Wow,Finally Their patience ended. I think they were waiting for Arthur’s return to the government. Armenia liberty also says Levon is under house arrest which if true isn’t surprising.
Artmika in his weblog follows the news. Armenian observer also has a post about it,there are always interesting comments.

Update 1: Seems A1+ building is being surrounded by police forces.

Update 2: ItarTass: The opposition will use all legal means to continue the struggle against Armenia’s authorities, first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan said. He said opposition had warned ambassadors of EU countries and the U.S. ambassador about the events in Yerevan.

Armenia 1 (H1), the national television station, has been put to use by Serzh and his brother. The target, the meat selling area across from Tashir commonly called “Gyum Market”. As we know, there is no free press in Armenia. The closest thing that comes to it is Hetq.am and they are constantly under threat by those with power and money.

The goal of the brothers Sarkisyan is to drive down sales volumes by reporting about the sanitary conditions of the meat selling area. The fact is the area has not changed much in many years. There is no more a risk than there was ten years ago. By focusing the weapon of Armenia 1 against the meat sellers and driving off potential customers, the property becomes cheaper. There has been great resistance by the residents of the area to the forced sale of their land. The Sarkisyans want the land to do what has been done for North Avenue. You steal the land from the local and sell it to the rich foreigners for a tremendous profit.

This is a dirty trick and shows you how the powers-that-be can use the news as a weapon. Of course, this is not new in any society but it is commonly believed that as Sarkisyan and friends gain more power this will become even more common. Kochariyan’s time in office will be known as age of “secret fire sales of land”. People think that Serzh’s time will be the use of the state powers to enrich a select few to a far greater extent then is currently happening.

Stand your ground people! If you wish to help, go ask the meat sellers how you can help protect the last bastion of community in the center of Yerevan.
If you care about Armenia, now is the time to think about supporting freedom, encouraging property rights and removing political control of the nation’s airwaves. For many, optimism about a free Armenia where everyone has equal opportunity to compete and win is quickly waning.

After a few weeks of work in Yerevan, I am happy to return to rural Armenia. The greater Yerevan area is getting harder and harder to enjoy and the expense of staying there is becoming unreasonable. Sadly, in my time in the capital, I went visiting old friends in my favorite part of the center which is Tigran Mets past St. Gregory. It is part of Yerevan that still has some neighborhood charm with Tashir being the only major blight on the area. However, that is about to change.

My dear friends are beside themselves as what happened in the area of which is now North Avenue is due to repeat itself with the recently passed law allowing the government to use eminent domain for development purposes. The area from Tashir to the Erebuni area border on Tigran Mets will soon be seized by the government and auctioned off. The area’s best known residents are the owners of the large meat market that starts opposite the Gyum Shuka. Plans are even calling for the ripping down of the triangular shaped apartment building that starts on the south corner across from Tashir which would displace hundreds of families. Will these families receive $200,000 so they can buy a similar apartment in the center? I doubt it.

Rumors are thick but it is suspected the Sarkissiyan family is behind this push as it is the last area of the center of Yerevan that is populated by local Yerevansti. Of course, knowing the current leadership’s business interest it is also a power grab as some of the most successful small meat merchants reside in this area. As we know, most of the current oligarchs have major interest in the food chain as it provides great cash flow. Again, we see the use of the government to condense power for a few and remove the ability for small business owners to make a reasonable living.

My friends have condemned the current building spree that seems to be fueled by investment from outside Armenia. I am constantly asked, “Who is buying these apartments in the center?” Most people who read this blog are Diaspora or like myself care greatly for the country. Many people from this love wish to live in Armenia some of the year so they buy a modern apartment in the city center but it seems most remain ignorant of the social injustices that occurred to build that apartment. At the same time, as Onnik talks about today, there doubts about the structural integrity of those buildings.

The locals are angry and they are frustrated because at every turn they are loosing the opportunity to compete. Many feel they are being pushed out of the center and even the areas of Komitas, Barikamutsun and Monument, people are realizing they can no longer afford property but foreign peoples can easily buy the property for what by developed nation standards is a bargain. My friends, if you are investing in Armenia, be sure you are investing in a way that makes you part of the community. What makes Armenia strong is its sense of community. Having the whole center of Yerevan full of rich people will quickly end the culture which people have come to be a part of.

