Railway Station, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

Sure to concern many already alarmed at the near monopolization of strategic areas of the economy by Russian companies, RFE/RL reports that the next asset to go will be the railways. However, as the news item says, the railway system has really suffered since independence and is usually a last resort not only for internal travel, but also for visiting neighboring countries.

Specifically this means Georgia as the railway obviously doesn’t run through Nakhichevan or to Azerbaijan proper as well as Turkey. Armenia is also not involved in a regional railway project involving Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan because of closed borders with the former and the unresolved conflict over Nagorno Karabakh with the latter.

The director general of Armenia’s rail network on Tuesday effectively confirmed its impending takeover by Russia’s state-run railway, a deal which will place yet another chunk of the Armenian economic infrastructure under Russian control.

The Armenian government called last year an international tender for the exclusive right to manage the struggling network for at least 30 years. Only the Russian railway and an Indian firm showed interest in the bidding, sending relevant proposals to Yerevan earlier this year.

The Indians pulled out of the tender last month, all but predetermining its outcome. Armenian media had for months claimed that the contest is a mere formality as the state-owned Armenian Railway’s handover to the Russians was decided by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Robert Kocharian in Moscow last January.

[…]

The impending deal is certain to be criticized by those government critics who believe that Russia’s growing economic presence in Armenia is turning into a stranglehold. Russian firms already dominate the Armenian energy and telecommunication sectors and are keen to acquire other industries. One of them is understood to have effectively purchased recently Armenia’s largest gold mining company from an Indian operator that fell foul of the authorities in Yerevan in January.

But according to Khrimian, more important is the fact that the new railway manager will have to invest at least $170 million in the Soviet-era network that has been operating at a fraction of its capacity ever since Armenia’s rail communication with the outside world was disrupted in 1992.

“Working in these blockade conditions, we have been unable to generate sufficient revenues to make capital investments in our train fleet and other infrastructure,” said Khrimian. “The investments will considerably improve the condition of our railway,” he added.

(more…)

Komitas, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

Leaving my apartment this afternoon I feared the worst when I saw an overturned truck by my local kiosk with policemen and a crowd standing around it. As I got closer I took out my mobile phone to take a picture while first checking to see if there were any injured. Concern for casualties has to come first although I figured that as there appeared to be e a TV crew was on the scene, police had lightened up a bit and the accident wasn’t as serious as it at first looked.

(more…)

AFP reports that the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has cut short a two-day working visit to Armenia. Ahmadinejad visited Yerevan to meet with his Armenian counterpart, Robert Kocharian, and to announce the opening of a new highway linking the two countries and plans to build a cross-border railroad as well as a hydroelectric power plant and wind power stations along the border.

No reasons for his unexpected and early return to Tehran have so far been given, but I’m sure there will be updates later on in the day.

Ahmadinejad cancelled a series of events on Tuesday and was due to leave the Armenian capital Yerevan for Tehran on a late-morning flight, an official in Armenian presidential press service said, without providing an explanation.

“There have been changes in the programme of the Iranian president’s visit. He will return to Tehran before the planned time,” the official said.

Ahmadinejad had been due Tuesday to visit a memorial to victims of the Ottoman massacres of Armenians between 1915 and 1917, a regular stop for visiting dignitaries. He had also been scheduled to visit Yerevan’s Blue Mosque and to meet with members of the Iranian community here.

[…]

(more…)

As Komitas grinds to a halt because of ill-devised road works and other municipal “development” all underway at the same time despite the disruption it causes, Zarchka at Life Around Me reports that construction in another part of the city has now been stopped. The reason? Well, plans to build an underpass under a road in the center hit a snag. Quite a big one, actually. More precisely, the Yerevan Metro.

This is kind of a continuation to the post on Oneworld Multimedia blog about the construction mess in Yerevan and alleged money being spent on digging deep needless holes as if for constructing subways, although the rumor has it that “…the construction is being done now so that the authorities can spend as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time and siphon off much of it…”

However, this allegation may turn out to be true especially when the huge hole dug along Khanjyan street at Khanjyan and Tigran Mets intersection is now filled back.

What I got from talking to some people, no subway will be constructed there as one of the reasons I was told was that only after digging deep into it they found out that the metro passes under that area!

Almost funny, if it weren’t that sad. How on earth could they not take into consideration the fact that they might stumble upon the underground, especially when by simple logics one may presume that the line from Hanrapetutyan Hraparak to Zoravar Andranik stations should pass right under that area!!?? Didn’t they bother to shoot a glance at the metro map before starting their destruction??!!

If that’s not the case, then I wonder, what is a logical explanation for laying a double layered asphalt along Khanjyan street, then digging it deep, then filling it back??

(more…)

Armenian-Turkish border, Khor Virap, Ararat Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2004

Following on news that illegal immigrants from Armenia are being detained in Istanbul, PanArmenian.Net reports that those held have not yet been deported. Thousands of Armenians are believed to work in Turkey, but as a sign of how House Resolution 106 might affect Armenian-Turkish relations, the Associated Press reports that other measures are currently being considered.

