M_Karazov

Hahaha!!! I agree that it is a very overdone, but I hope you get the picture. What I mean is that Moscow should be naturally more associated with the integration of the many parts of its history. Like take the best of Orthodox(bad choice of pictures by me actually, these are Old-Believers, same like Molokans in Armenia who are much more traditional, but in general thrustworthy, people then your average Moscovite) religion, the communist period (fair distribution of income) and post-soviet period with many new business opportunities and hopefully equal changes for everybody. I think all post-soviet countries have to do a lot of soul searching for a new and progressive identity and combine this with the best values from its heritage. This is sometimes difficult and that's why some people import ideologies alien to the reality and nature of their countries like Wahabism in Chechnya and facism in Moscow. I don't know if this identify search, but also exploitation by political parties, has created extremists in Armenia as well, I only see about this in Slavonic and Islamic republics of CIS. What's your opinion about this??

This is what Moscow should be known for!! Celebrations in Moscow earlier this year: http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4986/100002au.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4826/100018eo.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/2673/100026zv.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6836/100041bc.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/740/10031736tg.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6876/10031743yj.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6956/10031786hr.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3153/10031911fw.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6900/10031929mh.jpg http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3755/10031941jt.jpg http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/1027/10031962jr.jpg http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/6364/10031994hb.jpg http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/1604/10032447hz.jpg http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/4085/10033562da.jpg http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/2449/10033814br.jpg http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/4138/10033867wj.jpg http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/851/10034441pm.jpg

Thanks both of you for welcoming me and I must agree with you on many things you said. What you are writing is rooted in economical, sociological and historical sciences which many ordinary people have no clue about. Not so long we knew all abot class struggles, now nationality struggles are presented like being such a common thing. Like with everything important, ones in a while problems erupt, but they should not be exploited by the authorities, like is happening now. And especially in a multinational country like Russia to stimulate ethnic problems is like playing with fire and can get out of hand totally. Coming back to your question about ethnic/separatists tensions in Russia, I would like to give you the whole picture. Russia consists of 7 federal districts, there are about 50 oblast (provinces), 20 autonomous republics for minority people and 5 krai (province containing minority autonomous regions. The SFD has by far most serious problems, everybody knows about the situation in North-Caucasus and in Krasnodarsky and Stavropolsky Krai with xenophobic governors. It should, however, not be an excuse for ordinary people not too live together in normal, friendly relations. And IMO people Armenians and Russians should visit each others churches and cultural institutions and learn to get to know one another personally. That is the best solution to oppose troublemakers and also the most natural.

First of all, I do not like or agree with skinheads myself, I don't know if you assume that, neither do most Russians. But because most Russians have the opinion that crime is commited more by Caucasian groups, there is not the same response against skinsheads as in other countries, unfortunatelly.... What I wanted to say was: Russian DO NOT have the idea are much involved in crime as they have about groups from other parts of Caucasus. But we have to be careful not to expand dislike among whole nations, just keep it restricted to a few extrimists, that's bad enough allready. I don't care too much for public opinion in the West about Russia or Russians because they don't know anything about CIS. For instance they talk about "Russian" mafia in NYC. I don't know what is Russian about them (Jews from Odessa), all I know is that they are from the same nationality as the people who collect all the facts about ethnic violence in Russia(FSU monitor). I am saying that I am interested in a safe environment for Armenians in Russia, especially since Armenians treat Russians well compared to many other groups. Look, violence is never a solution and these skinsheads are criminals, but the fact is that crime is having a negative effect on many Russian people, like drugs addicts and prostitution. The solutions are in law and order, family values and Orthodox religion. And we have to do it ourselves, since the governement in more interested in an imperium then in the welfare of the people. What I mean is that Armenians and Russians on an individial level and local level, in Moscow and SFD should get to know each other and cooperate.

Excellent question! And more important then this topic probably))) Why, because 2 million Armenians live in Russia and are influenced by these issues. I believe, and with me millions of people, the situation in Russia is really tense. There are few regions were there are no rumours about separation from the federation as a result of having to pay too much tax to the federal governement or ethnic tensions, and not just between Russians and non-Russians. Two months ago, federal troops had to intervene between Kalmyks and Chechen residents in Kalmykia after several people died during ethnic clashes. So in general there is a lot of insecurity which create these tensions. For Armenians the most important events are in Moscow and Stavropolsky and Krasnodarsky Krai of the Southern Federal District since the vast majority is living here. Of course there are incidents in these regions, in Moscow with skinheads and in the SFD with Cossacks like mentioned on fsumonitor, although I believe these people (of fsu monitor) are retards and not providing any solutions. But what is important to remember, Russians have no traditions of dislike towards Armenians, opposed to feelings about people from certain other Caucasian countries. Armenians in Russia are contributing much more then most other groups. So what's important for Armenians in Russia is how to differentiate themselves from other Caucasians and that influential Armenian figures build good community relations with Russian and other Slavic groups like Cossacks (who originate from Ukraine). And this is essential and possible since the good historical relations between both countries and in the public opinion of most Russian Armenians are not overrepresented in crime like people from countries in the region.