We cannot say the market will take care of itself due to the lack of freedom and the use of law to force people out. If you are investing or have invested, look at your motives. Would you be better giving that money in rent then continue to encourage the oligarchs to rip apart what was five years ago one of the nicest city centers I have ever seen.

R [name witheld] has asked me to post this letter:

My name is R. I was born in Yerevan. At the age of 25 (appr. 5 years ago) I immigrated to USA.
I want to make Armenia a better place to live. I wonder if You could address few issues about life in Yerevan, maybe it’ll help and people around will start paying more attention.
Five years ago on the streets of Yerevan one could find a lot of homeless people, who would roam around, hungry, dirty and, at times, drunk. Some of them had psych.abnormalities. I suspect they weren’t really treated or were released too early from psychiatric hospital in Nork. It tears my heart to remeber the way people who were passing by treated the homeless, some were abusing them verbally, some-assaulting physically.
more…

I came across a major article about Armenia in the Sunday Telegraph, under the Travel section today. Although there was a factual mistake on the very first page, [“…having adopted Christianity in AD 310, a decade before Rome…” - this should be 301, Not 310] the article is definitely worth a read, it is written from a tourism perspective, and talks a lot about how diaspora Armenians are investing in the economy of the country. Here are a couple of extracts:

It is surrounded by Muslim countries on three sides - Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan - and war-torn Georgia to its north. In 1915 Armenia suffered its own holocaust: the slaughter of 1.5 million people by the Turks, a genocide the Turkish government still refuses to acknowledge.
[…]
And yet, partly as a result of this tragic past, Armenia, more than any other country in the Caucasus, is now finding its feet fast. The Diaspora, descendents of those who escaped the genocide, now number three times the 2.5 million population of Armenia itself, and they not only dominate the country’s fledgling tourist industry, but the wealthiest of them, men such as Vahak Hovnanian and Kirk Kirkorian, the owner of MGM studios in LA, invest US$1 billion a year in Armenia, funding everything from airports, roads and radio stations, to universities, museums and hotels.
[…]
Yet, sweep away the dust, and Yerevan, an eighth-century fortress town, reveals itself like a lost icon. On the wide expanse of Opera Square in the centre, opposite a new Marriott hotel, the National Opera House had been restored and the Yerevan Philharmonic was performing works by the great Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian.
[…]
Armenia’s countryside is a virtual museum of religious sites, many dating back as far as the fourth century and most neglected under Soviet rule. Some, like the spectacular Geghard Monastery set in a canyon west of Yerevan, have been well maintained, but Sanahin, the holiest site in northern Armenia, was a mess: grass grew on its roof, its frescos were fading and the vast root of a tree buckled its foundations.
[…]
Armenia is about the size of Belgium and its roads are surprisingly good. From Yerevan the following morning it took us only two hours to get to the third stop on the cultural triangle: Lake Sevan, north-east of the capital. At 6,230ft, one of the highest lakes in the world, Sevan was a popular resort for the Soviet elite, and when its silvery-blue water came into view, I could see a number of sturdy stone dachas on its banks, shaded by forests of red and yellow aspen.

The full article is here.

So, Nigel Charnock, a British based dance artist has been condemned by the Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosian, by dancing on the Armenian flag, as well as wrapping it around his naked body. Some ministers have gone as far to brand the dancer ” a criminal” under a law which claims any defacement of the Armenian tricolour constitues prosecution.

Charnock has apologised for his performance, brought over by the British Council, and he stated that he only wanted it to represent the love felt when he was in Armenia.

I couldn’t help but wonder - whilst I appreciate, seeing an Armenian flag danced upon and wrapped around a male body, is probably not a pleasant sight…we may consider the deeper meanings of this, Charnock has said why he did it. What made me sneer inside was the numerous other, far more obvious “insults” to Armenian dignity that one may come accross every day in Armenia :

The piles of rotting rubbish on the streets, people eating seeds and throwing them all over the floor outside an Opera house home to a stage named after one of this Century’s most prominent composers, or watching Armenian Grandmothers beg for money so desperately, whilst the dust from a hummer owned by a well connected “guarantor of Armenian dignity” covers the citizens on the street… Tell me, where is the ranting and raving about these everyday insults to Armenian dignity? Who is going to brand these people criminals?

