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 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.

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.
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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.
printable version

email to friend

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”

Yesterday was the first anniversary of Hrand Dink’s killing in front of Agos weekly. News agencies and different media outlets have reports from Turkey. Thousands of people have once again gathered in Istanbul, carrying signs “we are all Armenians”.
BBC’s Sarah Rainsford has a piece on Hrand Dink and why he is considered a controversial figure in Turkey, still a year after his death. There is a dark tone in the article by karin, Hrand’s friend saying:

“It was one of the darkest years, but what can we do? We have to go on. But I have no reason to be hopeful.”

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The most Interesting Issue in the past weeks, regarding the Armenian genocide issue, has been how the American media behaved.
Washington post to my idea completely was against the resolution. it published an editorial which was mentioned during the committee hearing and it clearly asked the congress committee to vote against resolution. Washington post even a few days ago published another story called Armenians Who Need Help Today from Editor of Editorial page and criticized the Armenian diaspora for their effort on genocide issue.
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George Bush today after a phone talk with Turkish Prime Minister again opposed to the resolution in Congress to recognize 1915 killings as Genocide. The reason as usual is the strategic importance of Turkey(for possible attack and pressure on Iran?).
I don’t understand this sentence of president Bush: “the events constitute a genocide should be a matter for historical inquiry, not legislation.”

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It seems Turkish lobby has succeeded to have the backing of 8 former U.S secretary of states. These secretaries served both democrat and republican governments and names such as Madeline Allbright and henry Kissinger and Collin Powell are among them. This time Armenian foreign ministry also came forward and criticized the move. The battle on the congress resolution on Armenian genocide is heating up more and more. you can read the story here.

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Marco Grigor(Marcos Grigorian), the well known Armenian-Iranian artist died in yerevan yesterday. I have not seen any armenian news website covering his death.
He is considered a pinonner of modern Iranian art. He organized the the first Tehran Biennial.
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A good day for Armenian football. The national team today beat Poland in the Euro 2008 qualifier match, making them now 3rd from bottom (Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan follow respectively). The win was surprising due to Poland’s strong side, currently first in the group.

The stadium was pretty much full, and I really do think this makes a huge difference to the morale of the players. Ian Porterfield, the Armenian national coach , kept stressing the importance of supporters to the performance of players, something I have never really heard before in Armenia. I remember numerous international matches with a half empty stadium, it seems this may be changing.

I think a win like this may well prompt a lot of young people to get into the habit of supporting our national team and following them to their matches. I hope this will happen, and that we can expect a further bout of good results.

Interestingly, Armenia and Azerbaijan’s match is due to take place soon. So far the final location hasn’t been confirmed, but it is not expected matches will take place in Yerevan or Baku due to safety concerned, despite both sides stating they would host the event.

It’s been a long time coming but Armenia now has an official authorised Apple Macintosh store, selling Ipods, Ibooks, Imacs, and pretty much everything else they make. I checked out the price of a 30GB Ipod, and it hits $405, which is pretty much exactly the same as here in the U.K.

Obviously the average Armenian citizen is probably not going to spend this on what is ultimately a glorified walkman, but still, I guess it’s at least a supplier of Macs and mac products in Yerevan for the design/media industry… and I guess another one of those proud “we have a ‘…..’ store in Armenia now…!” sort of statements..

As far as I am aware very few Armenian media outlets use mac, which is the standard for most here in the West. Only reporters from Armenia Tv I have noticed carry branded Ibooks around with them, but even the core processes there are done using pc’s. We’ll see what happens I suppose…

Armenian opera singer Gohar Gasparyan passed away yesterday, at the age of 83. She was born in Egypt and moved to Armenia in the forties. Her songs were heard throughout the former USSR as well as in Europe. Condolences go to her family.

The Armenian Public Broadcaster, H1 today launched it’s long overdue version of the popular “Haylur” news program, aimed specifically at the Diaspora.

The newscast will air everyday at midnight on the Satellite schedule of the broadcaster, and is completely in the Western Armenian language. This should help address the problem of difficulty in understanding the current broadcasts, which are very speedy and use new/soviet emergences of Eastern Armenian, often resulting in difficulty with understanding. It will also feature news from Armenian communities around the world.

I ( and I’m sure many other Armenians in the diaspora) have been wondering why there was no such broadcast for many years, and this should hopefully help to bridge the information gap. The program is sponsored by the All Armenian Fund

There is little that needs to be said about this day . It is something that we all, as Armenians, feel passionately about.

What remains to be seen is whether our passion will eventually be translated into action. I am speaking from a personal perspective, as I know there are many Armenians (and non Armenians) who dedicate themselves to protests, and perserverance on this issue.

