This week was a rare exception in the Armenian blogosphere. For perhaps the first time ever, most Armenian bloggers posted news and commentary on the same subject — the 18th Anniversary of the pogrom in Sumgait, Azerbaijan, that resulted in the death of 32 ethnic Armenians. Cilicia.com reports that the event was marked in Armenia by a rally in Yerevan’s central Republic Square.

On February 28 Republic Square was home to one of the first protests of the year. Thousands (some news agencies are reporting up to 100,000) of government officials, students, and adults gathered to protest about the current anti-Armenian policies of Azerbaijan and to pay tribute to those who perished in Sumgait.

As I’m not able to attend these sorts of rallies, all I noticed were the crowds. During my five minute walk to work I literally had to fight my way through the streets of Abovian and Tumanian. I was amazed first by how many youth were involved and second by how organized the march/protest was in general.

Although most foreign news agencies reported that the turnout was somewhere in the region of 10-20,000 — a figure backed up by eye witness accounts — Garo (AKA Christian Garbis) over at Notes from Hairenik is concerned by the mood emerging in Armenia. He also explains why so many youth were involved in the protest, some of whom I photographed as they marched to Tsitsernakaberd.

From what I saw at the rally and on the streets, the overwhelming majority of the attendees were youth. Apparently universities let out classes early in response to requests from political parties for students to attend the rally. Thousands of people were purportedly bused in from the regions. A poster campaign launched about 10 days ago sponsored by the ARF called for people to never forget the Sumgait pogroms and to remember that the Armenian presence in Jugha, Nakhichevan is being erased, with the destruction of apparently more than 1,000 stone crosses placed as tombstones in historic Armenian cemeteries there.

[…]

Although remembering the horrors inflicted against the Armenians in the past must certainly be commemorated, antagonizing Turkey and Azerbaijan is for the most part unjustified. There are about 25 times more Turks in the region than Armenians—Turkey alone has a population of over 60 million people and an army of purportedly 1 million troops. Furthermore, Turkey also has the capability of crippling Armenia economically, as overwhelming amounts of construction materials, domestic goods, and clothing supplies enter Armenia’s markets and stores illegally from Turkey, amounting to millions of unaccounted-for dollars exchanged in business transactions (this issue is hardly ever discussed by anyone, not surprisingly).

[…]

During a year when both Armenian and Azeri sides are still negotiating a peace settlement over Karabagh, even after talks broke down a couple of weeks ago, the last thing either side needs to deal with is hateful provocation aimed towards the enemy. Armenians cannot afford to suffer from any other losses—economically, socially, militarily, or otherwise. Azerbaijan this year plans to spend $650 million on reinforcing its military, up from over $300 million in 2005. So such protests and declarations, most definitely made to irk the enemy when they watch the news later this evening, are uncalled for, as in the end they do nothing but incite more hatred.

The commemoration of the Sumgait pogrom, however, wasn’t confined to Armenia. In the large Diaspora similar protests took place. Arsineh Khachikian at Cilicia.com’s Life in the Diaspora bog posts some photographs and commentary on the demonstration held in Washington.

Yesterday we commemorated the massacres in Sumgait. But in light of recent new evidence of Azeri soldiers demolishing Khatchkars in Nakhichevan, this year’s commemoration held more responsibility on us to draw attention around the world. Here in Washington, we did our part. nearly 100 Armenians gathered infront of the Turkish Embassy around rush hour to March to the Azerbaijan Embassy just up the street. When they arrived, they were greeted by a handfull of Azeri’s counter-protesting. Divided only by 2 lanes of asphalt, the shouting only increased over time.

On the same blog, Rupen reports on preparations for another demostration held opposite the Azerbaijani Embassy in Ottowa, as well on the day of the anniversary itself. The demonstration protested the destruction of khachkars (stone crosses) in the Azeri exclave of Nakhichevan.

Although we tried presenting the UNESCO representative with a letter, they denied our entrance into the building. The letter was later read out loud in both English and French by Lori Janbazian and Harout Bakarian. Ung. Mher Karakashian spoke on behalf of the ARF Central Committee, saying that UNESCO’s stance is unacceptable and shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone…The protest later was lead to the Azerbaijani Embassy, along with the “Khatchkar”, the signs, and the Azerbaijani dummy we had made. Ung. Raffi Sarkissian later spoke in front of the Embassy presenting our rage against Azerbaijan’s policy of cultural genocide.

Interestingly, Blogian also reports on another demonstration held in Iran. However, this time the protest was anti-Armenian and fits in with various news reports that Iran’s large Azerbaijani population might be used to destabilize the Islamic Republic from within. An estimated 16-23 million ethnic Azeris live in Armenia’s southern neighbor — significantly more than in Azerbaijan itself.

As Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi at http://www.regimechangeiran.com/ translates an article from Iran Press News, on 27 February 2006 a group of Iranian Turks (who refer themselves as Azerbaijanis) “gathered for a violent demonstration in front of a local Armenian church [in Tabriz], chanting anti-Armenian and anti-Christian slogans.” The protesters were “commemorating” the deaths of Azerbaijani civilians caused by Armenian army’s takeover of Khojalu in 1992.

