Yerevan vs Athens
Yerevan vs Athens, Pan-Armenian Games, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia for EurasiaNet 2007
In what was quite an exciting match, Yerevan beat Athens at basketball which was a pity because as my father was born in Greece I was kind of hoping the result would be different. Still, it was refreshing to hear Greek spoken on court even if I can hardly remember what little I did once know.
Yerevan vs Athens, Pan-Armenian Games, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia for EurasiaNet 2007
Yasou, ti kanis?
Are these Armenian girls? They look a lot like Greeks.
Comment by nazarian — August 24, 2007 @ 11:34 pm
Well, I didn’t ask and just assumed, but I suppose there’s been mixing and communities worldwide can differ in overall look. Maybe some are half-Greek, I don’t know. Only spoke to one, Valya Efstathiou Vajraduni.
On the other hand, I spoke to the referee at the game, a Diasporan from Australia, and he says that he and a number of other people have lodged an official complaint with the Pan-Armenian Games after discovering that some teams included non-Armenians in their line-ups.
Interestingly, just before the game started, the referee was actually asking the Athens team if they spoke Armenian — in English. Not sure if he was checking them out, but I find it hard to believe that there are going to be non-Armenians in the Pan-Armenian Games, although the referee said one team even included an Indian.
I have no information as to which teams, or even if this accusation is true, but if I find out more I’ll let you know. Thing is, what if someone is half-Greek and half-Armenian, or half-Indian, actually. Should it matter given that there has been a lot of mixing over the centuries, hence why some Armenians can look very different from others.
Blue eyes instead of brown, for example.
Comment by Onnik — August 24, 2007 @ 11:49 pm
I don’t think it matters if there are non-Armenians in the teams as long as they have not been actively recruited for the purpose of these games (like the Armenian Olympic committee recruiting Russians to compete under the Armenian flag). I can even see an exception to this if there were no enough players in a community to have a complete team.
Comment by nazarian — August 25, 2007 @ 12:00 am
Talking of Greece, word is that the President of the Pan-Armenian Games Committee, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, went off on holiday to Greece mid-week and so is not in town for the remainder of the Pan-Armenian Games which is due to close Sunday. Sorry, but I don’t think this sends the right message.
Comment by Onnik — August 25, 2007 @ 12:14 am
It’s not the right message, but maybe, after some R&R, he’ll come back a little happier.
Comment by Armen Filadelfiatsi — August 25, 2007 @ 1:24 pm
Onnik, don’t you mean brown eyes instead of blue? Real Armenians are said to have blue eyes and red hair. The brown eyes and dark hair that many of us seem to have are not from our Armenian side.
Comment by Ara Manoogian — August 26, 2007 @ 2:54 am
Ara, you know what I mean and the order of the words doesn’t change anything. No need to be pedantic.
Comment by Onnik — August 26, 2007 @ 8:27 am
Any chance that the Pan Armenian Games could receive better coverage? Groong will not accept postings unless they are from an official source. It’s a terrible mistake to not have the pictures of our Armenian athletes widely available to the diaspora. Couldn’t someone publish a press release? The Pan-Armenian web site is disfunctional.
Comment by Darwin Jamgochian — August 28, 2007 @ 10:54 am
Darwin, Groong actually makes it’s rules up as it goes along. For example, I’ve sent articles from established sources to them in the past and they’ve not posted them. Sending them again resulted in the same thing. In some cases I’ve had to fight to get them to take storiesGroong has also lso taken blog posts when it suits them.
Anyway, I wouldn’t worry too much about Groong. It’s days are numbered in the world of blogs and online media and I don’t believe that the number of hits Asbed says he gets equates exactly into readers. Besides, during the week of the Pan-Armenian Games my coverage on this blog received 95-97 percent of the total combined readership of the English, French, Russian and Armenian editions of Hetq Online.
Nevertheless, I do believe the Pan-Armenian Games web site should have been up to date and used for keeping people informed of the Games. I’m also surprised the official Armenia-Diaspora site wasn’t either.
Meanwhile, Groong is just an antiquated mailing list with too many posts, not enough commentary, and no possibility for discussion. That it’s survived this long is beyond me. It should have died the slow and painful death it deserves three years ago, especially as it does lower itself to take press releases such as the Children of Armenia Fund who actually have quite a bad reputation here.
Comment by Onnik — August 28, 2007 @ 11:23 am
“…the Children of Armenia Fund who actually have quite a bad reputation here.”
Why?
Comment by R — August 28, 2007 @ 7:04 pm
I’m currently considering posting my experiences with the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), most recently last month. Also, the chief of party of an international organization here recently detailed some other issues with the organization and why many people are unhappy with how the organization is run. For now, though, that’s all I’ll say, but it is very likely I’ll make a post in the next week.
Comment by Onnik — August 28, 2007 @ 9:08 pm