Thanks again for all the good messages about my dispatches from here… and to those that insist that I should put them in a book… well whose going to buy it… you all have them for the last years already!
Anyway... spring is exploding in Armenia... is quite extreme how a week of warmer weather makes the grass break the dull grey of the earth, and how all the apricots trees (plenty of them in the city) get covered in white flowers... the city feels happier... even if the political situation get problematic…as apparently there is massive protest taking the streets next week (I’ll be in Holland) as the support for the present War President that has forgot the economy if becoming thin (isn’t that happening somewhere else?)
The Southern Caucasus is just a mad place... Georgia has 3 breakaway provinces that do not have any links with the central government and are virtually autonomous region/countries in pseudo state of war with the central government in Tbilisi, and its relations with Armenian are bitter sweet at the moment, as one of the breakaway governors is Armenian in origin.
Armenia has been blockaded since the 90's by Turkey in the west, meaning that border is closed and there is no relationship of any form, the reason for this go back to the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Turks in 1915, and the support of the Turks to the Azerbaijanis in regards the land disputes with Armenia.
In particular in regards the “Mountainous Republic of Nagorno Karabakh” (Ja! Get that for a stamp in your passport) which is a ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan that gain independence supported by Armenia and is a country only recognised by Armenia, the actual Armenian president (Kocharian) was indeed the former president of Nagorno Karabakh... so it is all very messy… The Turks do complain loudly about i... but they are in the same situation with Cyprus!
As well there is the Azerbaijani province of Naxiban that is totally isolated form the rest of the country and sandwiched in between Turkey on the west, Armenia on the north and east and Iran on the South... Armenia is a frozen war state with Azerbaijan for the last 10 years, with sporadic skirmishes that leave dead soldiers on both sides... they are supporting/occupying Nagorno-Karabash... And all this mess in the name of what supposedly make us better people... Religion... so this are reason why the Turks still have a long road the be part of the EU...
The real reason why this entire place is not in complete war is the profound and unnoticed influence of the areas more stable country... Iran… Armenia’s best friend and lifeline... but... hey are they not extreme Muslims part of the axis of evil? Well really not...
I remember during 2000 hanging out for coffee in the Armenian quarter in Isfaham where the Armenian churches are 400 mts away for one of Iran biggest Mosques and there are no problems... Iranian took massive amount of refugees at the genocide time...
Iran diplomacy is what keeps this region stable even more perhaps than the money, which millions of overseas Armenians send back here…
This last week (my last one here I’m off to Holland until the 10 of May), has been quite eventful...
I have been working with the Cray fisherman of Lake Sevan... it never stop fascinates me how fisherman are a unique breed with common characteristics beyond countries and at the same some unique particulars that are so specific to where come from... and Cray fisherman are like a sub unit of that mad tribe of people worldwide...
Lake Sevan is quite high so you still have snow storms up there, and being in 6-7 mts boat/barge that incredibly still floats, lifting craypots under a blizzard surrounded by 3 cigarette-to-face welded fisherman talking about how we do it in NZ, and what is the best bait, and why it should have a escape hole for juveniles, and how big they were and the fuc. government, and the price squeeze of the companies... and so... in a mixture of armenian-russian-german language melange, under the constant warming of various bottles of vodka, was at the same time bizarre and way to familiar...
Coming back and loading all in a truck and drive back to the factory singing at loud heavily accented voice “Hotel California” (that by some reason is the only song in English that EVERY one knows and sings VERY loud) out of the a destroyed tape recorder, while the snow piles up on the lake border road driven by mad Lada racers... and stopping at a shed that only sells cigarettes and vodka for my to replenish their stock... to keep driving and stopped by corrupt policeman looking for nice Cray dinner for the night, and as get as well a Vodka zip, while we all sing for 3rd time in an hour “Hotel California” and the policeman tap my head saying something like “he looks alright for a foreign wanker”, as I’m really drunk and cant stop laughing form the bizarreness of the situation and the fear that all can go wrong at any moment... and that fragility and extreme of life is a bit addictive, but at the same time tiresome.
A big headache later I come back to home in Yerevan in the pretentious comfort of the EU Range rover as on Fridays I have been running a series of 10 seminars for the ministry inspectors.
So I go and did my usual gondola trip up and down the hill and read below what happened in the immediate trip, after the one I took...
I still a bit freaked out... and very much looking forward to see my family next week.
I know I’m a very lucky person... but yesterday was my lucky day...
THREE DIE, SIX OTHERS GET INJURIES IN FUNICULAR ACCIDENT
YEREVAN, APRIL 2: Three people were killed and six others received heavy injuries when a funicular railway car fell on the ground today. The accident occurred at 2 pm when the car was taking passengers to Nor Nork borough from downtown Yerevan. Another car that was sliding towards the center did not fall down due to braking system. The injured were rushed to hospital. An official of the emergencies department said the accident may have been caused by the obsolete machinery.
