SCOTS AND ARMENIANS COMMEMORATE ROBERT BURNS

[Guest]

SCOTS AND ARMENIANS COMMEMORATE ROBERT BURNS

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, ARMENPRESS: The small Scottish community in Yerevan, headed by Arthur Dunlop, this year too kept to already established tradition of commemorating the memory of prominent Scottish poet Robert Burns, held each year January 27.

Early in the morning January 27 Arthur Dunlop and his compatriots were at Yerevan Zvartnots airport to meet a bagpipe player who arrived with British Airways plane.

The plane's captain treated Arthur Dunlop to traditional haggis. The same evening a charitable dinner was held at Armenia hotel, all the proceeds of the dinner will go to Pyunik sporting club of disabled and an orphanage in Armenia's second largest town of Gyumri.

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by MosJan:
The small Scottish community in Yerevan

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Whaaat???

I can hear them now: Take me karechur and I'll cut yer bloody klukh off!

[Guest]

cute...lol...only armos....

(although he isn't bad from what i read of him back in high school)

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Pilafhead:
Whaaat???

I can hear them now: Take me karechur and I'll cut yer bloody klukh off!

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I don't see the point about this bit of racism - unless it is to try and show that there are few countries more ignorant about other countries than Armenia is.

Probably Pilafhead will quote Lord Bryce's words about the plight of 19th century Turkish Armenians with total ignorance to the fact that he was Scottish, or learn about Armenian architecture from the works of Nikoli Marr with total ignorance to the fact that he was Scottish, or read about pre-genocide Armenia from the travel book by Lynch with total ignorance to the fact that he was partly Scottish. Probably he does not even understand that it is substantially due to Scottish political action that Britain did not join with Turkey against Russia in their 1877-78 war. If Britain had (and Queen Victoria wanted to) then Russia would have lost the war and "Russian Armenia" would not have existed. If that had happened then in 1915 the Turks would have done to the Armenians in these areas what they did to Armenians in western Armenia - and Armenia as a nation would probably not exist.

Replace your brain with something other than half-baked rice, pilafhead.

Steve

[Guest]

Nicked from GROONG:

 

Glasses raised to man who made a stand

 

The Scotsman (UK)

Feb 3 2001

 

DIARY

 

GENATZ! Thats cheers in Armenian and our salute to our man Petros

Vardanyou, mine host at the Armenian Lake Van Monastery in Exile

down in Abbeyhill.

 

We also raised a glass when we were there the other night to

Nouritza Matossian, the author and actor, whose play The Life of

Arshile Gorky was such a success at the Festival.

 

But it was particularly poignant after Holocaust Memorial Day last

Saturday, especially for the likes of Nouritza who has campaigned

so long for international recognition of the Armenian genocide in

1915, when a third of the nation was wiped out by the Ottoman

Empire.

 

While the United Nations and countries such as France, Italy,

Israel and Sweden have recognised the Armenian claim, shamefully

Britain and the US have not done so officially for reasons of

realpolitik.

 

While Winston Churchill and the British press railed against the

genocide, it is worth remembering it was an Edinburgh man, Lord

James Bryce, who alerted the government at the time to what was

happening. He is not forgotten in Armenia and earth from his grave

now lies in a plaque in Armenia.

 

Meantime, if you are honoured enough to have a booking accepted at

the "monastery" by Petros grab it with both hands. Definitely a

unique dining experience described by our colleague, Gillian

Glover, as "Nosferatu meets Count Vlad".

[Guest]

Why are you getting all pissed off??? I was totally unaware of the fact that there is a Scottish community in Yerevan. I would not have expected that in a million years.

 

Big deal--I wrote something based on an ages-old Scottish stereotype (drinking and kicking ass isn't even a bad stereotype). If it makes you feel any better, my wife is part Scottish--or maybe that makes it worse.

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by Pilafhead (edited February 03, 2001).]

[Guest]

More Armenian-Scottish connections

 

Alan Hovhaness's full name is Alan Hovhaness Chakmakjian. The 'Chakmakjian' has been discarded, at least for artistic purposes. The name is Armenian in origin although he was born in Somerville, Massachusetts on 8 March 1911 of Scottish and Armenian parents.

[Guest]

"AZG" Armenian Daily # 21, 02/06/2001

Culture

 

THE HEART OF BURNS IN ARMENIAN HIGHLANDS

 

The country of blue lakes and green hills and mountains Scotland is

represented in Armenia by a small community of four compatriots of Robert

Burns.

 

They all are hired by the International Development Agency and work in

different Armenian regions. One is helping the local farmers in the

southern region of Sisian, the second is in the capital providing legal

assistance to Armenian Central Bank, the third is in Vanadzor dealing with

territorial management issues and the last Arthur Dunlop works with the

Armenian finance and economy ministry as an advisor on customs and indirect

taxation.

 

Mr. Dunlop tells the daily Azg that he was offered by the British

government to work in Armenia as a legal advisor on economic issues in

1998. "I was working then in Estonia and my first answer was "no" as the

information on Armenia, which I got from Internet, was not promising and

favorable. However, the government managed to persuade me in the end. When

I arrived in Armenia I was surprised that the situation was better than I

imagined. I think the situation has improved more as of today. This January

27 we organized, for the third time, a charitable dinner to commemorate the

great Scottish poet Robert Burns. To find out where the money, we expected

to collect from the first dinner could go, we asked the US and Great

Britain's embassies in Yerevan to help us. The Pyunik Union of disabled and

an orphanage in the town of Gyumri were named. In the first year we managed

to raise $4,000, in the second year $8,000, the third year yielded $18,000.

I should like to point out that every year when we hold charitable dinners

to raise money for these two establishments, the US Armenians are

participating very actively. Other great contributors are the British

Airways, the Swissair, and the management of Hotel Armenia. The orphanage

in Gyumri is run by sister Arusyak who also organizes summer holidays for

children from poor families in Armenian resort town of Tsakhkadzor. The

camp by the way, is also named after Burns."

 

Speaking on British government's efforts not to include mentioning of

Armenian genocide on the Holocaust Day January 27 Dunlop says Armenians are

very emotional in this issue than it is needed and do not take into account

its consequences. "This is perhaps because of the fact that the memories

are still fresh, though 85 years have passed. However, time cures and

perhaps in 100 or 200 years you Armenians will not be thinking this way and

will reconcile with your past as we did with the ordeals of our past.

 

Hakob Tsulikian