bellthecat

Je suis curieux de savoir - is using "merci" just a middle-eastern and Persian thing, or is it used in Armenia as well?

Errrr ... in Ireland the terrorists (so called) were Catholic, and I don't recall religion ever being mentioned as a component of ETA (the exact opposite in fact -Spanish ultra-nationalists, especially under Franco, tended also to be fanatical Catholics). The irony about Grozny is that it was an overwhelmingly Russian populated city before the Russian army had its way with the place.

Once again - replace "Russians" with "Turks" and "Chechens" with "Armenians" in the above rant and we have a typical example of Turkish racist propaganda against Armenia. If you and ArmenSarg don't realise this then you are both really in a serious state of delusion. Do you go to bed with Putin's face on your pillow every night, or what?

Tolstoy's "Hadji Murad" wa published in 1904. Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time" was from 1840. Though Pushkin's "A Captive of the Caucasus" was from 1820, it is set in the Western Caucasus, not Chechnia. Also, as a member of a race that seems to delight in claiming someone as "Armenian" even if they are barely 1/10th Armenian or even less, your "six generations back" comment is a bit ill-advised!

I suggest you stop yourself before you become the "ArS" as in arse. <_<

Hmmm, Arpa, keep the date the same but why not replace "Russia" with "Turkey" and make the "pests" Armenians. And, since you seem to be in the mode for supporting genocide, why not brush up on your Grey Wolves salute while you are at it.

Though Ouchak does seem to have had a bit of a breast fixation . What about hair, eyes, eyelashes, cheeks, ears, neck, hands, waist, sound of her voice, etc.?

Lermontov was Scottish, not Russian. <_<

Stalin did not require inconvenient things like "evidence" or "reason" to justify his actions.

Oh, and a certain person, who seems to have returned, might like to post her picture of an eminent retired archaeologist squating over the said hole in the ground.

"We revealed"!!!! Beli was probably still running around in nappies when Chavushtepe was excavated (in the 1960s and 70s) and the sewer system and toilet that he mentions was discovered. But he is being honest about how backward Turkish toilets still are - the Urartian one at Chavushtepe is the "squat over the hole in the ground" type! Steve

The monastery of the Mother of God (Arterivank), on Arter island, Lake Van: link. I went there with a group of Iranian Armenians in July.

Can someone steamy them into English. I'm curious.

Sure Nairi, I'm interested But I'm a bit confused as to where the translation is at the moment. Those stanzas that you said were missing, some do seem to be in Arpa's translation. Or are you giving, for a part of it, alternative translations to Arpa's? In the Middle East owls are seen as birds of ill-omen. But in Europe it they are traditionally seen as a symbol of prosperity and wisdom. There is a town in England, called Oldham, that has an owl in its coat of arms. A couple of years ago a group of Muslim politicians in the area (displaying their typical Islamic "tolerance") tried to get it removed. When they did not succeed they instigated local Muslim youths to riot - smashing up anything that had the owl on it, (dustbins, park benches, etc.). But it was all hushed up by the Labour Party and their (then) pals in the BBC.

Sorrt I wasn't intending to imply that you were saying it wasn't about a woman! I was just trying to show that the concept of Ani as a woman would have been in the minds of contemporary readers of the poem, so it wouldn't need to be explicitely indicated that "she" was a woman.

It has taken them over 3 years to dream up that crap about the Hakkari "stele"! After their discovery they were hidden away in the Van museum. Even photographing them was forbidden because the Turks didn't want anyone to know about them in case they became known as Kurdish artifacts, or, worse still, Armenian. I don't have any photos unfortunately - but I might be able to get hold of some. One of them shows what looks like a kumbet-type of building, i.e. they might only be 12th century AD, or even more recent. Don't know anything about the "statue head" - but I wonder if it might possibly be the surviving fragment of King Gagik's statue. I had heard that some Turkish so-called "professors" had tried to make out that it was actually Assyrian. Just how they managed to account for the rod of 20th century Russian iron set into its surface (placed during Marr's reconstruction) escapes me.

Thanks Nairi I had searched for "Ani poem" but nothing came up. Wow, I posted it over 2 years ago. Where has the time gone. (And what happened to Kazza, I wonder?)

And again here: http://www.virtualani.freeserve.co.uk/accounts/basmadjian_booklet.gif

This is Ani here - she's quite definitely female. http://virtualani.homestead.com/files/MotherArmenia_Armenian_legends_and_poems.jpg

I think that the popular concept of thinking of Ani as a woman originated during the second half of the 19th century. (Remember there was a thread here a while ago about a poem "Ani in Mourning", can't find it though - searching for "Ani" is not possible - the word is too short <_< ). Since the personification of Armenia was female, when Ani also began to become a symbol of Armenia, it too became female. So there were probably not any parents naming their daughters Ani before that time. But Ani was always a "she", never an "it" - it was just that few people knew about her before that time. And now, poor Ani, no one to protect her or comfort her. PPS Just waking up? - I thought you were in the Netherlands - which would be about 2am.

I'm surprised they had to resort to spying - I thought they had the keys to the building!

And you have not seen the actual thesis - so you have actually proved my point! Until you do see it you are not in any position to judge the reasons of its failure. Regardless of the subject matter of the original thesis, if the writer's technique and methodology is at serious fault then it will fail. And that seems at least as likely a reason for its failure than alleged political motivations on the part of its markers.

I've come across other things written "to" Ani as if "she" was a woman. The place does that to you. PS: You are up late!

Thank's Nairi. Interesting. So we could say that those words are actually being mainly addressed to Ani in "person". How about the other two inscriptions, guys? Anything to make of them?

The key bit, in italics, is that it is NOT his thesis. It is a book that contains ideas which he initially presented in a thesis. A thesis is not going to be rejected or accepted on the basis of its subject matter alone - in fact the subject matter is often of minor importance. It will be the process that will be being assessed, the skills that the student can display that he has learned. So, unless you have read the actual thesis, in the exact form that it was submitted for his PhD, you can say nothing for certain about why it was failed.