kakachik77

I agree, imaginary Armenians they ARE for sure....couple of Turks found a way to get a political asylum in Germany by claiming they are suppressed Armenians, and we are immediately taking them seriously.

thanks Siamanto, I love his works. FRIEDENSREICH HUNDERTWASSER (1928-2000), Austrian painter and architect (has been inspired by Gaudi).

actually, this is the NEW Georgian flag, still very close Dusken

no, it's just the new Georgian flag

this thread should stop since beauty is in the eye of the beholder and nobody can define what is more or less beautiful. I mean Brad Pitt is very hot to me but I would never consider settling down with his type, so what purpose does beauty serve should be a more interesting thread.

so you're saying that Artsakh government is "criminal" after all?

sorry, here it is. ECONO TRAVEL 459 W Broadway Glendale, CA 91204 (818) 409-0099

"tonir" is not particularly Armenian either but "lavash" seems to be of Armenian origin, please check the link below for the full length article. tandoor: Also known as "tanoor," "tandir," and so on; an oven common throughout Central Asia and also in northern India, the Caucasus, and North Africa; usually barrel-shaped or domed, with a top or side opening. Fire is built in the bottom; modern tandoors are heated from the bottom with a gas flame. Breads are baked on the oven's inside walls. http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/1995...bread.trail.htm

Sasun, try them, they normally have good prices and are very friendly and efficient. ECONO TRAVEL 459 W Broadway Glendale, CA 91204 (818) 409-0091

Thanks Domino, here are the steps visit www.anca.org (the Home page has a big headline already about this issue and a link to how to send a Free WebFax to your senator and representative, simply follow the steps and the fax will be sent and you will receive an email copy)

not sure if I am allowed to do this on Hyeforum...but you can state your concern against Elizabeth Jones' comments by visiting www.anca.org and by sending a WebFax, or you can make your own letter and send it to them. (besides being ethnic Armenian, I am not associated to ANCA if anybody has any problem with this).

US official's remarks not aimed at Artsax authorities, US diplomat says Mediamax news agency 19 Jan 05 YEREVAN The recent statement by US Assistant State Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Elizabeth Jones had to do with Russia's policy and was not intended to criticize the Nagornyy Artsax authorities. This statement was made by the assistant to the US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, (?Elizabeth Ruth), in a telephone conversation with the permanent representative of the Nagornyy Artsax Republic in the USA, Vardan Barsegyan, on 18 January, the press service of the Nagornyy Artsax Republic told Mediamax today. The Foreign Ministry's press service said that on 14 January The Moscow Times newspaper published Elizabeth Jones's comments concerning the role and interests of Russia in resolving conflicts in post-Soviet republics. "In those comments, Mrs Jones made ambiguous statements about Nagornyy Artsax," the Foreign Ministry's press service said. [Jones said: "It is in Russia's interests that Dniester, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Nagornyy Artsax are stable and incorrupt and that the criminal separatist regimes ruling there are brought down."]

Armat, your way of thinking is suitable for coutries such as France and United States or any other Western coutry, none of which are surrounded by hostile muslim nations ready any minute to crush Armenians. Based on our history some of which I desribed above we cannot quite be "generous" when it comes to our identity otherwise we'll just melt into the big muslim cultural and religious pot. And how we'll we ever "trust" Hamshen to defend Armenians and go fight against their muslim brothers (Azeris, Turks) let's say if there was a war, now which side would they take their religious side or their supposed ethnic side. I mean they already once chose to hide behind the Turkish veil and only chose to come out of their hiding (now) when being Armenian is not such a bad idea. How can you be sure that they'll be with us this time around. I guess the Hamshen identity is quite malleable bending to the side most favorable at that moment. As you already mentioned I believe, Armenians are nothing but stubborn. Now I don't of course reject that Hamshen have ethnic Armenian origins, so do a lot of so called "true" Turks. The issue here is one of national identity, again I will repeat, I don't think we can afford as Armenians to be generous in this regard.

Armat, allow me to disagree. Firstly, it's wrong to compare Judaism with being Armenian mainly because the first is a religion and the second a nationality. Of course, we Armenians happen to use one of national identifications as our religion because it is very unique and important to our story of survival throughout centuries. Our literature is full of references to "Kill your father and mother if they abandon our religion" as in Raffi's "Samvel"; Vartan Mamikonian led an army of only 60,000 people straight to death to prove that we don't JUST give up who we are. And lastly, my grand grandmother walked that ***ing dessert, lost all her four kids to hunger and thirst on the way , lost everybody but chose to stay ARMENIAN, she remarried in Soviet Armenia and created a second Armenian (yes, Christian) family. To me being Armenian is about SURVIVAL and not surrender, that's our national character and that's what I am going to teach my kids when they are learning about life, "the story of our people, and that we just don't give up". Now, the story of Hamshen to me belongs to a story of totally another nationality. Sorry for the rant.

so believe or not to believe???

well, we have a country of ONLY 3 million people 50% of whom live in dire poverty. To me the more immediate problem is to try to help those people, rather that allocating all that money for the Genocide recognition, although we should never forget what happened because history can repeat itself.

ok Michael Vartan has very little Armenian blood left in him, 1/4 only. His dad is half Armenian and half-Bulgarian and mother is American.

