Garo (AKA Christian Garbis) over at Notes from Hairenik has posted another entry on the continuing destruction of downtown Yerevan. Unfortunately, as nearly all the construction downtown is being undertaken in contravention of the law by senior government officials and their friends, relatives and business associates, nothing is going to stop this. Corruption triumphs and the rule of law means nothing.

It may not be the most aesthetically pleasing or safe building in Yerevan it seems solid enough nevertheless. Sturdy enough to support a store which occupies a small, narrow portion of the two-floor building’’s ground level. It is situated in between two ugly six story buildings both housing discos and expensive boutiques as well as offering hotel rooms. But the ancient building that remains, until the beginning of March, is a testament to Yerevan’s history, its development from basically village status to a city of about 1,000,000 residents. It is of course another piece of the past that needs to be preserved at all costs and also is part of the city’s disappearing charm, yet greedy developers fail to understand this.

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The store’’s owners and building occupants are taking their case to Strasbourg, as no court in Armenia will defend anyone’s right to live where they wish to remain. The woman said that they will end up in the middle of a field somewhere outside the city, as they won’t be able to afford anything else with the measly compensation the government supposedly will provide.

With Gagik Tsarukian (AKA Dodi Gago) behind this latest example of the law and courts functioning only to protect the interests of the powerful, news that Armenia’s richest man has set his sights on the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for 2007-8 is cause for alarm. Unfortunately, and as Garo has mentioned before, apathy still reigns in Armenia. Still, at least Garo made blogging history last week when he posted the first ever video blog from Armenia on the same subject.

This is my first video blog posting and supposedly may be the first from Armenia. It shows the demolishion going on behind my apartment building as discussed in my Back in Yerevan post. I also wrote a short article for Hetq Online, which basically is the description of this video.

Meanwhile, Tim Russo over at Democracy Guy has posted another installment of his memoirs dealing with the time he spent in Armenia working for the National Democratic Institute. This week he deals with the removal of former President Levon Ter Petrosian in a velvet coup. Ter Petrosian was re-elected in 1996 in elections that were (surprise, surprise) not considered to meet international standards. Ter Petrosian eventually lost power in an internal power struggle that was in part connected to what were seen as concessionary moves to resolve the Karabakh conflict.

Ter-Petrossian’s pursuit of a moderate solution to the Karabakh conflict exposed his Achilles heal. As he kept drifting further and further outside the hardline political norm on the Karabakh issue, he was going further and further out on a limb politically. Had he been seen as legitimately elected, his base of support would have been the people, a factor that may have dissuaded the coup plotters.

But it was easy to gamble that support from the electorate for LTP was not there. At least half of the country did not accept his election in 1996. Instead of winning the election legitimately on the back of the people, he had relied not on votes but on the military and internal affairs police to gain power, therefore he relied on the military and internal affairs police to keep it. If the power ministries wanted LTP to go, LTP was gone.

And their position on Karabakh was most hardline of all. LTP’s prime minister, Robert Kocharian, was the former Karabakh president. Opposition leaders were boycotting parliament, were also hardline on Karabakh, and would have been happy to see LTP go in any case. The final irony was that he was probably pursuing a course of action that would have brought the country peace and stability for the first time in more than a decade; an outcome the Armenian people probably supported. But his illegitimacy, and his reliance on the power ministries, resulted in Ter-Petrossian walking out onto a limb that was bound to break, which Vano’s power grab precipitated, resulting in the entire ANM government structure collapsing.

Fascinating stuff, which is just as well because with the winter now upon is in Yerevan and while people are slowly getting back into the swing of things after the New Year, there’s not much being written about from Armenia. However, Myrthe over at Life as I see it speaks about some cultural differences in her interaction with Armenians while Tamar at Armyouth is getting ready to encourage young Armenians to blog on her site.

This is particularly interesting because Tamar works at the Civil Society Institute in Yerevan and so she has a large pool of potential bloggers to call upon. I know from speaking to Tamar today that one of those new bloggers will be Vahakn, a young Armenian and the brains behind the Bem Youth Progressive Action Center. Another might also be Zarchka, who I want to encourage to eventually set up her own blog detailing her interests, activities and views on life.

Really looking forward to the new posts. As highlighted by my recent spat with New Eurasia, something that Artyom and Ara Manoogian discuss over at The Artyom Reader and Martuni or Bust, I think that it is imperative that Armenians are encouraged to blog from inside Armenia rather than New Eurasia’s approach which is to get Armenians to blog from outside the Republic on topics suggested by non-Armenians.