Yes, but I am from the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk (now Oskemen) although I live in Europe.

Some people are really out of touch with reality. Banning dual citizenship??? Especially in any country of former SU this is a stupid and inhumane idea. Millions of people have been forcebily relocated outside their traditional homeland, the land of their forefathers. Look at the problems this gives for minorities staying outside their homeland and often in situations of less cultural rights then the dominant titular ethnic group. After the collapse of SU the demographic situation in many countries changed dramatically. Especially the Caucasian countries have seen two effects, a development of out-migration of the original ethnic group. like Armenians, Georgians and Azeri's to Russia but an even faster out-migration of minorities from the Caucasian countries. Look at Azerbaijan, the country had a population of 8 million before 1991. I have met many Russians born in Baku now living in Moscow and other Russian cities, so we can safely assume most Slavic inhabitans, especially the younger ones have returned to Russia or Ukraine. The Armenian inhabitans also left due to obvious reasons, so the majority of the millions of non-Azeri nationalities have left the country. Sunni Azeri's have started to migrate to Turkey most likely not to return. Are left Shia Azeri's from whom some 1,5 alone are living in Moscow and many millions more in other Russian cities and provinces. Same goes for Armenia and Georgia. If these countries just give passports to residents staying in the country they would not need much papers, as there are just a fraction of the residents of 1991. What we can say now is that any Caucasian country is heading in two directions: -Becoming more and more mono-ethnic as result of minorities returning to their own countries -Huge outmigration even by the ethnic majority group to places with more employement The first development is permanent for sure and will only increase since the rates for minorities are still higher. The second development is resulted for economic reasons and is likely not to be permanent. Many Armenians are working for a few months in Russia and for a few months in Armenia. For the first they should receive solid working permits, for the second an Armenian passport. If the Armenian economy improves people will at first stay longer in Armenia and after a while permanently. Take Baku for example, the Russians, Armenians, Jews, Tatars, etc. came for economic reasons, to make money and now Moscow is the booming town. The Caucasian cities can experience the same again when there is peace and no ethnic tension. This is the main reason why Georgia went from the most affluent to the poorest country of CIS, but still there is enormous potential. And if this potential of Caucasian countries is realised there will be need for returning of its citizens. With the right passports off course.

The Turkic people of Central Asia/Xinxiang are Mongolic people while Turkish people in Turkey are Caucasian/Greek decent. Remember places like Constantinopel had huge populations. That's why Turkey is based on 2 things: religion and language, for the rest it is a country, according to Turkish people 87 and a half ethnic group, the half refering to gypsies.

I thought that only Moscow and Los Angeles have a larger Armenian community then Paris, or am I not right on this? But Marseille, without a doubt has a larger Armenian community per capita of the population. This is probably similar with Glendale vs. NYC and Rostov-na-Donu vs. Moscow. (I don't know, is Glendale actually a part of LA or a single municipality?).

Yeah that is an excellent point. I think many Armenians in Russia are working a number of months in Russia and a number of months in Armenia. I think this is definatelly good for both economies because the diversity of commerce becomes much more diverse. It is easy to find goods from Armenia, like excellent brandy, in Moscow now and probably the same way for Russian products in Armenia. BTW, I found out that thanks to the Armenian community car parts from western brands are much cheaper then in the past!!

Hello friends, I have a question for you. In which country outside of Armenia do you think most Armenians live? I am myself from Russia and am I interested to know how do you think we can strenghten the traditional good relations between our countries in the level of culture and religion. I also can advise you as people in diaspora: you CAN make a difference as an Armenian abroad for your local Armenian community and for Armenia itself. I have a good example for you from the Russian-American diaspora. Paul Klebnikov, a American born Russian exposed the dirty methods of the oligarchs in Russia in gaining wealth at the expense of the Russian people. So you can make a difference for your country even if you are living abroad.

It's a wellknown fact that nationalities like the Turks and also the Russians consist of many forcibely taken individuals from other nations. In the case of the Turks, they forced many Armenians and Greeks to abandon their language and religion and become Turk. I am sure this is not about a few thousands of people but about many millions. You only have to look at how spread Armenians have been throughout and compare this with today's situation and you will know how true this is. That's the reason the Turkish nation reacts so strongly against anything Armenian because they know if this comes out it can mean the end of their empirial ambitions. Seriously, take a look at all the other Turkic speaking people in Central Asia and tell me if you will find much resemblence with people in Turkey. When you take a look in what scholars have to say about this, I found many writings that say modern day Turks feature Mediterranean looks and losing their original Central Asian looks. This is because many Turks directly decent of Armenians, Greeks and Kurds. The question is however how many Turkish nationals are aware of their Armenian background, do they want to join the Armenian community and is this possible for them?