RFE/RL reports phenomenal figures in Armenia’s tourism industry.

…The increased influx of tourists, most of them foreign nationals of Armenian descent, was particularly visible last year. Virtually all hotels in central Yerevan and flights to and from the Armenian were fully booked from August through October, the traditional peak period for travel to Armenia… more…

Garbage lying around next to the garbage cans and bins is such a common site in Armenia these days, that nobody seems to pay any attention to it. Still, today I just couldn’t let it go…

I try to understand people, who throw something in the street, because then can’t find a garbage can. I said - I try! But what do I call those, who have put these plastic bags full of garbage right next to the empty garbage can? Why, people? Why?

PS: After writing this post I understood, that I’m the biggest pig of all! After taking the photo, I spared the effort and didn’t pick up the plastic bags to put them in the empty garbage can! I just left it there as it was! Maybe it has something to do with my Armenian Genetics???

Minibuses are stopping only at the allocated bus-stops these days. At least in the center of Yerevan, when there’s some police patrol around. The first couple of times I tried stopping a minibus where I usually would on the Mashtots avenue, (which is definitely not at a bus-stop), the minibuses didn’t pay any attention. I was frustrated at first. Than I felt really happy - thinking: so that’s why the Municipality was updating the bus-stops, because strangely enough everybody was standing at the bus-stop nearby - instead of crowding around the Mashtots-Pushkin crossroad as they usually would. more…

The Big Brother - the large screen in the Republic Square of Yerevan has been silent for 3 months now. Apparently the capital of Armenia cannot generate enough advertising revenue, for the AD Technology advertising company to keep it running. So what’s it going to be? I caught a discussion on the AR TV two days ago, as to what should be done to the TV, and what kind of a statue would replace it. So even if it’s not really decided yet, the Big Brother will most likely follow Lenin, to go lie down somewhere in the dust. more…

I was very happy to see that Air Arabia is now serving Yerevan! In my opinion, this is a very important link for business. The fact is air links equate business expansion and opportunity. If you look at most any major economic development initiative in Europe or America, there is an emphasis on having air links with business hubs. Air Arabia has many links with up and coming business centers which could truly add to real, knowledge economy expansion in Armenia.

Why do I see this as such a good thing? The main reason is the fact this past week we saw a huge issue made about the lack of skilled technology professionals in the developed world and even more of a surprise was the projection of a huge shortage in India. Just imagine if Armenia can continue to increase its knowledge work force especially in high technology to become a destination for knowledge work! A cheap air link with the knowledge centers of India could boon well for true economic expansion. Of course the jewel in the cap of the Armenians is the fact that Armenians are excellent linguists, picking up languages easier than most due to the difficulty of Armenian. Couple language with increasing technical know-how and we have a strong mix for future growth!

This is a wonderful thing! I hope that Armavia sees the competition and picks up its own expansion. Yerevan could become a hub of engineering excellence and if served by solid air links it could grow tremendously fast! Here is to open borders and expansion of ties!

Another tragic loss for Armenian music occured yesterday when well known entertainer, singer and songwriter Aram Asatryan passed away from a heart attack.

Aram is a household name in all familes and was awarded the title of “Gusan” a number of years ago by the then Culture Ministry of Armenia. Armenian media generally shunned him of late due to him being labelled ” rabiz ” singer. However, he continues to be one of the most popular Armenian singers throughout the world. He moved to Glendale in the 90’s and worked there before returning to Armenia very recently.

Aram was at a family gathering in the village of Oshakan when he suffered a heart attack, he was unable to survive the incident. I really hope Armenian media pays attention to this loss, as regardless of taste, he has entertained Armenians for many years - and some label his music as rabiz, whilst this may have sometimes been true, Aram had a passion for entertaining that lacks in so many artists in Armenia today.

This news comes just 1 month after Armenia lost another popular artist, young singer Varduhi Vardanyan, in a tragic car accident.

Guests of Yerevan, Spyurkahay brothers, tourists - I have great news! Bilingual (Armenian-English) signs, pointing to important places in Yerevan were seen downtown. I am the witness. more…