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Aberdeen Press and Journal, Scotland
May 17 2014
History's forgotten catastrophe
With Iran to the south and Azerbaijan to the east, Armenia is
certainly stuck in a volatile part of the world. They most certainly
do not get on with Azerbaijan and, as for their relationship with
Turkey, well there's certainly no love lost there. But more about that
later.
Surrounded by Islam of varying degrees of intensity - Armenia, I found
out, was the first country to convert to Christianity in 301 AD. That
said, there's a wonderful almost Middle Eastern feeling here.
Stepping off the plane at Yerevan airport, the heat hit me like a
brick wall. It took an eternity to get through the hot, sweaty airport
but finally, with my luggage intact and visa in my passport, I was sat
on a ramshackle bus, heading to the capital.
I'd already booked myself into one of the few cheap B&Bs I could find
which, of course, was not in the centre but on the outskirts. Real
local, real poor area. I stepped off the bus and thought, "Oh aye,
this looks dodgy," as I started to walk down this dirt poor street
right in the middle of a residential area. However, I quickly realised
that the Lonely Planet travel guide book was right when it said: "The
Armenians will kill you with kindness, if you're offered hospitality,
don't rebuff it!"
People waved and smiled at the alien as kids played happily in the
street. And every time I walked up and down that street, they always
remembered me. By day four I was having tea and a BBQ in the garden
with one family after they beckoned me over. They wanted their son to
get practice speaking English.
I slept an astonishing nine hours on arrival the first night, so in
the morning as I sat in a wee rustic café, I was really up for my
first famous Armenian coffee which I'd read about in advance.
While the Turks claim coffee as theirs, the Armenians do so likewise.
I ain't going to argue. The Armenians call it soorch. I'd describe it
as a very potent, finely ground cup of lusciously rich rocket fuel.
Wow, hello world.
I walked for about 20 minutes, the heat already over 30 degrees, and
made it to the nearest metro station. As I headed down deep into the
tunnels, the temperature plummeted - oh what a godsend. So cool, so
refreshing, so welcome.
In the centre of Yerevan is Republic Square, a place where Stalinist
meets Armenian architecture; a stunning place that I loved just
wandering around at will, soaking it all up. From people on the
streets to café owners, the Armenians all seem friendly to strangers.
The interesting thing is - if you consider their history, they could
easily be forgiven for not being so friendly to outsiders.
With the world soon to commemorate World War 1, spare a thought for
the Armenian nation, for what it went through was horrific. In 1915,
our world experienced its first genocide when a staggering
one-and-a-half million Armenian men, woman and children died at the
hands of the brutal Turkish Ottoman Empire. Men were massacred or died
through slave labour, while woman and children died on death marches
through the Syrian Desert. Openly supported by the German government,
the plan was simply to eradicate the Armenian people - wipe them off
the face of the earth.
Just a few kilometres on a hill outside Yerevan is Tsitsernakaberd,
the Museum of the Armenian Genocide. I took a taxi out of town and
spent the day there. A very moving experience. The museum itself is
actually underground and was full of very harrowing pictures,
Holocaust style, that are near impossible to describe here. As I
wandered the museum, I once again had these thoughts: The world
rightly so talks about the Nazi Holocaust, but precious little is ever
said about Communist crimes, and practically no one talks about the
Armenian genocide. 1,500,000 murdered - have you even heard about it?
Above ground, there is a massive memorial consisting of a 40m high
spiral next to a circle of 12 basalt slabs that lean over to guard an
eternal flame. The 12 slabs represent the 12 lost provinces of west
Armenia (that to this day are still under Turkish control). Many
Armenians believe the slabs huddle like refugees around a fire while
on their way to being deported.
But it's a piece of nature that in some way is the eternal reminder of
what happened. Mount Ararat, the gigantic snow-capped peak that was
the symbol of everything Armenian, stands at over 16,000 ft. Armenians
can see Ararat every day, yet can't go there, for since 1915 Mount
Ararat has stood on Turkish soil and they've no intention of handing
it back. That must be very painful indeed.
Nearby the basalt slabs, there is a row of trees planted by foreign
lenders to show respect to those who were killed in the genocide. For
decades, the Turkish government denied any responsibility whatsoever.
It said that the genocide never happened and that the documents and
photos are fake.
Earlier this year their tone changed and they talked about "shared
pain" and expressed "condolences," over deaths in WW1. But they still
don't accept that the genocide took place.
Nothing other than Ankara recognising what happened, coupled with a
full apology, will suffice for the Armenian nation.
It all happened one hundred years ago, next year.
WW1 is not just about trenches in France, you know.