As the border between Armenia and Turkey remains closed and that there are no official diplomatic relations between Yerevan and Ankara, proposed retaliatory measures will include prohibiting and frustrating those commercial links which do exist.

Turkey should not punish the U.S. administration over a resolution in the U.S. Congress that calls the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide, but instead should impose sanctions against Armenia for supporting the measure, a top Turkish official said Tuesday.

[…]

“Bush and his team should not be punished,” Egemen Bagis, a foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on CNN-Turk television. “The reaction should be against Pelosi and her team.”

[…]

Bagis said Turkey should impose sanctions against Armenia because it supported the resolution.

“Turkey must impose sanctions against Armenia,” Bagis said. “Turkey has already done a list of what and when it will do, and the prime minister has already given necessary orders.”

The border between Turkey and Armenia is closed. But Turkey could cancel flights between Istanbul and Yerevan, as well as stopover flights to Armenia, and also prevent around 4,000 trucks from hauling goods to Armenia through neighboring Georgia.

Ironically, nationalists in Armenia and the Diaspora as well as Turkey will be the first to welcome such a move. This is yet another irony about the continuing discussion, debate and argument surrounding recognition of the Armenian Genocide. One supposes that not many Armenians will worry about the threat of “sanctions” although the possible effect on the economy is unclear.

From time to time fellow blogger Garo (aka Christian Garbis) at Notes from Hairenik and I joke with each other that nothing can surprise us anymore. We’re used to such stupidity or the unexpected in a country that pretty much anything is possible even if it defies all common sense and logic. This also extends to the insane amount of construction under way in the city and the fact that it is all being undertaken at the same time even if it creates only anarchy and chaos on the roads and at times can be life threatening.

One rumor going around is that the construction is being done now so that the authorities can spend as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time and siphon off much of it as has always been the case even during the Soviet era. The Mayor’s name has specifically been mentioned, and to be honest, there seems to be no other logical reason for why Yerevan has become a dust bowl and the scene of so much construction work that it can be virtually impossible to travel in the city.

Yes, I know, such rumors even from seasoned and well-respected analysts and journalists are only just that, but what can you think when you come across stories such as the one carried by A1 Plus today?

Cars and gazelles ascending the stairs near Vardan Mamikonyan’s statue are at the peril of turning upside down. Because of the current construction, drivers had to pass around the pavement to get to the destination in time. The pavement is presently closed down, so they have to ascend the nearby staircase.

Ludicrous. Absolutely plain stupid and one that can only surprise even in a county full of idiotic urban planning and municipal development decisions. You have to look at the story if only for the photos and video. This city is controlled and run by retards and imbeciles. Unfortunately, one response to this story from a friend was simply that city is also inhabited by idiots too. The roads are certainly full of them.

Railway Station, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

It’s all a little quiet for me in terms of work at the moment, but rather than just find myself out almost every night drinking with friends until the early hours like I did last week, I thought I’d start to do something a little more constructive. Basically, I decided to update my photos of Yerevan with newer shots as well as make a few return visits to children’s institutions I haven’t been to for something like a year now.

First stop on my photographic return visit today was Yerevan’s Central Railway Station which I think many tourists seldom visit. That’s a pity because it’s quite an interesting place for people watching and the interior architecture is magnificent, in my opinion. It’s unfortunately better known for being the location where Soviet troops shot six people to death in 1990.

And although I do remember an short article in The Times newspaper in England listing it among the top ten most architecturally interesting railway stations in the world, there’s little information available on it on the Internet. Indeed, all I really managed to find was a passing reference to it from an old Soviet guide reproduced on Cilicia.com, and even then that information is really only about the metro station underneath.

Its one of two ground stations of the Yerevan Metro. The moving staircase descends you into a wonderful entrance hall, decorated with bas-reliefs, subjecting ancient Armenian heroic epic “David Sasuntsi”. Through the underground passages under the railway platform, one can approach the railway station of the city with a square adjoining it. In the middle of the square there stands a grand monument to the hero of the epic David Sasuntsi (author–E. Kotchar). The building of the railway–station is the visit-card of the whole ensemble. For a tourist who is on visit to Yerevan there is always a chance to get photoed at the monument.

Nowadays, the square is turned into a large construction site: a cornfortable hotel with capacity of 500 living rooms is in the stage of finishing and its going to be one of the main elements of the whole ensemble of buildings situated in the square. To the left from the square goes the Hoktemberian Avenue, linking it with Lenin Square, to the right–Bakvi street, leading to an ancient fortress–Erebuni.

(more…)

A1 Plus carries a story on the Armenian branch of the Hye Riders Motorcycle Club (MC). From what I gather, the Hye Riders have just returned from Ukraine or somewhere, and just recently a production crew from France’s First TV Channel contacted me after seeing the posts I made on this blog about the club. They’ll be soon be traveling across the Caucasus and Central Asia and want to produce a documentary on them.

10 years ago when the first biker club was established in Armenia, young men who could ride motorcycles became members of the club. Biking, which means to ride a motorcycle, began in the USA in 1930s, where many biker clubs exist. While in Armenia, biking is quite an unusual kind of sport.

