Valerie Gortzounian - “I am sad in Armenia”
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”
Well, it’s that time of year again.. for the second time at least…A joke in the UK, huge in France, and even bigger in Eastern Europe - The Eurovision song contest is a chance for small, often ignored nations, to show themselves to the world through culture…or cheesy pop. Whatever your take on it, there is no doubting that last year, Armenia’s first entry - was a respectable victory by all accounts - for a first entry we ended up 8th out of over 40 countries in the world. Not bad.
Just read an article about the Amazing Armenian Charles Aznavour in the International Herald Tribune (Herald Asahi). Dear Charles - oh how I admire you!!!
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. 