The thousand person protesters, according to the Iranian website AFTAB, chanted, “We want the destruction of Armenia.”

Blogian also reports on an Armenian rally in Toronto to protest the destruction of khachkars in Nakhichevan, and says that a supplement was specially printed by the Canadian-Armenian press. Copies were sent to Canadian parliamentarians.

The publication includes a report by Scottish architect Steven Sim, who visited Nakhichevan (now under Azerbaijani control) in 2005. Sim’s report is available in PDF format at http://www.nakhichevan.cjb.net. European Parliament’s resolution, condemning the recent destruction of Armenian monuments in Nakhichevan, is also included.

Ara Manoogian at Martuni or Bust reports on other news that broke in Yerevan this week. As mentioned on this blog, the Prosecutor General has said that there is no evidence of any officials in his office being involved in the trafficking of women and children to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). What makes his take interesting is the fact that Ara worked with Hetq Online’s Editor-in-Chief Edik Baghdasarian on a series of articles and a documentary film that resulted in the Prosecutor General’s statement.

When you read the following story, keep in mind that I personally spoke with trafficking victims and other persons in the U.A.E. and Armenia (some government officials) in 2004 and 2005, who not only mentioned Prosecutor Aristakes Yeremian, who a couple of the victims mentioned on hidden video him taking a $5,000 bribe from the former trafficker Anahit Malkhasian in front of them, but they also mentioned Yeremian being accompanied by a fellow prosecutors, one named Minasian. I’m guessing Minasian could be the same person mentioned in the story below as leading the investigation which cleared Yeremian of trafficking.

These findings should mean nothing to those who in the international community measure levels of trafficking, since they were briefed to the fact stated above last year, thus the name Minasian should tell them of the possible the validity of the findings, which I will go out on a limb and tell you right now are fabricated, since they don’t correspond with multiple statements I took from witnesses.

Somtimes, the situation in Armenia astounds me, and not least when it comes to corruption and incompetence. Although reforms should have resulted in some progress, corruption especially is increasing in Armenia and the rights of citizens continue to be trampled upon on an almost daily basis. The health care sector is just one example of this, as Myrthe at Life As I See It reports.

These doctors don’t give a s#%$ about their patients, they don’t care about giving information, about proper preparation, they don’t care that these people are by no means rich and that the mother has to take off time from work and miss income and has to come all the way from Spitak every time they are called to the hospital. What kind of country is this?!?!?!? What kind of people are they?!?!?!?

Interestingly, Zarchka at Life Around Me has a few things to also report on the medical system in Armenia, and comments on Myrthe’s post. Hopefully she will soon blog about her own experiences, but in the meantime, as one of the few local bloggers in Armenia, she continues to express her outrage at new “developments” in Yerevan and the erection of statues that, she feels, do not fit in with the spirit of the Armenian capital.

Instead of renovating such statues which are dime a dozen in Yerevan, we pay enormous attention to those black presents and illuminate them, so that if an Italian visits Yerevan especially at night he can be proud of his culture and the Armenians’ great respect regarding it.

But Armenians have such an immense amount of cultural values worth being pointed out and illuminated. And yet they are lost in darkness and dust.

This is what I mean when I say that we must protect and respect our national values, whatever they are. Otherwise, why do we claim it from other nations, when we are not able to do it by ourselves?

In Los Angeles, Glendale Chick summarizes the types of young Armenians that live there. She’ll probably get some flak for what she writes given the Armenian tendency to keep their private lives hidden away, but her openess is welcomed.

If you consider yourself young and Armenian and you live in greater Los Angeles, it is very likely that you fall into one of approximately three general categories. And although I am sure Armenians in other places are similar… I’m just going to stick to my experience for now. So, yes, the three categories.

People who need to get laid.
People who get laid and pretend they never have.
People who get laid with too many people, and everyone knows it.

Whether you’re a chickie or a bro, you fall into one of these categories. And I’m not judging, I am observing. The first category doesn’t have much to discuss– its a personal choice or situation. The second category is just plain hilarious. And the third category is at least …honest.

To end, via The Artyom Reader, some pics from Armenia. Neeka’s Backlog posts a link to some dramatic photographs of the khachkars at Noratuz near Lake Sevan,while Rockstar2k has some landscapes shot in what looks like the Ararat and Vayots Dzor regions. Talking of photography, the Hetq Online Photoblog has some photos I took yesterday at the new shelter for the homeless in Yerevan. There’s also some pics taken at Armenia’s Kosh prison.

This much for now, and if you know of any interesting Armenian-related blogs, please post a comment. Incidently, I’ve already discovered a new blog, See Ya Melissa, by an expat working in Armenia.

It’s been a little over 2 weeks since I arrived in Yerevan, and for the most part, I’m enjoying it. The city is full of great cafes and shops, not to mention museums, theaters and monuments. I like that you can walk almost anywhere, and those places that are a bit far to walk to can be reached via metro. It’s definitely been an adjustment, and there are somethings that bother me a bit, but I really do like Yerevan and its residents. Almost everyone I’ve come into contact with has been kind and as friendly as one can be when there’s a language barrier.

As usual, help popularize the English-language Armenian blogosphere by linking to this post. Thanks.