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/3686277
May 17 2014
History's forgotten catastrophe
With Iran to the south and Azerbaijan to the east, Armenia is
certainly stuck in a volatile part of the world. They most certainly
do not get on with Azerbaijan and, as for their relationship with
Turkey, well there's certainly no love lost there. But more about that
later.
Surrounded by Islam of varying degrees of intensity - Armenia, I found
out, was the first country to convert to Christianity in 301 AD. That
said, there's a wonderful almost Middle Eastern feeling here.
Stepping off the plane at Yerevan airport, the heat hit me like a
brick wall. It took an eternity to get through the hot, sweaty airport
but finally, with my luggage intact and visa in my passport, I was sat
on a ramshackle bus, heading to the capital.
I'd already booked myself into one of the few cheap B&Bs I could find
which, of course, was not in the centre but on the outskirts. Real
local, real poor area. I stepped off the bus and thought, "Oh aye,
this looks dodgy," as I started to walk down this dirt poor street
right in the middle of a residential area. However, I quickly realised
that the Lonely Planet travel guide book was right when it said: "The
Armenians will kill you with kindness, if you're offered hospitality,
don't rebuff it!"
People waved and smiled at the alien as kids played happily in the
street. And every time I walked up and down that street, they always
remembered me. By day four I was having tea and a BBQ in the garden
with one family after they beckoned me over. They wanted their son to
get practice speaking English.
I slept an astonishing nine hours on arrival the first night, so in
the morning as I sat in a wee rustic café, I was really up for my
first famous Armenian coffee which I'd read about in advance.
While the Turks claim coffee as theirs, the Armenians do so likewise.
I ain't going to argue. The Armenians call it soorch. I'd describe it
as a very potent, finely ground cup of lusciously rich rocket fuel.
Wow, hello world.
I walked for about 20 minutes, the heat already over 30 degrees, and
made it to the nearest metro station. As I headed down deep into the
tunnels, the temperature plummeted - oh what a godsend. So cool, so
refreshing, so welcome.
In the centre of Yerevan is Republic Square, a place where Stalinist
meets Armenian architecture; a stunning place that I loved just
wandering around at will, soaking it all up. From people on the
streets to café owners, the Armenians all seem friendly to strangers.
The interesting thing is - if you consider their history, they could
easily be forgiven for not being so friendly to outsiders.
With the world soon to commemorate World War 1, spare a thought for
the Armenian nation, for what it went through was horrific. In 1915,
our world experienced its first genocide when a staggering
one-and-a-half million Armenian men, woman and children died at the
hands of the brutal Turkish Ottoman Empire. Men were massacred or died
through slave labour, while woman and children died on death marches
through the Syrian Desert. Openly supported by the German government,
the plan was simply to eradicate the Armenian people - wipe them off
the face of the earth.
Just a few kilometres on a hill outside Yerevan is Tsitsernakaberd,
the Museum of the Armenian Genocide. I took a taxi out of town and
spent the day there. A very moving experience. The museum itself is
actually underground and was full of very harrowing pictures,
Holocaust style, that are near impossible to describe here. As I
wandered the museum, I once again had these thoughts: The world
rightly so talks about the Nazi Holocaust, but precious little is ever
said about Communist crimes, and practically no one talks about the
Armenian genocide. 1,500,000 murdered - have you even heard about it?
Above ground, there is a massive memorial consisting of a 40m high
spiral next to a circle of 12 basalt slabs that lean over to guard an
eternal flame. The 12 slabs represent the 12 lost provinces of west
Armenia (that to this day are still under Turkish control). Many
Armenians believe the slabs huddle like refugees around a fire while
on their way to being deported.
But it's a piece of nature that in some way is the eternal reminder of
what happened. Mount Ararat, the gigantic snow-capped peak that was
the symbol of everything Armenian, stands at over 16,000 ft. Armenians
can see Ararat every day, yet can't go there, for since 1915 Mount
Ararat has stood on Turkish soil and they've no intention of handing
it back. That must be very painful indeed.
Nearby the basalt slabs, there is a row of trees planted by foreign
lenders to show respect to those who were killed in the genocide. For
decades, the Turkish government denied any responsibility whatsoever.
It said that the genocide never happened and that the documents and
photos are fake.
Earlier this year their tone changed and they talked about "shared
pain" and expressed "condolences," over deaths in WW1. But they still
don't accept that the genocide took place.
Nothing other than Ankara recognising what happened, coupled with a
full apology, will suffice for the Armenian nation.
It all happened one hundred years ago, next year.
WW1 is not just about trenches in France, you know.
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/3686277