Norayr Martisoyan founded the first Armenian biker club and set up the rules and the principles of the club himself. By becoming the member of the club, each individual takes an oath to be punctual, to have definite principles and to be a reliable person. However, by various reasons the first member of the biker club left it and Martirosyan collected a new team.

[…]

When Perch Gasparyan, head of a biker club in Los Angeles came to Yerevan in 2004 and met Norayr Martirosyan, he offered him to unite the clubs. Norayr accepted the proposal and his club became the branch of the US Armenian biker club renamed “Hye Rider”.

Gasparyan sent uniforms and appropriate accessories for his biker friends in Armenia.

Members of “Hye Rider” participate not only in trips, but also in various charity actions.

Last year Armenians in the US sent toys for children in Armenia and the members of “Hye Rider” took them to an orphanage in Vanadzor.

Anyway, all my posts on the Hye Riders, including an interview with Norayr Martirosian and posts about a custom bike workshop in Armenia, can be found under the Bikers category. An article I wrote last year for Hetq Online accompanied by photos is also available here.

Two different bloggers have coincidentally made two separate posts on the subject of motoring in Armenia. First up is freelance writer Joshua Kucera, en route to China from Istanbul via Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Central Asia, who couldn’t help but notice the love affair many young Armenians have with the ubiquitous Niva.

As some of you know, I have for a long time had a car-crush on the Lada Niva. It’s a Russian 4x4 car, and I think the style is incredibly cool. Here’s one in Tbilisi, in front of the Anchiskhati church. I took this photo because it seemed very representative of Georgia, with the palm tree, Soviet car and old church.

[…]

Anyway, most places these cars have no particular cultural significance; they’re bought by people who want a cheap 4x4. But Armenia, I’ve discovered that they are a real symbol. The first day I was in Yerevan, I saw this Niva, and I thought it was funny to have a Niva with these fancy rims, so I took a photo:

[…]

So asking around, I discovered that there is a certain kind of person who drives these fancy white Nivas. It was described to me by one young cosmopolitan Yerevan woman as: “macho, has money but not a lot, wears a gold chain and expensive clothes but in strange combinations, and has a girlfriend with fake blonde hair.” And he generally listens to rabiz music, the Armenian equivalent of Serbian turbofolk, Bulgarian chalga, Turkish arabesque and whatever other countries have this sort of thing.

(more…)

Traffic Police, Yerevan © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2003

French-Armenian blogger Thomas at Follow The Way has posted more on the recent death of a young Armenian killed by a reckless driver in Yerevan. Along with most other bloggers, many of us have posted news of the online petition established to protest road safety in Armenia, but more needs to be done. The petition’s target number of signatures is 5,000, but there are so far only 979 at time of writing this post.

So, if you haven’t already joined in this campaign to make Yerevan’s roads safer and to fight against lawlessness and corruption in Armenia, then now would be a good time to sign the petition if you feel so inclined to, of course. Personally, I believe it’s a fundamental matter of concern that nobody can possibly not be part of, but that’s my opinion, I guess. Anyway, here’s more of the background to the petition as posted on Thomas’ blog.

As many of you know, my cousin, Araz Melikian, was killed by a taxi driver in Yerevan this past summer. Her precious life was cut way too short… 3 weeks shy of her 18th birthday. For those of you who have been to Armenia, I’m sure you’ve experienced the reckless driving conditions. I also experienced the frustration and anger in the streets of Yerevan when we went for the funeral proceedings. After several court hearings, the killer has now basically walked away free. Therefore, in an effort to enforce new laws/regulations & improve driving conditions in Armenia the below petition was created by my father, Soorik Melikian, & Alma Eskandary. Forwarded is also the letter that will be sent to three of our ministers in Armenia. I’m certain that all of us believe in the same cause – improvement in our country. We have to start somewhere… hopefully via this petition our joined voices will be heard & results will take effect.

Furthermore, my uncle, Derik Melikian is the chief editor of “Alik” newspaper in Iran. He’s using this media outlet to voice several articles. Additionally, we’re hoping to produce a documentary that features several families who share the pain of losing loved ones due to unsafe driving conditions in Armenia. Hopefully, this documentary will be televised in Armenia.

(more…)

It seems that all three capitals of the South Caucasus Republics are facing a crisis in terms of traffic congestion and pollution. The Instiute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR), for example, published an article on traffic jams in Baku and how the Azerbaijani Government is seeking to address the problem.

In March 2006, the president ordered the government to start a big building project aimed at unblocking the roads, removing traffic jams and creating a modern transport infrastructure.

According to the presidential plan, a new highway will be built between the airport and central Baku and there will be nine bridges, 13 underpasses and dozens of car parks. The cost of the whole project is 300 millions mantas (more than 263 million euro). At the moment, the government is using only its own money, but it may seek to attract foreign capital for the project as well.

Under plan, the Baku municipal authorities and the transport ministry must also implement a scheme to develop Baku’s transport network up until 2030.

(more…)