Just yesterday I saw Armen Minasian for editor for I-Robot. I mean this appeared the beginning of the film too, big letters

Maral, I don't think your question will be answered by that movie. First of all, Paradjanov is a surrealist/experimental filmmaker (genius if you ask me), but most importantly the movie is about what most say the life of Sayat Nova, 19th century Armenian trubadur. Now it's not really about his life as much as developmental of his artistic soul, sort of what's going on inside as opposed to outside. Nran guyn is a symbolic name. Just so you are not "disappointed" when you watch the film.

I agree, total BS. It's insulting for other minority groups who are being harrassed but the state department has chosen only "the chosen people" to do a report on. I read the report on Russia where in reality anti-semitism has not been a major issue last year but RACISM against "so called peoples of Caucasus", central Asia and Asians in general has become a major major issue. Yes, but these are not the chosen people, so who cares to do a report on them, right?

thanks Sev-Marduk, I was going to go see that movie, I guess now I am going to run to see it

the actress who played the aunt in the "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is Armenian and I have read an interview with the Nia Vardalos (??? is that her name) where she said that the grandma hating all turks thing was kind of a tribute to the Armenian cause

this is from Groong, excellent commentary on recent articles STEREOTYPES ABOUT ARMENIA Armenian News Network / Groong January 11, 2005 By Haroutiun Khachatrian During the last five months, at least four articles appeared in leading Western newspapers about Armenia. As if agreed initially, all four are about the emigration problem. The general scheme of all articles is as follows: (see, for example the latest article of this "series" entitled "For Young Armenians, a Promised Land Without Promise" in the December 9 issue of The New York Times). People are quoted as saying that in Armenia jobs are difficult to find, or they are paid less than similar jobs abroad. Statements of the opposite type are also included, e.g. young people are quoted as saying that they will try to find jobs in their homeland, etc. However, the general tone remains negative, the titles are as sad as this one (giving a respective signal to the readers, most of whom do not read more of an article than its title). And, what is more important, the data of statistics showing the migration of Armenian workforce is no more a problem like it was in the 90s, that emigration and immigration have already balanced, are generally ignored. Some observers in Armenia express the opinion that there is a sort of "conspiracy" or "political order" aimed to display reality in Armenia worse than it is (even Haykakan Zhamanak, an opposition-minded daily, has used these terms). I believe that, in fact, some long-established stereotypes are to be blamed, according to which Armenia cannot be described in a way other than a week and dependent country. As shown below, even the works of serious political analysts are not free of these stereotypes. I take two recent materials that appeared on the www.eurasianet.org internet edition as typical examples of such an attitude, although many others of this type can be shown. They are: "Armenia: the Dream of Complementarity and the Reality of Dependency" by Michael Weinstein, and the report of the International Crisis Group entitled "Armenia: Internal Instability Ahead.". STEREOTYPE ONE. ARMENIA TOTALLY DEPENDS ON RUSSIA Weinstein writes: "Armenia's primary dependence on Russia is difficult to deny. Militarily, Russia has 2,500 troops in the country... Russia is also Armenia's major trading partner, its largest source of investment, the main destination of its surplus labor, the provider of its energy needs and military equipment and its biggest creditor..." There are several errors in these fragments (I'll show some of them below), but even their absence would not change the main question: even if all of this were correct, would it mean a pessimistic conclusion for Armenia? Yes, Russia has been the largest source of investments in Armenia in the last two years (replacing Greece), but does it mean increasing Armenia's dependency upon Russia? Quite the opposite. Nor is the presence of the Russian troops in Armenia a sign of unilateral dependency, as Russia is no less interested in having these troops in its main partner country in the Caucasus. True, Armenia depends heavily on fuel supply from Russia. But Germany does as well. To a lesser extent, but Germany is a richer country. Moreover, many analysts, including Weinstein, fail to see that this dependency will most likely decrease. He writes: "In May, 2004, Kocharian visited Moscow for talks about Russia's displeasure with Yerevan's initiatives. Moscow wants [Yerevan's] assurance that the Iranian pipeline will not be extended through Georgia and under the Black Sea to Ukraine, bypassing Russia and depriving it of a market for gas." Hence, the author sees this meeting as a typical "failure story", as Russia had prevented the Iran-Armenian gas pipeline from being extended after Armenia. In fact this was a real success story, as Russia could as well have simply prevented the construction of the Iran-Armenia pipeline, thus preserving its own monopoly in the Armenian gas market. After all, is it realistic for a country like Armenia to be fully free of dependence on its neighbors? Especially on one like Russia? STEREOTYPE TWO: "COMPLEMENTARITY" IS A DREAM Weinstein, the authors of the ICG report and many others (both in Armenia and outside) speak about the so-called complementarity, the key of the Armenian foreign policy, with