Without sounding too prophetic, I think we should all ask ourselves the question “What concrete steps have I taken to help the cause for recognition of the Armenian Genocide?”. I ask myself this now, and I can shamefully answer - not many at all.

Ok, I attended a march in London on the weekend, but is that enough? I don’t think so . Walking once a year then forgetting is not effective.

Have I even written to my local MP, asking him to back the lobby in the UK Government? No.

Have I told anyone about the screamers movie? No.

So today I am going to do both of those things, perhaps to quash my own guilt, but at least It’s something, and next year I can answer yes to both of those questions. I think if we all ask ourselves this question, and try to yes the questions we said no to, we may get further. Everyone’s action makes a difference.

As Matt posted, Screamers, the documentary directed by Carla Garapedian , following System of a Down and their struggle for Genocide recognition , was shown by BBC tonight.

It certainly is harrowing, there are references to the Armenian Genocide, USA’s refusal to acknowledge it, as well as their deliberate under-use of the word Genocide, to avoid taking action. What affected me most was Serj Tankian (the lead singer)’s personal struggle with the Genocide as an issue. I am not too familiar with his music, I will be honest, but I can honestly say the dedication and passion , yet with balance and sensibiltiy with which he pursues his cause is highly admirable, and an example for any diasporan Armenian. The film features interviews with his own grandfather, himself a Genocide survivor, and their relationship and interaction is a key part of bringing the personal elements of the story together.

The key to this film is that it is more than just another documentary film. System of a Down ( from personal experience ) are the favourite band of many many 18-25 year old’s , many of them students. It is these people who like to(and have time to) become accquainted with political and human rights issues, and are a highly influential demographic. If this film can be seen by even one in ten of those people, who already respect the band, then we will end up with a large number of the future generation being aware of this as FACT. It shouldn’t be underestimated, and for that reason soon (hopefully) Armenian youth groups around the world will be able to mobilise and ensure this film is seen by as many such people as possible.

The BBC will be airing Screamers on Thursday night about System of a Down and their efforts to increase awareness of the Genocide.

Film maker Garapedian goes on tour with the hugely successful heavy metal band System of a Down, three of whom are of Armenian descent. Follow them on their quest to rock their fans - and to raise awareness of the Armenian massacre of 1915.

You can view the Screamers website here.

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.
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So here it is, the long awaited Armenian language pack for Windows XP. If it can be implemented correctly, as has been planned in Armenian schools and government institutions, we should see an acceleration in development of software in the Armenian language.

It is quite a novelty to see desktop being called a “Seghan”, and “Meknarkel” doesn’t have quite the same ring as “start”. I think “Sksel” would have been better But I guess we should be using refined Armenian…

Why not have a go at installing it? It only takes a couple of minutes, and it’s easily removable. It’s here.

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.

Last year’s entry was selected internally by the Armenian Public Television, who are responsible for organising Eurovision. This year, the company has decided to “democratize” the selection of our song - albeit with a uniquely Armenian slant…

20 entries have now been submitted, ranging from Hayko, a well known singer, - to R.P, a new, but very unique act. The first two rounds of selections will basically take 4 selections from a jury ( yes, a jury ), and 2 selections from a public SMS vote. Leaving a total of 6 acts.

The FINAL vote goes to the public? How wrong you are, dear Armenian! Of course the public are not entrusted with this act, only the “professional” jury is allowed to do this….

OK, so here goes.. If the jury wants Hayko to represent Armenia ( as part of a pre meditated plan ) then it’s simple - they vote Hayko through in the first round of finals, no matter who the public vote for, they can simply vote Hayko through at the end, as they get the last word.

What a joke. Do the organisers of this “selection” really distrust the Armenian public so much that they would not allow them to select their own entry? The fact is , rumours have been spinning for a while that the entrant has already been decided, the election is just to show the EBU that we are “democratic”.

Sound familiar?

On a lighter note, here are some lyrical gems I found from skimming through lyrics to the songs. Any idea what they mean? Comments welcome .
:) my queries are in brackets…:)

“I’ll Prove I am Stronger” Anush Manukyan
…..
I never fall down.
I’am not any longer
your Saturday fun,
( Saturday fun? what? you can’t have fun on a Saturday, its the sabbath! )
your blossoming rose,
has just faded for you.
You falt I suppose ( of course, you falt - that common expression!)
say what you can do. ……. (huh?) :P

“So I will go..” Arsen Adonts
….
Me I get to another show
Live in me now < ( live in where?)
Me I choose to express my love in another time (did no one check the grammar?)……. (ok then?) :)