplaced, in my fellow man I gave a loan to a person. This person claimed that he couldn’t repay the loan while actually he just refused to do so. When I took this person into my business, out of a sense of charity, I realized that he was periodically stealing from me along with other employees he had won the loyalty of. These employees, like their patron, had become corrupted, one more than the other. I could say that this is a fairly commonplace occurrence that can happen anywhere. But everywhere else there is a system of justice that serves as strong defender of one’s rights and interests. The justice system is there to grab the hand of the thief…This is the reality everywhere except in my beloved Armenia where the practice of justice is corrupt to the very core, where compromises are made with the guilty party, where the weak are preyed upon for all they have, the spoils to be split with the powerful, and where money is valued more than the truth. This is the reason for my grief. I am sad that our beloved Armenia, so dear to our hearts, has ceased to function normally. I am sad because in the event that things continue in this way I will be forced to close the Cafe and return to France.

Valerie Gortzounian”

Italian based low cost air carrier “wind jet” has stated it will begin regular flights to Yerevan from the regional Italian airport of Forli as of April this year.

Yerevan is currently listed on their website as a destination, but no information on price is available yet. It does seem, however, to be a true low cost carrier with flights around Europe offered as little as 16 Euro One Way.

I am wondering why WindJet has decided to enter the Armenian market, especially since Italy is not noted for a large Armenian community, however, this “Forli” airport could well become a hub for Europeans wanting a low cost option for travelling to Armenia. I wait for the day when I can get from London to Armenia for as little as a flight to Turkey costs

Every year I have presented my thoughts on Armenia’s Eurovision song contest chances. This song contest whilst a joke in the UK is taken seriously elsewhere and if ( !) Armenia wins would mean the chance to host the event in Yerevan. We have a national final this year, the singer is Sirusho, an excellent vocalist and with four excellent songs.

Here are the songs, download and tell me what you think!.
Qele Qele
Strong
I Still Breathe
I Can’t Control It

I know which one I prefer, but I’m not going to say. The national final is tonight at 18.30 GMT on the Armenian Public TV Channel. All I am saying is I think we have a potential Eurovision winner on our hands!

You may or may not be aware that I have not posted here in a while. I just thought I’d pass some reflection on what has happened in Armenia over the past few days. Forgive me for the emotive nature of this post, but I’d appreciate anyone elses thoughts. I realise the elections were not perfect, but if this has shown anything, it has shown that stability is indeed what we need for Armenia at this time.

I arrived home from work at a bar at about 3am UK time, BBC News 24 was on the TV, I cast my eyes over to see a burning car, gunshots and/or petrol bombs. I had to shake some sense into myself as I couldnt believe that the caption underneath read “State of Emergency Declared in Armenia”. What an incredible sinking feeling, I don’t think I will forget that.

OK, so we see this all the time. We see it in Paris, we see it in Palestine, we see it in Iraq, Georgia, and (often with a quiet shake of the head) we see it in Turkey. Usually, the inbuilt Armenian arrogance kicks in and I shake my head and say to myself ‘whatever Armenia is, this wouldn’t happen there ‘… Now I guess I don’t have that safety net. It does happen there, and it makes me feel utterly sick.

Perhaps it’s because I have held Armenia, and Armenians up on a pedestal for far too long. We are just like anyone else, we do eat , and go to the toilet like any other race. We have criminals, and we have riots, we have drug addicts, and we have alchoholics.

What I can’t accept is the thought of Armenians fighting each other. It just doesn’t work for me. It hurts, it’s like watching two members of your family hitting each other. It just shouldn’t happen, it makes you want to look away.

It hurts to see soldiers who have worked to protect what we value and boast about so greatly, just attacked by drunks or brainwashed civilians lulled into a false sense of “revolution”.

It hurts to see the city which we have watched grow and develop into a pleasant, safe environment to be left so bruised and tattered.

To the average European watching the news, we are just another backward, ‘revolution’ driven former Soviet republic, that still cannot understand the concept of an election.

It hurts because we always managed to stay away from this, and it hurts even more that I , and many other Armenians around the world, feel helpless to stop it.

AP: A senior U.S. State Department official is on his way to Armenia to encourage talks between the government and opposition protesters. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza’s trip comes after Armenian President Robert Kocharian declared the 20-day state of emergency Saturday.

A U.S. State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, says that the United States does not want to signal that it supports a crackdown, but also does not want «people to move from peaceful expressions of political opinions and engage in violence.»

Armenia’s main opposition group and the government are unlikely to start negotiations soon to end a standoff which triggered rioting that killed eight people,a European envoy said on Monday after he met both parties.
“In all likeliness this kind of dialogue between Ter-Petrosyan and the government at the moment is not possible,” Heikki Talvitie, a special envoy for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told reporters after being asked if the two sides would start negotiations. “But let’s not exclude it from the future,” he added.

AFP: France called today, Monday, for the “rapid lifting” of the state of emergency in Armenia, the “release of people who have been arrested” and the launch of political dialogue to end the violence that left eight people dead in Yerevan at the weekend.
“We ask for a rapid lifting of the state of emergency and the release of the people who have been arrested,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani.

“The violence and attacks on individual freedoms must stop,” she stressed, asking “the authorities and all Armenia’s political forces to launch a political dialogue to promote a democratic process that will enable a lasting return to stability in the country”.

Itar-Tass: Moscow has met with regret the reports about the recent developments in the capital of the friendly Republic of Armenia, which led to the loss of life, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
“We express heartfelt condolences to all those who lost their relatives,” he added. “We hope that the measures, taken by the Armenian leaders, will bring about the settlement of the domestic political situation through a peaceful dialogue of the authorities with all the public forces in the interests of ensuring the security of the Armenian people and the stable development of the country,” the Russian diplomat stressed.

Vakit calls on the Government, NGOs, and the Turkish public in general not to remain uninterested in the ongoing internal
conflict in Armenia and urges the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission to send observers to Yerivan to help find a
peaceful solution to the unrest in Armenia.

Turan: The extremely tense situation in Armenia is a result of an ill-conceived policy of this country’s government,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said, addressing residents of the city of Naftalan in western Azerbaijan.
He believes that the current situation is a logical result of wrong and aggressive policy of Armenia, which has isolated itself from the rest of the region and lacks normal development. The stability is connected with the development and vice versa, Aliyev said.

Two pro-opposition Armenian lawmakers have been arrested for allegedly attempting a coup d’etat following violent clashes in the ex-Soviet country that left eight dead, police said Monday. Deputy Miasnik Malkhasian was arrested for “attempting to seize
power,” the press service of the Armenian police told AFP. A source in the security services said that deputy Hakob Hokopian was arrested on the same charge. The two were arrested overnight Sunday, police said.
The opposition immediately denounced the arrests. “This is a new step in the violence the authorities are using against the opposition to deprive it of its leadership,” said Arman Musinian, a spokesman for opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian.

Georgian (opposition) Republican Party has disseminated a statement regarding the current events in Armenia. The party has called on the Armenian government to immediately cease violence against its own people.

Mediamax: The Armenian prime minister and president-elect, Serzh Sargsyan, has addressed the nation, saying that organizers of the disturbances in Yerevan “will answer before laws, history and generations”. “As a result of the latest events, our nation have suffered heavy and irreplaceable losses - there are victims from both the police, who were performing their service duty, and among protesters, who fell under influence of a group of people. Hundreds of people suffered following illegal actions of the radical opposition,” Serzh Sargsyan said.”Today, I share grief of all you,” the president-elect said in his address.