This is not a genuine way to encourage the development of real conversations in the Armenian blogosphere, in my opinion. Therefore, I hope Tamar and Vahakn can set another precedent for encouraging young citizens to blog on the ground as I tried to do by encouraging Zarchka to blog on my site.

Yes, it’s true that most blogs are either run by foreigners — including myself — from within Armenia or by Diasporans living outside the country, but the conversation is genuine and nobody is telling us what to write. Even in the case of young Armenians that I speak to here regarding blogging, I never ever tell them what to write because it’s as much of interest to me to see what preoccupies them as I hope it is for you.

Regardless, as there is a link between the Republic and the Diaspora, it is only appropiate that what Diasporan bloggers write about is also considered part of the Armenian blogosphere. Certainly, what is being written about does represent a genuine conversation, regardless of whether others like what is being written, whether they understand the historical and cultural reasons for much of the Diasporan mentality, and regardless of whether they deal with issues inside or outside the Republic.

Der Hova, for example, over at Cilicia.com’s Life in Armenia blog writes about face control and the dress rules at some of Yerevan’s somehow pretentious cafes and restaurants. It’s something that a lot of us have noticed recently, and not only do I find the ban on t-shirts at one teahouse ridiculous, I’m amazed that some venues, probably run by government-connected businessmen with no understanding of anything aesthetic, even advertise the fact as if it’s meant to make me want to spend my money there.

Instead, when you discover what kind of clientelle get in to such places, it’s actually nicer to know that I might not — unless of course they hear me speaking English first. Groucho Marx once said that he would never belong to any club that would have him as a member, but in the case of Armenia, I would never want to join any exclusive club that has the type of “members” that they do. Generally, these people are uninteresting, intellectually stagnant, and in many cases corrupt, connected or both.

The other day a friend of mine and I decided to go to Cube (light food menu, decor a cross between Square One and a Canadian donut shop, with a bar/disco hangout downstairs). There were only a couple of non-occupied tables, but we were told we couldn’t sit there since they could accommodate up to 4 people and they would rather give the tables to more than 2 people. So we decided to go downstairs to the bar/disco instead. Again refused. This time cause we were 2 males. We went to Cactus instead, and 2 other people were to join us. Again refused cause the football player with us was wearing sweats and sneakers. We decided to go back to Cube, to sit at the 4-people table, again refused cause of the guy wearing sportayin shorer.

Outside Armenia, the blogosphere also has it’s worthwhile posts, and not least since many young Armenians have asked me why I haven’t blogged much about the destruction of stone crosses in Nakhichevan. To be honest, it’s because there are not enough hours in the day, and here the Diaspora really proves its worth. Yes, I’d like the Diaspora to be more concerned with the democratic process (or lack of it) in Armenia, but at the same time, issues such as the Genocide and Nakhichevan are important.

Thankfully, Blogian takes up the story in this case by referring to a personal account by a Scottish traveller who I happened to know several years ago when I was living in London.

Steven Sim is a Scot who visited Nakhichevan (currently part of Azerbaijan) in 2005 to check the situation of the Armenian monuments there, since he was continuously told by his Armenian friends the horrible situation of the Armenian monuments there. He was skeptical. He thought Armenians were exaggerating the situation. But after visiting Nakhichevan, Sim was shocked. The Armenians had not exaggerated the situation while speaking of the cultural destruction of their heritage in Nakhichevan. Not at all…

And to end this weekly summary of the Armenian blogosphere, it’s only right to do so with the amazing and thoroughly incredible Glendale Chick — the uncontested Queen of the Armenian blogosphere. Always interesting, always funny and always well-written, after writing about Armenian grandmothers she now turns her attention on another foundation of any Armenian family — mothers.

Its not mother’s day, its not any special day, and its not ‘I’m feeling guilty day’… its just that I realized that Armenian moms are truly a special and unique breed. They are the cure to any illness, heartache, and frustration. They are the rock that holds things together when everyone is falling apart. In any circumstance or location and within a moment’s notice, an Armenian mom can produce an aspirin, a safety pin, a snack, a tissue, a piece of candy, a recipe, a solution. Should a button pop off your jacket, she’s there to catch it.

And when you’re in Glendale, you can find an Armenian mom at almost any street corner and she’ll help you out — even if she’s not your mom.

So, I’ve decided to create a never ending list of reasons why Armenian moms are special. Here goes… Reasons Why Armenian Moms Rock

Abres. Perhaps the Armenian Blogosphere isn’t so bad and under-developed after all. If you feel the same, please link to this and laters posts summarizing Armenian blogs in order to spread the word, and don’t forget to post any links to Armenian blogs in the comments section. As it looks like it’s Garo’s birthday on 2 February, please also remember to drop by at Notes from Hairenik on Thursday to wish him well.