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ARMENIA AND PATRICIA KAAS TALK BRANDY AND PEACE
EurasiaNet.org
March 12 2014
March 12, 2014 - 2:06pm, by Giorgi Lomsadze
In the cellars of the Yerevan Brandy Company sits a barrel of brandy
that has been waiting 13 years for resolution of Armenia's conflict
with neighboring Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno
Karabakh.
Armenia's favorite drink, brandy became widely popular in Soviet days
when the country (and Georgia) ranked as the USSR's alternative to
the south of France. For many visitors, touring the Yerevan Brandy
Company, now owned by French booze giant Pernod Ricard, remains a must.
On March 10, famous French crooner Patricia Kaas became the latest
celebrity to descend into the company's depths for a brandy-tasting
tour, and an Armenian history lesson.
It may seem a bold move to ply a Frenchwoman with a beverage Armenians
call "cognac," yet Kaas had no reason to complain; the Yerevan Brandy
Company sponsored her March 9 concert in Yerevan.
In the company's cellar, she was introduced to the "Barrel of Peace,"
a cask containing brandy from 1994, when Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed
to a (constantly violated) cease-fire. The cask was sealed in 2001,
when the US, Russian, and, of course, French chairpersons of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group,
the body overseeing the Karabakh talks, visited Yerevan and toured
the factory. The brandy-makers vowed to open the barrel when the
Karabakh conflict is resolved.
Unfortunately for peace and brandy-lovers, the conflict remains
a powder keg with occasional deadly escalations, and Armenia and
Azerbaijan are not expected to drink themselves to peace anytime soon.
The ongoing international conflict over Russia's incursion into
Ukraine's Crimea is not expected to improve those chances.
Some Armenian observers can't agree over whether or not Crimea will
have good, bad or no impact on Armenia and its ethnic kin in Karabakh.
For its part, Azerbaijan looks at Crimea's lot, and remembers the
ongoing Karabakh conflict as a warning about the dangers when countries
throw international law to the wind.
Meanwhile, with the US and France at loggerheads with Russia over
Ukraine, the negotiation-facilitators may soon need facilitators of
their own.
On the bright side, brandy only gets better with time.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68135
EurasiaNet.org
March 12 2014
March 12, 2014 - 2:06pm, by Giorgi Lomsadze
In the cellars of the Yerevan Brandy Company sits a barrel of brandy
that has been waiting 13 years for resolution of Armenia's conflict
with neighboring Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno
Karabakh.
Armenia's favorite drink, brandy became widely popular in Soviet days
when the country (and Georgia) ranked as the USSR's alternative to
the south of France. For many visitors, touring the Yerevan Brandy
Company, now owned by French booze giant Pernod Ricard, remains a must.
On March 10, famous French crooner Patricia Kaas became the latest
celebrity to descend into the company's depths for a brandy-tasting
tour, and an Armenian history lesson.
It may seem a bold move to ply a Frenchwoman with a beverage Armenians
call "cognac," yet Kaas had no reason to complain; the Yerevan Brandy
Company sponsored her March 9 concert in Yerevan.
In the company's cellar, she was introduced to the "Barrel of Peace,"
a cask containing brandy from 1994, when Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed
to a (constantly violated) cease-fire. The cask was sealed in 2001,
when the US, Russian, and, of course, French chairpersons of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group,
the body overseeing the Karabakh talks, visited Yerevan and toured
the factory. The brandy-makers vowed to open the barrel when the
Karabakh conflict is resolved.
Unfortunately for peace and brandy-lovers, the conflict remains
a powder keg with occasional deadly escalations, and Armenia and
Azerbaijan are not expected to drink themselves to peace anytime soon.
The ongoing international conflict over Russia's incursion into
Ukraine's Crimea is not expected to improve those chances.
Some Armenian observers can't agree over whether or not Crimea will
have good, bad or no impact on Armenia and its ethnic kin in Karabakh.
For its part, Azerbaijan looks at Crimea's lot, and remembers the
ongoing Karabakh conflict as a warning about the dangers when countries
throw international law to the wind.
Meanwhile, with the US and France at loggerheads with Russia over
Ukraine, the negotiation-facilitators may soon need facilitators of
their own.
On the bright side, brandy only gets better with time.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68135