skepticism if not irony. "Since Yerevan lacks the resources to execute its complementarirty policy successfully, that policy has become a hopeful facade covering continuing dependence on Russia," Weinstein writes. Since its first days of independence, Armenia has always sought to keep equally good relations both with Russia and the U.S. (and the West in general). This policy got the brand name of "complementarity" in the late 90s. Let's see the results. Armenia is the only country in the world, which has managed to preserve the status of a military ally of Russia, and, at the same time, to be one of the largest recipients of American assistance (for a long period, Armenia was the third largest recipient in per capita terms, after Israel and Egypt). In some years, Yerevan managed to pay its bills for the Russian gas directly with the money provided by the U.S. If this is a failure, what is the success? STEREOTYPE THREE: ARMENIA IS NOT ORIENTED TO THE WEST It is a long-term belief that Georgia and even Azerbaijan are more inclined to adopt Western orientation than Armenia. Surprising as it may look, this vision is based on the fact that the West is primarily interested in contacts with Azerbaijan and Georgia (rather than with Armenia) due to the oil pipeline now under construction. Another arguable assumption supporting this belief is that, being a military ally to Russia, Armenia should inevitably copy Moscow's economy policy and foreign preferences as well. Such a perception has become even stronger after the "Rose revolution" in Georgia. "Yerevan's policy of complementarity contrasts with Tbilisi's pro-Western orientation since the Rose Revolution and with Baku's "balanced" policy," Weinstein writes, leaving the natural question "Where is the contrast?" unanswered. In reality, the status of a Russian ally hasn't prevented Armenia from performing extensive economic reforms (according to the estimates of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, in terms of market reforms Armenia is the most advanced country among the CIS). Contrary to what Weinstein states, Russia has never been Armenia's main creditor. More than half of Armenia's foreign debt is loans of the World Bank, i.e., it is made up of the funds provided by the leading Western countries for economy reforms. As for the bilateral loans, Russia was the largest creditor before 2002, as it had provided several high-interest loans in the peak of the economy crisis in mid-90s. After Yerevan settled this debt with the debt-for-equity deal (hence making Russia responsible for the proper work of these assets), Germany has become its largest creditor country, as it extensively credits economy reconstruction and reforms in Armenia at very concessive terms. All of these have led the U.S. to include Armenia in the list of those eligible for getting funds of the newly established Millennium Challenge Corporation (17 countries were elected among more than 70). Finally, Russia did not prevent its ally from performing NATO war games in Armenia in 2003 and from being included into the EU New Neighborhood policy in 2004. STEREOTYPE FOUR: ARMENIA MAY FACE INSTABILITY The report of the International Crisis Group contains a sound body of analysis and recommendations, most of which cannot be questioned. But, having read the whole report, one may ask, why have its authors chosen to give it the title: "Armenia: Internal Instability Ahead."? The fragment relevant to that idea in the report is: "While the present opposition -- divided and seen by many as more interested in regaining power than truly fixing the system -- does not have wide popular resonance, the situation could become much more explosive if a charismatic leader emerged." Obviously, such a conclusion does not imply that Armenia is "facing instability". Meanwhile, the possibility of internal instability in Armenia is even lower, because what is currently branded as opposition, i.e., the Ardarutiun (Justice) alliance, is not a real opposition at all. Rather, it is a part of the current ruling elite which has separated from it due to the events of the terrorist act of October 27, 1999, and partly, due to some details of the tactics towards the Nagorno Artsax problem. What is even more important, the "opposition" does not enjoy appreciable support of the country's business community. This is the key reason why the regime lead by Kocharian has remained stable (despite the violations and breaching during last year's elections) and, will, most likely, keep stability in the future, even if a "charismatic" opponent like Saakashvili or Yushchenko appears. The only possibility of internal instability in Armenia may be due to some split in the ruling coalition, but this possibility has not even been considered in the report. Hence, I can see no other reason for this alarming title to be chosen except for the failure of the report's authors to get rid of stereotypes about an "unstable" Armenia. Of course, Armenia is far from being a prosperous country with a stable environment. However, it is regrettable to see that analyses and media reports often fail to reveal its true problems and tell the readers about non-existing or forgotten ones. -- Haroutiun Khachatrian is a Yerevan-based writer specializing in economic and political affairs.

it's disgusting, I could not even finish watching that video but even sadder that Armenians in LA continue playing turkish tunes at their weddings, doing exactly the same - taking the melody and changing the words to Armenian

I read something similar on Jackson Polluck expressing about Arshile Gorky, it kind of went like this "there are 3 people I've ever admired and one is Gorky, the Armenian...(sorry don't remember, but it left an impression on me).